Archive for April 2018

Routines: good or bad? It depends.

My favorite daily routine since I retired begins a few minutes after waking up. I eat breakfast, make a pot of tea, and settle into my reading chair with the Chicago Tribune. Lizzy, my cat, usually climbs into my lap. The next hour, give or take, is splendid. The routine was disrupted a week ago... Read more »
By Marianne Goss,
April 30, 2018 at 9:13 am
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When Trump makes us nostalgic for past presidents

I was no fan of either of the Bush presidents. But while watching a bit of Barbara Bush’s funeral, I found myself wishing they were back in the seat of government. That is how far afield Donald Trump has taken a progressive Democrat. I have to remind myself about style versus substance. It’s dignity I’m... Read more »
By Marianne Goss,
April 23, 2018 at 1:47 pm
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Telling people what they don’t want to hear

My niece Ashley recently made her college choice after a long, uncertain process. She’s going to Miami of Ohio, a public university about 45 minutes northwest of Cincinnati and two hours from her suburban Indianapolis home. I first learned about Miami when Ashley’s sister was looking at colleges and liked it immediately. One of the... Read more »
By Marianne Goss,
April 16, 2018 at 7:25 am
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Hoping for better luck next year with DIY tax preparation

It was going on late afternoon, and I was still in my pajamas. Not that I’d been lazy — on the contrary, I’d been very occupied. I was filling out the 1040 using software from the IRS website. And everything had gone badly. “Let Free File do the hard work for you” the IRS site says. Indeed,... Read more »
By Marianne Goss,
April 10, 2018 at 8:03 am
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I never joined Facebook

Unlike the estimated 58 percent of American adults with an account, I never joined Facebook. I can’t claim, however, to have expected that users’ data would be misappropriated. I just didn’t want to bother. Some friends urged me to join so that we could stay up on one another’s lives. One said flat out that... Read more »
By Marianne Goss,
April 4, 2018 at 9:39 am
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