Step By Step

During our training sessions at USPS, one of the leaders asked around the room: Why are you taking this job? Most people gave the stock answers (which mostly boiled down to, "I need a job!"), but I came up with a slightly different reason. "You're paying me to get in shape!"

Which, truth be told, I needed. Despite my best efforts, a ( Read more... )

No One Lost Ahead of You

This past December, I managed to finagle three days off of work. Now, that may not sound too impressive, but I work for USPS. Trust me, it's tougher than you might think.

The reason I needed the time off was to play in the California Open, the one multi-day Scrabble tournament held in San Francisco each year. Having not ( Read more... )

"Worth The Fight"

You say you just want the fighting to stop.
For everyone to come together, get along.
Why does it need to be so over-the-top?
Does it really matter who's right, who's wrong?

Yeah, it matters.
Because to tell those who have been oppressed,
whose concerns have never been addressed,
to stop fighting, leave their weapons at the door
is to ( Read more... )

Let's talk about the election ( Read more... )

For Love of the Game

It's go time.

House lights down,
batter up,
take your marks,
start the clock.

Breathe.

Wait.
Where are the butterflies?
Where are the nerves?
Why aren't I scared?

Action!
Play ball!
GO!
Shuffle up and deal!

Okay. Let's play.Something's not right ( Read more... )

Game TheorySeveral years ago, during a National Scrabble Championship, I became a minor celebrity ( Read more... )

Lean On Me

(These stories are true, as far as I can remember. Names have been changed.)I shift uncomfortably in Maria's chair as she talks on the phone. "No, it was good...They screamed, they hugged me...yeah. Alright, gotta go. Love you!" Maria hangs up on her mother ( Read more... )

Never Again

It's been three years since I last played Scrabble Nationals. That one was in Vegas, which is an awesome place to visit. This one is in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which...well, when Fort Wayne has to send their tourist board to the prior year's Nationals to try and sell people on coming, you're holding Nationals in the wrong city.Still, the ( Read more... )

(Disclaimer: Words were written at 3am, and may not be coherent or good.)

Set to the tune of Leonard Cohen's version of "Hallelujah". May he rest in peace. (Are God and Satan staging a battle of the bands this year or something?)We've lost our way, from end to start ( Read more... )

MessengerI scamper down the stairs, trying to catch the train as it pulls into the station, but I know it's futile. I hear the chime indicating that the doors are closing while I'm still a good fifty feet away, and sure enough, they slide shut before I can even get within range to stick my arm in ( Read more... )