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2,000 Miles, One Dog, and Zero Regrets (Except for All of It)
by a guy who should’ve known better, but somehow keeps saying yes anyway Just before Thanksgiving, my girlfriend visited me in Richmond, VA and convinced me to spend the holiday with her in Houston — or as I prefer to call it, hell with excellent barbecue. One minute I was enjoying the crisp Virginia air,…
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Bumper to Bumper with Buffoons: A Driver’s Rant
By someone who used to be chill, but then you parked like a clown. I’ve been watching people lately—just sitting back and observing the slow-motion car crash we call “society”—and I can’t decide whether the world is spiraling into the abyss, or if I’m simply becoming a grumpier, less tolerant version of myself. It used…
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Where the Past Walks Beside Us on Independence Day
Today as the sun comes up over in Richmond, Virginia— I find myself thinking about this city and its past. Richmond is not afraid to show its history. It carries it right out in the open, where you can see it, feel it, with the scars laid bare. It’s not hidden or polished. It’s in…
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Richmond is Melting and So Am I
By a man who thought Virginia summers were supposed to be charming and full of fireflies, not the actual fires of hell. It is currently 102°F in Richmond, Virginia. That’s not a heatwave—that’s the sun filing a restraining order against us for getting too close. The weather app isn’t even pretending anymore. It just says…
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Airport Survival Guide: Cry Quietly and Carry On
The airport. A monument to mankind’s ability to take something majestic—flight, freedom, the sheer glory of defying gravity—and turn it into a sort of bureaucratic cattle prod run by people who think “urgent” is a type of seasoning. Let’s start with getting there. You set off three hours early, because apparently, even though your flight…
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Lessons in Flight and Falling: A Midlife Mountain Biker’s Tale
There comes a time in every man’s life when he must accept the simple, horrible truth: he is no longer twenty and realises that the mountain is no longer a metaphor—but an obstacle. Before I hung up my mountain biking gloves and retired to the smooth, civilized tarmac of road cycling, where the road, for…
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What the Rain Brings
It’s raining. The kind of rain that doesn’t just show up, it settles in like it’s unpacking for a long stay. Looking at those clouds right now, I’d say they’ve paid the rent and brought a suitcase full of gloom. My little dog—wise soul that he is—is curled up in the corner, taking one look…
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Georgie the Conqueror (or How 20 Pounds Can Run Your Whole Day)
It’s 6:03 in the morning. Not 6:00. Not 6:05. Six. Oh. Three. This is not a time any sane human should be alive, let alone functioning. And yet, like clockwork, a small, fuzzy assassin—codename: Georgie—initiates his first strike. A gentle tap on the arm. Soft. Innocent. Like a well-mannered English butler waking you with a…
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The Hunters Return: A Memorial Day Reflection
America is having a bit of trouble with her image these days. Like a teenager whose going through some changes — hormones swirling, emotions swinging wild like a kite on a particularly windy day. She’s not bad, mind you, in a phase. Just confused, maybe. Awkward. Kicking out at the world, not because she’s cruel…
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A Jubilee, a Corr, and a Cold Goodbye
February 2017, London. Cold, damp, and everything was wrapped in that stubborn, bone-chilling English gray. It was the sort of chill that could freeze tea right in the kettle. So naturally, I thought, “What better time for a nostalgia walk?” There I was, hoofing it down the Mall, past Buckingham Palace, when I realized the…
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On My Way to Houston
By A Guy Who Just Wanted a Quiet Flight and Maybe a Hug It’s been a month since I saw my girlfriend. We live apart—she’s in Houston, that vast, sprawling circus of freeways, mad drivers, and more concrete bridges than sense. I live in Richmond, Virginia, which, if you read my last bit of rambling,…
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The Wild, the Weird, and the Wonderfully West Virginian
January 2013. I rolled into Lewisburg, West Virginia, at precisely 8 PM after a long but admittedly beautiful drive from Pennsylvania. It was the kind of drive that makes you feel like you’re in an advert for winter tires—curving roads, mountains, light snow, and just enough loneliness to feel dramatic but not suicidal. First impressions?…
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The Thin Blue Line
The police. Yes, I know. They’ve had a bit of a PR disaster lately, haven’t they? A few bad apples, and suddenly the whole force is treated like they’ve been plucked straight out of a gangster movie. The whole institution’s been shoved into the same moral trash can. And of course, as if summoned by…
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The Entitlement Epidemic
Entitlement. It’s like that weird bit of mold that appears in the corner of your fridge. One minute, everything’s fine, and the next, it’s taken over the cheese, the yogurt, and possibly the entire kitchen. Somewhere along the line, society decided that rules were just “suggestions,” and that the universe owes everyone a favor. And…
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Nature, Noise, and Nostalgia: A Walk Through Deep Run Park
You ever take a walk just for the sake of walking? No destination, no ticking clock, just you and the great wide somewhere? That’s how my mornings usually start at Deep Run Park, with my little four-legged philosopher buddy. He’s got this whole meditation thing down—sniffing at every tree like he’s deciphering ancient scrolls, leaving…
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Officer, I Swear This All Makes Sense
Years ago, back when I was working for one of the big railroads – and let me tell you, it’s exactly as glamorous as it sounds – I found myself piloting a big, lumbering SUV down I-85 South. I was leaving Virginia for North Carolina, a state with barbecue so good it could make a…
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Weekend at the dog park
The weekend mornings at the dog park were like stepping into a storybook, a place where the air seemed alive with whispers of joy and the trees, swaying gently, seemed to beckon all who passed, murmuring their leafy greetings. My little dog knew the magic of those mornings well. The moment he saw me reaching…
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Spring’s First Breath
And what a morning! One of those rare ones that feels like it’s been waiting all winter just to unfold right in front of you. If I had the voice for it, I’d throw my head back and sing—something grand, something worthy of the world stretching its arms after a long, cold sleep. Hard to…
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A Moment of Reflection
I’ve been thinking a lot about something I posted recently—about history, about monuments, about the things we choose to remember and how we choose to remember them. And while I stand by what I said, I also recognize that saying it the way I did may have hurt some of my neighbors, people I share…
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The lil Dog vs. The Arctic Wasteland
Walking through the frozen landscape of our neighborhood yesterday morning was like stepping onto the set of The Day After Tomorrow—except with fewer Hollywood stars and more chance of me slipping on an invisible ice patch and making a complete fool of myself. Everything was frozen solid. The trees looked like they’d been dipped in…
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Frozen Stillness
Winter has come back to Henrico, and this time, she’s brought her full artillery. Everything is wrapped in ice—the trees, the sidewalks, the cars sitting like forgotten relics in driveways. The grass is gone, buried under a thick crust of frozen rain, and even the squirrels, usually nature’s little daredevils, have called it a day.…
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Avenue of Heroes: Reclaiming Legacy with True American Titans
This may sound a bit controversial—though, let’s be honest, controversy is just another word for honesty people don’t want to hear—but I overheard a discussion about Monument Avenue and the removal of Confederate statues. One person said, “But it’s part of Richmond’s landscape!” True. But so were open sewers and rickety wooden bridges, and we…
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Winter in Richmond, VA
Well, here we are in Richmond, where winter’s cruel sense of humor is on full display. For weeks, we’ve waited, begged, and stared at the heavens like expectant children hoping Santa would drop a dusting of white magic upon our otherwise dreary January. And finally, yesterday, it happened—the glorious arrival of snow. Not just any…
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