Sentence of Dave

I remember when we first went to live and teach overseas, an older international teacher told me, "Don't expect anyone back at home...

99% Invisible is a fairly nerdy podcast which focuses on design, but "The Yin and Yang of Basketball" is a refreshing change fro...

On the morning of my birthday, my mother texted me this: Hi Dave, Happy 46th birthday . . . have a good day . . . I can't believe in f...

Once upon a time, I had a great idea for a Trivial Pursuit style family board game-- you would receive three thematically connected things, ...

I highly recommend Tim Harford's book The Undercover Economist-- here are a few of the many many topics he covers: 1) why storebrand s...

I may not be a great cook, and I'm certainly not a great singer, and (compared to my friends) I'm not the world's best beer drin...

So "face-swapping" apps are all the rage right now at our school, and the "face-swap" above is a combination of me ...

The doctor and I are both a year older, but his celebration is darker and colder.

Dear Old Lady with Two Little White Dogs Who Yelled "FULL STOP!!!" at me, while I will readily admit that I did not come to a fu...

The Planet Money podcast recommended everything written by Tim Harford, and I love Planet Money, so I went to the library and took out  The ...

In honor of Stephen Curry's magical performance last night,   I humbly present the newest episode of The Test , which is dedicated to th...

After some internet research, I realized that I misspoke: the hawk that perched in the maple in our backyard yesterday was a red- shouldered...

I'm going to give it a try-- and I've gotten endorsements from many knowledgeable people-- but I can't believe that the cure for...

So here it is, my pitch for The Super Bachelor of Dave . . . instead of the typical fluff on the current show, the contestants will undergo ...

Apparently, not everyone on earth knows that the easiest way to remove a piece of eggshell that has fallen into your egg is to use the empt...

My wife and kids are sick, and my knees are shot from playing basketball and indoor soccer.

I needed a break from literature about the American Southwest (on deck . . . Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire ) so I read John Scalzi...

This week on The Test ,  I administer a series of questions inspired by Black History Month and, I must admit that the ladies perform admira...

After some very poor scientific research in the English Office-- mainly based on anecdotal evidence, with occasional specious references to ...

It's a good thing the sun came out yesterday, because one more day of cloudy weather and my bones would have turned to jelly (and my bra...

I tried to articulate my feelings on smartphones over on Gheorghe:The Blog , but the short and sweet versions is this: 1) I hate them; 2...

If you're not looking for a big commitment and you need something to stream on Netflix and you're in the mood for something kind of ...

The Milagro Beanfield War , by John Nichols, is quite a novel . . . it details a water-rights squabble in New Mexico, between the poor chica...

When I receive a new class of students, I generally try to make a good first impression; I try to come across as fun and easygoing, but remi...

It's been a relatively mild winter, and so I haven't had much practice with my scarf-technique  . . . I had it mastered last winter,...

The gang reunites this week on The Test  for Cunningham's perpetually astounding, perplexingly astounding TV Theme Song quiz (I've b...

In the winter, when I clip my fingernails, even if I'm doing it over the sink or the toilet, the nail clippings fly all over the place a...

Teaching is fairly predictable: once you've taught a topic a few times, you know what questions the kids will ask and you know what issu...

The boys and I just finished watching the epic documentary Hoop Dreams-- it streams on Netflix-- and if you haven't seen it, it's so...

My dog thinks motorcycles are a species of wild animal that require barking and chasing (he also feels the same way about garbage trucks . ....

At this point in my life, I am resigned to the fact that I am a dilettante; I move from one thing to another, get very excited about it, mak...

This week on The Test , Stacey confounds special guest MJ and me with her fourth clever song quiz . . . but don't get scared off, we eve...

I am the parent and my children are the children, and if I want to make an arbitrary rule, such as: if you're going to watch TV on a sch...

I think I'm as good as any parent about feigning excitement about a perfect score on a social studies quiz (nice job with the triangular...

Everything seems epic when you're sick, and so yesterday, during my drive to the MedExpress while running a fever (turned out to be bron...

It astonishes me how popular The Bachelor  is-- I can't imagine why modern educated women would want to watch a bunch of ditsy bimbos hu...

I'm not going to do any research on this topic-- too disgusting-- and my experience with the subject is purely anecdotal, but I'm fa...

In preparation for our trip to the American Southwest this summer, I am reading some of the classic literature set in that region; I started...

This week on The Test ,  I quiz the ladies on some "highbrow stuff" and we all perform admirably-- Stacey invents a jazz musicia...

You can't just own the cell-phone, you also have to charge the cell-phone and carry the cell-phone on your person (if you want your wife...

I can hear Zman's voice in my head as I write this-- and so: Yes Zman, I know . . . there are two kinds of people, people who divide peo...

Alexander von Humboldt is largely forgotten (aside from the Humboldt Current and the Humboldt Squid) but he was the most intrepid and fa...

At first, when I realized someone had stolen my snow shovel off my front porch on Saturday afternoon, during the height of the blizzard, I w...

In December my audio streaming service, Rdio , bit the dust . . . according to the company's design lead, Wilson Miner, the service was ...

Friday night, my wife was driving down Route 1 and she did double take when she read the big electronic variable message sign . . . she was ...

It's a rare occurrence, but I always relish when my wife screws up-- in fact, it's the topic of the very first Sentence of Dave -- a...

There's nothing better on a snowy day, just after you've shoveled out the mouth of your driveway (and then the plow comes by again a...

Open the poop bag when you are in the house, before  you venture out in the the cold with your dog, because it's very difficult to pry o...

When we were young and wild, my wife and I shared a toothbrush-- and this went on for over a decade; now that we're mature, we have our ...

Back in November, I took some flak in the comments for calling jazz vocalization "unbearable," and so I'd like to present Ex...

The Netflix documentary  Making a Murderer is sometimes compelling, sometimes boring, sometimes biased and sometimes soporific . . . my wife...

A banner week: two epic journeys, one for each child; 1) after a packed Sunday of sporting events-- I played indoor soccer and coached my ...

There's no need for The Voice of God this week on The Test , because Cunningham provides everything you wanted to know about Salvador Da...

I'm not sure if you can spoil a show that's sixteen years old, but if you've never seen Freaks and Geeks , you need to watch it ...

Ralph Waldo Emerson espoused the transcendental notions that "nature always wears the colors of the spirit" and "there is a k...

God knows why, but my son has chosen the "diorama" option for a school project, and while I hate dioramas-- and question their ...

I have two reasons for this brief moment of chronological dyslexia: 1) I never use chapstick; 2) it was early in the morning; and I wo...

My friend and colleague Stacey was so amused by this comment thread  in response to this sentence that she printed it out and taped it to t...

Yesterday after school, I stopped at Wawa for coffee, and-- while I was waiting in line-- I was tempted by the big cookies on display by the...

My wife has thirteen different bottles of hair care and body wash and skin cleansing products in the shower, while the boys only have one al...

This week on The Test , I administer a quiz specifically tailored to our special guest-- her name is Gabby Green and so the questions revol...

One of the best things about Manchester, Vermont is the Equinox Preserve , a beautiful piece of land with a number of well marked hiking tra...

Last year, I taught Serial Season 1 to my high school seniors-- I couched the podcast within a process analysis unit, and the kids really e...

In a brand spanking new recurring segment that probably won't recur any time soon, Dave asks himself: 1) is this gross? 2) how gross...

Yesterday, as I drove through Milltown, New Jersey, I had the privilege to ride behind a monster pick-up truck with the words "Sinis...

This week on The Test , Stacey delivers yet another clever song quiz: identify the title and artist of each track, and then -- at the end-- ...

I forgot to bring my Liane Moriarty  novel Three Wishes  on vacation, but my wife came to the rescue and lent me her Jojo Moyes novel One Pl...

This sentence is in no way indicative of the entirety of our Vermont vacation, which mainly consisted of snowy hikes with the kids and do...

Robert D. Putnam (the Harvard social scientist of Bowling Alone fame) has a new book, titled  Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis  , whic...

In 2016, I resolve to continue doing  more of the same -- this worked well for me in 2015-- and in addition, as a bonus, I am resolving to d...