Just don’t hurt people

Want to make the world a better place? The solution is simple.

Put me in charge of everything.

Sure, allowing one person to decide everything by fiat may be a little frightening, but as long as people remember the “dictator” part of “benevolent dictator,” I would try to remember the “benevolent” part.

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Some things should be obvious, but …

The home team had won, and we had a great time.

All that was left before Suzi and I made the 90-minute trip home after the Connecticut Sun game at Mohegan Sun Arena was a pit stop in the restroom.

Which is where I saw it on the back of a stall door.

The week gone by — Aug. 29

My ideal state for organizing things is mostly neat, with just a touch of messiness because I like putting the stuff I need where I can see it.

Sometimes it goes too far, like at a former office where I had so many old papers stacked on my desk that it literally felt like the walls were closing in.

But it works most of the time, to the point where too much organization leaves me unable to find things.

Did my parents miss a trick?

Suzi and I hadn’t been dating very long when we went out to dinner with my father and brother.

Even in that relatively early stage in our relationship, she knew that it was a requirement to comment on my distaste for vegetables and salads Every. Single. Time.

So when I moved or refused whatever greenery was on offer, she said something to my father, and he replied that if he really wanted to, he could still make me eat it.

I, in my late 20s at the time, didn’t dare say anything.

I almost jinxed it

A “nothingburger” … I called it a “nothingburger.”

To be honest, it was a myopic view.

Yes, Henri had been downgraded to a tropical storm and moved to the west before making landfall, making it even less of a concern for us, but the wind and rain still caused a lot of problems.

The week gone by — Aug. 22*

Yes, I am aware that I posted it Aug. 21. I kept the Sunday date in the interest of consistency, but keep reading to see why I decided to release it into the world a day early.

I don’t remember the context, but I was listening to a story one morning on the local public radio station and heard someone referred to as a theoretical physicist and a menswear expert.

All I could think of was Sheldon Cooper guaranteeing that I would like the way I look.

Even if I don’t go back, I’ll always be tempted

It comes every year, whether in the mail, on social media or both, and it’s tempting every year.

It’s from my alma mater, Utica College, inviting me to the annual Homecoming weekend.

This year’s is a big one, too, and not just because it was cancelled last year for the obvious reason. It’s also celebrating the college’s 75th anniversary.

The week gone by — Aug. 15

“The world in which we live equally distributes talent, but it doesn’t equally distribute opportunity.”

I am not sure of its the line’s origin or its speaker — I only did a cursory search on Google for the commencement speaker in the ad for a local college — and it sounds like an inversion of the argument over equality of opportunity versus equality of outcome.

But no matter the context (and the possibility of my taking out of context, since it was a short clip) or who’s saying it, I want to throw something every time I hear it.

Just ask, and I’ll show you

Suzi announced that I may have a reason to pull my vaccination card out of my wallet.

Briefly, my mind wandered to unexpected travel or a shots-required concert that she had ordered tickets for but I didn’t even know about it yet.

It wasn’t either of those things. Instead, it was that The Bushnell in Hartford would be requiring attendees to be vaccinated for any shows through Oct. 31.

There’s also a mask mandate, which I’m not thrilled about, but I’ll deal with it.

The week gone by — Aug. 8

Life is full of choices, and Aaron has provided us with this one.