Glenn Kubish

  It’s probably the truth that there’s something wrong with you if there’s nothing wrong with you these days. Making note of three things that made me happy or grateful means only that, as Craig Finn has said, there’s some comfort in the ritual. Here is this week's Three Things podcast . 1. A proposal The wind blew and door chimes jingled madly. The wind blew and snow came unfastened in sheets from the street. The giant elm trees in the wind were just giant elm trees in the wind, but they were also, for a second or two, ancient pens, their top branches lashing back and forth like quills chasing turbulent thoughts. All around was wind. A siren rose in the dark. We were in the elements, Auntie Shelagh and I, as we walked down the aisles of snow on 148th Street. It was cold, this wind with teeth from the north. From the sidewalk, I saw people inside their living rooms. A man with the back of his bald head to the front window sat bathed in the blue pulses of his television. At a din...

When I pedal my bike through the city, I carry some things with me. Some other things I pick up along the way. Here are the contents of my red Arkel bike bags (Red Bike, Cliff), in no particular order of weight, after this morning's ride. Ziploc large freezer bag, transparent, containing orange bandana from murder mystery dinner night in Chelem, México, where Shelagh was a reporter and Sheryl was the sheriff, eyeglasses (right lens chipped, prescription: -1.00, -1.25, not bad), 3x pencils (2 Blackwing 530 special edition California Gold Rush series from Stylus, closed on Saturdays in the summer, 1 with Chinese charactering, gift), eye drops, pencil sharpener containing shavings that remind me of a dancing woman's hemmed dress, City of Edmonton red reflector and blue reflective bracelet courtesy bike grid street team because Edmonton now has a bike grid street team because Edmonton now has a downtown bike grid, iPhone 6 ring of keys: Honda Accord, not driven in a month...

Saturday morning coffee is a mug's game. Behind only, Do I get out of bed? and How did they possibly insert that old guy in the mirror?, the foggy question, Which coffee mug do I use? is the most important question of the grizzled day. I have a few favourites to hold onto. Picasso The Picasso cup reminds me of the day Shelagh told me about the flower in the Guernica painting. Was it, too, a casualty of the war, or was it the first sign of regeneration? Lincoln  This is a true mug mug. It comes from the Lincoln Memorial. Speaking of civil war. #coffeeoutside  I use this mug on Friday mornings when the Coffee Outside bicycle riding gang gets together to drink coffee outside and talk about bicycle riding. There is a certain circularity to our time together. The Sprocket Podcast sticker gives it some Portland charm. Wait, Wait! We were already out of the Chase Bank building in downtown Chicago after watching a live recording of the wonderful Wait, ...