Christmas in Eau Claire has finally started to feel normal again—right as winter reminded me how brutal it can be. Between snow that turns the city into planet Hoth, driving my wheelchair in traffic to avoid ice, a faceplant off a curb while carrying beer, and watching the news roll out battleships, ballrooms, and vanity projects, this feels like the perfect end-of-year snapshot. Funny, frustrating, and just a little surreal.

The federal government may finally move marijuana out of Schedule I, but calling that “legalization” is a stretch. After decades of hypocrisy, moral grandstanding, and selective outrage—especially when compared to alcohol and opioids—this latest move feels less like justice and more like the bare minimum. We’ve been “almost legal” before, and history suggests that’s exactly where they plan to keep it.

A bed-to-chair transfer derailed by a sneeze-hurricane broke a reacher-claw cord. Tools arrived zip-tied together until my girlfriend snipped both ties like a precision ruler. Add disability to a device name and the price explodes. Laughing at yourself is mandatory hardware. This is the Gospel of the Gimp Stick.

ock ’n’ roll didn’t collapse in one dramatic moment—it slowly eroded under shifting culture, digital noise, and a generation that no longer finds rebellion in guitars. This manifesto takes a hard look at the death of the garage band, the rise of hip-hop, the algorithmic takeover, and the moment a 14-year-old called Limp Bizkit “classic rock,” forcing us to confront what rock once was, what it became, and whether it can ever rise again.

After nearly eight years away from winter, I looked out my window today and saw white stuff falling from the sky. It took me a second to remember it’s called snow. At first it looked peaceful, almost magical — until I remembered what it really means: salt, slush, and the lurking terror of getting my wheelchair stuck in a snow drift just trying to grab coffee at QuikTrip. Welcome back to Wisconsin, where the sky hates you but the coffee’s still worth the risk.

After eight years of living in houses, I forgot how thin apartment walls can be. At 3:45 in the morning, I woke to the unmistakable sounds of enthusiasm from the neighbors upstairs — complete with creaking bed, rhythmic thumping, and plenty of moaning. By the time the “series finale” ended around 5 a.m., I was equal parts exhausted, amused, and reminded that apartment living comes with… perks.

I’ll probably lose my metal card for saying this, but Taylor Swift’s new album The Life of a Showgirl is damn good. Blame Amber for getting the hooks stuck in my head. Between discovering pop that actually hits and replacing my dead 25-year-old Alesis monitors with KRK Rokit 5s, I’ve been reminded that music doesn’t care about genres—it just needs to make you feel something.

Amazon may have spoiled us with two-day shipping, but when it comes to UPS, FedEx, and the rest, delivery is still a mess. Waiting on a 100-pound box with no call, no text, and a useless tracker shows just how broken the system really is in 2025.