The Mason Minute

I’m getting up on my soapbox today, but don’t think this is some old man rant, because it’s not. This is the problem I’ve had most of my life. I talked about this briefly yesterday in my Road Warrior video blog. I realize products change all the time, but I get the feeling that companies don’t want to tell us when this happens, for fear we’ll switch to another product. The face wash I use every day has a new formula. It looks diffe...

I’m not someone who’s often accused of having trust issues. And I guess, that’s something I should be proud of. When you’ve been in a relationship as long as I have, you typically don’t think of things like that. Now, perhaps in my younger days, there was a time or two when it was questioned, but that was long ago. But the other day, I found myself in a situation that tested my trust. And, in complete honesty, I called myself out. ...

It’s Valentine’s Day, a day that celebrates love and romance. And with that, you normally think of special songs, like love songs. For some reason, I often think of the Love Boat theme from the old TV show. It talks about love, that’s exciting and new. My love is not so new, and to me, that’s actually a good thing. Sure, when love is new, there is some excitement, but as time goes on and love changes, it becomes something more spec...

Home shopping channels have been a TV craze for decades. But it looks like the remaining players will be filing for bankruptcy shortly. QVC and HSN’s days are numbered thanks to the Internet. They can’t survive. I remember friends who were obsessed with the home shopping channels back in the 80s. They would watch for hours and hours on end. Now that we can shop for anything online, there really is no point to TV shopping chan...

The NFL unofficially wrapped up the season yesterday. Sure, the big game was on Sunday, but yesterday the Seattle Seahawks had their Super Bowl parade. But many people throughout the area weren’t able to celebrate. The city of Seattle announced that any student missing school yesterday would be issued an unexcused absence. And while I understand the school system taking the hard line, I’m sure there are many disappointed children. ...

There’s a TikTok video that looks to be going viral. Now that happens often, but the one thing that stood out to me was a video from a father of three here in Nashville. I read about the video online. His premise is that he’s no longer welcome at fast food restaurants like McDonald’s and Taco Bell. He feels restaurants are discouraging indoor dining and are encouraging you to use DoorDash or the drive-through window. Heel pines for...

Long before it was a movie, Groundhog Day always made me chuckle. It’s silly to think that so many people could be upset by whether a rodent sees their shadow or not. And of course, last week, when Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, for some reason, that means six more weeks of winter. Now we all know the season technically lasts six more weeks. But at this point, everybody is tired of snow, or in our case, ice. Most Winters aren’t ...

When people ask me how I like my job, I tell them I’ve never worked harder in my life. My careers in radio and the music business could be intense, sometimes frantic, but with both, there was always a lot of downtime. You wouldn’t think that working for an advertising agency would be quite as demanding. But it is. I go nonstop for eight hours a day, and by the time I get home, I’m tired. I grab my dinner, try to relax a bit, and th...

You know what day it is. It’s the day of that big Bad Bunny concert. I guess “concert” isn’t the right word; perhaps I should say ‘performance’. Bad Bunny, who almost everybody in the world knows, is performing the halftime show at this year’s Super Bowl. While I’m not a fan of his music, I have no problem with him performing. In fact, I rarely pay attention to the halftime show anyway. I know for some...

Let me pose a question. Are nostalgia and history exclusive of one another? No, I’m not talking about feeling nostalgic, I’m talking about nostalgia, the love of things that are old. If people love nostalgia, do they also love history? I don’t know the answer, but I do know that most people who don’t like history aren’t fond of looking back. I love nostalgia. I love old pictures. I love stories of nearly anything from back in the d...

Do you ever have a situation where you think the issue is probably more in your mind than it is in reality? Let me explain. For some reason, our house feels colder when it’s 40° outside than when it’s 20° outside. And it’s not like we’re changing the thermostat. During the winter months, we keep our house consistently at 66°. But I find the house feels colder when it’s 40 outside than when it’s 20. Technically, the thermostat reads...

When you think of wildlife, you don’t often think of Nashville. Okay, perhaps you think of the wildlife that’s happening on Lower Broadway, but Nashville isn’t known as a rural area. But, as I can attest, we still have lots of animals within the city limits. Within just a few miles of my house, many families of deer, a few coyotes, and even some water buffalo on a nearby farm that do escape every now and then. But I learned just th...

One of my old bosses used to say that nobody likes change except for a wet baby. I always knew what he meant and agreed, to a point. One thing I’ve realized is that most change is a slow process. It happens behind the scenes when we’re not paying attention. When we notice, the change seems abrupt. The way we watch sports on television is changing. I should say it’s constantly changing. The regional sports network FanDuel Sports has...

The Winter Olympics are almost here. They begin in a couple of days, with curling among the first events. I’m not the biggest Olympic fan, but I do keep track of what’s going on. One thing I wondered about recently is why some sports, like figure skating, wait until the last minute to announce the Olympic participants. The figure skaters who will represent the US were announced a couple of weeks ago. To me, that seems like very sho...

Yesterday, I was listening to a playlist on Spotify. And one of my favorite country songs, that many have forgotten, was on the playlist. It was Steve Earle’s ‘I Ain’t Ever Satisfied’.  And naturally, it got me to thinking. As Americans, or for that matter, even as humans, is satisfaction possible? I’ve always viewed myself as a perfectionist. That’s both good and bad. One of the bad parts is that even when something go...

I often see jokes on social media, talking about people wearing pajamas when they shop at places like Walmart. Now, I will admit it’s not actually a place where people dress up to be seen. But often times, the people you see there may be wearing what they sleep in, but it’s not necessarily pajamas. But the other day, when we were shopping there, I saw at least two people wearing full winter pajamas as they pushed their shopping car...

I finally got a haircut yesterday. I know it shouldn’t be a big deal, but just finding the time in my schedule is often a challenge. There’s one thing that’s fascinated me about getting haircuts for a long time. And that’s the difference between a barbershop and a beauty salon. While very different, they’re actually very similar in vibe. Does that make sense? Now, I get my haircut at one of those chain locations that caters to both...

The truth is a funny thing. And I don’t mean funny, ha ha. I mean, funny as in peculiar. Right now, we live in trying times. Many people believe the truth doesn’t exist. They believe what they want to believe, and don’t care what anyone else thinks. But sometimes, it’s absolute. It’s been a challenging week here in Nashville. With a severe ice storm over the weekend, many people are still without power, now six days later. Everyone...

Experts say you can tell a lot about a person by how cluttered their life is. For some, it’s a cluttered office or a messy car. I’m guilty of the former, but not the latter. I don’t know why, but I’ve never liked trash in my car. You’ll never find empty cans or fast food bags on my floorboards. I don’t wash my car often enough, but I keep the interior pretty clean. The city of Hilton Head, SC, has announced a new law that goes into...