Board Game Beatdown South Dakota Style

by Kevin Burton    My wife and I loved our South Dakota-Nebraska vacation last fall.  We really didn’t want to come home.    On the way home I kept a Nebraska station on the car radio well past the point where we could actually hear it well enough to recognize a song.     “Hey, if …

A New Take On Taxis And Guide Dogs

   If you are blind and use a guide dog for travel, this story is all too familiar to you.   This comes from Calgary, Alberta, courtesy CBC News.        “A Calgary cab company has fined and temporarily suspended one of its drivers for refusing to give a ride this week to a blind woman …

More Discrimination Against The Blind

by Kevin Burton    Today, two stories about blind people standing up for their rights, one of a pending lawsuit, one of a successful suit in Ohio.    I’m happy to see blind people demanding their rights, but sad that we should have to go to such lengths to get the right to lead basic, …

Walking And Gawking At The Omaha Zoo

by Kevin Burton    Let history record that it was my idea to go to the Omaha Zoo.    My wife will be both surprised and not surprised to read that. Surprised because technically it was her idea; I am not hostile to zoos but certainly indifferent to them.    She will not be surprised …

The Sky’s The Limit For Blind Pilot

by Kevin Burton    Last month a blind woman flew a small airplane across the country. That’s a story you want to read about, right?     OK, here it is, short version:   Kaiya Armstrong, a 22-year-old Arizona woman who can see only a few inches in front of her face, flew a two-seater Cessna …

News At My (And On My) Fingertips

by Kevin Burton    On the next-to-last night of our Upper Midwest vacation we found ourselves watching the clothes go round.    We were in Norfolk, Nebraska, boyhood hometown of Johnny Carson, when we gathered our quarters and the Tide Pods Jeannette had bought for the occasion, and took advantage of the Hampton Inn’s coin …

Remote Adventures In South Dakota

by Kevin Burton    Checked into the Hampton Inn in Sioux Falls on a Monday, settled into our room. One thing was missing.    We were two days into a much-needed vacation and having a great time, ready to watch the Chiefs-Raiders game on Monday Night Football.    The room was nice, lots of space …

Retirement Practice Makes Perfect, I Hope

by Kevin Burton    I’ve got retirement fever now. May it spark in me a desire for discipline.     Retirement has been on my mind for a while, but the taste for it was whetted during our recent vacation, spent mostly in Nebraska and South Dakota. We called the trip retirement practice. I would say …

Flip Phone Flips Out For The Last Time

by Kevin Burton    When it was time, I knew it was time. I took firm control of matters, no hesitation.    The technological advancements, the conveniences, the newly-allowed mobility, all these things and more brought me to the decision to scrap my flip phone and begin using my I-phone Thursday.     In the end, …

Visiting Johnny Carson’s Boyhood Home Town

by Kevin Burton    There was a time when one man captured this nation’s attention, made us laugh and in a way, held us together.    And that national smile began with the first five notes of that song, The Tonight Show theme.     “Daaaaa dum dum daaaa daaaa….”     You heard those notes and …