Blogs

Now that my office has new flooring and is finally so clean that it could win an award from Good Housekeeping, I am turning over a new leaf.

Actually, 17 new leaves, which belong to a houseplant that my wife, Sue, gave to me so I could have someone (or something) to talk to when I am lonely or need inspiration so I can write drivel like this.

From Erma Bombeck’s neighbor Phil Donahue to Saturday Night Live legends and Pulitzer Prize winners, the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop has drawn some of the most iconic names in writing and comedy as keynote speakers since its founding at the University of Dayton in 2000.

On my birthday this year, I’ll turn 55 years old. I’m not sure that’s an impressive milestone, but I do believe it's the average shelf life of the bottle of Worcestershire sauce in the back of most American refrigerators.

As a newspaper columnist whose specialty is doing nothing and writing about it, I thought I had a dream job.

Then I met Raminder, a technician whose job was to watch me dream and record what I did in bed — it was nothing to write home about — during a sleep study.