Thoughts of a Common Man

One of my old college buddies, Tony, put up a photo of himself ‘intently studying’ engineering. I knew Tony all 4 years. My memories of him consist of his laugh, a few drinks and rec league basketball. Tony could handle the rock. I couldn’t guard him. Way too fast. Yet, my trip down memory lane didn’t stop there. I thought about Tony’s roommates - particularly Brian who I once tried to guard in a rec league game. My chest still hurts in cold weather because he demolished me on a drive to the hoop. (They called the foul on me - was a blocking foul they said). One afternoon ten of us went to Mercyhurst - a college not far from Gannon - we just wanted to check out their campus. We had beer. There were ten of us in a car that seated six. “Wow! This is a nice campus,” Brian said. He was sitting on my lap. “Let’s piss.” Just a simple throw away moment in a life that is approaching 58 years… …but I can still see the expression on Brian’s face as we busted out laughing. And then I thought abou

Isn’t this like our 20th once in a century storm in the last couple of decades? I can’t imagine having a home in the path of such a blast. Saw photos of Fort Meyers - a shark in the streets. A home filling with water. Morons swimming. Cars moving through the streets without any drivers behind the wheels. Then in Naples. The main drag was a freaking river. And of course, we all know people who live down there or have homes they run to, ironically enough, when the weather gets too crazy up here. Hoping everyone is safe. Homes and cars can be replaced. “Damn, I hate water rushing in,” I said. “Not sure anyone truly enjoys it,” Kathy mentioned. And I certainly complain about the cold and the snow, but trying to bail water out my second story windows would probably sour me on weather that is mostly sunny but then drenched me beyond imagination. “Why would anyone stay through an evacuation warning?” Kathy asked. “Try and save their home, I imagine,” I said. “That’s dopey.” I know that I woul

Now I feel old. Bono’s daughter is a star in the new show, ‘Bad Sisters’. It’s a good show, and I can’t help but see the singer of U2 every time the girl is in the show. There was a great line in the show too when one of the characters said: “Those who know the least talk the most.” Great line! So true. But back to the show… …or shows in general. People seem to pine for the old shows and I do it too… …I’ll never pass a rerun of ‘Rockford’, ‘Columbo’ or ‘Sanford & Son’ but this is certainly the golden age of television. The shows all drop at once and you can watch 8 in a row if you feel like it. Often times you find yourself rooting for the bad guys… …like in ‘The Sopranos’ or ‘Breaking Bad.’ ‘Bad Sisters’ is a lot like that… …drama, a little comedy and Bono’s daughter. I’m old! What’s better than that?

“Sometimes life is just too ridiculous to live.” - John Mellencamp - ‘Between a laugh & a tear.’ The rain was pounding the side of the house, and suddenly I was wide-awake. I tried to guess the time before looking at my phone. It felt like it was about 5 in the morning.  I looked: 03:22. Bah! I stayed awake until about 4:15 but then went back to sleep until 6:30. On a Monday. Rain was just relentless. “Ah well,” I told Miller. “Time to make the doughnuts.” A half-hour later I was in the car. Turned the key and saw the low tire pressure light. “Bah!” When I began adding pressure to all the tires because none of them looked light, the skies opened up. I was absolutely soaked by the time I got in the car. After visiting the first job, I headed back to the car and used the keyless entry. It didn’t work because it was wet. I punched in the number a half dozen times and then the numbers locked for a minute. Started pouring. Soaked again! Before visiting the second job I made sure to brin

 That’s where Ollie likes to sit. On my lap. He’s not light! And you can also see that he’s ready for the Bills game as he was wearing a handkerchief. The problem I have with this wonderful dog? He thinks he’s part of me. He spends the entire day within 3’ of me. I get up, he gets up. I scratch my head and he goes and gets a ball. And of course, we play ball outside every single day. I’m amazed with his ability to find the right spot to catch the angle of the ball coming off the garage, but Diggs has nothing on Ollie Berry. I’m surprised when the dog misses one. Still. The lack of space between me and the dog is tiresome at times. It pisses off Miller too… …but Millsie is much better at napping. I’d love to know what they’re thinking too… …I say there are moments when Miller looks at Oliver and thinks: “What an asshole.”

I visited job sites wearing a hoodie yesterday. I will probably be wearing the same hoodie from now through early May. For four or five months I will wear it under a huge, warm coat that won’t be warm enough. Yesterday was also Bruce’s birthday - his 73rd!  I remember his 30th!! Man, time flies in by. And the Yankees clinched a playoff spot again. I’ll be able to rest for a couple of weeks - after Judge breaks the record - and then it’s stress for a few weeks as they chase #28. They’re capable. Getting out to golf is now a problem as the weather hasn’t cooperated. There’s rain in the forecast for tomorrow. Makes me want to cry. I’m thinking of all the weekend days spent inside the house with Ollie trying to bring me a ball for me to throw… …over and over and over again. Then I heard someone say: “I love Fall!” No!! “I love the sun.” I don’t ever want to wear a hoodie again… …but I chose to live here, right?

I haven’t said much about Aaron Judge’s season here, but man, I’ve been enjoying it. What an amazing season. The thing that’s easy to notice if you watch every game is that he never gives an at-bat away. He’s also learned his job really well. When he was young he would chase breaking balls that were out of the strike zone. Now he spits on them. And when a pitcher makes a mistake, he’s been on it. What is amazing is that he’s doing it in a contract year after he turned down a truly generous Yankee offer. That’s the business side of it. He gambled on himself and the season he’s having will earn him a whole lot of zeros. And of course, we don’t KNOW any sports star, but he always does the right thing. Know what my favorite moment of Judge’s season was? The Yankees brought up a young pitcher who was making his major league debut. The kid got absolutely lit up! 3 or 4 walks, 2 or 3 hits… …4 runs. The poor kid only got one out! Of course, he was yanked from the game, and the camera stayed on

What is amazing about this time line is that it is all playing out so slowly with the whole world acting as if they’re shocked by the revelations against the Orange dude. He’s been a fraud since the 1980’s. Anyone paying even a tiny bit of attention understood that. Problem being, too many people, millions of them, wanted him to be something other than what we all KNEW, deep down, what he was. Was never a billionaire. Was never a brilliant businessman. Was never smart. Was always a Russian asset. He offered simplistic, ridiculous solutions to complex problems and fed all the worst fears and anger that any of us could possibly harbor. And if any of those statements anger you… …you still aren’t paying attention. Immediately following the amazing revelation that he lied to get bank loans - about 250 pages of evidence against him and his evil spawn - there was a massive fundraising email sent to all the MAGA followers. “I need your help to stop this political witch hunt.” Blah, blah, blah,

I make my own schedule. Somehow I scheduled a day trip to Boston on the same Monday that the Bills opened their home season. My flight wasn’t scheduled to land until perhaps the end of the first quarter. You know air travel! I got to watch nearly the entire first half on the plane.  Of course, the Bills look great. They are scoring at will, and it made me think of the ‘90’s Bills teams. Yet that comparison really hit him as I was driving home after the plane landed. I put the game on the radio and was straining to hear what was going on, but the problem was the crowd. They were absolutely roaring. I knew that a bunch of friends and all my boys were there, and it made me think about going to those games more than 25-years ago. Was certainly a hell of a lot of fun when I was in my late 20’s, but I can’t even fathom what it might take me to go to a game surrounded by 72,000 plus lunatics as a nearly 58-year old man. By the time I sat down in the living room the Bills were up 31-7. “That’s

The original venue for the Springsteen concert in 2003 was to be the Ralph. They changed the venue a couple of months prior to the show, and suddenly we all needed to get to Darien Lake. For some reason, Kathy decided we needed a limo to get there and so that was the plan. We had also bought the great seats for the show as an anniversary gift for each other (I paid the entire tab, of course)… …but we were set up! Kathy and I were about 8 rows back and 6 other people were sitting about 50 rows behind us. Bruce opened the show with ‘Tunnel of Love’ which they don’t play all that often, and after the first or second song, Kathy said, “Give me your ticket stub. I’ll go get Jeff.” Her plan was to go get one person at a time so they could all spend a little time in the close proximity to the stage. One problem: “I ain’t leaving,” Jeff announced. John said the same thing. In fact, he had tears in his eyes during ‘Badlands’. And on and on the show went on. ‘County Fair’ is a song that had neve

September is a funky month because summer is still lingering and there is a coming storm of garbage weather coming. We got rained out two tee times in a row, but Sunday morning was warm and clear. Took a deep breath at the first tee, and hit it down the middle. Put the second shot on the green and parred the first hole. Parred the second one too. 7 more pars in a solid round. Made it home in time to get the vodka pasta sauce started. Jeff made it for me one time, but never told me how to do it.  I spotted the recipe online and got to work. It was really good. Not quite Jeff-like, but it was a great try. We spent the day watching shows, a little football and Judge hit his 58th and 59th homers in a Yankees win. That’s a solid Sunday, but I also played a couple of rounds of ball with Oliver, and hung out with Miller, who asked me for cat milk every time I entered the kitchen.  He got it almost every time too. But, now it’s back to work. 144 hours until I’m teeing off again.

There is an interesting move afoot to change the past and make it more politically correct. In other words, putting a 2022 spin on what people did a couple of hundred years ago. It’s a tad weird only because life went a certain way for those people and things we couldn’t and shouldn’t accept now were a way of life. For example, the slave owners. Evidently, all of the men who signed the constitution supposedly had slaves. It was actually a worldwide fascination. We look at it now and say, ‘Man, that’s horrible! What a bad man George Washington was!” Yet, the information isn’t all there, is it? Why was that the course of doing business back then?  I’m treading water here because obviously owning slaves is NOT something you want on your legacy resume, but it’s all about the judging of those men, who are long dead, based on what we now know. I was thinking about this because I heard a story about an older gentleman using miserable words to describe gays. He said: “You gotta’ understand, th

The Bills have their home opener on Monday, and because they’re expected to do big things this year, it’s a prime time game. Monday night game at 7:15 p.m. The parking lots will be open 3:00. The pregame drinking may begin on Sunday morning: So, the powers to be schedule closing the schools in and around the stadium after a half day. Let the bitching begin! Reading the comment section on any story - no matter the topic - is always great fun because view points tend to skew towards the extremes: “Go Bills! We should all get the day before and the day after off every time they play!” That’s followed by: “No wonder why we are behind the entire world in education! Our kids can’t afford to miss any time. My taxpayer money going to the millionaires!” Now, it’s about safety, right? Imagine that kids are stuck in a bus for hours because of the traffic around the place. I live a little more mile from the stadium and of course, we are affected by the traffic and the people hanging around MY groc

Man. Talk about a despicable stunt. Seems that the Florida governor, angling to be as nasty and mean as the last twit, decided that sending a bus filled with Venezuelan immigrants to a liberal hot spot would be great fun. I’m guessing that he wanted to prove that liberals would be angry with a number of immigrants on their doorstep, but there wasn’t any anger. Instead, the Venezuelans were fed, clothed, given medical treatment, etc…. I was pretty happy about the way they were treated by those generous people. Proving in fact that the truly Christian thing to do is to treat people as if they are human. One thing I didn’t do yesterday was tune into any of the right-leaning shows because I didn’t want to hear the glee in their voices as they praised DeSantis for being so clever. I can almost hear them: “Let’s see how they like it when the filthy immigrants show up at their front door!” Turns out, just fine, I guess. Now as for the trickery involved. Can you actually put people on a bus an

I grew weary of Brett Favre’s act a long time ago.  Remember when he retired and then unretired and then retired some more, ending up playing for Vikings and the Jets, all the while whining? Then there were pictures he sent to a reporter to harass her.  Creepy crap. He got a free pass for all of it because he could throw a ball. He played the game of his life right after his Dad died and his finely developed character was that of a man’s man. He had a whole lot to say about plenty of things, and… …ah, whatever. Simply put…he wasn’t the great hero everyone made him out to be. Yesterday, a story broke about Favre being involved in a scheme that allegedly robbed from the poor so that the rich could act like big shot rich guys. It’s an old, tired story. The rich simply living as the hugest welfare queens of all-time. And I can’t even begin to comment on the fact that rich people have somehow managed to teach middle class and lower middle class people to blame the poor for the nation’s mone

The traffic in and around Buffalo is way heavier than it’s ever been, especially around 7:30 in the morning, but I laugh whenever I hear someone say, ‘Traffic sucked’ today. I lived in San Jose, in Baltimore and in Connecticut near NYC. We don’t have traffic here. Can still go from Orchard Park to Niagara Falls in about 20 minutes. Yet, I laughed this morning because I saw an elderly woman, moving way too slowly, and I noticed that she had her phone in her hand and was looking down. An elderly woman texting and driving? It’s an epidemic. Everyone has their phone in their hands. In traffic! And I often ask about it in my safety classes. “Who texts and drives?” Most of the attendees are honest about it and raise their hands. I’m a safety guy and I do it now and again, but mostly on the long highway stretches. I try to leave the phone on the passenger seat when traffic is heavy or I’m in city traffic. Of course, the phone can be answered and I can talk on it through the car speakers so th

I wrote about it in ‘The Big D’ but as an adult I can recall my Mom putting the Carpenters Greatest Hits on the turntable, and while I pretended not to like it… …I loved it. Karen Carpenter’s voice is simply amazing, and to this day, I feel a twinge of pain when I consider that she died young. One of the songs on that disc is ‘Rainy Days & Monday’s’ They always get me down. We had both a rainy day and a Monday yesterday. Coming off a rainy day on Sunday when our tee time was rained out. Coming off last Monday (a day off) when it also freaking rained! How could I not be down? I spent all last week waiting for that damn tee time, and the weather map looked horrible so we called it an hour before we were to tee it up. Then it didn’t freaking rain hard enough to stop us all damn day long! We could’ve played 36 holes! But anyway, back to yesterday. The rain was pelting the road and my hard hat wasn’t offering enough cover. I saw an older guy standing near an excavator.  (By older, I mea

Twenty-one years. Blink of an eye. Of course it’s one of those ‘where were you?’ moments, and I thought back to the car ride, listening to Howard Stern and hearing Bin Laden’s name for the first time. Up to that point in time I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to politics. What I wouldn’t give to go back to that frame of mind! But here we are, and I cringed every time I saw a ‘Never Forget’ post yesterday because you can’t rave about patriotism if you’re all good with what happened on January 6th, or you don’t care that nuclear secrets were removed from the White House. Those are attacks as well, and that information being exposed makes us susceptible to another massive terrorist attack. I pray we don’t someday pay the price for allowing leaders to live outside of the law. Posting ‘Never Forget’ means zip when the former guy is hosting Saudi Arabia for golf, and $2 billion is invested in Kushner’s businesses. Why would we invite these people here for social gatherings? Seems like so

We watched “My Life as a Rolling Stone”, the 4-part series about, well, The Rolling Stones. Everyone who knows me understands that I have been a Stones fan for better than 45 years. I was in my glory as they went through episodes for Mick, Keith, Ronny & Charlie. Sang out loud when they played ‘Rocks Off’ and ‘Tumbling Dice’ and I was back in the stadium in ‘81, ‘89 and ‘15 when I saw them live. Just a remarkable band and their artistry struck me as I watched them discuss all the fame, drugs, personal problems, and tours. The music was what was most important to them. And then… …we finally got around to the Elvis movie (which was so well done - the guy playing Elvis should win an award) - but when it was over… …I was so sad for him. He was a kind-hearted man who was destroyed by hangers-on and people who abused him. And dead at 42! Just a young man! Seeing all those ‘stars’ one after another made me realize that even people who we THINK have it all… …still can self-destruct. Keith

On Thursday I arrived home from work to see my boys bouncing off the walls. “What’s up?” “Three hours to game time.” I’d almost forgot that they were on. “You going to watch?” Sam asked. “I can make it to the half, probably,” I said. Sam couldn’t grasp that at all. He’d thought of nothing else all day. He started talking about Josh Allen.  Somehow we got around to a discussion of golf. “Could you beat him?” Sam asked. “From what I saw he was a little out of control,” I said. “I play golf in the middle. Maybe I could beat him.” “He’s a great athlete, though,” Sam said. “Golf isn’t about being athletic,” I said. “It’s about being skilled.” “He hits bombs,” Sam said. “A lot of guys can hit it further than me,” I said. “I can win the hole though.” Sam thought about it for awhile. “Well, I believe in Josh,” he said. I laughed. “I’m your freaking father! You believe in HIM?” Sam laughed too. “Today, I think I love him more,” he said. True to my word, I only made it to the half. Game was tied

Sad news about the Queen. She was a neat lady and 96 is a hell of a run. She came to power during Eisenhower. Was in power for 30% of American history! That’s more than a good run, that’s amazing, and while I think the whole royal family stuff is a little much, I did enjoy seeing the Queen. Who wouldn’t? She looked like a kindly old grandma, but then I saw a photo of her, dressed as a soldier, as she participated in the war. She looked like a badass. Imagine such a life! All those Royal dinners and all that love and respect, and I’m sure we will see the live spectacle of the goodbye. Good for her. Live well lived. Rest In Peace.

The buses clogging up the roads. The 20 mph in a school zone (for the entire day, mind you, even when every kid is in the classroom) The weather suddenly going to dark and cool. There’s just a magical switch that is hit after Labor Day weekend. And of course, In these parts, all anyone is talking about is the Bills season opener, which happens tonight against the Rams. The whole world is picking the Bills to win the super bowl - which should make everyone in Buffalo nervous. Usually the team the experts pick to win it all, suffers. My sons and nephews are already counting this as the first championship. “Gotta’ do it first,” I cautioned them. “It’s a long season.” “They’re going to go 15 and 2 and Josh is going to be MVP and they’re going to beat Tommy in the super bowl game,” my nephew John said. “Are you Nostradamus?” I asked. “What?” “Well, what if I said they finish 7 and 9, Josh only starts 5 games and Tommy wins number 8.” “That’s stupid to predict an injury,” Johnny answered. “I

Are you kidding me? Those are banned books in Oklahoma! There are absolute classics on that list and I’ve read all of them. I can’t for the life of me understand why they might be banned. ‘The Outsiders’? What is the problem with that book? I recently re-read it for what has to be the tenth time. Who could of possibly offend? ‘Of Mice & Men’ by my all-time favorite author, John Steinbeck? When we were in the 8th grade we read the book as a class.  Every day we would read a chapter or two and I couldn’t raise my hand fast enough to be the guy to read it to the class. Just an incredible story, Again, who could possibly be offended? I read a quote attributed to Stephen King, who has a banned book or two on his resume. King said that he couldn’t care less if one of his works is banned. Instead, he thinks banning a book makes more people want to read it. But here’s a thought: Many of the banned books on the above list are stories that are essential for a well-rounded education. Perhaps

I’m wondering how much that outfit set him back. I’m also fascinated with what goes into such blind adoration. Finally, as a child I remember thinking about Hitler and wondering what was wrong with the German population that allowed him to grow to power. I would’ve never believed it could happen here, and especially not for the likes of that guy. What is to be admired? As a teenager there was a lot of talk about Reagan not being electable because he had been divorced. Three marriages and paying off a porn star with campaign funds. Doesn’t matter. Paying a massive fine for running a fraudulent university? Love him anyway. Charity? They closed down the foundation due to fraud. Empathy? Ever see him with a sick kid? Or a wounded veteran? He famously said that he didn’t want crippled vets at the parade he wanted to get up and running. Love of family or even a dog? Show me any clip of him playing ball with his young son, or even a fatherly moment with his older children. The only tender mom

Mohammed Amer is an American comedian of Palestinian ethnicity. He’s a refugee who’s family settled in Houston a long time ago. I discovered his show, Mo, on Netflix. It’s 8 episodes and we watched it quickly. Can’t wait for season 2. And yet, before we started watching the show, I was a little concerned. Did I want to watch an Arab-American who was living in Texas and trying to fit in? It’s weird how we are programmed. I brought negative thoughts to the situation.  Could an Arab be funny? Well, let me tell you, Mo is. After watching the series we saw a promo for an hour of his stand up comedy special. He’s one funny dude, and he appears to take all the negativity regarding being Muslim in America in stride. It certainly isn’t that easy, I’m sure, and Mo is definitely Americanized. Yet during his special he made a point that I’ve tried to make for years. Most Americans aren’t on opposite sides of the spectrum. It’s not a red on one side and blue on the other situation. Most people, no

My brother invited us for ribs yesterday and sent us home with enough leftovers to eat ribs for the next week or so. On the drive down I noticed that it was 86 degrees so summer hasn’t left the scene yet. But I’m starting to dread the change in seasons because I’ve lived here long enough to know what’s coming. Yet, I’ve always enjoyed Labor Day and taking a day off during a typically busy time of the year. There should be more days off scattered throughout the year because the beat just seems to go on and on and on and on. It’s been 44 years of labor so far for me. That’s a whole bunch of hours at work, and I’ve often thought about how there seems to be a shift in how young workers want to be treated now. Back when I first got a job I was aware that I needed to do whatever the boss said. I never asked about breaks or vacation or for more pay. These days it seems that workers want to be stimulated and praised. I have spoken to a lot of contractors and they all say the same thing: “It’s

Was outside on a city street on a beautiful summer morning. It was pretty early in the morning so the streets were quiet, but I saw a man walking towards me from a long way away. As he got close I said: “Good morning.” He ignored me. Last time out there were only two golfers in my group, and we were playing behind four guys who were playing as if their round was being televised. They saw us waiting to take every shot, and golf etiquette says that they should’ve let us pass. They ignored us. Blared their music, took as much time as they wanted on every green, and knelt down to line up putts that they had zero chance of holing. It’s apparent that the country appears to be on edge and there is a sense of entitlement around and about. Kindness is in short supply and it is born of the political divide. Unity? Not looking like it’s possible. On Thursday, President Biden made a political speech, calling out the nastiness of the MAGA, and a strange thing happened. He was blatantly criticized f

I believe that in the next few weeks we’re going to find out that some of the documents that were found in Florida were sold. Not sure how they move the goal posts out far enough to make that fly, but seeing what was there was pretty shocking. Here are the facts: 1). Those documents did not belong to the former president. He took them anyway. 2). They gave him a number of opportunities to return them. They asked nicely. They asked not so nicely. They sent a subpoena. Then they asked through documentation of everything had been returned. 3). When the DOJ learned that there may have been additional classified information there they executed a search warrant. 4). They claimed that everything was declassified. Doesn’t matter. It wasn’t. Then they claimed that it was a raid. It wasn’t.  Yesterday they claimed that the documents in the photo were on the floor and it made him look like a slob.  Then the most screwed up thing I’ve ever heard. The treason weasel claimed that the DOJ was actuall

The day when Princess Di was tragically killed is one of those days that can’t ever be forgotten. I was a brand new husband and father back then and life was moving pretty quickly. It was hard for me to read the newspaper from cover to cover in those days, but on a Sunday morning I picked up the hefty Buffalo News and very nearly immediately dropped it. The big, bold headline was staring me in the face. Princess Diana killed in a car accident. Stunning and still sad… …25 years later. The stunning part of it all yesterday was that so much time has passed since it happened. It’s hard to believe. I thought about how much life has changed since that day. The kids are grown. No one reads a newspaper anymore. The news of the day doesn’t take hours or even minutes to get to us. It’s all instantaneous now. Back then I had a pager. Those were more annoying than a cell phone because once you received a page, you needed to scramble to find a phone. That was a pain in the ass! The saddest part of