The time was right, we had to believe that — Thousands and thousands of my rides have started like this: “What made you decide to move to Oregon?” “Adventure,” I exclaim! They persist sometimes, not satisfied by my off-the-cuff response. Some people ask, not because they want to fill the silence but because they genuinely want to know the answer. …

About Me — MW Mercer “Tell me about you” is a question I’ve answered- proverbially- well over 10,000 times in the past 4+ years. That is the tenure of my working with the Rideshare companies. I’ve given over 20,000 rides so far, and interacting with strangers over and over again…

Just a little bit of advice can go a long way — I picked a man up from a small business- new to the area, from what I could tell- and made a joke with him about the name of the place. I was taking him for a twenty-five-minute trip to the airport, and I was trying to break the ice. He…

Sometimes, the adman can hit the nail on the head — Photo by Katherine Hanlon on Unsplash Several months ago, I was walking around my friendly neighborhood Costco one fine Friday afternoon, and I saw a chair. I’m of the age where I can remember The Sharper Image and when they had a store in the mall. This chair I saw…

A few life hacks I hope you’ll never have to use — I was reared on the east coast. Eight of my formative years in New Jersey. I spent the largest part of my adulthood in the southern Midwest. I thought the weather was always going to be bitter, icy, bone-chilling cold in the winter and hot, humid stickiness in the summer…

There are experiences that compel you to share them — I was in 5th Grade, I think. Must have been the summer just after. I went to Christian Bible Camp for the first time. It was there that I got Saved. I didn’t quite understand what I was saved from, but I had watched enough Justice League of America…

Time flies when you’re alive — For a good five years running, my best friend, Peter the Bald Chiropractor, and I would meet. At a St. Louis Bread Company that neatly bisected the distance between his loft and my apartment, every Tuesday morning, and talk. One of the ideas we returned to often was homeostasis. …

Even if I feel like a pretty, pretty princess when I drive one — After my own trusted little Toyota Corolla, Parker, suffered an injury that precluded them from serving the public, I rented a Tesla. There’s no denying it. I? Felt fancy. The kind young person at the rental agency gave me a very brief tutorial on how to operate it, and I…