It was an unmitigated disaster, and it was entirely my fault. The Missus and I were finally making our maiden trip to Europe – first England, then France. The division of labor: She would organize our time in London, and I’d do the same for Paris. Mais non. Mind you, this was during the pre-InternetContinue reading “Prologue”

In 1980 the Missus and I met while we were both working at Filene’s flagship department store in downtown Boston (she was the store’s Executive Shopper, I was a copywriter in its advertising department). My route to the copywriting job was somewhat unorthodox, as I’ve described elsewhere. But once there, I took maximum advantage ofContinue reading “That Honeymoon Trip”

Several years after our misbegotten maiden voyage to Europe, the Missus and I embarked on a Grand Tour of Italy: Milano to Venezia to Firenze to Roma. First stop: Milan, about which I remember exactly nothing. The Missus: For me, Milan was indeed memorable, but for all the wrong reasons. Why go at all oneContinue reading “‘Hey! Fungoli!’: How the Missus and I Railed Our Way Through Italy”

For reasons that remain lost in the mists of time, during the summer of 1987 the Missus and I decided to celebrate the Fourth of July in Toronto, a city I described this way in an Adweek column I wrote upon our return to the Hub of the Universe. [Our trip] tied in nicely withContinue reading “Egg Month in Canada: ‘You Could Feel the Excitement in the Air’”

In 1987 I was a very unhappy creative director at a mid-sized ad agency in Boston (representative samples of my work here), when my boss decided it would be a good idea to get me out of town – specifically for a pricey road trip (on his dime) down the California coast. As I recountedContinue reading “North by Northwest to Mt. Rushmore”