Alex Carrick’s Blog

I don’t understand how women think. It’s been a mystery to me all my life and I expect it will continue to confound me ‘til the day I die. I had a perfectly reasonable idea for how our family should spend the holidays this year. It was practical, do-able and would have saved us a […]

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“Dinosaur Spots Comet in Sky.” “That’s the headline I’m going with,” said Dilly the crocodile to Tony the T-Rex, as they faced each other across the entranceway to the latter’s luxurious cave. It was the most modern of eras in an alternative universe containing the 88th iteration of “standard” earth where the animals had evolved […]

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This story is based on a popular joke which I believe has the wrong punch line, that a talking dog turns out to be a big liar. If one starts with the conclusion, then what might the background be? Also, please be sure to read the supplementary section in italics at the end of this tale. […]

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“Keep your voice down. I don’t want either of us to get into trouble. There are some things that aren’t talked about up here.” Jebediah Senior and Jebediah Junior were meeting in heaven for the first time since the former’s death thirty-five years earlier in a car crash and the latter’s recent shackles-shedding on account […]

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“Start with a ‘hook’. It can be an exceptional title. Or a nifty idea. Even a joke, as long as it’s original. That’s where I begin. Then embellish it. Work backwards if you have to. And always, always, keep in mind the primary question – will this keep a reader interested?” That was the gist […]

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The Carrick family thinks it has the nicest pet dog in the world, a beautiful golden retriever named Daisy. But even we know there are times when Daisy seems a little lazy. A dozen-plus examples follow. (1) She once had a race with the oak tree in our back yard. The oak won, the dandelions […]

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There are three nations that have survived the recession quite well, thank you very much, due to their raw material riches – Australia, Brazil and Canada. It would seem to be a natural progression for these three countries to come together in a new economic bloc to be known as the ABC nations.   Canada […]

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To understand the current medical-coverage debate in the United States, you have to know your history. When President Bill Clinton was first elected, his wife Hillary took on the task of comparison shopping around the world to determine the best medical plans. The conclusion was that the most outstanding coverage was offered by Hogwarts Academy in […]

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Six co-workers were gathered in a hotel room in Dallas, Texas because they were concerned about one of their own. Raj had come to work for the large consulting firm a year before and he was liked by everyone.   Lately, though, he seemed bothered and distracted. Far from his home in Mumbai, he was stressed […]

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I was driving in my car the other day when a news item came over the radio that made me really pause and think. Apparently there has been such a shopping spree for guns in the United States that there is now, not just a shortage of ammunition, but a “critical” shortage. That’s how the […]

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