Column: Subways, buses are how he rolled in NYC

On vacation in New York, I bought a MetroCard transit pass and used the heck out of it over the next few days. Best $34 I ever spent. I also did a lot of walking and stair climbing. I talk about the experience, and recount some highlights (and one lowlight) from my trip, in my Sunday column. Have you been to New York? Did you love it, hate it or somewhere in between?

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Column: Mixup sends musician figures packing

I owned a series of five metal figures of musicians for 20 years and sometimes wondered if they were cool, as I’d thought originally, or cheesy. Recently I gave them away, by accident. I write about that in Friday’s latest from-home column.

Some backstory: This incident actually happened in late December, which may stretch the definition of “a few weeks ago” in the column. (To be fair, when I wrote it this week, I was thinking this had taken place in February, until realizing otherwise.) The situation had seemed amusing enough to make a column out of, but I didn’t get around to it until now, while sick at home. Whether it was worth writing or whether we’d all have been better off without it, that’s not for me to say, but I hope the former!

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Column: Heat finally melted resolve against air conditioning

My lack of air conditioning at home is moderately well known among longtime readers. Over the summer, I couldn’t take it anymore and got two portable units for my rental. I write about this milestone in my Wednesday column.

I’d been meaning to address this since July, when this took place, but what with one thing or another, it didn’t get done. Last weekend’s surprise heat wave seemed to offer one last excuse this calendar year, and I was able to find the notes I’d made the afternoon of the installation on the back of an envelope. Voila, a column.

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Column: On SF trip, bookstores are his Treasure Island

Belatedly writing about my vacation last month, I share my visits to bookstores and record stores — eight of the former, three of the latter — in my Sunday column.

You may recall that I wrote about showing my vaccination card all over the place, but my intention to write about what I did while I was away kept getting put off for local news and features. To me, though, it’s important now and then to simply share a slice of my life.

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