Category Archives: retirement

How to cut your booze bill to zero

By Joel Thurtell The simplest way to cut your booze bill to zero would be to just stop buying liquids with alcoholic content. That would be so easy, such a certain shortcut to success, that we the writers and editors … Continue reading

Posted in Cider, retirement | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Noisy food joints

By Joel Thurtell Older I get, the more I can’t stand public places with loud music or concentrated high levels of chatter. Know what I mean? Stopped going to a wonderful little Italian joint in Northville, Michigan because I couldn’t … Continue reading

Posted in Bay, retirement | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Jeff Daniels: “Unplugged” gets new urgency

By Joel Thurtell Censorship wears many guises. Sometimes, it masquerades as a beneficent desire to save a writer from his or her own poor judgment. So it happened that Mark Twain long ago submitted his work to his wife for … Continue reading

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Message from the Messenger: You’re fired!

By Joel Thurtell Guess they showed me who’s boss. The door did not slam behind me — I got the news at home, by phone. After three months of writing for a liberal blog, I’m out. Liberal or conservative, it … Continue reading

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Detroit dailies: 116 take buyouts

By Joel Thurtell [donation] I didn’t need an updated personnel directory to find the 17 Freepsters leaving the paper in the latest round of cost-cutting buyouts. They’re all old time Detroit Free Press people. Easy to find them on my … Continue reading

Posted in future of newspapers, retirement, Unions | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Joel’s water taxi 2.0

Guess I jumped the gun. I’d heard that one of the plans for the Rouge River was to have water taxis taking tourists to such destinations as the Ford Motor Co. Rouge assembly plant, Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum, … Continue reading

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Joel’s water taxi

I’m so embarrassed. I can’t believe I did this. I should go hide somewhere. But instead, blogger that I am, I feel compelled to confess. Publicly, digitally, electronically. The deed I perpetrated cannot be undone. Here it is in a … Continue reading

Posted in Adventures on the Rouge, Places, retirement | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Radiating against the odds

My wife’s eyes narrow or close entirely when I talk about what I call my ham radio hobby, though she thinks it’s an obsession. Her reaction tells me that excessive conversation about radio bores most people. But I can’t help … Continue reading

Posted in Bloggery, ham radio, retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment