Hello from the spiral!

The morning I poured all the coffee grounds into the coffee pot set the tone for how the rest of my week would go.

This time Tuesday morning, I began planning this week’s newsletter. I had two good ideas and decided to publish one without sharing it and write the other Tuesday evening, edit Wednesday and have it in your mailbox this morning.

The best-laid plans of mice…

It’s been an insane 48 hours and the details are boring and whiney so I want to at least share the one story I did publish this week. Here it is:

The Soul-Sucking Prospect of a Free Lunch

Tony Russo

·

May 16

I don’t want to badmouth a restaurant I’ve never been inside, but this is unappetizing on multiple levels. It’s important to let you know that this place used to be a Golden Corral and fair to admit I have some biased (if very hazy) memories. I didn’t have a “bad” meal, during my first and l…

Read full story

I’m really sensitive about flooding your inbox which is why I didn’t send this when it went live. The other story was going to be about Smash Rooms and how terrifying their very existence ought to be.

I also wanted to share with you a story about the modern-day Robinhoods who are saving people’s cars from the worst of America. Two ladies bought keys to car boots and are going around Atlanta freeing cars from boots that have been applied by private contractors working for “private” neighborhoods to punish people for parking there.

I love everything about this story, particularly the locksmith who’s like, “Sure, I’ll sell you the universal boot keys for $50.” His sales have gone through the roof as word has gotten out.

Also, people have attacked these women for helping because that’s how repressed they are. Maybe they need to go to a Smash Room and pretend to work out their shit.

Apologies again for the short(ish) note. I’ll check back soon (maybe with video!!!).

Keep the Faith,

Tony

Postscript

One of the happy excuses for not having a full newsletter is that I have a truncated deadline this week as I head to Frostburg for my youngest daughter’s college graduation. She recently let slip that she’s graduating with honors and that the honors folks get their own, separate graduation a day early.

Remember that if you’re reading this, you’re already subscribed to participate in the Chats and Notes aspects of this little project. Here’s one of each that I posted this week.

I’ve been providing a running commentary about how my crossword puzzles intersect (Ha!) with real life in the chat and also throwing out some starting points for conversations that I would love to have. Take a look at them because I’d love to hear your thoughts.

From Notes:

For the record, I saw the new SU president recently and she seemed like a nice enough person. You can’t be held accountable for the gifts you receive. Someone needs to be in charge of seeing why things are stupid. I think that’s what my primary skill is. It’s unfortunate but you play the cards you’re dealt.

Anyway, let’s have a great weeked.

TR