2.5 years in 5.5 minutes
So, anyone waiting for the next generation of the iPhone to come out, feel free to get excited. I finally upgraded to the iPhone 4, so whatever is coming next will probably be moved...
Author: Brad Willis
Cracking the comments code
This may surprise you, but I know a little more about crack cocaine than the average 37-year-old guy who grew up in a semi-rural community in southwest Missouri. I know how it’s made, how...
The moms in my life
One woman kept me safe until I was old enough to keep myself safe. Another woman keeps me sane so I can be a good father. This is what moms do. They give all...
Worth a thousand nightmares
The kid on his way to UVA barely existed–he’d been chopped in half at the waist and burned down to a crusty black skeleton. The man with the case of beer died about two...
To the man buying my house
Dear Ben, In September of 2000, I was 26 years old and had been married only three months. Scoop, a 13-pound dog that bit people for sport, was 18 months old and could jump...
An open letter to President Obama
Mr. President: Congratulations on getting out the door quickly in your bid to be re-elected in 2012. Earning the job of President of the United States is an expensive purchase in this day and...
Earplugs
The first stop of the morning was for earplugs. We went to Home Depot together and walked among gods on a Saturday morning. They were immortal more-than-men who would destroy things and build new...
The man at the grocery store
My wife is paranoid. She’ll admit it as readily as I say it, but she’ll call it “observant” or “careful.” She’s suspicious of people I’d pick up as hitchhikers or trust to give me...
In search of a married man
Power-fetch at the soccer fields zapped Big Girl Dog of enough energy that she wouldn’t want to eat the walls again for several hours. We were on the half-mile walk trek home when the...
Listen
I worry about my oldest boy, but only because I see myself in him. He’s driven, but fights frustration. He’s joyful, but an easy mark for emotion. He also falls a lot. Genes are...
Dry doc’d
If I sit with you for any amount of time these days, we’ll soon determine whether you’re a documentary person or not. I certainly hold no great prejudice if you prefer to spend your...
Disaster interrupted
In a parallel universe, one in which I’d chosen to listen to the right soundtrack–something John Williams scored during a dark moment, maybe–we probably all would’ve died. A crowded airport terminal in Nassau. Nothing...
2010: The best and worst of Rapid Eye Reality
Looking back at 2010, I’m surprised I survived. In the span of 12 months, I found myself under a tsunami warning; I was lightly assaulted by Nelly and who I still suspect to be...
Hookers and johns of suburbia
It was a late-December South Carolina cold, the kind that looks warm from a Minnesota window but sneaks up on you when you leave the house with too much exposed skin. I was in...