Search

You would think a clutch would give a little more notice than a noseful of caustic smoke before grinding (literally) to a halt along Highway 280 just north of San […]

'Oh, oh, stop!' Pammy yelled, grabbing me hard and shaking me by the shoulders; then she fell silent. She was talking about the rains, of course, the constant downpours and […]

Many long years ago, I took a job as a disk jockey at my college radio station. I gave it up after a semester, largely because I had to put […]

A cold wind blew through the San Francisco Bay area last week. Temperatures dropped to freezing levels. Overnight, thin frost formed on the windshields of cars lining the streets, and […]

I love to fan a flame. For proof, look no further than my neighborhood's annual Burning of the Greens celebration last week. Every year we start by setting the torch […]

There I was, Dec. 31, 1996, 11:42 p.m. The countdown to the new year was going painfully slowly, Pammy having dragged me to the New Year's Eve equivalent of a […]

As any narc can tell you, eggnog is a mighty powerful drug. It can compel the unsuspecting corporate consumer to whisper intriguing confessions and propel the meek to pontificate on […]

It never fails. Cats always cozy up to the one who is allergic to them, and kids are no different. Yet I, no lover of the wee ones, always get […]

As we sat through yet another way-too-expensive therapy session, I learned that Pammy thinks I do not communicate well. I was, of course, appalled at the suggestion and about to […]

Each year at Thanksgiving, the Cringely family would gather around the well-extended table and, with steam rising from the bird and the green-bean casserole coagulating, Mom would insist that we […]

I had a roommate in college who was not the most productive human being. Most anything was an excuse to cut class or skip out on his job. I knew […]

It was bound to happen sooner or later. To my knowledge, you cannot live on the midpeninsula of the San Francisco Bay and not encounter the experience eventually. I'm talking […]

After nearly 15 years in the field, I've taken some hard hits from CEOs, readers, even lawyers over things I've written here. But I got the most painful blind-side tackle […]

I hate Halloween. Always have. The costume thing is stupid enough, but to make it worse, I started out Thursday morning by complimenting Pammy on the realistic hag outfit she'd […]

Pammy has this little blues rap she sometimes sings around the house. It opens with a chorus that begins with a low hum, followed by a seven-tone scat bit. It's […]

I may have blown my chance at glory. For weeks now, I've been in the kitchen perfecting my chili recipe, knowing that this could be the year that InfoWorld dethrones […]

As a veteran of the news media, I watched the debates last week with particular interest. There is no better sport, in my opinion, than watching a politician squirm. Even […]

Pammy and I spent a long weekend in Napa, sitting neck-deep in mud baths, sipping the finest reds the valley has to offer, and reading aloud to one another the […]

Turnabout is fair play. Last week, my careful readers piled on the e-mail until I accepted responsibility for my exceptional grammatical error. These same 'careful' readers came a-callin' again, asking […]

Pammy and I wanted to get out of the country for a few days over the long holiday weekend, but when the FAA grounded SunTrips, we went for the next […]

"Soldier!" Col. Cringely is back in town, and for once I am glad to see my old dad, even if he does have an abrupt way of rousing the sleeping. […]

I blame the heat. An off-hand comment about a little Cringe, and the next thing you know, Pammy is waiting for a dipstick to turn blue. I try to tell […]

Whatever happened to the lazy days of summer?" Pammy sighed, throwing her glistening body across my lap and distracting me from my work. I tried to explain that the battle […]

Back in my misspent youth, before I became a miss-spent reporter, I joined a carload of kids sneaking east across the Ohio border toward a tiny college town outside of […]

I wanted Pammy to write the column again this week, but she's starting to demand a lot for her time. Usually, her requests are my pleasure to fulfill, but now […]

My Bobby loves a challenge. Microsoft. Me. Between us, we had him competing like an Olympian, and when Bobby sticks it, well, let me just say it's a perfect 10. […]

'Bobby, you have arrived,' Pammy sighed as I turned the rental car onto Microsoft Way. She had to be kidding. While my esteemed colleagues from a dozen other tech publications […]

I was beginning to feel like I'd been cast in a bad Chevy Chase Vacation movie. A week of camping in the wilds of western Washington state was turning into […]

'Just one more suitcase and I'm ready.' Pammy was dragging her fourth bag out to the car. 'Pammy, this is a camping trip, not a weekend at the Ritz. Do […]

Sweet reunion: Pammy and I are together again. During these past few weeks she's not been herself, but then, neither have I. Best to put the past behind us and […]

When the going gets threatening, the threatened get going. In the past two months, my once-beloved Pammy had gone from the kind of passionate, appeasing woman I prefer to a […]

'Drink up, Bobby.' After a week of unanswered phone calls and instant hang-ups, Pammy had finally agreed to meet me. I'd just snared a hotly contested table outside Starbucks on […]

I'm ready to come home -- if only I can get Pammy to answer the phone. Women can make a man crazy sometimes, especially when they start talking among themselves. […]

Pammy was jittery and excitable when I stepped off the plane Tuesday afternoon, and it took the hair of the dog to calm us both down. A double-shot of espresso […]

Beep... Pammy, pick up, baby -- you there? Pammy?... Damn. Listen, baby, I'm a little, ahh, tied up back here. No way I'll make it back to wrap the column. […]

My father, Col. Xavier Cringely, is staying with Pammy and me this week. It has not been easy. The Colonel, a retired career officer of unbending severity, appeared in our […]

There's a frightening moment in 1984 when Winston Smith turns to O'Brien, his torturer, and says, 'I understand how, but I don't understand why,' and O'Brien tells him that power […]

I'm back from L.A., strung out and wasted by booze and late nights with Norm. When I limped in the front door Pammy took one look at me and yelped, […]

In Los Angeles for Tech Ed last week, while my InfoWorld colleagues were slumming at the Beverly Wilshire, I was living it up in the San Fernando Valley compound of […]

'Just try it once,' Pammy was saying. 'You'll like it -- I promise.' I was skeptical: The last time I had heard this line was from a cat named Deerpark […]

But baby,' I reasoned, 'you can't just declare yourself a nonprofit organization.' It's tax time chez nous, and I was trying to shield Pamela from a federal investigation -- but […]

In the winter of 1973, when I was doing graduate work at Stanford, every gas station in Palo Alto had its coronet: a long line of cars snaking around the […]

You can't get too much of what you like. When I first started dating Pammy, I'd call her once or twice a day. Burning with embarrassment, I'd limp to her […]

We're from different generations, Pammy and I. This is normally a source of great satisfaction, of course, but sometimes I find the disparity in our ages humiliating. It's not just […]

Gatsby learned the hard way that you can never go home. Me too. Last week they flew me to Chicago during a blizzard. If you grew up in the Midwest […]

Without loyalty you're on your own. In college I went out with a tall, beautiful, and clever redhead named Charlotte, and, as is the way when you're young and in […]

It's just like politicians promising no new taxes, or peace with honor,' I babbled. 'No one really believes the public promises of computer industry executives.' 'What are you talking about, […]

All last week I was at UniForum, the big Unix show in San Francisco, and I'm here to tell you: Large Unix gatherings have the same tone as religious revival […]

'And now we stay in this position for an hour,' Pammy said. The order, though peremptory, was the most welcome in Pammy's week-long battle to boost our fertility. She's got […]

I'm so jet-set these days I hardly blink when the fawning flunkies at check-in bump me up to first class, helpless before the teeming zeroes of my frequent flier mileage. […]