Thoughts of a Common Man

I didn't have a lot of relationships prior to marriage that lasted much longer than twenty days. So, to be sitting here twenty years into wedded bliss is pretty amazing. And 20 is a nice round number that makes you think back. We were married in right field at the North Collins Town Park. When lifetime friend, the Honorable Ward Weiser, said: "Have you come here freely, and soberly." All the guys in my wedding party laughed. And what a wedding party it was... ...I had a whole bunch of best men. Then the party started... ...and it rained harder than I've ever seen it rain. It rained for hours and hours and the reception turned into a Springsteen-filled frat party. And there was sunshine. Three kids and two dogs made the years fly by fast. The great times took us to the highest of peaks... ...the tragedies took us down to the valley floor. And that's the thing about a long relationship. It's not easy. It isn't for the feint ...

What's the spin this time? That's what I was most concerned with once I heard that Agent 🍊 and his son-in-law were back in the news for Russia 🇷🇺 problems. This has certainly dogged the administration since day one and it appears that it is getting worse, not better. It depends on how you want to interpret the news, but it appears that the news is going to continue to be leaked because there are a whole bunch of enemies of the chaos. There's a moment, each time, when I think: "This is big! Sooner or later someone is going to have to explain it." But there is no explanation forthcoming. There's silence, and then there is a fight back. And the explanation is usually tough to fathom. Sunday morning brought some of the spin via the Orange 🍊 dude's twitter. "Fake news!" "Leaks!!" Some of the talking heads who crucified the Democratic candidate for looking at her email at home are now saying: "Having a back ...

I've always loved this weekend. When I was a kid there were barbecues each day and it was officially when the garden got planted. A lot of work, ton of family time, plenty of beer, and three days off. As a youngster we always went to the parade, and men from town, who we knew as friends of Mom and Dad were in uniform, saluting, marching. They looked really serious. Of course, as you age, you learn more about the sacrifices of those who went to war. Even those who came home were changed forever. What strikes me about Memorial Day these days is that I understand that I didn't serve... ...never even considered doing that... ...and I feel a little guilty, honestly. I sympathize with the men and women who were killed in wars that were a tad misguided. But the kids who died in those wars weren't to blame for the decisions that were made to get them there. I know one other thing to be certain: If some of these people worked for another government in an effo...

Did you ever wake up from a dream and think: "What the hell was that?" It happened to me the other night. I'm talking waking in the middle of the night, (because I had to pee) I rarely make it through a whole night without getting up once. And I instantly gathered the facts of the dream that I had seemingly just finished. I was on a construction site. (No big stretch). There were two pretty girls from high school there. (I haven't seen either of these girls this century). They were making fun of me. (Like they did in high school). We were all getting ready to leave the job, but we had to wait for one other guy. (Apparently it was to be a double-date). "What are we waiting for?" I called out. "Pence," Lisa said. "He's in the shitter." (Mike Pence emerged a moment later). That was it! What the hell does that mean??? I laughed as it all came back to me. "Mike Pence? WTF?" I thought as I lai...

I imagine that if you had asked my ten-year-old self what I wanted to be when I grew up I might have said: Newspaper Columnist. Perhaps that is why I write this blog every day. As a kid I read the daily paper from cover to cover, and my favorite parts were the columns. Thankfully, we had good columnists in the Courier-Express and the Buffalo News. 10-year old Clifford would've mentioned that news reporters were cool. Clark Kent was a reporter... ...what more proof do you need??? So, you might guess that I'm not enamored with the all-out attack on the crooked media, or lying media, or fake media, or stupid media, or liberal media... ...or whatever else you want to call it. The name-calling crap seems awfully juvenile to me anyway, and I know that it seems horribly slanted when the news about you isn't good. Yet, the press or media or news people are extremely important to the fabric of our nation. That's why we can't have politicians trashing th...

It's happening all over the country, right? Young adults dying on the streets because of heroin. One after another. A couple of weeks ago a kid was found in one of the port-a-lavs on a local job site. The man who was tasked to clean the toilets found the kid. Lifeless. He shot himself up at work and it killed him. The next day, on another site, syringes were found in another portable toilets. Luckily that shoot-up went a little better, I guess. But it shook me a lot. It's one thing to read about it... ...when it's that close. Damn! As per usual the news of the day was debated back and forth on the sites throughout the region. "We used to drink beer," one guy said. "On Saturday night," another guy added. "I don't much get this." Nobody does, but it comes down to the fact that it's readily available and cheap. What's more, it's not at all like beer. It needs to be sustained. So the needles are bei...

"Your eyes go blind and your blood runs cold. Sometimes I feel so weak I just wanna' explode." Not one of Bruce's most optimistic of lines, but I think of it now and again when I get a little fatigued. I have a job that calls for action... ...lots of phone calls and plenty of places to visit. I joke with co-workers saying that when the phone rings, and you're a safety guy it's usually not someone saying: "We're doing great over here!" Nah, it's usually an emergency, and the fact that there are so many different things to look at and think about, makes it eternally interesting. I couldn't imagine sitting in a cubicle. But I also know when I need a mental health day. A round of golf? It hasn't happened yet. Back-to-back days of nothing? Well, there's good news! A holiday weekend coming up. Our wedding anniversary too. Twenty years. Who'da' thunk? So, I always wonder about the guy that Bruce wa...

On Monday afternoon news broke of multiple fatalities at a Ariana Grande concert in Manchester U.K. My heart sank, of course. It's a horribly dangerous world. I must admit that I've thought about it before. Back in the 1990's I went to the Bills playoff game at the stadium. This was during the first Iraq war. We all had to go through metal detectors for the first time. It was hard to believe, actually... ...and was wildly inconvenient because we'd never had to do that before. Now, of course, there are metal detectors everywhere. You can't get into a courthouse or Federal building without placing all your belongings into a bowl and stepping through metal detectors. At the airports we all have to remove our shoes because of that one goofy shoe bomber. You can't even bring a freaking razor or more than 3 ounces of deodorant. We can never be too safe, right? When I went to the Kansas City-Yankees game last week I was at the entrance 15 minutes be...

We caught the HBO movie with DeNiro playing the part of Bernie Madoff. First off, the acting was great. I had recently seen the Comedian with DeNiro and as I was watching Madoff I kept trying to sync both performances. He's such a great actor. Michelle Pfeiffer as Ruth was stunning as well. I felt a little torn as the movie humanized Madoff a little bit. Even one second of feeling bad for him was way too much! He stole billions of dollars from people. Hard-working, honest people. It appeared that he justified it in his own mind as having preyed on the greedy, which he most certainly did, but he also wiped out pension funds, life-savings, and people in his own family. He obliterated existences and he did it without conscience. He didn't even know why he was doing it after a while. It was a game of poker and he truly didn't even ante up with his own money. Sociopath! And every time one of these scandals hits... ...it infuriates me. The robber barons who ...

I didn't know too much about the rock group Soundgarden. They were a little after college for me, so while I heard some of their songs... ...they weren't on my music list. I did hear their lead singer speak a few times, though, and he actually played live on one of the radio shows. Talented guy with a distinctive voice. I even thought about investigating their greatest hits, but never did. Soundgarden was still playing live. They played the other night in Detroit, and after the show Chris Cornell, the lead singer and face of the band, called home, spoke to his wife (he was slurring his words), and then he hung himself in his hotel bathroom. It caught my attention. First off, he was 52 (same as me) and the human moment of his phone call home really bothered me. He had three children. His wife said that he kept saying "I'm so tired." She sent someone to check on him and they found him too late. Damn. He was successful in his field. He had a fam...

I know how Donald feels. Evidently, his mouth got him into a bit of trouble when he was showing the Russians around his new office. He mentioned 'nutjob' and firing the guy who was investigating him because he was feeling pressure. I don't think the pressure is off now. And I think of Ralph Kramden saying: "Me and my big mouth." Been there! Plenty of times!! I think that my very worst example of this surrounds the death of a friend of mine back about twenty-five years ago. Ron was a decent guy who had a lot of bad luck. Whenever he missed a day of work I would have to sit in for him. It happened quite a bit, but he was a relatively young man and he always bounced back. We busted each other's chops quite a bit so when he called me one Friday, after missing three days of work, I said: "Are you coming back to work? We have a pool going on what day you're going to buy it." He laughed. "And what is gonna' take you ou...

Ran into a guy who I met twenty years ago. Weird to imagine that so much time has passed, and the twenty year anniversary of things is hitting me hard because 1997 happens to be the year I was married, and became a Dad, and moved into my current home... ...and a lot of other things. And it's weird when you think back to those days. I was 32. I felt good!! "Imagine how quick it went and then imagine twenty years from now," my buddy said. "You'll be 72 in the blink of an eye." Damn! And I think about all the living packed into the twenty years. Kids, dogs, four Yankee titles (on average), zero Bills playoff appearances, five presidential elections... Laughs, tears... ...passes and fails. A lot happens in two decades worth of time! The milestones will be different. The next twenty will probably be filled with weddings of our kids, grandkids, hopefully retirement... ...things slowing down. Unless we blow the whole thing up. Then...

One of the real hassles of moving around the country comes at the car rental counter. I arrived in Iowa to a smiling, pimple-faced kid. "We actually only have one vehicle," he said. I thought of Seinfeld saying: "You know how to take reservations. You don't know how to keep reservations." "It's a Grand Caravan," he said. (I have no idea which car is which). "Does it have Sirius?" I asked. "Yes!" He said. "Fine." The Grand Caravan is a freaking mini-van. I threw my crap in it and drove to the hotel. In the morning I made a discovery: The Sirius radio didn't work. I called the rental counter. I'm not real good at talking to customer service but I got it done without any F-bombs. They sent a new signal. "Give it 15 minutes," he said. An hour later, I called back. Again I tried to stay in control. They sent the signal again. No go. I called again. I wasn't thrilled about a ...

The monthly trip is a bit nutty. A lot of states, a bunch of sites, thousands of air miles and hundreds of road miles, but I saw the baseball schedule. Of course I did! I love ⚾️ and in April I checked the Yankees trips to Kansas City. There was just one!! But luckily I was on schedule to make the visits when the Yankees arrived. Sam did the work. He found the ticket online and I didn't even look at it until I got there. I was down the left field line a little. Actually a lot closer to third than the wall. I sat beside two guys who go to every single Royals game. When I told them I was visiting from New York State you'd think I slapped them. "Could be a 12-10 game," the guy said. "C.C. stinks." I laughed. C.C. didn't stink and four innings into the game the Yankees were up 5-0. They weren't talking to me much, but I didn't care... ...I was busy. Just relaxing. I love being outside just watching ⚾️. It was a beautiful night...

I was watching a news show as the host said: "We have breaking news. The president is tweeting." There was a tweet explaining why he blurted out classified information to Russia. It was only half of a defiant tweet that said, basically, "I can do what I want and I don't care what you think." But the newscasters were waiting. And while we all waited ten minutes for him to finish the tweet and I thought: "This is too much." Every single day there's a major crisis. Breaking news hour by hour. Absolute incompetence. Policy procedures are debated as lies or just flat out wrong moves. There are threats that everyone might get fired today. We hear talks of impeachment and sealed indictments and true unease. I made a mistake and tweeted in response to the classified information leak. I was jumped by a whole bunch of people I don't know. "Fake news!" "What about Clinton?" Too much. I announced that I...

It struck me at 4:15 that I was all done sleeping. These are weird days. Been going on awhile so I'm used to it, but if I don't get a massage, my legs buzz incessantly and I can't sleep. We blew it by not calling for a massage earlier in the week. By the time we tried, all the Moms had the appointments. So, I was wide awake at 4:15. Which isn't so bad. The window was open so there was a cool breeze coming through. Melky was snoring beside me, and  before the tasks of the new day arrived in my mind I got to think about the past glories of yesterday. The sauce was good. Kathy had a nice Mother's Day and I spent a couple of hours with my Mom. Just me and her talking about everything. My Mother-In-Law is feeling better, and my father-in-law inhaled more pasta than me! And we watched the Jeter ceremony and so many things rushed through my mind. When Mattingly was on the big board with his message, I choked up, thinking of the past games I watched with Dad...

Joe Torre said it best. "Derek wasn't the most talented player all the time, but he showed up every day, and he worked hard." Sunday was a fun day. I watched the Jeter Budweiser commercial a couple of times, showing it to my Mom (who cried) and my Mother-In-Law (who also cried). Jeter's career spanned a lot of the happy times in our lives. I got married months after the first of the five titles. We watched every inning of every game during those years. The boys would have the game on their television. I'd have it on and Kathy would be watching it in her room. They beat the Mets the year Sam was born. Sam counts it as a title won by his favorite teams. The Flip (which I think is the greatest baseball play ever) happened days before Jake was operated on. The dive into the stands happened as A-Rod, the guy getting paid a lot more and was closer to the ball, raised his hands as Jeter sped by him and smashed his face into the seats. In 2009 I really...

My very first memory was of standing in the kitchen of my parents home, watching my mother work. I was about four years old. "What're you doing?" Mom asked. "Just watching you work," I said. "Did you know you're my buddy?" Mom asked. I see that little, nothing, conversation play out. I see it so clearly. As a kid, surrounded by the craziness of hanging with the rest of the Fuzzy clan... ...it just stands out in my memory bank. It's come to mean a lot to me. Just seeing Mom bust her ass. She did that every day! Even now I'll call her and she'll say, "I'm cleaning the house." Thankfully, my beautiful wife and my wonderful mother are now good buddies. They hit the Bingo Hall on Sunday, nearly every week, and then I put a big dish of pasta in front of her. "It's way too much," she says, every week. "Eat what you can and I'll make you a to-go dish." We eat, talk, laugh a littl...

I was watching a cable news show the other night. The talking head kept saying: "Its simple, red is red." And then he'd tell a blatant lie to prove his point. Red is red and blue is blue Day after day, they'll lie to you. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west I'll tell you a truth or a lie Which ever fits best. Day after day and night after night I'll tell you what I need for you to believe is right. To build the charade and further my way My lips move, but don't watch what I say. A lie is a lie, the truth is the truth What's red is blue, what's blue is red We'll confuse it all inside your head. Day after day and night after night We'll lie to you and tell you we're right Yet loose lips, sink ships So there will come a day When all the liars are forced away. Because red is red and blue is blue And soon America Will be done with you.

My life has always been about writing things down, organizing my thoughts, and working efficiently, juggling a whole lot of things effectively. I usually have the week planned out, in my mind by Sunday night, and I'm a little surprised when it doesn't go down as I think it might. I actually keep a list in my car, write down one word for each report that needs to be writtten when I get home, and then cut the paper into notes after each report is written. This week has been hell. Our mower broke down and so did our dryer. And with each passing day, with tasks still on my daily to-do list... ...I was completely off my game. Then my mother-in-law came down under the weather for a few days, and the whole routine went straight out the window. "The chaos is killing me!" I said at one point early in the week. My beautiful wife, on the other hand, lives with the motto: "Why do it today if you can put it off until tomorrow." Some clashing. But ...

Comey is out. He was fired by a guy whose team was being investigated by Comey. Where else could you fire the guy who was looking into whether or not you should be fired? But it gets better. The recommendation to fire Comey was made by a man who had to recuse himself because he forgot to tell the truth about the thing that Comey was investigating. And you know what really makes it hysterical? The reason why Comey was fired! It was because the guy being investigated now didn't like the way that Comey investigated his political opponent! Trump said that he needs more 'fair and balanced' when it comes to accusations of misconduct. That's coming from the guy who led the 'Lock her up chants!' Because of using unsecured email sources. I can't stop laughing. The entire thing is now playing out on droids and laptops that have zero security on them at every golf clubhouse along the East Coast. Speaking of which, Trumper Woods has now played 23...

Saw a photo of Brad Pitt somewhere. "He's getting old," I thought. Hey, even guys know that Brad Pitt is pretty, but his eyes looked drawn, there was grey...wrinkles. And life is weird because in your head you always feel the same. When you see a guy miss an open jump shot while playing basketball you say: "I could've hit that! He was wide open!!" "It was an NBA three," Sam reminded me. "You would've only got it halfway there." Church is a great place to see all the stages of life. I really enjoy the community of it all and Sunday, during what was a First Communion Mass I saw children, married couples with kids, the middle-aged, and, of course, some members of the older generation. There's an older gentleman who sits in the row directly behind me. He sings in a deep baritone, but sings softly enough...his wife beside him singing as well, and I imagine all that they've seen. They've probably been married for 5...

Over the weekend I had the extreme misfortune of reading about the death of Timothy Piazza, a Penn State student who fell down a flight of stairs after drinking way too much at a frat event. Although badly injured his "brothers" did supposedly nothing to help, instead allegedly doing their best to cover up the fall and the extreme discomfort of the dying boy. A horrendous story. One that is repeated all over other campuses. I pledged a frat back in 1984. I never became a frat brother. They wanted me to, but I flat-out quit after one of the guys who was to be a "brother" spit tobacco chew in my face because I didn't know his hometown. It was actually a heroic effort on my part. The new pledges - I think there were six of us - were called to a lineup where we were to answers questions about the members of the frat. We were supposed to know everything about every brother including hometowns, mother's names, pet names... ...just everything. ...

A week ago Sunday I watched the boys get up rather casually. "You better get the lawn mowed," I said. "They're calling for a lot of rain this week." "Relax," I was told. "We'll get 'er done." Around mid-day I was a tad annoyed and casually voiced my dismay. "Fine!" Sam yelled out. "I'm gonna' do it." Minutes later we heard the mower going. A little while after that I said: "Is that ☔️?" "That's a lot of rain," Kathy answered. Sam came running in...he was soaked to the bone. "Not good," he said. "I mowed HALF of the front yard. It looks ridiculous." It rained all day Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday there was a small window to get the rest of the front yard mowed and Sam did it, but halfway through the backyard... Rain ☔️ ☔️ ☔️ Then the mower broke. I met poor, soaked Sam in the backyard. "Now what?" "The hell with i...

So, much to the dismay of about 24 million Americans the healthcare debate has raged on... ...and actually resulted in a bill getting through the house. "I'll be honest, Wolf, I didn't read it," said a rep from New York. Yeah, that damn reading is hard! Why would you read it if you're on that side of the aisle? It gets rid of Obama's name... ...all they need to know! And the reporting states that it's just a huge tax cut for the rich, at the expense of the poor. Which is good too... ...for some, I suppose. Those who are for the bill say that the "fake news" is spreading rumors and that the bill might be good for all. Guess we'll know for sure if they read it. Yet the most tone-deaf of all things that transpired was the beer party in the rose garden to celebrate the passage of a bill that they didn't read that might actually result in the deaths of people who won't be able to participate in trying to save their ...

The Yankees have been a whole lot of fun this year. "I'm excited to see the kids play," Pops said, before the season started, and that's what it was all about. The changing of the guard. And make no mistake about it, it will never be quite as fun as it was back in 1977 & 1978 or 1996 through about 2004. I was a kid in 1977. I was excited to watch with my brothers, sisters and my parents. The Mattingly Era was fun, but they just couldn't get over the hump, but there were some good teams then. 1996-2001 was Yankees heaven, of course, and when they won it all in 1996, they were the underdogs with young guys. And then people started talking about Hideki Matsui as the next Yankees great. Godzilla... ...we were told. Godzilla wasn't the monster everyone thought. He was a good player (despite what my brother Jeff said "Matsui is a c&$@s$&k$&"). Jeff was just expecting a 50-homer, gigantic hitter of absolute bombs. W...

At every single Bruce Springsteen concert since the early 1970's two tickets, front row center have been set aside for Bruce's number one fan, Obie Dziedzic. She passed away early this week. Yet, the story is incredibly touching. Bruce wasn't a star when he met Obie. He was a struggling musician. Just 18 years old, living here and there, playing anywhere... ...for enough money to eat, sleep and find the next gig. It was love at first sight for Obie. She knew that he'd be a star. So she became his friend. Fed him, sewed his clothes, went to the drive-in movies with him. And Bruce never forgot it. Not when he hit it rich and made the big time. He always left those tickets. She wasn't always there, obviously, but when she did attend she would play a little game, wondering when Bruce would notice that she was in the crowd. He would glance to those seats before playing the first note, smile and point if she was there. If Obie couldn't make i...

Fenway Park fans taunted Adam Jones, a black outfielder, with the Baltimore Orioles. They threw peanuts at him. Screamed horrible things. It's 2017, are you kidding me??? Of course, some of these problems were supposed to be solved by the civil war. A war that appeared to your president to have not been necessary. He could've avoided the war that abolished slavery. After all, Andrew Jackson, his hero (who was a great guy) was against the civil war ever even happening... ...despite the fact that he DIED 16 years before it happened. I guess American History wasn't part of the Trump University offerings. Could be an honest mistake, I guess. I mean why should a president need to know such a tough-to-look-up-thing-that's-easily-solved-by-reading-something! Anything!! What a national embarrassment. And there is another vote coming on the repeal of the Affordable Care Act although the new bill being pushed hasn't been figured out yet. Jimmy Kimmel...

What an amazing medical world that we live in. That's the thing we forget when we argue back and forth about who deserves what in terms of healthcare. We all certainly want 2017 healthcare... ...and 1960 prices. Not debating anything!!! I know big pharma has sucked the eyeballs out of the common man, but... ...when it all works out, it's good. I was struggling with the groin and hip again and I was going through my day a few weeks ago when I thought about a procedure from last year. I made a call. It would take a few weeks to get me in, but I'd find relief eventually. It would just take a few needles to the groin. Wish I could say it sounds worse than it is. The doc used ultrasound to find the heavy inflammation in the tendon and she marked the area with a pen. It was dangerously close to the most private of all areas. We talked about the rain "Gotta numb it up good. It's in a tough spot." "Here comes the needle." The numbing ...

So, my beautiful wife found another Netflix series to watch. It's right up her alley... ...high school kids with all of their angst. She loves those types of shows. Me? Not so much. But I meandered it and caught a few minutes of the dialogue. I had read the book about a year ago. The book was interesting, but not great. A student kills herself and leaves behind audio tapes of the reason why. The other students have to deal with the guilt. I hadn't heard much about the book when it was out. But the Netflix series is getting a lot of press. People are upset that it has seemed to glamorize suicide. There are folks protesting it because they're afraid that it will give kids ideas. Suicide has been a weird spot for me. Like millions of others I knew someone who killed himself. A good guy too. He always seemed happy. He had a lot to live for, a couple of kids and a wife. He also suffered from chronic, extreme back pain. At 45 years old, he had enough. ...

Melky had a rough Saturday. Seems that the garbage was overflowing a bit on Saturday morning, but I had a early talk to give so I had to take off. Melky got to the garbage before the boys did, and they would've gotten away with it too if it wasn't for the nasty odor rising from the spot above Melky as we tried to watch a movie. We were working with spray, candles and hourly trips outside, but it wasn't going very well. Melky's digestion was way off! So... Saturday night sleeping was: Awake at 1:00, 4:00, 5:30 and finally out of bed around 07:30. Rough! "Why does a dog just eat as much as they possibly can?" Jake asked. "If there were three bags of garbage there she would've eaten all three." I imagine. Sometimes we do what we shouldn't be doing just because it seems like fun at the time. Melky wasn't real worried about why she was going to smell like later as she worked her way through everything. Sunday was a litt...