Thoughts of a Common Man

We watched the movie “Fallout” that follows a survivor after her school is shot up. An uncomfortable watch, to say the least. And it got me thinking about failure. I’m not an old man yet, but I’m certainly not young anymore.  Thing is, I feel a little let down about the state of the country. Way too many failures. 1). We can’t stop mass shootings in this country. The narrative has slowed lately because there hasn’t been one (that’s captured the media’s attention) in a little while, but make no mistake, there will be another. Just abject failure. Kids are practicing what to do and where to hide and the collective we pretends thats good enough. That’s shameful. 2). The pandemic ate us alive. At the onset of it all, there were projections about how many Americans would lose their lives. No one believed that the number would be over a million, but it will. And people are not horrified by it. When people in their 50’s and 60’s are dying the response shouldn’t be: “Did he have underlying...

I enjoyed watching Joe Montana play football. I even saw him play live once at Candlestick and while I was a casual fan of how Joe Cool played, I wasn’t a fan of the 49ers. Tom Brady arrived on the scene 22 years ago. The Bills weren’t great for much of the 2000’s. Brady was playing in all the big games and locked horns with Peyton Manning. I’ve always rooted for Brady. I defended him because of how much he was hated, not sure why, but I thought the hate wasn’t warranted.  He was never soft.  He didn’t bash opponents or teammates.  Seemed like a genuinely good guy to me so I became his biggest defender. Watched him play the position better than anyone ever.  Saw him win and win and win and I truly wanted him to win again. I really got invested in it when the NFL went after him for the air in the ball crap. Even if everything was true it was an equipment violation. Instead he was painted as a cheater. I still can’t believe that his name was dragged though the mud like...

It’s been a weird, quiet, sad week in the B-lo. We will all recall “13 Seconds” as it has joined the lexicon. With “Wide Right” and “No Goal” and “Music City Miracle.” Our group of old guys chatted about it, and we came to the conclusion that the coaches blew it, and that they should be up front about it. They won’t be. As for the boys, they didn’t say much all week. Jake finally mentioned the game last night. He was finally speaking about next year. “Now you know how I felt after wide right,” I said. “Pretty cool that fans are donating to the Children’s Hospital,” Jake said. “It’s over $400,000.” He’s a kid who was treated there. I wrote 2 books about the place. An amazing place. And yeah, the donations, $13 at a time, from Chiefs fans, as a tribute to how well Josh Allen and the Bills competed. “I’d still rather they won, though,” Jake said, and we both laughed, “13 seconds,” I said. “Just insane,” Jake answered. And it will all be back in the foreground on Sunday as the games resume...

This topic comes up every now and again. Someone somewhere gets the idiotic idea that books need to be banned so that children aren’t harmed by the bad words. Do any of the people wanting the books to be banned give any thought to the idea that maybe one of those kids can use the book to block a bullet? The book-ban crowd are usually members of the ‘don’t infringe on my 2nd amendment’ rights crowd. Protecting the kids from swear words is ludicrous. They’re going to hear someone say ‘shit’ or ‘damn somewhere along the way. And not teaching them about slavery? Or racism? Racism is as American as apple pie. I have created plenty. Story after story after story. Some of my characters have been unsavory, to say the least. Billy Barth was a horrible character in my book ‘Desperation’. He was a rapist and a murderer and he was in the story for a purpose. I was writing about a good guy who had to survive the worst that life had to offer. Billy Barth, as the bad guy, didn’t say a single sentence...

It starts with a Miller meow. A few minutes before an alarm that I never get to hear ring. I grab the phone and check the wordle game. It’s a good way to start things, with a mental challenge. Then I check the news of the day, text chat a minute with Pops, and get ready for the day. The problem being that these days that first step out of the house, after leaving the dogs out, and heading to start the car… …is so damn bitter! “Son-of-a-bitch!” Is the usual first utterance of the day. Followed quickly by, “This sucks!” Coffee is next on the agenda. I give Miller a little milk as he does a little religious dance, barely touching it. Dogs come in, Paris goes for a ride, Ollie goes into the pen and they each get a bone. A ritual. And why it is funny is because all four of us are dance partners for the morning waltz. My two dogs and one cat knowing each and every movement. They are the only partners that I have in the routine of things.  My wife and children are not very good at the rou...

Maybe it’s the Catholic School influence, but I often make up my mind about things as either black or white. Not a lot of grey. I’m an old, white guy when it comes to baseball and I spew all the integrity of the game crap that young guys hate. I’ve reluctantly accepted the pimping of home runs, but I still don’t love it. Steroids? I have zero tolerance. McGwire stole the single season home run record from Roger Maris.  I don’t acknowledge it. Bonds broke Aaron’s all-time home run record. I don’t acknowledge his career at all. They cheated. Pete Rose gambled for and against the team he was managing. Zero sympathy. I was happy that the writers were keeping the steroid cheats out of the hall. And then yesterday they let Ortiz waltz through the door! First ballot!!? He failed a steroid test. Cheated. As much as Bonds and A-Rod and Clemens and Sosa and McGwire. What a joke. The nuns who spoke about integrity would be against it. I am too.

During the Bills-Chiefs game, Tyreek Hill took off down the field and Kathy yelled out: “My God! Catch him!” Then she turned to me. “Why can’t they catch him?” She asked. “Because he’s faster than them.” There was a report that he was going 29 mph when he scored a touchdown and actually waved ‘bye-bye’ at a guy who was ahead of him and trying to cut the angle. Here’s the thing: Foot speed can’t be taught. I have a brother who ran like a deer. I run like a tortoise. He was also stronger than me so he could chase me down and then beat the hell out of me. My boys are similar. Jake can fly. I’m faster than Sam, who is famous around our house for lining a single into right, (or so he thought), and getting thrown out at first. But it’s more than that. I mentioned to Kathy that we used to play football in my back yard as kids but it wasn’t any fun because Jeff Renaldo used to take a handoff and then score on every play because no one could, or wanted to try and tackle him. And as fans we can’...

There was so much nervousness leading up to the Bills game. For the boys, my friends, Kathy and everyone everywhere throughout the area. There’s not a damn thing that anyone can do to control what happens out there. Just angst. And there was a living and dying on every single play. It even started with the first game and the entire football world rooting against Tom Brady so he doesn’t make it back to another super bowl. I enjoyed the day because the games were close and well-played. The refs did their usual dance, but what can be done? Obviously they can’t ref the game and it changes from game to game. The NFL could fix it if they want. They’re still using a chain to measure for first downs. And the Bills look good on the national stage. They’re going to be in the mix for a lot of years because it’s a quarterback league and they have a big, strong, athletic kid who seems like a good guy. But winning and losing isn’t the end of the world. Reggie Jackson once said something about “the e...

“The Bills arrived in Kansas City.” I laughed. We have an ex-president on the hook for fraud, tax evasion, inciting an insurrection. We have a global pandemic. Icy temperatures across the land. Voting rights can’t get passed. And the Bills landed safely!! Of course, it’s the topic of every conversation. All meetings end with “Go Bills!” And on Saturday, it all worked out as far as Bills fans were concerned because the Bengals upset the Titans and a win would allow the game to be played: In Buffalo! The town will be on it’s ear. And my vacation is scheduled to begin… …an hour before that game is to be played. Of course, the Bills have to beat the Chiefs today. I don’t know if they can, but the options for the coming week are: Crazy Excitement Or Abject Despair. I know which one Buffalo is used to! “You think the Bills will win?” I got asked that question about 500 times this past week. Officially? No clue! Excitement or Despair. Either way it’ll be the biggest story of the week… …no Mat...

“I want you, I need you, but there ain’t no way I’m ever going to love you. Now don’t be sad. ‘Cause 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.” Man. I sang the hell out of that song. And ‘Paradise by the Dashboard Light’ also pops into my head from time to time. Just a great voice and these hugely operatic productions. Meatloaf. Another staple of my music diet back in the day. It’s weird, but in the 90’s there was another album released by that same team and I loved it. It’s nagged at me the last few years because I haven’t been able to find it on Apple Music. I’ll find it now, I guess. And there’s a feeling of true loss because by the end of the night last night they were talking about Meatloaf’s stance on the vaccination may have cost him his life. What a damn shame. It’s not for me to judge the man and I’ve always known that the art is always better than the artist, but there are a couple of more artists out there who have also been very vocal about being anti-vax and even anti-mask and who have been g...

An AFC Championship Game. In Buffalo! 🦬 🦬 🐃  I couldn’t believe that I’d scored the tickets, and I actually grabbed an extra one for my buddy Terry. So, the lineup was me and Jeff in the middle bowl at about the 30 yard line. My buddy Terry, sitting alone somewhere else. We tailgated, but not for long because it was cold. A few beers and some hamburgers. I know that other buddies were scattered elsewhere, and truth be told, I was a little hungover from a party the night before. And I was nervous. They were playing the Raiders. The Raiders were a team that had already played in Super Bowls. I couldn’t really fathom that if the Bills won they’d play in the biggest game of all. Also, it was the first game where we had to go through security to get into the game as we were at war and they were worried about a dirty bomb. (Amazing how much the world has changed in 31 years). The Bills scored quickly to take a 7-0 lead. The nervousness grew when the Raiders moved down the field and ki...

Friends having heart attacks will make a man kind of lose his mind thinking about it. I ran into another guy on another site and he told me the wild story of his heart attack at the age of 55. “I was driving to work, early. Real early. Sipping a coffee and thinking about the job. A usual morning, and bam! I knew it immediately, but I was on the 90 near Angola and in my mind I was thinking that I needed to get to at least Hamburg so they could take me to Buffalo General.” “You drove ten miles while having a heart attack?” I asked. “Well, almost. I pulled the car over a couple of miles from the exit and ripped off my shirt and laid in the snow because I felt like I was on fire. The cars were going by me, probably wondering why I was doing snow angels at 7:00 in the morning.” “No one stopped?” “No. Wasn’t expecting anyone too. I called 911 and told them that I would be at the gas station just off the exit. Got back in my car and drove there shirtless. When I arrived the cops were waiting ...

Off to work after what was essentially a snow day and I was ready to roll. Too ready. I made a dumb move. I pulled into the driveway and saw the remnants of the foot of snow we got and I also saw the shovel that my nephew John left by the door. Dumb. I grabbed it and shoveled for what amounted to about ten minutes. It actually felt good as I was doing it. Didn’t feel quite as good a half an hour later. I stumbled into the house later on in the afternoon and Kathy asked what was wrong. “I’m an idiot.” “Did you shovel?” Bingo! By 7:00 I was on the couch with ice on the lower back. Wondering… …where has the time gone? I can’t shovel anymore.

I normally have two animals in the room with me. Miller sleeps curled up in the office chair, and Paris snores about a foot away from me in the bed. So, it was a tad disconcerting when I woke up Monday morning to a few, pointed licks of my face. OLIVER! Given that it was only 04:12 in the morning and that his bed is usually two levels below me, I didn’t want to get up. “Lay down,” I tried. And he did! Beside Paris. He ignored the cat. I considered that three animals was too much, but I went back to sleep for an hour. We all did! But then, I woke up and looked out the window. Ugh! Everything was white. It looked 🥶  Thought about MLK Day and how OSHA will be off. Thought about seeing the “I have a dream” clip all day. Which is fine, but not when it’s run on a ‘news’ station that tries to strip every right away from every person of color. If you believe in policies that strip people of a chance to live a life, don’t pretend to be a friend on MLK Day. Oliver got antsy. He ran downstai...

I have to admit that the football craziness certainly does perplex me as an older fellow. I watched a clip of Dallas Cowboys fans throwing anything they could find at their players as they left the field after Sunday’s loss. Twitter is abuzz after any game about fans from each city in an absolute assault on one another. The refs are always a target as well. The losing side is always bitching about bad calls. “The NFL has to be ashamed with that product!” Everyone is betting! Over/under With the spread. I simply blocked all the ads that told me that I could place sports bets through them. I only did it because every third post was about betting! And then there’s the universal disdain for Tom Brady. That’s always made me laugh. My mother-in-law (R.I.P.) would’ve shot him given the chance. And like I’ve said, I was Bills crazy 30 years ago. I still want the Yankees to win the World Series every year, but it’s been at least 15 years since I felt any sort of emotional pain over a loss. It’s...

The excitement was too much around Camp Clifford all day on Saturday. The boys (including my nephew John) were fired up! The Bills were set to battle their longtime nemesis - the Patriots at the Ralph in 5 degree temperatures. I thought about going to the same stadium for an AFC championship game against the Raiders back in the day. Nervous but absolutely insane with excitement. My role has changed! I kept reminding the boys that I wouldn’t go to the stadium and sit outside unless someone paid me $5 grand. Funny what time does! So, I played my new role. Made food, warned them about the hazards of frostbite, mentioned that they needed to be careful about drinking too much and getting home. Yeah. Mother hen! And then the game started and this Bills team was every bit as good as that Bills team that beat the Raiders 51 to 3 to go to their first super bowl ever. Just an awesome display in every way. They could do nothing wrong.  New England looked like the team the Bills might scrimmag...

Just another Covid death in America. The 6th death in my little circle of acquaintances. Here’s the roster. 1). Lifelong friend - age of 72 2). Father of one of my childhood buddies - late 70’s. 3). Co-worker - 54 4). Mom of a co-worker - 81 5). Co-worker - 52 6). Co-worker - 57 You’ll note that three of the people who died were my age or younger. The first two 50-somethings did not have a chance to get vaccinated because they died early on in the pandemic. The man who’s death I just learned of was 57. Same age as me. He was vehemently against the vaccine. He believed that it was the work of government officials who somehow wanted to control us. He thought that Fauci and Gates were behind the vaccine as they invented it in a lab in Wuhan and that it was a get rich scheme for them as they were selling masks, cleansers and sanitizers to all the ‘morons’ who were dumb enough to follow the rules. I knew the man for about 30 years. He was always angry. He raged against authority. He told ev...

News came down that the Department of Justice has filed seditious conspiracy charges against the leaders of the Oath Keepers for January 06, 2021. News also broke about alleged fraud by electors in 7 states who tried to send false information regarding who won the election. Fraud, conspiracy, sedition. In America. What a wild time to be alive.  Those accusations barely seemed to make a blip as news of the day. Ho-hum. “Why are we still talking about the fact that a group of people tried to overthrow the Democracy?” And it shouldn’t be political for me to say that I’m appalled by it. When I was a kid I was taught, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that in America we stand up for what is right. That’s how my little, developing mind saw it. America is good. All of America and when it comes down to it… …the leaders will stand up… …and do what is right! Always and forever. Seditious Conspiracy are the worst of all charges as far as I’m concerned. There was a conspiracy, by members of Congress...

Rachel Balkovec was promoted from hitting coach of the Yankees A-ball team to manager of the same Tampa Tarpons team. She’s the first minor league manager that I can name in the entire organization. Because she’s the first female manager to ever be hired in baseball. Good for her.  Like any male manager before her, she did her job well and she got promoted… …albeit into a role that a woman was routinely not considered for. I hope they go undefeated! And as per usual, I went to the comments section just to view the worst of all comments related to the hire. I don’t know why I’d do such a thing because there were certainly going to be comments from: 1). Men who don’t think a woman is qualified. These guys are simply too much. They lead with a ‘woman in the kitchen joke’ and then continue the argument by saying that a woman is too emotional to lead. Anyone see some of the whiny men who have long been in leadership roles?  There are plenty of men who are horrifically emotionally u...

“Ten years burning down the road. Nowhere to run. Ain’t got nowhere to go.” Born in the U.S.A. was really overplayed back in the 80’s and it’s still the Springsteen record I listen to the least because I was one of the guys who overplayed it, but I often think about that lyric. I look back a fair amount, and when I look forward I think of it in simple terms. “10 years burning down the road.” Life has been really weird for the last 2 + years, for everyone. A lot that we took for granted has been lost. Things we never thought we’d see happen have happened. It’s been hard to plan ahead. But I had the 10 year thought. God willing I’ll be 67 years old. All my children will be in their 30’s. I will have most likely retired from the grind of really long work weeks. Hard to fathom that I might stay home every day. I consider that I’d have more time to write, but time has never stopped me from writing before. I can write anywhere and any time. It seems like I enjoy writing after I work a full d...

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any dumber. The first miracle cure was supposed to be hydroxy (there is a warehouse full of that crap), and there were people kicking around shooting ultra-violet light up the wazoo, followed by, perhaps, looking into doing a little internal bleaching. After the laughter died down on that (and those who tried it died), there was a big push to dewormer for horses as something that would most definitely work. Certainly ivermectin was safer than the vaccine, right? Problem being that people who swore that it worked perfectly, started dying… …of Covid. Millions shouted: “Try the vaccine!” Others, on their death bed, were begging their doctors to: “Give me the vaccine!” The thing is, those who are dead set against the vaccine can’t admit they were wrong. So… …what can work? OUR OWN URINE!!! How does that work? Ah hell. Let ‘em try it. Not going to hurt me any. Why should I care? Piss on it.

Heard that there’s been a drastic increase in the number of deaths in the 28-64 age group. Covid isn’t responsible for all of those increases and it doesn’t include the death of comedian Bob Saget who was just 65… …but it’s alarming to me… …because I’m in that freaking age group! And the death of a young friend last week, and hearing about people I know succumbing to Covid… …well, I don’t want to think of it! I haven’t made out a will. Probably should have one, right? But my thought is, I’m gone… …what do I care? I have all the beneficiaries set up, of course, but should I tell someone who gets my stuff? Anyone want it? I have an impressive autograph collection. There are books everywhere, but I don’t have all that much in the way of material things. Thing is, it seems morbid to discuss, but I have made note of it all here anyway. If I go sudden know that I had an absolute blast all through my days. I may have worked a little too much, but my relationships have all been good. Great fam...

Antonio Brown is a wide receiver who has worn out his welcome in Pittsburgh, New England and with the Raiders and last week his relationship ended with Tampa. He ripped off his uniform and threw it into the crowd and headed out. Then he spent the week blaming everyone else as he did at his previous stops. He even blamed the G.O.A.T., saying that Tom Brady only liked him because he was good at football. And of course, it was all about money. Brown signed a contract that included incentives that he was going to easily get to, but he felt insulted that he was forced to prove himself with the contract. He felt that he deserved guaranteed money. It’s a situation that played out at every stop. He was also supposed to come here to Buffalo somewhere in between one of those horrible stops, but he nixed the deal because he didn’t want to play here. Dodged a bullet. And the thing about it is that A.B. will get another chance because he can catch a ball. Some team will bring him in thinking that t...

We don’t often fight over the remote because there’s so much great television on, but a lot can be said as to the memory that pops up when you turn on a set. On Kathy’s list it’s usually I.D. TV that pops up, or Dateline or 48 Hours. She loves herself a good triple-murder story of the real life variety. Me? I tend to find the old cop shows. Columbo & Rockford are two of my favorites. In fact, I was a good 90 minutes into a tricky Columbo episode when Kathy arrived. Bruno Kirby was in the episode. He looked to be about 18 at the time. “Wow, look how young he is,” I said. “He’s dead now.” “Aren’t they all dead?” Kathy asked. There was an episode where Columbo sees a fax machine for the first time. A rich businessman had it in his office and Columbo just couldn’t believe it. “Imagine,” he said. “Sending a letter that someone can read in seconds!” I kept watching, waiting for Columbo to find the clues. “Can we shut this off?” Kathy asked. “How the hell long is an episode? This is a mov...

A politician, (I forget which one) sent a tweet in which he referred to a large group of people as “unskilled labor”. During the lockdown portion of Covid we certainly depended on those people to do their jobs.  We also saw how much trouble we are in when we have a shortage of such ‘unskilled’ people. Last week I swing through a Tim Horton’s because my wife was in urgent need to an Ice Cappe. There was a young, black kid at the window. He took my money and made change and I listened in as his boss yelled at the kid for not doing a good job of cleaning up the counter. The kid said, “Yes, sir.” The guy yelled, “Don’t call me sir, and take care of your customer. Come on!” I saw the anguish in the kid’s eyes. “Sorry,” he said. “My first day.” “You’re doing good,” I said. I rolled up a $5 bill and waited until the boss was out of the picture. “That’s for you,” I said. “Don’t share it with that asshole.” The kid laughed. “Hang in there.” I always leave a tip in the room after a hotel sta...

I laughed hard twice in the last two days… …both courtesy of Oliver… …who already has more than a half dozen names. (Ollie, Oliver, Ed, Edward James Oliver, Oliver Twist, Oliver Twisted, Ollie Oop, Ollie Baba).  The first big laugh came when Oliver started running which turned into a zoom. I’d never heard of a zoom until I met Ed. A zoom is when he tears off around the area, jumping on couches, making laps around the kitchen, up and down the stairs… …all at break neck speeds. What struck us funny about it this particular time is that it appeared as if something was broken inside of him.  It went in for a solid five minutes and there was no stopping him. A day later, he was back to his hysterical ways as he decided to bite at me. He nipped at my feet and of course I yelled the command: “Ollie! No! Be a good boy!” He kept going, looking up at me with huge, dark eyes that made me laugh. “No bites! Kisses!!” He nipped at me again, and again, and again, knowing that he was truly te...

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the Capitol attack. There are people serving jail time. There are families mourning loved ones. There are members of the police force still suffering with long-term disabilities. And there is a select committee investigating all of it. A horrible dark stain on our democracy and it certainly should not be swept under the rug. I’m kind of unsure why the investigation is taking so long, or why they are announcing things as if they discovered some amazing truths. The crowd that day knew exactly how to get in. Some of the guards simply stepped aside. The guy in charge at the time did absolutely nothing to stop it. Even when people were being beaten. What has surprised me since? A large portion of America isn’t horrified by what happened that day. Those Americans weren’t defending the country. They were attacking it, based on a lie. Men fought to persevere Democracy. How many lost their lives in the world wars and all the wars since. It was all in an effort to ...

My car inspection was overdue so we switched cars so mine could go in for a sensor fix on a bullsh*t check engine light… …and I took my wife’s car to work. I started the trip in the unfamiliar vehicle by lowering the passenger side window to clear some freaking ice in the 21 degree day, and the window wouldn’t go back up. Not ideal. I cranked up the heat and kept trying the window. No luck! Double socks, two shirts and a hoodie. The wind cut across my ample forehead as I was entering a job site and I thought about the vacation at the end of the month. “Damn, it’s cold,” I announced. “Yeah. Wait until Thursday,” the site electrician said. I forgot about that until much later at night when I glanced at the weather app. “WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY!” Bah! 12” to 18” of snow. EVERYF***INGWHERE!!! And thing weird thing is that we have had 50 degree days. Had the warmest December on record. Watched a wild fire in Colorado! In December!! On Yellowstone the Kevin Costner character talks about how ...

One minute you’re here. The next minute you’re gone. It didn’t take long for 2022 to make me absolutely sick to my stomach. I was relaxing at home when a work friend reached out to tell me that another buddy - a 57-year-old, hardworking guy, suffered a fatal heart attack while on vacation with his family. It felt like someone punched me in the stomach. Dave and I met at a job site about a month ago, and we left a long meeting, laughing at how early it was and how we were too old to be up so early. “When are we going to be done with this?” I asked. “It’s getting worse,” Dave said. “I’m working harder now than when I was 25.” We commiserated a little longer, both agreeing that we had five more years. On Christmas Eve, Dave called me from his vacation spot. “Are you working?” He asked. “You aren’t?” “I’m on vacation,” he said, “And I’m getting calls.” I told him that I would visit the job for him. “I’m so tired of bailing you out,” I said. He was laughing as he hung up the phone. And that...

On New Year’s Eve we were in the middle of a decent movie when I heard the dishwasher finish up. For the next 15 minutes I sat there, trying to concentrate on the movie, doing my best to stay right where I was seated, and forgetting about the fact that the damn dishwasher needed to be emptied. There was no reason to get up. We didn’t have a huge need for clean dishes before the end of the flick. I had no chance. I got up and emptied it. “Couldn’t just leave it, huh?” Kathy asked, and I just grunted. If I have a resolution for 2022 (and I don’t much believe in them) it’s that I learn to lighten up. Not as easy as it sounds. I’ve been fighting it all my life. And I have a theory that Covid made changes to far more people than those who got sick from it. When we were forced to change how we went to work, millions of people looked at their lives and wondered: “Why?” “Why am I killing myself at work?” “Am I enjoying my life?” Many in the service industries bailed out. Nurses and doctors cha...

Enjoy your life. That should be our number one goal every year. Just be happy. It sounds easy, doesn’t it? I certainly made some strides in chasing away some of the outside noise that was dragging me down over the last few years. I stopped listening to the news so much. I didn’t want to internalize things that aggravated me. Things I couldn’t change. I didn’t listen to hour after hour of coverage after a hurricane or a mass shooting.  I certainly didn’t engage in arguments with total strangers  about politicians. There’s nothing to be gained there. No one is changing their mind. I also feel way less emotionally connected with sports teams. Yeah. I want the Yankees to win, but if they don’t, ah well, try again next year. Personally, I’ve been more patient and less slow to anger than I used to be. Kathy being banged up has taught me to more patient, but I can’t get rid of all of the angst! Listening to music during the work day has a great effect on my mood. I think a lot of peo...