I know I should probably let this one rest, but over the weekend I was checking out the school calendar for winter quarter and over a three-month stretch — Jan. Feb. March — there are only three weeks that don’t have either a full day off or a half-day off. That’s three uninterrupted weeks in [...]

Today’s Nation of Mike touches on a topic near-and-dear to the heart of every American — TV. There are few intimacies more intimate than when a couple feels the sparks of passion, desire, mutual dislike of certain bands, and decides to share with each other their TV history. Oddly enough, in my 46 years I’ve [...]

I got a phone call this morning from a reader with some criticism of an editorial written last week about Gov. Chris Gregoire’s budget proposal. Gregoire proposed a balance budget that featured heavy cuts in health care, education and services to the elderly and disabled. The point made in the editorial is it feels like [...]

There was an article in Saturday’s Seattle Times about University of Washington provost Phyllis Wise taking a position on the Nike corporate board of directors. Based on what other Nike directors earn, she’ll get paid between $132,000 and $217,000. The board meets five times a year. As a provost she earns $535,000. The hubbub is [...]

In this week’s column, which will be posted at 2 a.m. Saturday for those who like to set their alarms, I tackle the Nerf topic. When I was a kid Nerf meant footballs and the basketball sets with the hoop you put on a door. I was a top-notch Nerf basketball player. But somewhere along [...]

One of the comments posted on the Raley Mae Radomske story today accuses the newspaper of being a “neo-con” rag and also implies we’re racist, stating that if the family had been Hispanic we would not have done the story. I’ll tackle the racist charge first. We did a story a few weeks ago on a Hispanic [...]

I will write about any topic in my column. Writing is a personal act. If you share words, you share yourself. That said, I don’t write about religion. Part of it is, religion is a tough one within the context of a humor column. I think it is the great untapped topic of humor writing, [...]

Police have made an arrest of a suspect in the Happy’s break in. First of all, kudos to the police. The Ellensburg Police do an excellent job in getting photos and images out to the public, which I think assists greatly in apprehending suspects. The Happy’s break in shook me up. Happy’s is my favorite [...]

Earlier this year the story was about a family claiming their boy was in a hot-air balloon that came untethered, leading to a massive chase and extensive cable television coverage. Next came the couple crashing a White House state dinner. And just today, the third shoe dropped with the news that Tiger Woods maybe, probably, [...]

I should start by admitting that I’m a huge proponent of youth sports. Some of my best memories growing up are associated with playing baseball. I made some great friends that I would had never met if it hadn’t been for sports. When I lived in the Upper County, before getting married and having kids, [...]