columns

My best friend Derek turned 35 on Wednesday, Jan. 21. It’s hard for me to believe that we’ve been best friends for 30 of those 35 years. Anyone who knows me knows that one of my favorite things to say is “Everyone needs a Derek.” If everyone had someone like Derek in their...

You may not know me, but many of you might recognize me by now. I’m the friendly, chatty guy, possibly dressed a little funny, goofy hat, shorts when it’s too cold, who approaches you, encourages you, sometimes guilts you, lures sounds wrong, entices sounds better, and certainly...

By the time you read this I will most likely have already started my, seemingly, annual trek to the great state of Texas for yet another FCS National Championship game for my alma mater North Dakota State Bison football team. The Bison will play for their fourth straight national...

I love this time of year. No, not winter. I hate winter. What I love is when the calendar page flips from December to January. I love putting the holiday season behind me, getting back in the saddle at work and at home, and plotting a new course for my professional and personal...

I am a rural girl through and through. I grew up on a hobby farm in Pierce County where I mucked out stalls, fed the cows, cared for an army of barn cats, cut firewood, refused to wear shoes until it snowed and helped raise a huge garden. I raised rabbits for 4-H, learned how to shoot...

Val and I made a mad dash down to Waukesha over the weekend for the wedding of my best friend’s only daughter Carly. When you attach such an important moment to a big holiday season it has advantages and disadvantages. It becomes easier to remember, but it also risks sharing some...

Having just turned 25 in November, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that I’ve got a decent-sized list of pet peeves that I’ve built up over the years. Some of those pet peeves are rather general and others are a little more specific. In general, I’m not a huge fan of people...

The outrage over the grand jury decision to not indict a white police officer after fatally shooting an unarmed black teen is just the latest case that underscores how much we ask of our cops, and how much trust — rightly or wrongly — we place in them. It’s not for me to say...

According to Wikipedia, “Sisu is a Finnish word generally meaning determination, bravery and resilience.” Urban Dictionary describes Sisu as a uniquely Finnish quality, the word used to typify the Finnish spirit, a concept that is at the heart of how all Finns and Americans...

Willi Nilli (Staff Commentary) For the longest time, I found myself feeling a lot like the “How I Met Your Mother” character Ted Mosby, who could just never make a relationship work out or find the woman he wanted to settle down with. And much like Ted, I felt like I would...

There’s nothing like a 50-mile walk to clear your head. Well, it wasn’t exactly one 50-mile walk, but a series of seven hikes over a few months that ended up totalling 51.6 miles to be exact. This year, I set out to walk the southern portion of the Gandy Dancer Trail from the...

Do you know how many people have told me I should write a book? Quite a few. I seem to attract sometimes bizarre, sometimes hilarious and always interesting people and circumstances into my life. I’ve long ago let go of my craving to have a “normal” life. I am happy being...

News is my life. It’s been that way since I was an 18-year-old public affairs Marine working as a writer and photographer for my base newspaper in Okinawa, Japan. Since my first week at that job I began collecting stacks of newspapers that I had contributed to. Before you start...

There is nothing I love to do more than to laugh -- the until I can’t breathe, spit my coffee across the desk and cry all my eye liner off kind of laugh. But this was a little extreme. I opened my work email about a month ago like I do every morning. My eyes bugged out at the...