For many travelers, the most stressful part of a vacation is packing for said vacation. If that’s you, don’t worry – Deserae and I have gone on a bajillion vacations, and we have packing down to a sweet science. Follow our proven packing formula to start your vacation off on the right foot.

1. Put off packing until the Last. Possible. Second.

This first step is our number one secret to packing success. If you screw this up, you’ll throw everything else off. If your flight leaves at 5 a.m., you’d better not start packing until 10 p.m. the night before.

2. Put off packing some more.

When 10 o’clock rolls around DO NOT START PACKING. That would be a rookie mistake. Instead, look through the last month’s to-do list and start working on the least urgent thing. I like to shred credit card offers. Ideally, you will also have access to a basketball game you can put on “in the background” that will slow the process even more. Only once you’ve exhausted all other possible options is it appropriate to move onto step 3.

3. Set out every piece of clothing you own.

All of it. Snow pants. Bathing suits. Halloween costumes. It’s easier to sort through everything when it’s on the bed instead of in your brain. Got it? Good! Now

4. Stuff all of it into your suitcase.

Honestly, I was a little skeptical of this step at first. How many sweatshirts does one need for a weekend in the Bahamas? But I quickly discovered that Deserae is a fierce sweatshirt protector, and you never know what you’ll need and also that’s why suitcases are expandable. Also, by now it’s 11 p.m., and would you really rather spend 45 minutes arguing about packing the spare snorkel when you could be spending that time sleeping? So just keep your mouth closed, expand the suitcase and start stuffing. Continue reading →

Deserae and I just finished a seven-day cruise with her family. I very much enjoyed the vacation and had a great time with the Neros.

However.

There were several times when the group’s desires did not exactly align with my own. One time, for example, everyone thought it would be great fun to jump in an outdoor hot tub despite 52-degree temperatures and 30 mph winds.

“What do you think, Dustin? Just for like 15 minutes?”

“I think I’d rather spend 15 minutes strapped to the front of the boat.”

“OK, see you in the hot tub!”

Another one of these moments came in Cozumel. We had a wonderful day in Cozumel. We celebrated Deserae’s birthday at a beautiful beach under a stunning blue sky and ate a delicious Mexican meal. But none of it, apparently, counted unless we could walk away with a souvenir.

Well, you say, that sounds easy. There are thousands of cheap souvenirs for sale at the cruise ship terminal! Just pick up a magnet on the way to the ship! You clearly do not know my wife’s family. For the Neros, “cheap” will not do as long as there is the possibility of “free.” And there is no better free souvenir than the passport stamp.

Until last week, I was unaware that it is possible to get a stamp on your passport if you’re not entering via the airport. But it is! Almost every port has a little guy in a little closet of an office who will stamp your passport if you ask nicely. For free! A FREE STAMP!

So the end of our day in Cozumel turned into a scavenger hunt for the little guy in the little office with the little stamp. Continue reading →

Every human who’s ever lived has three basic instincts: sleep, eat and get famous. Unfortunately, while everyone has the opportunity to sleep and most can find enough to eat, very few people ever get the chance to become famous.

Two years ago on a cruise, Deserae saw an opportunity to fulfill one of life’s most basic needs. “Hey, do you want to go on the Love and Marriage Show?” she asked one night while we were getting ready for dinner.

The Love and Marriage Show is the unrivaled king of cruise ship entertainment. If you’re not familiar, it’s basically the Newlywed Game – a TV program popular in the 1960s where newly married couples answered embarrassing questions and said passive aggressive things about each other in front of a live studio audience. It was great fun.

“Uhhhhhh do you?”

Up to that point, if Deserae were given the choice between answering embarrassing, personal questions on stage or getting hit by a bus, I always assumed she’d take the bus. When Deserae gets embarrassed, her face turns the brightest shade of red you’ve ever seen. This makes her more embarrassed, which turns her face even redder, which makes her even more embarrassed, etc. etc., until her face bursts into flames.

“Why not!”

I squinted. That was a pretty good argument. Two nights later, we found ourselves in the audience of the Love and Marriage Show. Continue reading →

I’m a sucker for stories with surprise endings. Your movie is at eight percent on Rotten Tomatoes? People compare it to a grease dumpster fire? But what’s that you say – at the end you find out that the whole time the bad guy has been…WAIT, WAIT DON’T TELL ME! I’m in for the next two hours!

Unfortunately, I’ve learned that twist endings are not as great in real life as they are in the movies.

My sophomore year of college, I lived with a mild-mannered roommate named Jordan. Jordan was so mild-mannered that if someone were to replace him with a reasonably lifelike mannequin, it might have taken a few days to notice. If my life were a movie, Jordan would be the perfect candidate for a last-minute twist.

Jordan’s one defining characteristic was that he was in a band in high school. He’d remind us of this fact every few days.

“We were pretty good,” he’d say while picking at his guitar in bed.

When nobody would look up, he’d continue.

“We did the Nebraska State Fair last year.”

Silence.

Twang twang twang twang

Zero times that semester did anyone show even a shred of interest in Jordan’s band. That did not stop him from filling us in on every detail.

He shared the band’s name (Skylar Blue).

“Cool.”

He shared the reason for the name (A 10-minute story about a kid named Skylar dying of cancer).

“Cool.”

He shared every song his band had recorded. (Heavenly, Faye and Til Death Do Us Part).

“Cool.”

Every story about Jordan’s band was long and filled with colorful detail. No one cared. No one cared, that is, until the day of The Twist. Continue reading →

The thing I miss least about working in downtown Cleveland is leaving downtown Cleveland. Every day at 5:30, every person in the city crowds onto the same street at the same time to leave Cleveland. As a result, no one gets to leave Cleveland.

Over the years, I learned how to leave Cleveland fast by cutting down alleys and through parking lots and in front of people. I got good. I got cocky. Then on June 3, 2015, I got stuck.

On June 3, I pulled out of my parking garage onto Prospect Ave. and stopped. No matter who I tried to sneak in front of or what parking lot I tried to cut through, I couldn’t get any closer to the freeway. A half hour later, as a last ditch effort to get home before dying of natural causes, I tried to cut down the alley next to the graveyard. That’s when I ran into the cause of my problem.

A quarter-mile of these trucks had parked in the alley.

I could get out of Cleveland just fine on Indians and Cavs game days. But on June 3, someone bigger than LeBron James came to Cleveland. Taylor Swift had taken over my city.

I don’t know much about Taylor Swift. She seems kind of like a nice robot. But on that day, surrounded by minivans full of bedazzled 10-year-old fans, I realized that there was no more powerful robot in the world than Taylor Swift, Inc.

That day reminded me of my one previous encounter with Ms. Swift. It was five years ago, and it was captured on video. I watched it the other day while procrastinating and was struck by how much the two of us have changed over the past five years – Taylor into a sleeker robot with an armada of semi trucks, and me into someone who is mortified by my actions in the video.

On Dec. 7, 2010, Taylor Swift sat down with the Today Show to promote her tour. On the same date, Deserae and I visited New York City to wave in the background of a Today Show interview. We all accomplished our goals that day. Continue reading →

When Deserae and I went to Maui for our honeymoon, my goal was not to relax by the pool or enjoy the ocean breeze or have a romantic time with my new bride. No, I would not rest until we SAW EVERYTHING. That’s how we ended up on a three-hour hike after a full day of driving and sweating on the Road to Hana.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Road to Hana, it is 64 miles of blind turns and one-lane bridges through Maui ’s rainforest. If you make it to the end without dying or divorcing, you win a prize. The road’s best feature is its waterfalls. Because Deserae loves waterfalls (we got engaged next to one), I planned a route that would let us see all 2 billion of them. After eight hours, we’d seen all the waterfalls except one – the 400-foot Waimoka Falls at the end of the Pipiwai Trail. I’d kept this one a secret because I was romantic and dumb.

“I think you’ll like this hike!” I said as we pulled into the parking lot.

Deserae looked skeptical. “Is it long?”

“That’s not important.”

“It’s kind of important.” Continue reading →

They say that you can learn more about a person from a night of poker than a lifetime of conversation. I think that’s true, because on Monday I learned that my grandma is a cold-blooded shark.

The other day, my cousin Leah called to ask if Deserae and I wanted to join her and her boyfriend Andy for a game night with my grandma.

“Yeah, definitely. We have some games – do you want me to bring them?”

“You can, but Andy was going to bring cards and chips for Texas Hold ‘Em.”

“Wait, Grandma knows how to play poker?”

“I don’t think so, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Has Grandma even played poker once in her life?!”

“Dustin, it’s easy to learn.”

“Uhhhhh, I’ll bring Catch Phrase just in case.”

Leah, Andy, Deserae and I showed up at my grandma’s house at 7 p.m. We were also joined by my mom, because my mom sniffed out a game night, and there’s nothing my mom likes better than game night. When we arrived, my grandma informed us that she had never played Texas Hold ‘Em, and also she goes to bed at 8.

We convinced her that it should be OK to push that bedtime just this once and started explaining the rules. “Here are the poker hands,” Leah said as she showed my grandma a cheat sheet she’d pulled up on her phone. “There’s high card, then a pair, then two pair…”

“OK, I think I’ve got it,” my grandma said without looking at the cheat sheet. That should have been my first clue that maybe Grandma knew a bit more than she was letting on. Continue reading →

I make money by buying junk and selling it online. Because of this, I spend a lot of time in checkout lines answering the question, “What are you doing with all THAT?!” Usually when I answer that I sell on Amazon, the cashier gets intrigued and excited. “Oh wow! You need to show me how to do that!”

That is not the reaction I’ve been getting lately. Because Christmas is coming up, most of the junk I’ve been buying lately happens to be toys. And when cashiers ask “Who’s the lucky kid?” or worse “Are you donating all this to charity?” and I tell them that I sell on Amazon, I do not get an “Oh wow!” It’s just “Oh.” Then it’s silence and no eye contact for the rest of the transaction.

Am I the Grinch who stole Christmas? I don’t think so (I’ll stop buying toys a few weeks before Christmas, and stores have been restocking everything immediately after I buy it), but it’s hard not to feel grinchy when I step in front of a small child to clear out half a shelf of Paw Patrols.

To help clear my conscience and use my experience for good, I’ve put together this list of the top toys of 2015. If you’re not sure what to buy the child in your life this year, try one of these hot sellers. You won’t go wrong.

Garbage Truck

Tonka has this whole line of rescue vehicles – police cruiser, fire truck, SWAT helicopter – but its biggest seller by far is the garbage truck. There’s a small but very passionate group of children who LOVE garbage trucks. I believe these kids can only grow up to be one of two things: garbage men or serial killers. Continue reading →

College is a strange place for a thousand different reasons. One of the biggest reasons is that at any given time, roughly 75 percent of the people on campus are procrastinating. And when you procrastinate, you are willing to devote a shocking amount of time and energy toward any activity that is not school-related. Super Smash Brothers, for example. Also elaborate stunts featuring every mattress on the hall. And then there are the pranks.

At no other time in your life do you have the patience, opportunity and animosity toward others that is necessary to pull off Jim Halpert-level pranks.

In a college dorm – especially an all-male college dorm – every day is April 1st. Continue reading →

I have a love/hate relationship with my cousin, Leah. I know this because every time Leah introduces me to someone, she says, “This is my cousin Dustin. We have a love/hate relationship.”

Mainly Leah loves to ask me questions and hates when I tell her to Google the answer.

A few years ago, for example, Leah took up running. She started e-mailing me 50 times a day to ask about running shoes and running form and running music and what to do if her shins hurt because they hurt real baaaaaaaaaaad. Then, suddenly, the e-mails stopped. I wondered what had happened. Did Leah find a new running expert? Had she finally figured things out? Maybe she took my advice to JUST ASK GOOGLE!!!

Nope. Leah didn’t need me any more because she’d found someone else to tell her how to work out. She’d found CrossFit.

CrossFit, if you are unfamiliar, is a new cult.

Ha! Kidding! CrossFit people are touchy, so it’s fun to say things like that once in a while to rile them up. CrossFit is actually a fitness movement that is mainly participants telling everyone they know that they do CrossFit.

Kidding again! Really it’s just a thing where people pay $100 a month for someone to make them do Push-Ups until they puke. Continue reading →