Alex Carrick’s Blog

This story doesn’t need much preamble. Besides, I like to keep my writing short these days. Maybe it’s a by-product of growing crankier. From a man’s point of view, the following are advance indicators that you may be approaching the “senior” years. (1) You read episode summaries of your favorite TV shows on the Internet […]

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I went to the dentist’s office this morning. To help foster a personal touch, there’s a notation on my chart that I’m an economist, so she usually begins our sessions by asking me where I think interest rates are headed. This time, however, my body language was such that she skipped the formalities and we […]

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The 19th century writers Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker were among the first great environmentalists. Their creations – Frankenstein’s “monster” and Count Dracula respectively ‒ blazed new trails in preserving scarce resources. In his research and during the operation that led to his triumph, Dr. Frankenstein was careful to use the purest form of electric […]

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Certain professional comedians believe they have a sacred duty to uncover something funny in every situation ‒ natural disasters and human misfortune be damned. As an individual who often writes material that is intended to be humorous, I may sympathize with this approach even while cringeing. When the average man or woman attempts such levity, […]

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In the political debates leading up to, during and following the recent government shutdown in Washington, a lot of “what ifs” were thrown around by some of the participants. This led me to consider some intriguing what-ifs that might be proposed for the animal kingdom. Here are a dozen or so. Keep in mind it’s […]

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We’re experiencing a winter without snow in Toronto. Actually, it’s been a late 2011 and early 2012 without much of a winter. In technical terms, the days between December 21 and March 21 are marching by. But they’re scurrying along much quicker without my having to shovel snow and worry about skidding all over the road while […]

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Washington has a huge debt problem and the Democrats, Republicans and Tea Party can’t agree on which comes first, increase taxes or lower spending. Here are some innovative answers I’ve come up with, combining both approaches and some “outside the box” ideas, to break the impasse. (1) Privatize the issuing of birth certificates to Donald […]

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Charley Van Dearon was an outdoorsy type who liked fishing, hunting and even scrapping when the occasion warranted. He was rugged of demeanor, with an excess of vigor to go along with a fun-loving nature. Still, he was no one-dimensional cartoon. He had a sensitive and romantic side with deeper thoughts than many of his […]

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Since video book trailers are now all the rage, the following is the script for the first foray into the field by Donna and myself. This is a little self-serving, no doubt about it, plus there is some catharsis. The camera starts rolling. ALEX: Hi everyone, my name is Alex Carrick and I’m here to tell […]

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Here are sixteen new highly-sophisticated road jokes. (1) Why did all the world’s politicians cross the road? The bridge? The highway? To take credit for the infrastructure work. (2) Why did Jack Bauer cross the road? He finished torturing all the terrorists on this side. (3) Why did Gregory House cross the road? To avoid walking under a ladder, […]

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