Category: Getting It Off Your Chest
The Humboldt Park Alligator Saga bothers me and I'm not sure why
Earlier this week a friend shared a post on Facebook about an alligator discovered in the lagoon at Humboldt Park. Uncle Ivars posts frequently about many bizarre and diverse things, usually ahead of the wave of things that go viral. I shared it with the following: Fucking gentrification. When I lived in Humboldt Park, no self-respecting... Read more »
Letgo is the Tinder of furniture selling apps
In a pre-move effort, or at least an attempt to light a fire under our butts and look for a new house, We have made the decision to start getting rid of the clutter. This was before I had even heard of Marie Kondo and we aren’t getting rid of things that don’t give us... Read more »
Summer of 99: When It all went to Hell
This time of year always brings me back to the Summer of 1999 when I experienced a terrible Series of Unfortunate Events. I lost my job. I broke my toe. My roommate and I were not getting along. I got mugged. And I let someone special get away. Hat tip to Nina Vallone of YouKnowKeen. ... Read more »
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Why I hate financial services online sites
Like many people, I have two retirement accounts: the one at work because of matching funds and the one that is the culmination of past jobs’ 401K accounts that got transferred once the job terminated. About once a quarter I attempt to log into my retirement online accounts to see how they are doing. I... Read more »
Hey Alderman: Let the teenager sell me alcohol already!
Scene: Me in a long line at Jewel. My Super Power is the ability to always choose the slowest moving line. If there are three registers open, no matter which one I pick, it will grind to a halt. Finally it’s my turn and the young checkout clerk (what do they call them these days?)... Read more »
Groupon Customer Support Fail
The other day my wife sent me an email with a link to a Groupon Deal. This deal was only available for customers who receive the promotional email directly from Groupon. However, after purchasing the deal, Groupon prompted my wife to share the deal via email with her friends, hence her forwarding it to me.... Read more »
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Who cares if Cursive Writing becomes Extinct?
I have always hated my manual writing. Both my cursive and my printing suck (my writing sucks in many ways, but it is especially noticeable on the visual level). I do take pen to paper now and again when taking notes or writing up the first draft of some writing opus. But I usually... Read more »
9 things that annoyed me this week
While I wish I could lead a more easy-going, zen lifestyle, I’m just not wired that way. I often get annoyed at the most trivial things and even if I ignore them to the best of my ability, they seem to become cumulative. I miss a turn light I could totally have made had it... Read more »
Three valuable Friendship Lessons
Stop me if I’ve written about this before…or just read anyway. Recently a friend reached out to me about Mutual_Friend who was being a twatcycle to them. I listened for about 20 seconds before interrupting: “oh sorry to hear, I’m sure it will work itself out.” If you don’t know me, that’s not that kind... Read more »
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When History repeats itself, it's an opportunity to take the other path
Like most people, I periodically clean out the friends list on the ole Book of Faces, removing people who don’t interact with me, log in very often or not make one of the Bucket Criteria. In general I’m unfriending people that don’t fit one of the criteria for being a friend/connection on FB. I discovered... Read more »
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Meet The Blogger

Michael Messinger
I am a Chicago native who grew up in Humboldt Park and now lives in Portage Park. If Nikola Tesla and Ernest Hemingway had a love child, I'm the Polish version of him with a little Dave Barry thrown in for spice. I went to two colleges for undergrad: I started at NMSU as a pre-engineering major and finished at UIC with a degree in communications which was as close to Journalism as they offered. I was editor of a student newspaper at UIC in the early days of the internet. I have successfully run 22 marathons and may be reached at therunninggod@gmail.com, on twitter @MysteriesOLife or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/MysteriesOfLifeblog
Recent posts
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How Realistic Should Sci-Fi Be? »
Michael Messinger on Mysteries of LifePosted April 15, 2022 at 12:14 pm -
The Tale of My Scale »
Michael Messinger on Mysteries of LifePosted January 8, 2022 at 7:23 am -
Types of People you meet on Facebook Marketplace »
Michael Messinger on Mysteries of LifePosted December 4, 2021 at 6:30 am -
The opposite of Mansplaining »
Michael Messinger on Mysteries of LifePosted July 7, 2021 at 6:00 am -
The 100 series finale recap: The Fight is Over »
Michael Messinger on Mysteries of LifePosted October 4, 2020 at 11:55 am
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