• The No. 1 song in the U.S. of A. on the day I was born was “How Much is That Doggie in the Window” by Doris Day. The No. 1 song on my 18th birthday was “Me and Bobby McGee” by Janis Joplin. That kind of tells you everything about the transformation of pop culture while I was growing up.
• Part of my morning routine is doing a word game called “Today’s Hurdle,” which is like Wordle only quintupled. You have six chances each to guess four 5-letter words, and then you have two chances for the final Hurdle, with the first four words serving as the first four guesses.
Yesterday I found myself staring at S-I-E, and my first instinct was to guess SLIME. It turns out that I had the letters right but in the wrong order. I guess I’m a “slime first, then smile,” kind of guy.
• Sometimes when I settle into a chair, I remind myself of Peter Falk in A Princess Bride with all his grunts and groans, except that I’m not sitting down to read to a little boy.
• Sunrise today is 7:19 a.m. in these parts. I really prefer the days of the year when the sun has been up for several hours by then.
• The chicken on top of my refrigerator needs dusting.
• I usually write the date and the day of the week to start my journal entries. Yesterday, in addition to “Thursday, December 11, 2025,” I wrote “Volume 73, number 264,” similar to how daily newspapers are numbered. The idea was to suggest an edition, or a chapter, of this daily publication that is my life — Thursday was the 264th day since my birthday, and this is my 73rd trip around the sun. I may keep doing that.
• The WordPress algorithm always picks three “Related” posts from my past efforts, and yesterday’s “Random Thoughts” moved the system to recommend my Christmas 2023 post, “A different kind of tears.” It took me back to that first Christmas without my beloved Red and made me grateful for everything that has happened since that lonely holiday.
• I wonder what posts the machine will suggest that are “Related” to this second day of randomness.
