What's been going on around here lately
The Swedish Academy’s decision to not award the Nobel Prize in Literature this spring hit me hard, of course. I figured this would be my year and was counting on the cash prize of a cool million bucks. A man needs a little boost now and then. I know I do. People associate me with radio but I was also a Novelist — okay? Novels. With characters and dialogue. Lonely guys looking out rain-spattered windows at bare trees and wondering, “Who am I anyway?”
I did some of that last Saturday morning. I am married to a perfectionist, and so my faults are more clear to me than necessary. I am 75 years old, people. How many men of 75 are actively engaged in self-improvement? Are there rehab programs for us? Inspirational books aimed at us? No.
I was looking out a rain-spattered window, thinking long thoughts, when a wild turkey strolled into our backyard and onto the terrace as if he owned the place. My love and I live in the middle of a big city, but on the steep wooded slope behind us, raccoons live, and a fox, and wild turkeys who roost in the trees and grow very large because we’re all liberals around here and nobody has a shotgun to shoot them with.
The turkey stood preening himself ten feet away from me, unconcerned about trespassing, and it made me think about freedom, which I experienced for a few years in my childhood. We lived in the country where a boy could disappear into the woods and run around without adult supervision for most of the day. Believe it or not, we had no pagers or cellphones on us to allow our parents to keep close tabs. Kidnappers could’ve descended and taken us away, bound and gagged, in souped-up roadsters and demanded a ransom of a million in nonconsecutive bills. They didn’t because our parents didn’t have the dough. And my parents had other children. Spares. So we were safe, tearing around shooting cap pistols, waving our cowboy hats, and re-enacting white racist violence against native peoples in a way children would not be allowed to do today. When I see a pickup truck with NRA and Confederate flag bumper stickers on it, I see myself when I was eight. Been there.
And in this moment of reverie, my true love said to me, “You really need to do something about your desk.”
I don’t run a perfectionist desk. Like our president, I believe in the creative power of chaos. I thrive on confusion. And my wife is sort of the Washington Post in my life. I come out with a big pronouncement and she says, “But yesterday you told me —” etc.
Marriage to a perfectionist offers many benefits, don’t get me wrong. The kitchen is tidy, the rugs harmonize with the furniture, tools and other necessities are well organized so you don’t run around looking for toilet paper and find it stashed in the china closet.
On the other hand, there are moments when I realize I’m being observed as I perform some simple task such as pouring water out of a boot — she is watching to make sure I do it correctly. She goes through my wastebasket and extracts tiny recyclable things and shows them to me. She has carried on a long-running campaign to get me to take a daily walk at a brisk pace and thereby live longer so she can go on perfecting me into my eighties and nineties.
What I need at this point is a big burst of self-esteem and so I imagined the phone ringing and a Swede announcing that I — me — yours truly — not Philip Roth, not some unknown Lithuanian poet — had won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
And I would walk into the kitchen where the love of my life is standing by the refrigerator, and she’d say, “You left a full carton of milk sitting out on the counter and I don’t know how long it’s been sitting here, do you?” And I’d say, “We’re going to Stockholm this fall. We’ll fly first class. We need to buy some dress-up clothes. I won the Nobel Prize in Literature, Babe.”
This column is a mess and I know it. Very poorly organized. But if I were a Nobel laureate, you’d think it were a work of genius. You wouldn’t think, “Should that be ‘were’ or should it be ‘was?’” You’d think, “He won the Nobel, it must be ‘were.’” And so it is.
How I Was Scammed Through Crypto scam $923,000,00. / Optimum Hackers Recovery Regain all my Funds Back
i want to share my great thought about optimum hackers recovery with anyone who is finding it difficult to recover their lost crypto or bank acct recovery.
After Reading peoples comment on the online here and i decided contacting OPTIMUM HACKER RECOVERY EXPERTS, However being scammed, i decided to give OPTIMUM HACKER RECOVERY a Try, i lost 12 BTC on Bitcoin investment, I saw messages from someone comment here and i decided to give a try to A wonderful genuine Hacker called OPTIMUM HACKERS RECOVERY Pro who help me to recover my stolen money from my wallet address account and he also help to recover Bitcoin, They also track any device or any lost funds, track your partner and get their location, You can also contact him on for other Cyber Attacks And Hijackings, Facebook recovering ETC. here is their company contact.
Email: support@optimumhackersrecovery.com
Website: https://optimumhackersrecovery.com
WhatsApp: + 1-256-256-8636
How I Was Scammed Through Crypto scam $923,000,00. / Optimum Hackers Recovery Regain all my Funds Back
i want to share my great thought about optimum hackers recovery with anyone who is finding it difficult to recover their lost crypto or bank acct recovery.
After Reading peoples comment on the online here and i decided contacting OPTIMUM HACKER RECOVERY EXPERTS, However being scammed, i decided to give OPTIMUM HACKER RECOVERY a Try, i lost 12 BTC on Bitcoin investment, I saw messages from someone comment here and i decided to give a try to A wonderful genuine Hacker called OPTIMUM HACKERS RECOVERY Pro who help me to recover my stolen money from my wallet address account and he also help to recover Bitcoin, They also track any device or any lost funds, track your partner and get their location, You can also contact him on for other Cyber Attacks And Hijackings, Facebook recovering ETC. here is their company contact.
Email: support@optimumhackersrecovery.com
Website: https://optimumhackersrecovery.com
WhatsApp: + 1-256-256-8636
I fell victim to a bitcoin fraud two months ago, where a scammer took $124,700 from my Cash App account. I was devastated. I made an independent attempt to retrieve it. I went online and read articles about getting my bitcoin back, but things did not work out. I tried searching YouTube to see if anyone has discussed recovering one’s finds, but it didn’t work out either. As part of my study, I read reviews on Recovery Hacker101 about how they have assisted numerous people in getting their bitcoins back and how many people have recommended them to others. I contacted them right away, gave them my story, and they promised to assist me in getting my Bitcoin back. I chose to try them, and they performed an excellent job; after a few days, all of my money was returned to my new wallet account. I’m writing to let people know that they can open a case with the Recovery Hacker101 at recoveryhacker101(at)gmail(dot)com if they’ve experienced similar problems. I was fortunate enough to avoid what could have financially devastated me; you may do the same.
Title: From Despair to Hope — How I Recovered $255,000 Lost to a Forex Scam
Earlier this year, I made what I thought was a smart financial move — investing $3,500 into an online forex trading platform that appeared highly professional and convincing. At first, everything seemed perfect. My initial deposit started growing rapidly. I watched my account balance rise to an incredible $155,000 in what felt like no time.
Excited by the apparent success, I decided to trust the process and added more funds. As time passed, I invested an additional $100,000, encouraged by what seemed to be a thriving portfolio. However, the moment I tried to withdraw my profits, things began to unravel.
The platform stalled my withdrawal attempts with vague excuses and eventually demanded more payments — so-called “processing fees” and “security clearances.” That was when the harsh reality hit me: I had fallen victim to a meticulously orchestrated scam.
The pain of losing over $250,000 was unbearable. Sleepless nights, overwhelming regret, and a deep sense of betrayal followed. I was ashamed to speak about it, thinking no one could help. But fate had one more surprise in store — and this time, it was a good one.
During a desperate online search for recovery options, I came across Cloudstrike Cyber Security. Skeptical but with nothing left to lose, I reached out to them via their contact email: [Cloudstrikecyber@gmail.com]
From the very first interaction, they were professional, empathetic, and direct. They listened to my story, analyzed the platform I had been scammed by, and explained the recovery process step-by-step. I was shocked by how much they already knew about these types of fraud rings. Over the course of several weeks, they worked tirelessly — tracking digital footprints, leveraging blockchain forensics, and using advanced cyber investigation tools.
Against all odds, Cloudstrike Cyber Security recovered 95% of my lost funds. That’s right — they brought back over $240,000 that I thought was gone forever.
To anyone out there going through something similar: you are not alone. Scammers are getting smarter, but so are the people fighting them. I highly recommend Cloudstrike Cyber Security to anyone who has been a victim of a crypto or forex scam. They gave me back not just my money, but my peace of mind.
You can contact them at [Cloudstrikecyber@gmail.com]
WhatsApp:+1 (260) 408-3923
Title: From Despair to Hope — How I Recovered $255,000 Lost to a Forex Scam
Earlier this year, I made what I thought was a smart financial move — investing $3,500 into an online forex trading platform that appeared highly professional and convincing. At first, everything seemed perfect. My initial deposit started growing rapidly. I watched my account balance rise to an incredible $155,000 in what felt like no time.
Excited by the apparent success, I decided to trust the process and added more funds. As time passed, I invested an additional $100,000, encouraged by what seemed to be a thriving portfolio. However, the moment I tried to withdraw my profits, things began to unravel.
The platform stalled my withdrawal attempts with vague excuses and eventually demanded more payments — so-called “processing fees” and “security clearances.” That was when the harsh reality hit me: I had fallen victim to a meticulously orchestrated scam.
The pain of losing over $250,000 was unbearable. Sleepless nights, overwhelming regret, and a deep sense of betrayal followed. I was ashamed to speak about it, thinking no one could help. But fate had one more surprise in store — and this time, it was a good one.
During a desperate online search for recovery options, I came across Cloudstrike Cyber Security. Skeptical but with nothing left to lose, I reached out to them via their contact email: [Cloudstrikecyber@gmail.com]
From the very first interaction, they were professional, empathetic, and direct. They listened to my story, analyzed the platform I had been scammed by, and explained the recovery process step-by-step. I was shocked by how much they already knew about these types of fraud rings. Over the course of several weeks, they worked tirelessly — tracking digital footprints, leveraging blockchain forensics, and using advanced cyber investigation tools.
Against all odds, Cloudstrike Cyber Security recovered 95% of my lost funds. That’s right — they brought back over $240,000 that I thought was gone forever.
To anyone out there going through something similar: you are not alone. Scammers are getting smarter, but so are the people fighting them. I highly recommend Cloudstrike Cyber Security to anyone who has been a victim of a crypto or forex scam. They gave me back not just my money, but my peace of mind.
You can contact them at [Cloudstrikecyber@gmail.com]
WhatsApp:+1 (260) 408-3923