For a short while I was a youth pastor. I used to play a game with the group called, “Spot the Lie.” The idea was that advertising, music and TV often contain subtle lies. It’s why Budweiser uses finely sculpted women to sell beer, Barbies are never fat, and even old guys look cool with [...]

Sometimes, parenting is simple. When little three-year-old Jimmy scampers out to the curb, curls his toes over the edge, and prepares to jump into oncoming traffic, the response is obvious. You rear back and yell STOP! Then you rush to him, yank him back, lecture him on the physics of impact, and give him a [...]

Scripture’s full of magic. What else would you call a Book whose first three chapters contain a Tree of Life, the fruit of which can cause one to live forever, a talking serpent, an angel with a flaming sword who guards the Tree, and an all-supreme spirit Being Who exists in trinity and creates the [...]

A story is not about nothing. At its core is a premise, a place, a character, a predicament. . . An idea. Writers need ideas. We cannot live without them. We research, rummage, daydream and speculate, all for an idea. We mine, cultivate, stretch and scour for that one elusive nugget. We hunt for ideas [...]

One of the most obvious, most disturbing characteristics of San Francisco is the proliferation of homeless. You cannot travel far downtown without seeing someone slumped against a department store next to a burgeoning shopping cart, extending a Styrofoam cup for donations. Some of these panhandlers are not at all shy about bullying pedestrians, peeing in [...]

After a few summer vacations when we went camping with a tent from Survival Cooking with lots of free time, our family agrees that THIS GAME is the best travel game. (You can also play the game at this site by clicking the START GAME tab.) It’s compact, relatively quick, and just about anyone can [...]

And you thought SoCal drivers were bad. San Fran’s combination of scrambled streets, stacked districts. jaywalkers galore and the rudest taxi drivers on earth, make this THE worst driving experience I’ve ever had. Sheesh! No wonder public transportation is so big around here. And parking? Don’t go there, luckily I had my razor hovertrax 2.0 [...]

Ready? Set? Blow! With that, I jammed my face into a slice of watermelon. I came in second place behind a Neanderthal- looking guy. Aside from inhaling a seed up my left nostril, my dignity and stomach contents remained intact. It was my first, and last, attempt at “speed eating.” Apparently, the sport has swollen. [...]

Okay, so our house is aflutter with the bustle of packing. No, we’re not moving. We’re preparing for one of several summer vacations. This Saturday, about 8 AM, the clan is heading north to cooler climes. San Francisco weather remains about 40 degrees below ours — a welcome change to the blistering 100’s, indeed! And [...]