bobmueller

[bobmueller]

An Atheist’s Perfect Christmas: Music, Memories, and a New Perspective

Me in Nutcracker costume with my dolls. Nutcracker was great. I’ll probably talk more about it next week. Christmas as an Atheist Everybody knows I’m a “spiritual orphan,” right? That’s the term I use most these days, though I mentioned a while back that I could technically be called an apostate, which I still find sort of interesting. At any rate, what does a spiritual orphan do at…

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Holiday Memories and a Living Room Wedding

Holidays and Family Lego Dude and Oldest Daughter at their wedding, with a Yule Log on the TV. Oldest Daughter and Lego Dude made it official this week, tying the knot at the local courthouse in their living room. They’re the second couple in the family to go to the courthouse, after Oldest Son and McNugget Tamer. Middle Daughter was going to be their witness, which I thought was sweet. There…

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The Heart of Thanksgiving: Family Memories

Miscarriage of Justice It’s bad enough when someone is convicted of a crime they didn’t commit. They’re sometimes out thousands of dollars for their defense and appeals. They’re sent away to prison where they endure hardship, danger, disease, and worse. They miss weddings, birthdays, holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving, and funerals. Sometimes, they can prove their innocence, and they get…

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On Good Deaths And True Names

Content warning: This post talks about death and dying, and mentions both assisted and unassisted suicide. Frustration: Opening this file on my main computer to write something one night, then deciding it would be better to do it on the writing machine, then getting distracted before I got to the writing machine and forgetting what I was going to write about. Image by nwatson12 from Pixabay I…

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After the Election: New Challenges, Familiar Concerns

Now that the election is over, I have friends who are gloating and friends who are scared of what comes next for them or their kids or both. I wish everyone grace and peace and strength. And here’s wishing peace and strength to my fellow veterans. My wife’s school held an assembly to honor veteran family members of students and staff. It’s the first thing like that I’ve been able to attend, and…

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Another Trip Around The Sun

I hadn’t really planned on posting something today for my birthday. I’ve got the weekly thing going nice and steadily, and I’m behind on my fiction, so I was just going to maybe jot a little bit here for the week’s post and go on. A high school friend of mine died this morning. George and I weren’t best friends, but once I caught up with him a few years ago on FB, we stayed in touch there. He…

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My 2024 Political Post: Get Out And Vote

Click for bigger Yep, this is going to be another one of those times that I post something just to maintain my streak, which kind of embarrasses me. On the one hand, it’s more than a little lame. On the other, I don’t do it often. And this turned out to be a little longer than I thought it’d be. I haven’t been completely slacking though. We had a bunch of tree limbs come down Wednesday from…

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Patriotism: Love for Country or Blind Loyalty to Government?

A meme popped up in a local FB group one day last week, and I responded to it before I realized that it was a bot post. Shame on me. The giveaway was the list of “Ten unknown facts about BMW” that was only nine facts, poorly spaced, and full of odd hashtags. Like, who hashtags “ten?” At any rate, the meme said, “Our schools need to teach patriotism again, not woke ideologies.” And it may have…

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DIY Evidence Kits: Solution Or Risk In Sexual Assault Cases?

Michigan got beat last week and is on a bye this week. But I’m getting my dose of college football by going to the NSU-Lincoln game this evening. Middle Daughter is on the NSU pom team and they’ll be performing at halftime, so that’ll be cool. NSU is winless so far this season but they’ve got a new coach and a lot of young talent. They’re scoring more than they did last year, which is a plus in…

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The Moral and Legal Failures of the Death Penalty

There were five executions this past week in the U. S.  One each in South Carolina, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, and Alabama. Alan Eugene Miller, in Alabama, marked the 1600th person executed in the U. S. since capital punishment resumed in 1976. All of these men could be called poster children for the death penalty. One was found guilty of the heinous sexual assault and murder of his…

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Thirty Years Ago

Thirty years ago. On a Sunday night thirty years ago, Diana and I drove from Columbus to my hometown. We spent the night with my parents. We’d been married for seven weeks. The next day, we drove them to Columbus for an eye doctor’s appointment for my dad. He was 74 and dealing with age-related macular degeneration. It was affecting his ability to drive, which is one of the reasons we drove…

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Football Frustrations, Fiction Progress, and the Quotation Mark Dilemma

This week’s post will be a smaller one. I’ve been putting a lot of effort into creating a cast list in case everyone wants to keep track of who the kids are. It’s kind of ironic that I’m doing this now that my kids are all grown, but the grandkids are of the age where I want to protect their identities a little bit, so there you go. Image by Josh Cole from Pixabay I was feverishly working on…

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Writing Success: Finding Focus in a Busy Creative Week

Progress report: 7,000 words down and decisions to make on my next writing project! Curious about my writing journey and what's coming next? Read all about it in my newest blog post. [

En Garde Fencing classes started this past week. I hoped we’d have more people from the summer fencing camp, but I was the only person to sign up. We did some conditioning and footwork drills and still had time for a few bouts, which I lost. That’s not surprising though, since I’ve only got about fifteen hours of training so far. Everyone else in the class has been fencing for a year or more. I…

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After - Chapter 27

Adam gets ready for his trip to Ohio. His ex-wife is going to help him check on his ex-wife.

I’d given myself an arbitrary deadline of next Monday to leave for Ohio and search for Sarah and Taylor. That meant I had a lot of work to cram into the next few days. I needed food, clothes, and gear for at least two weeks, based on what I saw on my way up from Jasper. I assumed that some communities would be recovering, but I had no idea what that was going to look like. And given the…

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Epiphanies: Revisiting Old Ideas with New Insights

From a political epiphany on secession and treason to discovering new music on SiriusXM, and even a surprise writing boost—this week’s reflections cover it all. Check out my latest blog post! 🎧✍️ #Epiphany #Secession #Music

Image by Chen from Pixabay I had a political epiphany this week regarding secession and the U.S. Civil War. People like to say that the Confederacy was traitorous and treasonous because they were rebels. The idea is that they rebelled against the standing and duly elected U.S. government because they weren’t allowed to secede. Often left unsaid or generally avoided by many people is that the…

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School Days And Legal Battles

School's back! 🎒 Diana's first year as a teacher kicked off with classroom chaos, while legal battles unfold over forfeiture abuse. Busy but exciting times! 📚⚖️ #BackToSchool #Teaching #LegalUpdates

School officially started this week for Diana and the grandchildren. The kids started Wednesday. I met them at the bus stop and walked them the quarter of a block to their house. It was kind of fun watching Grandson come off the bus. His sisters were already a quarter of the way to the house before he got across the street. Diana started Thursday and she said it looks like it’s going to be a…

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Can We Talk About Something Serious?

A serious post this week for WWBC: the importance of open, civil communication as we challenge ignorance and bigotry. Direct but civil conversations are the key to fostering understanding and change.

This post is part of the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge, hosted by Long and Short Reviews. Check out other bloggers at this week’s post, “Things I Wish More People Talked About Openly.” Oh, my. Where do I start with this one? Wait. Where do I start? I had so much to say here when I first saw the topic. Then I couldn’t get started because I was so overwhelmed by the possibilities. It…