Thoughts of a Common Man

I was honored to speak at Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo and certainly thank all who took part in the event. The photo above shows all who are featured in the book and took part in the signing. This is my thank-you to those involved. House of Miracles - September 30, 2008 About twenty years ago I thought that if I wrote the right words, in the right order, I could change the world that I live in. Of course, as I’ve grown older, I now understand that the grandiose dreams of an idealistic writer, probably won’t get much done. Yet I stand before you today realizing that through the past seven years the words that I wrote in Counting on a Miracle and in House of Miracles have had an impact on a few lives. House of Miracles is about a community of people who toil day in and day out to offer a little of the human touch that eludes us in other walks of life. It’s about Brian Smistek, the hospital photographer, who makes sure that he leaves a positive impression on everyo...

--- I bet you didn't know that I'm a foreign relations expert - I can see Canada from a route along the 190 leading towards Niagara Falls. We all know how important it is to fend off a foreign country when they're in our site lines. --- I bet you didn't know that if the government was to divide up that $700 billion - each American would get about $450,000. We could all pay taxes - leaving us with about $250,000 each - they can piss away and steal the rest - then we could all pay off our houses, bailing the banks out and getting the economy rolling. If we just wanted to waste our $250,000 on wine, women and gambling - we'd still be helping the economy, right? It's probably too simple - let's give them the cash so they can steal it, waste it, and beg for more later. --- I bet you didn't know that Springsteen will be playing the Super Bowl this year. Wouldn't it be perfect if the Bills made it - I've always told my kids that I'd take them to the...

Yesterday was a day filled with sports. Of course, Buffalo has the Bills - the worst 4 and o team in the history of the game, and the Yanks had their final day of the season with Mike Mussina going for 20 wins. I watched the Yanks and truth be told, the Bills are going to get smoked in Arizona next week to start a five-game losing streak. Mike Mussina is a father of three from a town called Montoursville,PA. He graduated from Stanford in three years with high honors. For the past 18 years he has conducted himself like a gentleman in a sport where he was constantly in view of the limelight. He had never won 20 games - twice before getting stuck on 19. He did it yesterday. The Bills were playing a sad team and looking to continue their streak of perfection. They were on every other TV in the house, and truth be told, I was checking in on them in between Mussina pitches. Things were peaceful until halftime when the Bills were down and my sons were slamming things around the house. Matt we...

We spent half the weekend with Dylan our great nephew who is 13 months old. I didn't put in a lot of time in his care. Kathy left for a half-an-hour to drop Matt at a friends and my instruction was - "Change him before you go." I wasn't about to deal with that. It's been a long time since I suffered through a diaper change and I may have changed my last one ever. Yet it all went fine. The kid actually smiled way more than my kids had, or have since. He didn't cry in the night (at least not that I know of) and he brought the food that he consumed. Not a bad deal. Of course, it raised questions in Kathy's mind. "Wouldn't you want another child?" she asked. "You're fifty," I said (giving her my standard response). "No more kids." "I'm not fifty, and besides I would have liked to have five or six kids. Wouldn't that have been nice?" "Nice? Have you met our other kids? We'll be lucky to keep them ...

Everyone liked Paul Newman, right? Most of the movies he was in were great - classics nearly all of them. He never seemed to be in trouble, and like me, the women thought he was unbelievably handsome. (Okay, maybe I stretched our connection a bit). Yet it was one quote attributed to Newman that kind of stuck in my mind - and it was in response to someone asking him how he could be faithful in his marriage all of those years. "I have steak at home," he said, "Why would I go out for a hamburger?" I'm sure that it wasn't Camelot every day for him and his wife. How can marriage or any relationship be so poetic? We all have faults. We all have bad days, but the line speaks volumes about the kind of man that he was and how he stayed true and loyal. That just seems refreshing to me in this day and age. Good behavior is looked on in amazement, while bad behavior is somehow swept under the rug. I think I'll go out and rent The Hustler . I caught a lot of the deba...

I get up and go to work every day. Most of my friends get up and go to work every day and work weekends and travel and pay too much for gas and try and put a little away for the kids heading off to school, and a rainy day. Seems like we're in a monsoon now. How would I fix this? If you borrowed a million dollars to buy a house and you can only come up with a mortgage payment of $500 a month - you probably shouldn't have borrowed so much - give the house back - and buy something you can afford. If you're running a company and you work 20 hours a week and golf 20 hours a week and then need a golden parachute of say 50 or 60 million - give it back and live like you should have been living all along. If you are being interviewed by Katie Couric and don't know the answer to a fairly elementary question do like I did in high school and answer all around the answer - just drop little tidbits of truth in and stumble around until the right words hit you - try not to say - ...

Writer’s News Weekly 09/16/08 - Q&A with Cliff Fazzolari Book Talk / Author Q&A Volume 9 Issue 23 09/16/2008 1 . Is this event going to be the first time you have met with the patients, parents and staff of the hospital since writing House of Miracles? As a member of the Family-Centered Care Committee at the hospital, I have stayed in contact with a number of people on the staff as well as some of the parents of patients of the hospital. It is the ongoing dedication of staff members and the unwavering support of the parents that inspired me to write the story. I am still in awe of the dedication and the love that goes along with the day-to-day life of a children’s hospital. 2. What would you like people to know about the hospital that they may not already know? Personally, before my son was sick, I had respect for the work of the staff at WCHOB, but that respect is greatly enhanced when your own child is in a life or death situation. Parents in the community, most likely, won’...

So! Clay Aiken is gay. Didn't see that one coming, did you? Who would have ever thought that he was gay after his performance on American Idol? I for one thought that he was getting all the babes. Other shocking announcements- the sky is blue. George Michael of Wham likes men and drugs too. The politicians are all lying. I saw an article yesterday that said that something like 70% of the ads developed by McCain's camp and 65% of the ads developed by the Obama camp had partial lies or total lies in them. Really now! What happened to the honesty platform both were running on? It also shows you the irresponsibility of our media - how can you just let the ads run? Shouldn't there be someone there to stop it. I can almost imagine the scene at the big tv station in your town. TV News Guy: " Obama is running on a platform that we should teach sex ed to kindergarten kids?" McCain backer: "It's true." TV News Guy: "It doesn't sound true." McC...

Watched my poor son and my over-worked wife struggle to make it through a French lesson yesterday. At the same time someone sent me a report at 5 PM that had to be done by the end of the day. I set to work, listening to the homework battle brewing in the kitchen below. I finished up what I needed to do by 7 and flipped on the Yankee game as my 11-year-old boy tried his new French accent out. I was battling laughter, but it was just so ridiculous. Kathy left the room for a moment to take a break and I tried to get Jake back in a decent frame of mind. "Lots of homework, huh?" "Uh, yeah," he answered. "Well I worked today too and got home to find that I had more work to do too." "You're done," he said. "I still have an hour to go." "Still it was a long day for me." Jake paused for awhile. "You know, I go to school all day and I come home and have to work until I go to bed." "Life isn't easy," I said. ...

"The dishwasher's leaking, we need a new one," my wife said. "It ain't leaking," I said. And that's as close as I come to fixing anything. Woke up yesterday morning to a jammed-up computer. Something that was downloaded caused the date on my computer to change to February 29, 9999 - this of course, threw my virus protection out-of-date - I only paid for it until 9997. It took me an hour of cranky-ass time to figure out the problem and work it out. Work sucked again with a lot of people calling- yet work is called work for a reason, so I was ready to roll come the new day. Went to the first job to find that my camera broke - nothing but white lines across the photos. So, I tried to piece together all I know about such problems - and deftly held the camera in my right hand as I banged the top of the camera - Fonzie-style - with my left. The white lines were gone - replaced by a totally black background. Bastard. Took seven straight phone calls about the Ya...

--- A friend of mine owes me $100 - who do I contact in Washington to get him to pay off the debt? --- Tell me there aren't ghosts at Yankee Stadium - I fell asleep in the 4 th inning last night with the television still going - I woke up with two outs in the bottom of the 9 th and was able to see the closing ceremony. The ghosts woke me so I wouldn't miss it. --- The Bills are 3 and 0 - worst three and 0 team in the history of the league - they're going to get smoked next week. --- Speaking of Jeter - do you realize that he never played a game at Yankee Stadium when the Yankees were actually eliminated from post-season play! Never! They're on life-support and the plug is about to be pulled - but he can walk across the street knowing that every time he pulled on his cleats at the old park - that the Yanks still had a chance. This is also the 1st time he'll ever not be in the playoffs. --- Speaking of the Bills - is Marshawn Lynch the ugliest human being ever? A ...

I was once supposed to drive from Connecticut to Virginia to visit a college friend on a Sunday. Instead, I pulled into the lot at Yankee Stadium and watched a Yankee-Red Sox doubleheader. Mattingly homered in both games and I ate about eleven hot dogs to wash down six or seven beers. I watched both games alone. Kathy, Matt, Jake and I went from Buffalo to New York - arrived just in time to see Pedro throw a two-hitter and Manny homer as Boston won 2-0. Matt got an autograph from David Ortiz and Jeter greeted all the fans along the first-base side. We were in the front row directly across from 1st. "Dad, I can spit on Giambi from here," Jake said. "Try not to do that," I answered. The kids still laugh at the New York fans who were teasing Johnny Damon when he was still on the Red Sox and still wearing his hair long. Damon was playing catch with Ortiz when a native New Yorker yelled - "Hey Ortiz, who's the broad on your team?" I drove all the way ...

One more game at Yankee Stadium, but I really am not all worked up about it. The new place will look just like it and it's about nine steps from the old place. The ghosts can make the trip. Yet a friend of mine sent me a link about memories at the place and it got me thinking... My first trip in was with my buddy Al. We were 20 years old and full of piss, vinegar, and beer. We planned our day with some college buddies of Al's and we included a trip to Manhattan , Long Island, and then finally the Bronx. When his buddy looked at our plan - he started laughing - "This isn't Green Acres, dudes, you can't travel all that and do all that in one day." We did - score one for the small-town boys. I was scared to death on the Subway, but it worked out. We were dropped right at the front door. We walked around outside the stadium, taking in the old conditions, and I was surprised by how dirty it seemed, but I was also surprised by the number of people just walking aroun...

Yesterday was one of those days that was so out-of-whack that it was almost comical. Every phone call was bad news about work, everyone seemed to be looking for answers that I just didn't have. At the end of the day, my mood absolutely dour, I was faced with a 2.5 trip home. Of course, the family was concerned about our plans for the weekend, and all the things that needed to be done around the house. "Don't bring up a lot of new stuff," I begged my wife. "I'm shot." A man blew by me on the left side and although I was doing 74 , he gave me the finger. Guess he had a worse day. I turned on my CD player hoping that there was something worth listening to stored in the player. I heard the first chords of The Monster is Loose from Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell 3 - if you don't have it - get it immediately. What turned my day around was a simple verse in the 2nd song - And I wish I could give you something in return for the precious time you wasted on t...

As a teenager, Rafael Peralta snuck into the United States from Mexico. I would be willing to bet that a lot of you are upset by the first line in the story, as many people love to say that we should not allow these people to live in our world and share our now-suddenly-shaky wealth. Yet a few years later, Peralta earned his green card. You know what he did to celebrate? He joined the United States Marine Corps. Four years later, he was in a firefight in Fallujah in a war that no one really understands. He was clearing a home of insurgents when he was struck by a ricocheted bullet. The bullet struck him in the back of the head and it was certainly a fatal blow, but Peralta didn't die instantly. Instead as 5 other Marines watched him, he pulled an insurgent-tossed grenade into his body, and smothered it to save the lives of those in his party. Of course, Peralta lost his life - he was just 25. Fast-forward to yesterday when the shirts in Washington awarded Peralta's famil...

It's not all right that the Yankees missed the playoffs. I will be out-of-touch in October, as I weep nightly and try to forget about what might have been. I was left at the altar, all dressed-up in a tux, with a bunch of people behind me, seeing how I'd react as the thankless bitch(es) decided not to show up. It's not like I didn't put in the time. I was there each night as Cano swung at the first pitch and hit worthless ground balls to second. I explained that the young pitching would be just fine and that running out to sign high-priced guys was a mistake. I gave A-Rod the benefit of the doubt. Even that weird Madonna story was explained away. Posada and Matsui hurt all year? Nothing but a minor distraction. I'Rod was old and horrible. Molina can't hit his way out of a paper bag. Still the baseball gods would find a way to get it done - I said. The Rays couldn't possibly hold on, and Manny left Boston - surely they would fold. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wro...

Half asleep this morning I caught a commercial on ESPN for a piece of gym equipment that promised a perfect body as I did the perfect push-up. The guy in the ad had a perfect build, I suppose, and I wasn't envious - I felt sorry for the poor bastard. "No Pain - No Pain" I said to the screen. Yet it got me thinking. I never had big muscles or washboard abs. I went from skinny to pear-shaped in what seemed like twenty minutes. I can remember being painfully skinny, wishing that I would suddenly sprout Popeye muscles or a Rocky Balboa build. My buddy Jeff and I took dates to the first Rocky movie - I can remember walking out of the theatre with the girl edging close to me - "I wish you looked like Rocky," she said. "I wish you looked like Farrah Fawcett ," I replied. "Looks like it sucks for both of us." Matt, at the age of 15, is skinny and tall. I'm sure that there are a--holes in his high school who already have big muscles. He probably w...

Read a story today about Buddy, a dog, who pressed the buttons for 911 when his owner was having a seizure - seems the dog was trained to respond and for the third freaking time - called when his owner was stricken. The ambulance arrived and saved the man. My sister lost a dog the other day and it was painful to read the words of her blog - Van Halen once ran a video and under one of the captions it said - "Mothers and Dogs Should Never Die." I agree with that sentiment. My dog - Melky Cabrera had a sore foot last night and it pained me to watch her limp up and down the stairs - it was a little late to get her to the Vets - so she toughed it out - s leeping in most of my bed last night as I fought for space. She woke up feeling better today and even though I'm tired - perhaps she'll return the favor and dial 911 when the big one hits. Life just wouldn't be the same without dogs around to take away some of the aggravation that comes with living - and even though...

I don't know much about stocks and bonds and markets crashing and financial ruin. In fact, I'm fairly incompetent when it comes to running even my own budget. Money in and money out is the norm in this day and age - and I'm real fearful of it getting a lot worse as the kids prepare for college (despite the fact that my 15-year-old still believes that the family will live for generations on his basketball skills). Yet what is going on in the financial world can't be good, can it? Perhaps there is someone out there who can explain that it is just the market correcting itself, or as W stated - there are adjustments that need to be made. (I have a sneaking suspicion that he doesn't quite understand it either). My grandfather talked of painting outhouses for food during the Great Depression. I'm not much of a painter - in fact - I'm not allowed to open a paint can in our house because I'm so sloppy with the paint. Not sure where I'd fit in during a Depres...

It turns out The Wall is a big hit with the young crowd. Sam and his friends like to talk about it at school - so I walked into the living room and caught it on the big screen. " What're you doing?" I asked Sam. "This show is awesome!" he said. I sat beside him and we watched it together and laughed at the contestants - one was 5'-5" and 275 pounds -try and fit through odd-shapes in the wall. I laughed hard when the big one took half the wall off the center of her forehead and fell into the water. "I told you it was great!" Sam yelled. The Bills just put the finishing touches on their 2 nd win - and everyone is walking around proud as hell. I'm in a weird spot because I declared them dead in their first two games. All right - I'll do it again - they are going to get smoked by Oakland next week. Derek Jeter tied Lou Gehrig for the most hits ever at Yankee Stadium - pretty cool to watch history being made - although it was halfway th...

When I was young there were times when the entire family went to church together. It was no small feat as there were eight of us to stuff in a pew - and good behavior was expected, but not always accomplished. As we grew, we all still went to mass, but we sort of broke it up a bit - some went on Saturday nights, others preferred the early mass, and those of us who were hungover a bit went to the late Mass before the Bills game. I remember not waking for the early mass and getting ready for a Bills game at the stadium - my friends and I made plans to leave by 11:00 - my mother explained that I wouldn't be tailgating as I still had Mass to attend. My buddies waited for me - thanks Jeff & Al. This morning, we all went to Mass together - we squeezed into a pew and the overall behavior was good. Yet what sent me back through time was the fact that Sam was as far away from me, on the other side of Kathy and Jake and Matt. At one point during the Mass he looked over, and I winked ...

My wife and I were having a quick conversation yesterday about how much I aggravate her. It's one of our favorite subjects, but yesterday it centered around opinions. "You have a lot of opinions," she said. "And that's bad?" "Well, you can be a bit closed-minded. Why are you always right?" Perhaps my wife has a point. Then again, maybe not. "Because I am," I said. "Who ever had a passionate opinion about something and ended it with - I'm probably wrong about that." Do we ever feel like we are truly wrong about an issue? Certainly there is plenty out there to get you confused, but opinions are based, somewhat on fact, somewhat on traditional beliefs, and every once in a while on a whim. As my good friend Mellencamp once said - "You have to stand for something, or you'll fall for anything." I just hate when people read something and accept it as fact. "But I read it on the Internet." Hell, anyone can pu...

I can't believe that there are people who won't vote for McCain- Palin because Palin's daughter is pregnant - I heard someone say that she shouldn't run anything because she can't run her family. If you aren't going to vote for them - please God, don't let that be the reason. Others won't vote for Obama because his middle name is Hussein - does that mean he's Saddam's brother? Or that he believes in terrorism? I don't think that's quite right - don't let that be the reason you don't vote that way. I get the e-mails from Republicans telling me why the tax system doesn't work - okay, I get it - Democrats are tax and spend and Republicans are not - that's the stereotype and I understand the concept. Democrats aren't all about handouts either. The divide when it's all said and done isn't that much. One party doesn't love the country less than the other. One isn't always tax and spend. One isn't ju...

My eight-year old was getting dressed for school this morning. He's rail skinny - sort of looks like Mick Jagger with his shirt off. I walked by his room and he giggled as he tried to cover up. "Whoa, look at that six-pack," I said. "At least he's not hiding a quarter keg," one of the other kids yelled out. I certainly don't have quarter keg abs - maybe beer ball abs. "I like his build," my wife said, as Sam struggled into his shirt - you can see his ribs and muscles. Do you think he'll stay skinny like that?" "I didn't," I said. " I know , you didn't," my darling wife answered. "You don't like my build?" She just laughed. "Do you understand that I'd be attractive in some cultures?" I asked. "Do you understand that there are tribes out there who would bow to my beauty?" "Where?" my wonderful wife asked. "I don't know where, but somewhere," I repli...

I suppose I'll never forget where I was the moment I heard about what was happening on 9/11/01. I was actually listening to Howard Stern interview Pam Anderson about all sorts of raunchy things. In the middle of the interview, Howard stopped to report what was happening in New York. Of course, it was a beautiful day with bright blue skies and the report that a plane had drifted so far off course was odd. Anyway, today was also a bright beautiful day and I was moving through downtown Buffalo, not even remembering that we were getting close to 9/11. I very rarely remember the date unless I'm writing a report. I spotted a memorial - an American Flag in place for each person who lost their life that day, and it kind of hit me that we do have a tendency to forget it. Of course, 09/11/01 will stand as a horrific day in American history and people won't really ever forget it, but we often push it deep into our memory banks because it's too much to take. The sight of all of th...

The clouds hung low today and the temperature was down about ten or fifteen degrees. I am fighting a cold because one of my boys blows his nose and leaves the tissues all around the house. The garden is about shot, and the grass won't grow quite so fast now. It gets dark early and the big question is no longer about what we're doing, but what's on the tube. (People trying to fit through holes doesn't cut it). Usually the Yankees get me through this time of year, but we all know how that's working out. So it looks as if I will be hibernating early this year. About 20 years ago I lived in California through the fall months. Even though I came to tolerate the daily sunshine, there was something missing. It didn't rain the entire 8 months I lived in San Jose. I could have named the clouds and made them my friends because they never seemed to move. I played basketball outside in December in shorts. Try that here. Yet I was missing something. I love the change of seas...

Can you believe that there's a show on TV showing people trying to run through odd shaped holes in a wall? You must be hurting if you need to spend a half-hour watching that. Michael Jackson is selling his underwear. God help you if you have the winning bid - or if you bid at all. Tom Brady is out for the season and I swear I heard glee in the voices of those on sports talk radio. Cheering someone's pain? Today is a big day around our house. Jake and Sam are visiting the dentist - they would choose the dentist's chair as the worst place on earth - and my wife has the horrible task of calming them for the visit. Yet today is a huge day in their world as a new wrestling game comes out. Last night I listened to a recap of all the great wrestlers who would be included in the game. To hear Jake sum it up - "I need to go to the dentist and that won't be fun, but when I get out Mom's taking me for the new game." He waited a long time. "It's going to be a...

Isn't it great when you tell someone something and they disagree and your point actually comes true? Do you have to let them know that you told them so? I do. Anyway, I told you that the Bills would be good this year. I knew they'd win at least 10 games and make the playoffs. Actually, I was on the other end of the smack talk. I love getting under Matt and Sam's skin when it comes to the Sabres and the Bills. Jake, to tell you the truth, couldn't care less one way or another. So, I have two discussion partners in the house in which to drive my wife crazy. Last night, I was fairly quiet. I tried to let the boys know that it was just one game and that the Bills could go belly up the rest of the year. This evening I will probably let them know that they beat the Pats 31-0 in the home opener in 2003 and not only didn't make the playoffs, but watched the Pats win the Super Bowl that year. Yet for one evening, I let it play out - "They played well," I said, alth...

The Bills open the season today and my sons went through the schedule last night figuring out how many games they were going to win for sure - Matt said 14, Sam went with 12, Jake picked the more actual number - 7. I figure 7 or 8. The best thing about it is that they can dream, right? None of the kids remember the 4 super bowl runs. One of them wasn't even born the last time the Bills were in the playoffs. Kathy is solidly behind rooting for the home team, but I am undeniably cynical. I actually think we'd be better off if they moved to Toronto or LA or somewhere in between. I can hear the boos - but we are ranked the 3rd poorest city in the country - we most certainly have a better chance at hitting #1 in that category than actuallywinning a super bowl as our owner cries about not having enough cash to compete. Additionally a number of the guys I'm supposed to be rooting for are basically not great guys. Whatever, I suppose, but it galls me to read about their horrible co...

Got lost there for awhile, but today I decided to catch up on the news a bit. The King of Pop turned 50 and decided to spend the happy day watching cartoons with his kids - well, at least they're his kids. I heard the song Beat It the other day and couldn't help but think back to being in a club, dancing (yes, you should see me dance) with a pretty girl who was looking over my head, waiting for her boyfriend to come in. The song finished and I Beat It to the front door. Her loss. Anyway, the whole Michael Jackson story is just too freaking bizarre and of course it has been covered so many times, but the last time I saw him he looked like an old and frail, with every inch of his skin covered and an oxygen mask on his face. My brother, John, came up with the line - "Only in America can a poor, black kid from the ghetto rise out of the ashes to become a successful white woman." The hurricane season continues. They're saying Ike is troublesome. All I know is that I ...

Back in college a professor asked us to write about the worst place in the world. It was just a one-page writing assignment where we were supposed to write about sights, sounds, smells, and feelings. The idea was to be descriptive about why we hated visiting the place and why we never, ever wanted to go back there. I wrote about the dumps where as a child I would ride with my father as we got rid of the garbage for the week. I certainly could recall the rats, the odors, and the drive up there as we ditched the many bags of garbage generated by eight people in the course of the week. I think I did all right on the assignment, but I clearly missed the boat. The worst place in the world is the funeral home in my hometown. I hate that place. When we would return from the dumps my dad would often coast home. There were enough hills on Shirley Road for him to just shut the car down and ride slowly to our driveway. I can even recall that he let me sit on his lap once and steer the car. He was...

A lot of people seem to be reading this blog - some to catch up, some to listen to me rant, some to laugh as I compare myself to A-Rod, and the presidential candidates. For me, it's a release of pent-up energy, and random thoughts that haunt me on a daily basis - part therapy, part entertainment to be sure. When I'm writing, I'm making sense of all I hear, see, and feel. When I'm not, I sort of spin in a circle and believe that things can be tough, too tough, too sad, and too nonsensical. I tried not writing once, believing that a break would allow my mind to relax - about two weeks in, I asked my wife, "What do you people do?" My new book - Blind Spot arrived in the mail yesterday. I had already seen the cover and layout. I had read the story about 15 times during the rewrite. My heart was still full of sadness because of the shit sandwich side of life - and I opened the book, glanced at some of the information gathered, and set it aside. Not proud, not happ...

Yesterday afternoon I was riding on a subway from Dulles Airport to BWI Airport. The doors opened and a young man stepped through them. Behind him was a middle-aged woman struggling to get two suitcases through the closing door. I was a long ways away, but thought about running over to help - thankfully the young man reached behind him, and without much effort at all lifted both suitcases clear of the closing doors. The woman thanked him, saying, "The kindness of a stranger is certainly appreciated." I was within earshot as the two began discussing their lives. She asked him if he was a college student - "yes" - and she inquired about his scholastic life up until that point. "I'm a junior the kid said, "but I may not be able to finish. I have lung cancer for some reason - never smoked a single cigarette. They are going to operate, but it's pretty advanced." The woman was understandably shocked, but the kid waved her off. "It doesn't...

Born and raised in a small town is a wonderful bonus, but there is so much pain involved because there are so many friends, and when someone in the town is happy, everyone is happy - and when someone is heartbroken - everyone is heartbroken. Returned from a road trip to the news that a young boy lost his life in an accident. Everyone in town knows everyone in the family. The grief will hang in the air and settle over my hometown, and together we will try and help the family through. Heartbreaking...nothing more to say...simply tragic.

Sarah Palin was a complete unknown to me and millions of others. This week, she leads the league in goggle searches and we are all slowly getting to know her likes, dislikes and family troubles. As is customary, every skeleton is coming out of the closet - her husband's DWI from 22 years ago isn't really important to whether or not she can do the job. Her daughter's pregnancy? Irrelevant. Yet I looked at the credentials and while I am not questioning her credentials, I'm wondering if I have enough to make a run at political office. We both have a Bachelor of Arts Degree. She was mayor of a small town. I've been successfully employed for 25 years. She sold ATV's and mini-bikes. I sold a few books. She likes fishing. I like to golf. She shoots shit for fun. I shoot the shit with my friends. Yes she has been the governor for 20 months and she most likely dominates her household as my wife dominates mine. She's been a mother of five - no small feat in this da...

Those poor friggen ' people. That's the thought that entered my mind again today as I watched the coverage of the hurricane coming to land. Gustav was downgraded to a category 2 storm - and as I write this there is a lot of hope that it won't bring the devastation of Katrina. Yet - those poor friggen ' people. I've never been to New Orleans - people tell me it's a lot of fun, but not so much lately. People mention that there is a different element alive in the streets since the time of the last storm. This morning the beautiful newscaster on Fox told me that New Orleans was on the dirty end of the hurricane - and she flashed images of men with guns drawn ready to fend off looters. The drawn gun is what scares me most about the hurricane making landfall. Storms are storms - and contrary to what anyone thinks the Federal Government won't be able to stop them from coming, but all together we should be able to stop each other from stealing, shooting, and raping ...

Sat around a family outing yesterday and the conversation went to the Presidential Election in November. As everyone in their right mind knows it just doesn't pay to talk politicis. People have a snippet of information here, an impression of something there, and just not enough true information to make a balanced judgement. Most people are cynical however, and invariably you'll hear the one sentence that declares a real argument dead- "They're all crooks - it doesn't matter who gets elected," usually ends any productive discussion. Yet it breaks down to what we really need in our own lives. Secuirty - both on a national level and a local level (in these four walls), a decent chance to make an honest wage, enough left over to send the kids to college, and perhaps a little money for green fees. That's about it around here! Why is it so complicated then? In our discussion we touched on everything from abortion-to capital punishment-to gay rights-to the hurric...