Todd Murphy's (zerocommission) Blog

(As told to me.) I lost my dad when I was three years old.  I don't remember him.  Mom said he was a special man.  He must have been, because she never married again.  I used to ask her why she never remarried. "Because I've never met anyone who could replace him," she would smile and say. Mom g...

The day didn't start very well for Cynthia.  She didn't hear the alarm going off, the kids weren't up getting ready for school, and she had thirty minutes to get them all dressed, fed, and loaded into her Explorer. Rushed is an understatement. She swore that the light was yellow when she stepped ...

I'm not really sure that there is a difference, you know.  Between cheap wine and better wine.  According to my wine drinking friends, there is a difference (My brother-in-law can tell you the differences, ad nauseum.) I hear all kinds of reasons why expensive wine is better.  Aged better. Doesn'...

In the infamous words of an old friend,Chris Hamler, the truth only hurts when it should.  The truth is that I did have some regret after writing The Sunday Grump a few days ago.  I don't regret writing it, I regret writing something that didn't have a happy ending.  A close friend pointed out to...

I've never much cared for Sundays.  In fact, I've fought depression every Sunday morning since I can remember. I'm a grump on Sunday.  Yep, I just shared one of my dirty little secrets - the kind your family is well aware of, but the outside world never suspects. There's usually an explanation fo...

I ran into a friend yesterday morning.  He was sitting with one of his business colleagues and I walked up to say hello.  "Hey, Todd," he said, and turned to his colleague and introduced me, "this is my insurance salesman." I'm not sure I was comfortable with this introduction.  It didn't really ...

The older I get, the more I like simple.  I just returned from a trip to Hawaii.  It was nice, but not simple.  Simple is getting in the car, driving four and a half hours to Destin, Florida, unpacking, and sitting on the beautiful white sand beaches watching the waves roll in. Simple is recogniz...

So you've probably heard the story. If you put a frog into boiling water it will not stay there long.  It will jump out. On the other hand, if you put a frog into lukewarm water and then gradually turn up the heat, the frog will boil to death once the water is boiling.  He preferred not to change...

 I don't remember the date, exactly, but I was standing outside Barnes and Noble, on the phone with my friend Mike.  We both had been talking about writing a book, but really, I was talking about it, he was doing it. "Just get off your #@@ and do it," he said, "I'm gonna keep asking you about it....

Some people give their GPS a name (for you non-techies that's global positioning system, i.e., navigation).  Since it talks to you, I guess it's kind of like having a friend in the car. Maybe that's why some of us give it a name. I gave my GPS a name just the other day.  But it wasn't an endearin...