Thoughts of a Common Man

We watched a movie about songwriting where a Mom and her son and her guitar teacher create art. I loved it and absolutely adore watching talented people perform. And it called to mind the artificial intelligence talk that has kind of made the rounds. Hollywood threatened the use of A.I. to change the way that movies are written. I had someone tell me that authors will be made obsolete because a story can be written by just placing plot points into the computer and seeing what is spat out. Ugh! There is absolutely nothing better than creating something. I don’t even know what my life would be if I weren’t working on something, and I can’t see how human beings will be removed from the process. I’ve had some people send me something that was written through the A.I. machine. As a writer, it appeared flat to me. Lacking in emotion. None of the human touch. The words were there, in the right order, but just flat! I know people who have used it to write a toast for a wedding or a eulogy! Tha...

Your first love will never truly leave your heart. I’ve been thinking about that a little over the last few days, and I believe it to be true. No matter how many times you fall in love in your life, there’s still a compartment in your heart that has room for how you felt for the first time. And there are times when I like to think about those days, and I’m one of the lucky ones who have remained friends with the initial object of my affections, and since we both were able to manage long-term marriages, we’ve even talked about all those dramatic moments as children. Which is also a great trip back in time. I believe that first loves are important for the decades that follow because it teaches you a lot of things: 1). The ability to be vulnerable.  We spend the first 14 or 15 years pretending that we don’t really like someone. My friends would bust my chops about a crush and that would be enough to end the flirtation. That first time, we admit it to ourselves, our friends, their frie...

Hometown friends are awesome. Hometown wakes and funerals… …not so much. I made my way through the gathering of friends in my hometown, on the way to pay my respects for a high school classmate and I felt weird about being happy to see so many people. What really strikes me is that I can pick up a 10 or 20 or 30-year old conversation I was having with someone as though we had spoken yesterday. And the other thing that happens is that life runs like a movie in my brain when I see those old faces. I saw Paulie and we immediately recounted a softball tourney that we damn near won after forming our team in a bar the night before. That tournament was 27 years ago. I passed by Charlie and immediately busted on him about the Mets turd of a season. He shot back with some anti-Yankee talk. I saw Carmen and we chatted about our basketball shooting. We both could hit the long shots back in the day. “I couldn’t get a 20-feet shot anywhere near the rim now,” he said. And I waited in line with my gr...

What will it take? New York State basically kicked Trump to the curb. The ruling came down yesterday. FRAUD! The case is rock solid and the explanations were clearly defined. When applying for loans and doing business fraudulent numbers were the order of business. Yet, what does the ruling do? Those of us who were aware that he was a fraud have known it for a long, long time. I knew it - firsthand in 1987. He stiffed the contractor I was working for. All the work our company did (I wasn’t on that job) was done on time and very well. The bill didn’t get paid. A lawsuit was filed. By Trump!  The contractor I was working with had to accept ten cents on the dollar to keep the company afloat. There was one rule in the office in the job I was on in New Haven: “His name can never be mentioned.” So, the tide has turned, right? Nope! I checked the comments under The NY Times article. One statement after another pledging their loyalty to Trump despite the ruling. “They’re all corrupt! I’m st...

Like a lot of other people we got pulled into the series, ‘Suits’ on Netflix. I’ve never had much fun hanging around lawyers who have questioned me as a construction safety officer. I once testified in a case where the opposing lawyer started questioning me by going through my educational background. “So,” he said, racing to a crescendo, “You graduated from college with a degree in Communications-Journalism and suddenly, 30 years later, you’re a ‘safety expert.’” He actually made the quotation marks with his fingers. I just looked at him. “How does that happen?” He bellowed, sure that he was going to discredit me. “Well,” I said. “I knew I was overqualified to become a lawyer.” The courtroom erupted in laughter. Even the judge chuckled. The rest of his questions landed flat. So, I wasn’t all that keen on a show about lawyers, but ‘Suits’ is great. Meghan Markle became a princess because of the show, and she is very good in it (and a beautiful woman). Yet, there is so much more. The wri...

The Class of ‘82 has lost a couple of members this year.  It’s always shocking news when an old friend or classmate passes away, mostly because we fool ourselves into thinking that we’re a lot younger than what we are. Time is undefeated and life has an expiration date. It’s cliche to say that every day should be cherished, but it’s a cliche because it’s true. The classmate we lost, Carolyn, was a beautiful girl back in high school. She smiled a lot!  Every time I saw her. She lived life to the fullest too and her scorecard shows children, a long marriage and a whole lot of friends who will attend her send off. Yet, despite all the years - and I’d seen Carolyn last year - I still carry the image of her at seventeen years old. That’s how memories work, I suppose. When Mickey Mantle died, my Dad mentioned that the Mick was frozen in time as a big, strong man who hit long homers and ran like a deer. I guess it’s better to remembered in the prime of life, but it also got me thinki...

  This dog loves me. I took that photo on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. (That’s a Blue Bloods rerun) I was trying to relax for an hour and had reclined in my chair. Ollie likes to get on my lap and stare into my eyes. “Get off me!” I said. Nope! Now, mind you, this was after we started our day with 60 passes with the big football at 7:30 a.m. as I drank a cup of coffee. Then he ate a huge bowl of food. Three rawhides. I grocery shopped and then threw him 60 more with the small football. He ate a bowl of chicken. “All Ollie, all the time,” I said as he perched on my lap. He knows what’s next. 60 passes with the baseball. I asked him to give me until noon, but the thing is, he knows the order of things. You can’t see the baseball on the photo but he had brought it up with him. Tough to rest when Ollie, who has other friends in the house, has decided that I’m his best buddy. It royally pisses off Miller the cat, who has also chosen me as number one. I need a vacation from the dog!

So, Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat senator from New Jersey was charged with bribery and fraud and all kinds of other things when they found cash stuffed everywhere. He had a run-in with corruption one other time, but, of course, he continued as a Senator, and was free to stuff his pockets again. I do have a suspicion that he will be bounced this time, because despite corruption being a partisan effort… …Dems are more apt to be tossed than Republicans. But this isn’t a party line blog… …this is a thoroughly sick of corruption piece. Supreme Court justices getting millions and millions in gifts. All sorts of charges against presidential candidates. Boebert who can’t seem to spell ‘cat ‘ if you spotted her the C and the A, is worth more than $10 million dollars. Their salary is about $175 grand a year. How do you amass a multimillion dollar fortune? She’s not alone. They all go in as blue collar people and come out as wealthy men and women. And there are just winks and nods about all of...

While not technically a Fazzolari my niece, Andrea, welcomed a beautiful baby girl yesterday. Mom and daughter are doing great! And my brother, John, hasn’t stopped crying since the baby was born. The passage of time is crazy. When I heard the great news, I was transported back to the day of Andrea’s birth! At that point in time it was insane that my brother was a father.  Now it’s simply crazy that he’s a grandfather. Grandpa Fuzzy was an absolute legend to all of us. I’m truly hoping that John’s granddaughter calls him ‘Grandpa Fuzzy’. Of course, when I saw the photo of Andrea and baby Oaklyn Anne, I thought of a Bruce lyric from the song, ‘Living Proof.’ “And in her mother’s arms, it was all the beauty I could take. Like the missing words to a prayer, that I could never make. In a world so dirty and fouled, so vile and confused, I found a little piece of God’s Mercy, I found living proof.” And that verse also popped into my head when I saw my boys for the first time. Time passes...

It’s hard to even imagine what the GOP is doing. Matt Gaetz and Kevin McCarthy are at war in the House, and they are torpedoing a bill that they proposed! They’re going to shut down the government over the military spending bill that they authored! And Gaetz and the fringe crazies are saying that McCarthy has to go if he doesn’t completely agree with every single of their demands. All of that sound crazy? I’ll break it down further… …members of the party are holding other members of THEIR party hostage! And the entire reason for the whole eating of their own is that they’re all putting the eggs in the basket of the man who has lost them every election since 2016. All of it is amazing to me, and it can’t be because Putin Jr. is a great guy who everyone loves. It appears that they all loathe him. It also appears that they can’t believe that he did an amazing job when he sat in the seat… …because he didn’t. There’s zero evidence of him having done anything right at all. (Other than the ma...

Nothing on social media aggravates me more than someone posting something like this: “Woman with an EBT card pulled it out of her Gucci purse. Get a job!” Or “Drove by a house at noon on a Tuesday and guy is on his porch drinking a beer while I have to work my ass off.” So irritating. It’s people judging others and it’s also punching down without any information whatsoever. Perhaps the woman got a Gucci purse as a gift. Maybe medical bills or the loss of her job put her on EBT for a short time. Maybe the guy on his porch works the night shift, or is on vacation. Should she try and look like she’s destitute to please those who are standing there looking to judge her? Should he hide in his house to drink a vacation beer? Should she hide her purse until she has a pocket filled with cash? “Guy begging for money has a better phone than me and I’m working my ass off!” Good for you! Mind your business!! Pull yourself up by your boot straps and get yourself a new phone. I usually post somethin...

The management of my company usually has one complaint in regard to my work. “You need to take some time off!” My original plan was to take off the 14th, 15th, 18th, 19th and 20th. A full week but having a presence in both weeks. Things got pushed a bit but I was off the 15th and 18th. Friday was a day of rest and I got a little restless. So, I played golf on Saturday, and again on Sunday. Monday was set aside to rest again, but on Sunday night a buddy texted me about playing again. Could I play three straight days? I felt okay - mentioned the invite to Kathy. “Go if you can handle it. Who needs you around in the morning?” Did you know that golf courses are basically empty on Monday mornings? We raced around the course and had a great time. By 6:00 last night it felt like it was midnight! I was tired! But the difference in being tired from work and being tired from play is huge. I finally took the clubs out of my car and returned them to the storage area. “You’re not playing tomorrow?”...

Social media was overrun with video of congresswoman Lauren Boebert, a true moron, at a theatre somewhere. She was vaping, singing, getting felt up and feeling up her date at a family event. Comedian Al Franken was kicked out of his seat for making a joke ten years before he was ever in office. Boebert, who appears in every photo with a gun on her hip, had recently spilt from her husband who was once charged with exposing himself at a bowling alley. These people have kids. Republicans claim to be the party of family values and are famous for claiming to be ‘people of profound faith.’ I tried my best to ignore the story all weekend, but the video of her groping the guy was everywhere. She initially lied about what was going on before she was escorted out, but then later claimed that she was a little too eccentric. “What is wrong with these people?” Someone texted me. “She’s an idiot,” I said. “That’s it?” “Pretty much.” And of course, there are zero consequences for any such behavior. I...

Had an early morning tee time on Saturday morning. Went outside and immediately yelled. It was cold! I put on my pull over jacket and wondered if shorts would work. The day was supposed to be pleasant and it was going to be over 70, sooner or later. The outing was going to be different because I was playing with my old buddy, Chris, who can really play the game. I played well… …hitting balls straight and pretty well. He immediately followed me in the rotation and on the way to putting his ball on the tee he said: “Good shot.” Then he hammered the ball beyond where my ball was sitting…. …50, 60, 70, 100 yards further than mine. Every time. He’d hit with the music blaring, people talking, and whilst he told jokes. The day warmed and I wondered about how many outings there might be. I decided to lean on the golf expert that was riding in my cart. We talked about positioning during chipping and putting. He wasn’t giving any lectures and only helped when I asked, with one exception. I took ...

I’m excited about The Rolling Stones record - Hackney Diamonds - that is coming out next month. A little known fact is that I was a Stones fan before I was a Springsteen fan. I loved the record ‘Some Girls’ and I was just 13 years old when they came to the Ralph to promote the record - Mom said: “No freaking way!” Four short years later, The Stones at the Ralph was my first ever concert and I remember it all. They opened with ‘Under My Thumb’ and did a great, ‘Tumbling Dice’ in the encore. People were calling them The Rolling Bones back then because they were considered old! 42 years later they have a new record coming out and they will tour to support it. A great New York Times article went through the making of the record and I laughed a couple of times. Keith Richards spoke about playing Rock & Roll as an 80-year old man. “It’s what I do.” He was asked if this was the last Rolling Stones record and he said he had no idea but mentioned that he was supposed to be dead about 40 yea...

Wander Franco is the shortstop of the Tampa Rays - he’s on leave for having a number of relationships with children. “That’s what they do in the Dominican Republic.” I’ve heard that more than once. Then I read an article about a banished Fredonia philosophy professor who lost his job because he wondered whether a relationship with a “willing” 12-year-old is morally wrong! Jeffrey Epstein was hung in a jail cell because he had an island where prominent men would go for the hobby of exploiting young girls. There’s a massive allegation against a former ‘president’ about the rape of a 13-year-old. I asked it in the title: “What is wrong with these people?” I can’t even fathom such a scenario, and a philosophy professor questions whether it’s fair game or not? A grown ass man or woman and a child? Every year we hear about a dozen stories about a teacher and a student. I remember being a kid. I didn’t have a clue what the hell end was up about anything until I was about twenty. I pretended b...

“The Morning Show” dropped two episodes yesterday and I only have good things to say about it.  I like that Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston have teamed up and have what is a female power company. They’re also attacking some sensitive issues and doing good work of it. The second episode (and it’s in the trailer so I’m not spoiling anything) is about the network they work for being hacked. Everyone is in an utter panic over the personal information that they have stored on their devices. Got me thinking. Would I be compromised in any way if someone got ahold of my information? I have some tasteless joke photos on my phone. Nothing racist or demeaning, but in the new climate… …tasteless. I’ve also sent some angry texts, but someone would have to dig hard to find them because I erase all texts, emails and any other correspondence after I’ve finished the conversation. Being OCD makes me keep my devices clean. There are no compromising photos of me. I don’t actually do anything th...

Buffalo is a loyal town. I find it amusing to move around the town on the morning after the Bills play. Win or lose, there’s a whole lot of talk about the game, and man, conflict is on the menu. “Josh Allen stunk,” was the Tuesday morning rallying cry, and three interceptions and a lost fumble seems to bear that out. (I didn’t watch and was a couple of hours into sleep when the game ended). But there are differing opinions on all of it. “He’s the best quarterback in the league! He just had a bad game,” was one opinion. “He’s been bad for about a year now! He led the league in turnovers last year.” “He’s having women troubles.” “He’s out of shape.” “He’s dumb!” The overreactions are amazing. The amount of anguish over a game is astounding , and while it’s admirable that people are loyal fans (I’m a loyal Yankees fan - I get it) but it simply ruins peoples days and even weeks. (It’s been a lot of years since I lost sleep after a Yankees loss). Allen will survive. He will play much better...

I’m not one for celebrating tragic days. Calling those days an anniversary is kinda’ weird, but 9/11 is certainly a day that can’t ever be forgotten. Every second of that morning is easily recalled. I was listening to Howard Stern talk to Pam Anderson. I didn’t know Osama Bin Laden from Foghorn Leghorn.  In fact, most of my life wasn’t consumed with political thoughts.  I didn’t care much for George W., but I figured that both parties would work together in defense of our Democracy. Yesterday I heard George W. speak from ground zero, and I thought about how much more compassionate he sounded than anything we’ve heard out of that party in a long while. Regardless, it was a simpler time. America hasn’t been the same since, and the sun was shining yesterday and it reminded me a lot of that day 22 years ago. So, some of those empty feelings and dark thoughts came streaming back. I recall turning off the television so that the boys wouldn’t see the horror of that day.  I remem...

There’s a documentary out about Bishop Sycamore, a fake high school in Ohio that was put together by some guy named Roy Johnson. I’m not sure how I missed the story when it happened - Bishop Sycamore played a football game on ESPN against the number one-rated school in the country. It was an absolute blood-bath as the kids from the fake school got destroyed. And I can’t do the documentary justice. Suffice it to say that it is one of the most disturbing stories I’ve ever watched. Somehow, Johnson recruited kids, had them pay tuition, applied for PPP loans during Covid in their names, and faked his way all the way to a game on ESPN. (Allegedly). (ESPN also deserves some of the blame here). And the documentary was disturbing because Johnson appears to be nothing more than a conman who destroyed lives, ran up debt, and apologized for absolutely nothing! “Oh, I hate him,” Kathy said, about halfway through, and that was even before the most disturbing of the offenses were even exposed. At th...

I’m very disciplined about going to bed and getting up. Same time every day. I push everything back an hour on the weekends so I was in bed by eleven on Friday night. Of course, me and the cat are the only truly disciplined ones in the house. Kathy, Ollie and Sam are night people. Which can be a pain because I’m also a light sleeper, and Kathy and Sam can be chatty. I heard them talking about life at 1:15. I made a trek to the bathroom and mentioned something about winding it up. At 2:30, I was awake again because they were now talking about a problem - the refrigerator wasn’t working. Sam was moving meat to the freezer. “We have a problem,” Kathy said when she saw me in the morning. “The refrigerator is broken,” I said. “You knew?” She asked. “I heard about it at 2:30 this morning.” “So now what?” “We buy a new refrigerator,” I said. “We bought the last one in 1997. We got enough out of it.” “We have to research it,” Kathy said. Now, that’s the basic difference between us. An hour and...

Through the years I’ve had to have some unpleasant conversations with guys who aren’t doing the right thing on construction sites. One group that’s been a thorn in my side are the Amish. They’re a group who don’t normally work on commercial sites, and they live by their own set of rules, but when they venture into the real world they have to follow the federal guidelines. A few years ago, I was loading stuff into my car at six in the morning. Someone tapped me on the shoulder! I about jumped out of my skin, but when I turned around there was a young man, with a long beard, standing there. “Aren’t you the safety guy?” He asked. “Yeah, but what are you doing in my driveway?” He pointed to the house across the street and told me that he was working on the roof. “I got an osha fine. I recognized you.” He showed me the paperwork - he was on the hook for about ten grand. “I can make a call,” I said, “but you have to work safe from here on out.” I was able to get his fine reduced a little but...

My boys are in a whole bunch of fantasy football leagues. Sam asked me if I’d think about joining one and it dawned on me that I can’t name 10 wide receivers league wide. Of course I will be forced to follow the sport because the NFL dominates the world, and what else is there to do on Sundays when the snow flies? Besides, here in Buffalo we have Allen and Diggs political signs on front lawns and there are ‘17’ signs everywhere. The Bills have been solid contenders for sure. The Bills have come up small in the big games in the last few years and that’s nothing against their players - but this is a coaching league - and in huge games, they’ve simply been out coached. My short list of predictions: Beat teams in the NFC are Philadelphia, Minnesota, San Francisco and Dallas. I’ll go out on a limb and say that Dallas will finally get to the NFC title game but will lose to the Niners. The AFC is stacked. The Bills, Bengals, Chiefs, Jets, Dolphins, Ravens, Chargers and Jags are all capable of...

I went to sleep on Tuesday night reading the new Stephen King book, ‘Holly.’ The first thought I had on Wednesday morning was that I needed to listen to the brand-spanking-new Rolling Stones song, ‘Angry.’ Both the album and the novel are off to rousing starts.  Stephen King does great characters and Mick and Keith sound as great as ever. Springsteen is also in Syracuse tonight… …just to make the 1980’s feel complete. We aren’t going to make it to Bruce tonight because Kathy is still recovering. She didn’t take the news of missing the Syracuse concert very well. “I need to see him!” Kathy wailed. So, we made a plan. We’re going to Phoenix to see Bruce in late November. That was an easy sell.  Kathy loves Arizona and we have always had a great time restaurant hopping in Scottsdale. And of course, I’m growing concerned about the fact that Stephen King has written most of the books that he’s going to write in his amazing career. Mick Jagger is 80 years old. Bruce turns 74 in a co...

Enrique Tarrio received a 22-year prison sentence as the leader of the Proud Boys in regard to the storming of the Capitol. Good for him. And of course, he’s not the only person going to prison for an allegiance to the man who brought them to town and worked them into a frenzy with lies and misinformation. I will never get it. The working class has supposedly chosen a man who lives in a gold house as the man who is fighting for them? They will vote for him again because they think he’s got their backs? He didn’t go to the Capitol. He didn’t do a damn thing to help the working man. He lowered taxes on the wealthy. He wouldn’t do a damn thing for any of them.  Ever. And now, they’re all praying that he will pardon them. It’s not going to happen. “Stand back and stand by!” It turned into years and years and years in prison for those ‘patriots.’ I’d laugh about it if it weren’t so sad.

There was a little controversy at the Burning Man event in Nevada as torrential rains trapped the people who wander off into the woods and live off the land for some damn reason. The whole thing turned into a bit of an emergency as the access roads were too muddy to grab people and yank them out of the woods. To be truthful, I’d never heard of the event, but evidently it’s been going on for years, and some of the people, who weren’t fully aware of the hazards didn’t do enough to prepare, and got into some trouble. The Burning Man event doesn’t sound like something I would’ve ever enjoyed. Too many people that I don’t know.  What could possibly go wrong? And staying outside in horrible weather - 100 miles away from the nearest city? Over the weekend they explained that the president had been briefed on the situation. What the hell is he supposed to do? People do some crazy things in the name of fun, I guess. Burning man.

I was a tad apprehensive about going to play golf on Sunday morning. These past two weeks have been insane because the other shoe wasn’t about to drop… … rather, every shoe in the world was raining down on my head. As I’ve aged I’ve figured out what to do when I feel stressed and anxious… …take a deep breath! The weather was perfect. Beautiful blue sky. We met on the first tee and had a few minutes to chat before I set the tee in the ground. I felt it all rolling off my shoulders, but I wondered: Would I yank it left as I tend to do when I’m over anxious? My club made contact and the ball soared. I caught the flight of the ball and it seemed as though my entire body exhaled, as it settled in the center of the fairway, a long ways from the tee box. Three straight fist-bumps from my playing partners who knew what I’d lived through. A couple of holes later, I did a panoramic turn around the course - I saw my friends gathered on the green, I watched the flight of a bird as it moved across ...

Jimmy Buffet passed away yesterday. I don’t know anyone who didn’t like his music. The lyrics were simple and brilliant and man, it looks like he was having a grand old time just being alive. The major hit is ‘Margaritaville’ and if you think about it for a minute I’m sure you can sing the entire song, word for word. I’d never change it if it came on the radio, but like so many songs, I may have heard it too many times. ‘Cheeseburger in Paradise’ is another epic hit and has some great lyrics as well. Yet my favorite Jimmy Buffet song is ‘Come Monday’. I love that song!  Have been singing it for years, and have never grown tired of it. It’s one of those songs where as soon as I hear the opening note I think: “I love this song!” And Jimmy’s songs will be played for a long, long time. There are parrot heads in absolute mourning, and when news of his death broke there was a collective groan. That’s a life well-lived, and you know what it all boiled down to? He loved living. Made it all...

I was 30 years old when my Dad went into the hospital for treatment for kidney cancer. I still felt like a little boy when I saw him in the hospital bed, and considered that he was way too young to be in such a predicament. But he wasn’t. I was simply seeing him through the eyes of that boy that I was as I grew up. The truth was that I was a fully grown man, and Dad was getting older. I was scared. I forgot about that feeling until this week. Full disclosure here. Kathy feinted on Monday, but felt okay immediately afterwards. Along with a few others, I convinced her to figure out why that might happen. “Just get the tests,” I said. “It’s probably nothing, but let’s be sure.” It turned out that it wasn’t ‘nothing’, and getting those tests saved her and us from a more serious outcome. She’s sleeping soundly… …finally home as I write this… …and I’m thinking that maybe we ain’t that young anymore. And of course, that’s a Bruce line from ‘Thunder Road.’ We aren’t the late-20’s people we wer...

What a wild couple of weeks. A friend who passed away. A bout with Covid, and then more medical issues for Kathy. I’ve been battling insomnia again, and work has been weird. I’m a creature of immense habits, so when I get knocked off my plan, I feel off. I had to travel East this morning, and then head back to help Kathy as she tries to recover from a scare. I left the house around 5:30 in the morning and watched the sun come up.  A clear sky. About a thousand birds all traveling in a pattern just below the emerging sun. “It comes up,” I thought. And I thought about others who are grieving something this morning. Still others who are battling health or money or other difficulties. And in that split-second, I saw the astounding beauty of that wonderful sunrise. I thought about snapping a photo of it, but didn’t even reach for the phone. Sometimes it’s about just enjoying seeing something without having to capture it and post it somewhere. The photo wouldn’t have done it justice anyw...