2021-12-22 14:52
I'm panic-browsing an online collection of fine gold collar necklaces because last night My Love insisted we don't exchange gifts this Christmas. That's how I know I am screwed.You know the… Read More
Blog Directory > Life Blogs > My Life Blogs > Always Home and Uncool. my-life Blog >
Always Home And Uncool. Blog
blogonkevin.blogspot.com
At-home parent, writer and goofball. The blog, columns and inevitable regrest of nationally award-winning newspaper columnist Kevin McKeever.
2021-11-09 15:00
Our family’s Thanksgiving tradition is to ritually avoid them. Multiple generations of loved ones gathering under one roof? Rarely. We have more of a shrub than a family tree. Plus, we… Read More
2021-09-10 14:19
I worked in a downtown Dallas office building in those days. My 7th floor office window, on a clear day, commanded a look of the flat, indistinctive North Texas landscape that was so broad a… Read More
2021-07-13 13:00
Our town is going to the dogs, and you know who is responsible?Not the developers. They’re leveling historic slums to build luxury slums of the future.Not the folks in charge of our ne… Read More
2021-07-06 12:30
NOTE: After my unearthing of last week's piece about the Minivan of Manliness, I remembered that I had written another piece about it in 2017 for the fish wrapper that eventually let me go t… Read More
2021-06-30 12:00
NOTE: The legendary Minivan of Manliness -- as of this past December -- 'tis no more. Fifteen years and nearly 170,000 miles -- all in good service. Well, mostly good. Things got a little ha… Read More
2021-06-29 12:00
A couple of quick programming notes:Subscribe by email. Huh? It's 2021Since Feedburner is shutting down its email subscription service support, I've switched my feed over to follow.it. Boy… Read More
2021-06-25 14:18
Don't panic. Just testing something out here at Mission Uncool Control. Meanwhile, enjoy this photo of Dinger trying to decide if he's really an IPA dog Read More
2021-06-22 13:30
Things have changed in Uncool Land. If you haven't been paying attention, here or elsewhere, let me give you the 411 on what's been going these past several months:CONTINUE READING THIS GEM… Read More
2021-03-16 14:13
Welcome back to Little League baseball, guys! It’s good to ha–What’s that, Carl? You want to be called what? Like Casey Stengel, the great baseball manager? No? Like Kacey… Read More
2020-12-16 22:10
Tomorrow, I find a restaurant with a huge outdoor patio and indulge in a fresh, hot burger and fries. And, definitely, a cold draft beer. At minimum, I’ll go get a haircut. That&r……Read More
2020-12-16 22:00
Today is the second Friday the 13th of the year. Does that make you anxious and full of dread? It shouldn’t. If you survived 2020 long enough to read that sentence, brother, you should… Read More
2020-12-16 15:30
If you still haven’t found the motivation to clean out even your kitchen junk drawer during all this pandemic downtime at home, try this three-step formula:1. Sell your current house.2… Read More
2020-11-03 18:22
It started as either a clever plan to instill the importance of participating in our democracy in my children or a hankering for butter pecan syrup. Since my two children, now 20 and 18… Read More
2020-10-13 11:00
Tomorrow, I find a restaurant with a huge outdoor patio and indulge in a fresh, hot burger and fries. And, definitely, a cold draft beer. At minimum, I’ll go get a haircut. That’… Read More
2020-09-22 13:30
I’ve always been sweet on trips to the hardware store and, quite honestly, it started with the candy. Those old-fashioned striped stick candies, if you must have details.It never struc… Read More
2020-09-15 13:30
I contributed to global warming more than usual recently, so: World, I’m sorry. But that tree had it coming.A 2019 study published in the journal Science concluded the Earth has enough… Read More
2020-07-30 12:40
DUCK, N.C. – This oven has convinced me that the Luddites were on to something.To review that historical reference you can’t look up because your cell phone is down to 3 percent… Read More
2020-07-30 12:40
DUCK, N.C. – This oven has convinced me that the Luddites were on to something.To review that historical reference you can’t look up because your cell phone is down to 3 percent… Read More
2020-06-02 11:00
Thank you for that warm introduction, Dr. Principalperson. And thank you for your bravery. Some would consider it pretentious of non-medical professionals such as yourself to still want to b… Read More
2020-05-19 11:00
Mere weeks before I first met my wife, she had survived a tandem skydive. That’s jumping out of an airplane with another person strapped to your back and only some polyester sheets to… Read More
2020-05-05 12:06
Staying home isn’t even safe for my family anymore during the COVID-19 pandemic because apparently we have an “explosive device” in our house even more letha… Read More
2020-04-21 12:00
The Woman in the Yellow Hat first appeared on a Saturday morning in the early days of The Great Sequester.I spotted her from our dining room window, striding purposefully around the cul-de-s… Read More
2020-04-07 12:30
Back in those halcyon days of, oh, four weeks ago, a friend shared a jokey tweet from Sam Adams, a senior editor with Slate. Adams wrote that the most frightening aspect of a pandemic that f… Read More
2020-03-24 12:00
My extreme couponing doesn’t seem so insane anymore, does it, Helen?“Insane.” That was the word you used, wasn’t it? Let’s see if I remember your exact words.&l&hell…Read More
2020-03-10 12:36
If it was good enough for Snoopy ...Training dogs for years essentially boiled down to whapping a disobedient pooch with a rolled-up newspaper. For several reasons, this is no longer true:Mo… Read More
2020-03-03 22:43
My daughter, Li'l Diva, refuses to watch any non-animated movie with a dog as a main character. After seeing one too many of these in her lifetime, she has concluded man’s best friend… Read More
2020-02-25 14:05
A rare collectible that pays for a mansion and yacht may be waiting in a dusty corner of your parents’ basement. However, not in mine. What I found there barely covers the latest incre… Read More
2020-02-04 14:30
Is there anything quite so American as the drive to accumulate stuff? The “he who has the most toys when he dies, win” mentality isn’t a modern phenomenon. Our forefathers… Read More
2020-01-21 14:30
Every early January, as I watch the Christmas tree drop needles like a DJ on meth, I find myself wondering the same thing: Is anyone ever sad to see the old year go? Because, to me, the star… Read More
2020-01-14 14:00
Terror grips my every fiber whenever my wife opens a conservation with me using the phrase, “What do you know about …”Her inquiry is almost never about something I:a) actu… Read More
2019-11-06 20:24
I’ve always thought myself to be fairly well prepared for and accepting of the inevitable breakdown of my body once I staggering into middle age a decade ago.Thinning hair. Check.Thick… Read More
2019-06-11 14:41
Another Father’s Day comes this way along with another round of the usual jokes about grilling, golfing and neckties. Not in these parts, though.It’s the 21stcentury, people. Let… Read More
2019-04-22 13:03
My first job in the workforce focused on profiling and segregation. I spent much of my 16thyear in the dank underground of a supermarket, determining whether the bottles and cans returned fo… Read More
2018-11-05 20:19
Congratulations on surviving another Halloween. However, it may have been [“werewolf howling” sound effect] …Your LAST! [“Evil laughter” sound effect!] On a WE… Read More
2018-08-07 12:36
I usually start making my summer vacation plans around late January. This usually coincides with the first waves of cabin fever enveloping me along with the fourth layer of thermal clothing… Read More
2018-05-08 17:38
Blame it on Mad Men, this taste that I’ve acquired for Manhattans and old fashioneds made with the rye whiskeys Bogart called for by the shot.Maybe it was a re-reading of Raymond Chand… Read More
2018-04-24 18:56
With the Earth having just survived to see another Earth Day (it was Sunday, you heathen), I bring you on its behalf the following public service announcement: Straws suck.In particular, non… Read More
2018-03-29 12:36
Mets legend Ed Charles, right, assists the author is showing off his 1969 World Series ring.Spring is here again in the Northeast! It’s time to put away your warm winter clothes and di… Read More
2018-03-13 13:14
I’ve been asking my children about the National School Walkout planned for Wednesday, and they don’t seem excited about it — my questions or this demonstration. There… Read More
2018-01-30 18:00
The time has come, the blogger thought, to write of many things. So let’s once again reach into my imaginary mailbag to see what real topics are on the minds of people who would need r… Read More
2017-12-20 14:46
Dear friends, relatives and co-workers who are not on the HR “watch list,”Merry/Happy Whatever-You-Do-And/Or-Don’t Celebrate! Welcome to our family’s annual holiday n… Read More
2017-12-06 17:04
The holiday season is a time of traditions: some beautiful, some hokey, most with the best of intentions unless they involve “The Chipmunk Song.”In our home, the one tradition we… Read More
2017-07-26 14:20
These graduates spent so much on their education that they could not even afford pants. (Photo by Melissa Johnson on Unsplash)You’ve undoubtedly heard about the rising c… Read More
2017-07-11 14:30
The world celebrated all the make-believe magic it could the other week, the 20th anniversary of the publication of the first Harry Potter novel.In the real world, I celebrated how… Read More
2017-06-06 14:30
Write what you know, they say, which is what I’m doing do as I wedge this post in between today’s fourth and 45th load of laundry.Life may be short but laundry is eternal when yo… Read More
2017-05-23 14:30
Another year of high school commencement ceremonies come and gone, and again I was not asked to speak at any of them. Graduates, count your blessings.I say this because, unlike the school be… Read More
2017-05-12 11:59
Is anything as inseparable as a dad and his lawn?Maybe a dad and his grill.Or a dad and his beer.Definitively a dad and that pair of underwear from 15 years ago with the air-conditioned crot… Read More
2017-05-09 14:10
My friends, go mark your calendars: My farewell tour starts next week.I’m not going anywhere. That's obvious by the fact that after all the years and all the awards won writing this ju… Read More
2017-04-25 17:56
I’m musically hip again.Maybe not my musical tastes so much, but my music listening format is definitely hip again.As hip as something can be after it has been declared so by that bast… Read More
2017-04-03 17:00
Professional athletes -- baseball players, in particular -- are known for having very specific and downright odd pre-game rituals. Hall of Famer Wade Boggs, for example, always ate chicken… Read More
2017-03-29 17:00
(Photo: Insight Imaging: John A Ryan Photography via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA)Baseball requires intense preparation, starting well before the first pitch is every thrown. For this weekend's o… Read More
2017-02-28 16:30
I’ve had some problems with my wife in bed.It started when she would never get out of it. At least not without repeatedly smacking the snooze button like she was tenderizing a cheap cu… Read More
2017-02-13 16:00
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. For single folks, it’s a day for love and romance; for us marrieds, it’s been there, done that, now hand me the damn remote. If only we ha… Read More
2017-01-30 20:55
Note the location.The people love me. LOVE. Some say I'm the most popular blogger ever. Tremendously popular. So popular that I had to hire my own press secretary to deal with the attention… Read More
2017-01-17 16:30
Word from the world of health news is “sitting is the new smoking” sans the nicotine buzz and toasty aroma. That is why I’m writing this standing up, all clear headed and s… Read More
2016-12-14 16:50
Truly Useful Christmas Gifts for this ParentDear Santa,Kris K., my man! How long’s it been? A year? Sorry not to be in touch sooner, but you have to take some of the blame. It&rsq&hell…Read More
2016-12-07 18:30
Slum lord Snidely Uncool, at your service.Not many people will admit their life’s ambition is to become a slum lord.However, after spending a week repairing rental homes and the week a… Read More
2016-12-01 19:11
You know what truly stinks about our area's ongoing drought? Me.Sorry for the stench, lower Fairfield County, but to comply with the water company’s call for voluntary conservation as… Read More
2015-07-14 13:47
In my younger days, I never needed to keep an appointment calendar because I had a sharp memory and no social life. Then my wife and I had children, followed by countless six packs of stress… Read More
2015-05-21 21:44
Let me help you. Please. I had your job before, making cold calls and email pitches. It sucks. Allow me to make your life easier. Unless you are offering to pay me a decent wage (see #Swiff… Read More
2015-05-13 12:30
Front and center in 2011 This past weekend was the Perfect Storm of Uncool events: my birthday (not one of note, though my increasingly creaky back says otherwise), Mother’s Day and Li… Read More
2015-04-27 20:45
The following is sponsored by Swiffer, which provided the featured cleaning products as part of its #SwifferDad campaign. When My Love and I first shacked up, we'd tried to spend every Satur… Read More
2015-04-16 17:26
My daughter rarely cries. A week ago, though, after I picked her up from high school tennis practice, she sat in the minivan and sobbed. She had made the varsity tennis team, not just as a… Read More
2015-04-07 13:00
Now THAT’s a headline! It’s in quotes but I didn’t say it. It was one of the “The Moms” from the WPIX Ch. 11 Morning News who I sat in with earlier this year on… Read More
2015-03-30 13:00
Spring training came early for my little baseball player. By “early,” I mean a few days before Halloween when he started a two-month clinic at a local sports academy. Not sure w… Read More
2015-03-18 13:15
I’m not a fan of Buzzfeed. Not the “What kind of bellybutton lint are you?” quizzes that over populated my Facebook feed until I found a way to banish them. Not the listic… Read More
2015-03-16 15:07
Moms and dads – we differ in so many ways, obvious anatomical naughty bits aside. Yet regardless of childrearing style, regardless of who wins the bread and who makes it into PB&Js… Read More
2015-03-10 14:30
The business and tech world has been tripping over itself in recent weeks over word that Apple -- makers of the iPhone, the iPad and iIndigestion – are working on an electric car. Base… Read More
2015-03-10 13:43
Spotted this poor guy, buried beak first in a neighbor’s yard, on a walk about the ‘burb during a brief pause in the continuous barrage of cold and snow. Quitter.
+ + +
Don&r&hell…Read More
2015-03-02 14:30
I’m feeling nostalgic these days. Nostalgic for global warming. New England winters like San Diego springs. Oceans rising all around us. The landlocked unwittingly blessed with beachf… Read More
2015-02-18 14:03
My conversation with the school nurse at the start of every academic year ends with me say this: If anybody comes down with chickenpox, call me immediately -- it could save my daughter's li… Read More
2015-02-09 18:44
When the frosty flakes start to stick, most children rush outside to build snowmen, toss snowballs or flap their arms and legs for snow angels. Mine grab a bowl and spoon to make a meal. Yo… Read More
2014-12-17 15:00
The late Mel Torme, back before he croaked, sang that there's a broken heart for every light on Broadway. As I will not be outdone by any one nicknamed “The Velvet Fog,” let me c… Read More
2014-11-03 17:07
Being a #HealthyDad is all about making time for myself as well as my family. That’s why I have been working hard at working out of late, hitting the elliptical and treadmill to lose m… Read More
2014-10-08 21:02
Parents tread a thin line between success and failure at raising their children, and rare is the time when your own kid inks that line as clearly as our daughter Li’l Diva did. This t… Read More
2014-10-08 21:00
The leaves have started changing colors all around us so that means the nuts have started falling out of the trees and into campaigns for elected office. With so many prestigious titles up… Read More
2014-04-04 18:24
You’ll have to read my newspaper column, “Color them red for Little League success,” to find out.
+ + +
Don’t be selfish – share this on social media. The w… Read More
2014-04-01 02:45
The clickity-tickity-tick of thousands of needles fighting unsuccessfully to stab through the shingled roof over my head woke me around six this morning. Half-blinded by unfulfilled REMs wh… Read More
2014-03-25 13:00
Sheryl Sandberg may be a brilliant technology executive, but she's no Noah Webster. The chief operating officer of Facebook a year ago gave us her "sort of feminist manifesto" for women to… Read More
2014-03-11 15:30
You should expect many things if you plan to spend four hours and $250 a person on a dinner billed as a "farmer's feast." One of them isn't a post-meal craving for pizza. Yet I was jonesing… Read More
2014-02-28 16:21
The doctor, to my surprise, almost immediately said we could reduce my daughter’s med doses in the morning and the evening. “She looks great,” she said Monday. These words… Read More
2014-02-19 20:34
Note: I wrote this last year when the girl turned 13 but I never hit publish. I don’t remember why. This week, she turned 14. This dreaded day has come, Li’l Diva. I’m not… Read More
2014-02-13 16:20
My talent knows many bounds, never more so when it comes to music. That’s why the idea of giving My Love a song as a Valentine’s Day present is so daunting. Then I stumbled upon… Read More
Subscribe to Always Home And Uncool.
Get updates delivered right to your inbox!