Monthly Archives: April 2002

Sunday’s NY Times Magazine chronicles the sad saga of Elizabeth Shin, the M.I.T. student who committed suicide two years ago. She and her parents seemed to have been caught up in the culture of over-achievement way before college, and the … Continue reading →

Marriage — as its veterans know well — is the continuous process of getting used to things you hadn’t expected. – Tom Mullen I had no idea when we got married that my wife would be the one with the … Continue reading →

Washington Post columnist Richard Morin wrote last month that “Instead of rejoicing when our wives start making bigger contributions to the family income, we husbands tend to become more gloomy, suffer more headaches and generally feel more pressured and stressed,” … Continue reading →

A long and thorough Providence Journal article on the lost art of going to confession for Catholics. But it misses another key reason that confession has fallen out of favor for most Catholics: the way that most priests administer the … Continue reading →

Lynn, who maintains the LynnUnleashed weblog, posted a interesting commentary about my Men, pit bulls, and a woman columnist piece and pointed me to it. My wife says to say she agrees with you 100%, Lynn. Oh oh. My hunch … Continue reading →

This article chronicles how current “…American pop culture sees dead people.” Jeesh, I had no idea there were so many books and TV shows on this. Just a week ago, I picked up the current issue of Skeptic magazine, after … Continue reading →

I can imagine having a Real Joe syndicated newspaper column someday. I’d be happy, right? I also can imagine that the day would come when I’d write a column which would generate 2,300 emails, most of them hateful, and some … Continue reading →

Or how about “Straight, but not narrow“? I like both those phrases, which I just learned from this article about a high school senior who created a Gay-Straight Alliance at her school, caught hell from her peers for years, but … Continue reading →

Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it. – Mahatma Gandhi Trying to save your kid’s tadpole just might be one of those memories he has of you that crystallizes his perception of … Continue reading →

Doc Searls has a cool little story in his blog about how he used Google to try to save his 5 yr. old son’s tadpole. It’s an seemingly insignificant snapshot from his life as a dad and a techie. He … Continue reading →

The FDA’s approval of Botox has the pundits all atwitter. To wit: William Saffire says a “furrowed brow gives the impression of a brain thinking deep thoughts… how will a politician be able to measure a voter’s reaction to the … Continue reading →

The Real Joe home page now has a Spyonit button to remind non-subscribers that they can get notified via email alerts whenever The Real Joe Blog changes… or any web site page, for that matter. It’s simple and effective.

Mwsg replied to my post about chemical use and abuse: “I have certainly abused both alcohol and drugs, but because of what I was taught by my parents, I was able to learn the hard lesson that came from doing … Continue reading →

My wife and I met some of our old co-workers for lunch recently and one guy, after seeing my electronic gizmos (Palm Vx, collapsible keyboard, Omnisky modem) and hearing about my web sites and online contract work, marvelled at my … Continue reading →

Articles like this one, How Men Can Stay Mentally Fit, bug the hell out of me, even when they’ve got good things to say. On the one hand, these experts are all saying that men have a harder time than … Continue reading →

“Asking for Directions” is a New Hampshire project that explores how men deal with health care. It’s featured in this Intelihealth article on how we typically avoid getting help for physical ailments, titled, Men Get Road Maps To Health. Lest … Continue reading →

A witty, insightful piece: Glasses, like small breasts, seem to be one of those things that women automatically assume men find unattractive. We are all tied to the belief that glasses denote intelligence, while not being a guarantee of it. … Continue reading →

“You may have the company of perhaps at least one of your children. To be the author of that is an unspeakable crime.” That from U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum at the sentencing of investor George Kline. The judge gave … Continue reading →

Dan posted an interesting comment on Monday about drug education. Dan, when my sons were in the teens, we told them that we viewed pot and alcohol use about the same. Each can be used relatively safely and each can … Continue reading →

On Death and Dying: A Columnist’s Final Story “Gene Amole is a giant of Denver journalism and the heart of the Rocky Mountain News. In October, he told his readers in a front-page column that he was dying. What an … Continue reading →

Peggy Noonan wrote last week that the only thing left is to pray for peace in the Middle East. Karol Wojtyla during World War II, long before he became Pope John Paul II…helped friends in the Resistance, but he did … Continue reading →

Phil Mickelson, the best golfer never to win a major (0-for-39) and who’s often prickly when confronted with this by the media, had a better attitude when beaten by Tiger Woods at the Masters on Sunday. He and his wife, … Continue reading →

I was certain to get a juicy God-as-the-wizard quote when I saw this headline: Pastor’s church burns one week after husband’s death. It was lightning that caused the fire, too. What was God thinking?!! But alas, sanity prevails. Neither she … Continue reading →

I seldom find anything positive to say positive about movie stars. But here are a couple of quotes worth noting: In a Sunday NY Times article on Ethan Hawke: Mr. Hawke speaks of his wife with great devotion, yet he … Continue reading →

I’ve added a Testimonials page. Real quotes from real people. Email addresses are slightly altered to prevent automated harvesting by spammers.