Category Archives: Inspiration

I’m baaaaa-aaaaack

By Daddy Scratches | Published: July 29, 2011

A few months ago, I was feeling all blogged out … to the point that the thought of abandoning this whole thing crossed my mind on more than one occasion. Fortunately (or, depending on your opinion of my blog, unfortunately), Wonder Woman stepped in and killed that option. Some serious soul-searching followed, the outcome of which was that I decided it was time to refocus on my dreams and set my sights on a new creative-writing endeavor. At the time, I would not have predicted that the “new” creative-writing endeavor would actually turn out to be the rebirth of a… [read the rest]

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Also posted in Life, Writing | 54 Comments

The one in which I reassess my life and contemplate my future … which should be about as entertaining for you to read as a stock prospectus for an embalming-fluid company, except less so

By Daddy Scratches | Published: May 18, 2011

My mother gave me that album when I was seven years old, and it changed my life … for the better, I used to think … but now I’m starting to wonder. To make a long story slightly less long than it’s probably going to end up being anyway — because we all know how much I love the sound of my own voice — that album, and the band that made it, basically carved into my young and impressionable DNA the lifelong belief that I should never give up on my dreams. (Spending one’s childhood worshipping four dudes who… [read the rest]

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Also posted in Cubicle, Life, Music, Writing | 46 Comments

NaBlowMe

By Daddy Scratches | Published: November 3, 2010

Feeling like an underachiever because you can’t even conceive of having your shit so together that you could successfully participate in NaBloPoMo? Well, fear not, friends, because this pathetic, wanna-be blogger is starting his own little cool-kid clique: NaBlowMe! As part of my First Annual Daddy Scracthes (… [read the rest]

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Also posted in Writing | 34 Comments

Unemployed, but popular (in a completely obscure and geeky kind of way)

By Daddy Scratches | Published: May 20, 2010

Now that I’m officially unemployed, I can pretty much do whatever the hell I want to do, whenever the hell I want to do it. That’s right, baby: you can’t hold me down. I’m as free as a bird … albeit a soon-to-be-homeless bird with two kids, a wife and a six-figure pile of debt I no longer have any means to pay for. But, hey: freedom is a state of mind … and if you’re as insane as I am, you can look at all of those dire realities and shrug them off with one big, fat, optimistic “Fuck… [read the rest]

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Also posted in Life | 14 Comments

I survived Mom2.0hmygodwhathaveIgottenmyselfinto?

By Daddy Scratches | Published: February 28, 2010

You guys, I am so sorry it has taken me this long to finally write about my experience at last week’s Mom 2.0 Summit in Houston, but, um, well … this is kind of embarrassing, so I’m just going to say it: I had to spend the week working off my bill at the Four Seasons. Yeah, there was this whole “I’m sorry, Mr. Scratches, but you can’t settle your account with your library card” incident, and the next thing I know, I’m changing sheets and cleaning toilets for five days straight. Fuckers Bastards. (See? Mom 2.0 made me more… [read the rest]

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Also posted in Life | 25 Comments

R.I.P. R.B.P.

By Daddy Scratches | Published: January 21, 2010

In junior high, my friend Mike turned me on to Boston author Robert B. Parker’s “Spenser” detective series. A television series titled “Spenser for Hire,” starring the late Robert Urich as the Boston-based private investigator, had recently begun airing, and I was a fan, but had been unaware of the novels. During the more than 25 years since, I have read almost every book Parker has written (close to 70). He is, by far, my favorite author. Smart, funny and prolific (he notoriously wrote about five pages per day, never bothered with rewrites, and cranked out a new book every… [read the rest]

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Also posted in Life | Comments closed

The one where I send you all into a deep depression

By Daddy Scratches | Published: July 1, 2009

I tried. Really, I did. For the past hour or so, I sat here and tried to write one of my witty little entries. You know, one of those ones in which I piss and moan (in an oh-so-witty fashion) about my family’s maniacal schedule, or my children’s incessant cacophony of screaming/crying/whining/bickering, or the never-ending sleep deprivation my wife and I continue to endure, or whatever other parenting travesty has befallen us. Thing is, that only works when I’m really feeling it—and I’m not feeling it. I have read some things in the past couple of weeks that, at least… [read the rest]

Also posted in Life, Marriage, Parenthood | 44 Comments

So there I was, a lone drop of testosterone floating in a sea of estrogen …

By Daddy Scratches | Published: June 15, 2009

Here’s how I know that I’m really gung-ho about this whole blogging thing (you know, aside from the fact that I have essentially given up sleep in order to maintain this site): On Saturday, Wonder Woman, the Wonder Twins and I drove 30 miles to the house of a woman I’d never met in order to hang out with her and a bunch of other women I’d never met, and their families. To say that doing such a thing is out of character for me would be to redefine the term “understatement.” So why, pray tell, did I do this?… [read the rest]

Also posted in Life, Marriage, Writing | 19 Comments

Get pumped … or something

By Daddy Scratches | Published: May 8, 2009

I’m not really sure where I’m going with this post, but I had to put something new up here to push that “Wolverine” photo down the page, because every time I load the site, that image keeps mocking me, and taunting me, and reminding me that I haven’t been working out nearly enough at all. Hey, I could really look like that if I wanted to. Easily, dude. Hell, the way I see it, I’m about 10 pushups away from being Hugh Jackman’s body double. Seriously, you crop his head outta this picture, and everyone I know would be all,… [read the rest]

Also posted in Life | 9 Comments

A funny thing happened on the way to my blog …

By Daddy Scratches | Published: November 22, 2007

So, as I was mentioning a while back, I was hoping to start posting here with a little more frequency … but, as I also was mentioning a while back, I had been busy getting my Red Sox website off the ground, and it was eating up a significant amount of my time. Well, it turns out that the site actually was only nibbling at my time back then—a comparison I am now able to make because, shortly after I wrote that post, the site began devouring my time in massive, sloppy, impolite, noisy, Cookie Monster-like chomps and gulps. Here’s… [read the rest]

Also posted in Red Sox, TV | 4 Comments

I didn’t expect that

By Daddy Scratches | Published: September 26, 2007

Watch the video above, then click on the “Read the rest” thing below.… [read the rest]

Also posted in TV | 1 Comment

And now, a musical interlude

By Daddy Scratches | Published: August 8, 2006

I’ve never been an “I have a crush on a celebrity” type of guy—just never seemed like a productive expenditure of energy, you know? Having said that, there is one celebrity on whom it could legitimately be said I have a crush: Björk. Actually, she’s more of an artist than a celebrity. Part of why I dig her, I suppose. Wonder Woman, her parents and I saw Björk perform at Radio City Music Hall just a few weeks after 9/11. She was phenomenal, and the beauty and impact of her talent and creativity were all the more amplified by the… [read the rest]

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World Series on ice

By Daddy Scratches | Published: February 26, 2006

Prior to this weekend, only twice in my life had I been truly euphoric about the outcome of a sporting event. The first time was when the Red Sox came back from an 0-3 deficit to beat the New York Yankees in the 2004 ALCS—also known as, literally, “The Greatest Comeback in Baseball History.” The second was the team’s World Series victory just days later. A large part of what made those victories mean so much to me was living through the team’s crushing Game 7 defeat in the 2003 ALCS. As you may recall, the Sox were five outs… [read the rest]

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Also posted in Red Sox | 1 Comment