commentaries

I really hope the predictions of warmer weather this weekend are going to become a reality. I don’t think my little dog can stand anymore of this super cold stuff. Rissa, my little collie/rat terrier mix, has had about enough of staying indoors. And frankly, she’s driving me...

There has been no shortage of complaining about this winter we are currently experiencing. This winter that, it sometimes feels, will linger on into spring, elbow its way past summer and make itself comfortable on a bed of fall leaves right up to the point it laps itself like that...

For 17 days this month some of the greatest athletes in the world gathered in Sochi, Russia to showcase their athletic abilities. To come together in the spirit of friendly competition and push to the very limits a human being’s ability to balance on slippery surfaces. The winter...

I was a little surprised, two weeks ago, when I got an email asking me to speak in front of a Farmington High School desktop publishing class. I got the email from FHS teacher Mark Toutge. I’ve known him for years, but this was the first time I’d been asked to come into a classroom...

Thanks to the Internet, I now know that if I were an Avenger, I would be the Incredible Hulk, that buff green beast with the big biceps, puny vocabulary and serious anger management issues. It makes sense, I guess. Anybody who knows me will tell you about my hair-trigger temper and...

Bit by bit, room by room, environmental inconvenience by environmental inconvenience, I have begun to exert my control over the weather patterns in my home. It didn’t used to be like this. For most of the six years I’ve owned my house I’ve mostly been happy to take things as...

I like to make jokes. If you've read this column, you probably know that. Or maybe you didn’t realize I've been making jokes all this time and instead have been checking back each week for trenchant political commentary. If that's the case,I I’m pretty curious about your political...

By the time this issue of the Independent Town Pages reaches mailboxes I will be somewhere west of Nebraska and east of San Francisco. I’m taking a road trip to deliver my dad’s car to California so he and my step-mom will have it available to them when they spend three months...

Minnesota residents kind of lost their collective minds this week as the result of some colder than usual weather. Governor Mark Dayton canceled school statewide Monday, making him a hero to thousands of Minnesotans who are too young to vote for him. Rainbow stores closed their doors...

I took last Thursday off from work. I had to. I had something very important to do. I had to go help make gingerbread houses. My brother and his wife have 5-year-old twins who are in kindergarten in Hastings. One boy, one girl. Everything is exciting and busy when those two are...

Maybe the most annoying sign the holiday season is upon us each year is the return of commercials from luxury auto makers suggesting that a high-priced car is an entirely reasonable gift for the person you love. Or at least the person you most want to appreciate you for your bank...

Black Friday shopping: some people love it, and some hate it. For those of you that love it, I’m with you 100 percent. It’s a girls dream to walk into a store and see those glorious signs announcing “Buy one get one free” or “Buy one get one half off.” Being a crazed...

November came to an end on Saturday, and as it departed so did a lot of questionable facial hair. That any of it remained is a testament to just how many men are able to convince themselves that they look good with a beard. It also suggests some people aren’t clear on what, exactly,...

I took my little 11-pound turkey out of the freezer and put it into the refrigerator Sunday afternoon. That much, I knew to do. Anything else, from here on out, is all going to be part of what I’m now calling The Great Turkey Experiment of 2013. For the record, I am 46 years...

We celebrate Thanksgiving is this week: America’s annual opportunity for friends and family to come together, sit around their dining room table and make plans for their Black Friday shopping. It’s just like the Pilgrims, who were notoriously cheap when it came to their Christmas...