Stories – Dennis C Merritt

Here’s a page with lots of old stories, including Marty and the Mashed Potatoes and tales of Chipper the Parakeet: Story Collection

And here’s more recent additions:

Title
Russell July 16, 2023 My cousin, Russell Merritt, recently passed away. I was asked to talk at his memorial for a family perspective. The other nine speakers were all people from his various walks of life presenting a wonderful overview of the lives he touched. Here are my comments. We had a small family. I was an only child … Continue reading "Russell"
La Noche de las Tortugas August 2, 2021 The Night of the Turtles I got to spend another week in Cancun getting more work done at (product placements coming) Cancun Dental Specialists. I stayed at the Flamingo Resort hotel which is right across the street. The dental work was good, as was the resort, but that’s not what this is about. Walking along … Continue reading "La Noche de las Tortugas"
St. Crispin and the Iroquois Confederacy June 18, 2021 I’m working on a follow-on book to Jazz Chords for Baritone Ukulele which will be called, surprisingly, something like Jazz Chords for Guitar. (This story is only going to be about that for a little while, major digression coming.) The chapter I’m working on is about chord progressions, of which a fundamental one involves the … Continue reading "St. Crispin and the Iroquois Confederacy"
Jerry, who’s blind June 12, 2021 Jerry was probably more of a college acquaintance than friend of mine, being closer to our mutual friend John. Like John, Jerry was a math major, and like John and myself, Jerry was a Go player. Jerry was blind, and I mean completely and totally blind. He had had some degenerative disease around age five … Continue reading "Jerry, who’s blind"
Cancun Teeth April 13, 2021 My dentist looked in horror at my latest x-rays. Decay all over my mouth, most worrisome being large areas below the gums. This was all relatively new. I’d already lost two molars because of it, but now it looked like there was additional extensive damage. I was getting implants for the two missing teeth, but … Continue reading "Cancun Teeth"
Writing Well February 17, 2021 A personal journey from reading about database to writing about jazz on a baritone ukulele. My Path If you were involved with computers in the 1970s you would be impressed with the name James Martin. He was big then, but fame is so fleeting, even programmers today don’t know of him. However, then, he used … Continue reading "Writing Well"
Dad’s War Diary November 11, 2020 Here’s a digest of my Dad’s War Diary, including photos and maps.
Law and Order June 14, 2020 “In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups…” I was just starting up with a new girl friend who had a third floor walk up apartment in Charlestown MA, which had a reputation as a tough town. She told me that not too many days ago she … Continue reading "Law and Order"
Breast Cancer, AI, the Military and More April 24, 2020 My ideating friend, Abel Viageiro of Mozambique, was pondering the ways technology could be used to better handle pandemics. Which reminded me of some work my small company, Amzi!, was involved in back in the late 1990s. War Fighter The work was for a part of the Army involved in medical technology, and was called … Continue reading "Breast Cancer, AI, the Military and More"
Qualifying for the Boston Marathon April 20, 2020 I like to brag that I once qualified for the Boston Marathon. Anyone who knows anything about that race is impressed. One needs documented fast times in one or more previous races to simply get to the starting line. That’s how it is now, and has been for quite some time. But back in 1968, … Continue reading "Qualifying for the Boston Marathon"
My Professional Dance Career April 19, 2020 Back in the 1970s in Cambridge Mass. a recent Harvard MBA graduate had an idea for a business. Serious dance lessons for non-serious dancers. Instructors that taught jazz and ballet dancing in studios with wood floors and mirrors and bars. But for ordinary people. He called it “The Joy of Movement Center” with a number … Continue reading "My Professional Dance Career"
Showdown over Star Occultation April 13, 2020 A story of a workplace bully I was a programmer working at what was then called the M.I.T. Instrumentation Lab. It serviced various engineering contracts, mostly large D.O.D. ones, but other, smaller ones, as well. My group was working on a contract involving atmospheric study from space. One small part of that small project was … Continue reading "Showdown over Star Occultation"
Bicycle Racing with John Allis July 9, 2019 I started racing bicycles in the mid 1970s, a time when the sport was really small and most of the racers were runners with bad knees. I like to brag that I was a category I rider, which I was, except that back then, that was the only category. You simply paid your dues and … Continue reading "Bicycle Racing with John Allis"
Apollo 11 Memory June 25, 2019 1969 — The country was split between conservatives and liberals, maybe even more so than it is today. The Vietnam war was huge in our lives, and many college kids were actively protesting against it. M.I.T. was no exception. Doc Draper — Doc Draper was a legend at M.I.T., he drove a little sports car … Continue reading "Apollo 11 Memory"
First Man – An Extra’s Story October 3, 2018 I’d always said I wanted to be an extra in a movie, to be able to say at so many minutes into such and such a movie that was me walking across the street. Last February I finally had my chance. First Man, about Neil Armstrong’s trip to the moon, was shooting a scene at … Continue reading "First Man – An Extra’s Story"
Schwarzenegger & Pumping Iron August 30, 2018 We watched The Long Goodbye (1973) last night, in which Arnold Schwarzenegger was in one short scene where he took his shirt off. Amazing. It reminded me of one of my favorite movie viewings, seeing Pumping Iron at a pre-release showing in Boston. When Pumping Iron (1977), a pseudo documentary on body building starring Schwarzenegger and … Continue reading "Schwarzenegger & Pumping Iron"
Beauty as a Curse January 29, 2018 Bob was an engineer at the first company I worked for. He had cerebral palsy. If you ever made cruel jokes as a kid trying to imitate such a person, well that’s what Bob was like. He walked with a shuffle, his hands were contorted and not that well controlled, he drooled a bit, and … Continue reading "Beauty as a Curse"
Marketing Phone Sex October 27, 2017 This is a post about the importance of having a rapport with the customer. A number of years ago I knew someone, D, who was dyslexic, MIT smart, a phone hacker, and a cross dresser. He was straight, and that’s important for the story, but wanted to live his life as a woman. This was … Continue reading "Marketing Phone Sex"
My Favorite Super Bowl Experience February 6, 2017 It was 1985, Super Bowl XX, the first for the New England Patriots, playing Chicago, also their first. I was living in Boston at the time, and a friend of mine from Japan was visiting the country on business and asked if I could have dinner with him on Sunday. Super Bowl Sunday. He didn’t … Continue reading "My Favorite Super Bowl Experience"