Paul Combs

1 week ago | medium.com | Paul Combs

No, I was not drinking at the timeAt the beginning of April, I wrote about a brutal reading slump I’ve been experiencing and how reading through Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s Cemetery of Forgotten Books series again was my grand plan for ending the slump. It was a fine plan, and after a slight delay I was moving through The Shadow of the Wind at breakneck speed as I sat with my stepdad at the nursing facility.

1 week ago | medium.com | Paul Combs

They don’t write them like this anymoreIt’s been almost a month since my last Rate-A-Record installment, something I never would have thought possible (I’ve written 115 of the damn things over the past three years, after all). I explained the reason here, but even as I wrote that piece I was sure a Rate-A-Record would follow within a day or two. I was wrong. I’ve gone back and forth for the past week trying to decide how to get back on the music-writing horse.

2 weeks ago | paulcombs.medium.com | Paul Combs

They deserve it now more than everThis Saturday, April 26th, is Independent Bookstore Day in the United States, a day the America Booksellers Association calls a “national one-day party held the last Saturday in April that celebrates independent bookstores across the country.” Over the past several years, I have written about Independent Bookstore Day, but with a twist: I always wrote about it a week or two after the event.

3 weeks ago | medium.com | Paul Combs

It’s the end of an eraJust over two years ago, I began documenting my time in the wilds of East Texas in a series titled The Mayberry Chronicles. The unexpected relocation from the urban jungles of Dallas-Fort Worth to the land that time forgot was necessitated by my mom’s illness and set in stone after her passing when it became clear my octogenarian stepfather could not manage things on his own.

3 weeks ago | fireengineering.com | Paul Combs

Dealing with difficult firefighters, or “mutts,” is a challenging issue for any leader. Their bad behavior can negatively impact productivity and create a toxic environment, hindering mission fulfillment and training goals. To address this, stay calm, focus on behavior, and avoid personal attacks. Get to the root cause, which may be work-related, personal, or a combination. Actively listen without judgment, as they may need someone to understand them.