Thoughts of a Common Man

I’ll grab a bag of candy during my travels today, but we haven’t had a single trick or treater here in years. The kids stopped coming around when Melky - the pit bull - was controlling the neighborhood.  Melky was a wonderful dog who never bothered anyone, but she looked strong. By the time Melky left us, the kids around here had grown. So, the candy gets finished by Kathy and the boys. Not that I ever truly enjoyed Halloween. I’m not a pumpkin fan - everything has pumpkin spice in it - 🤮  I didn’t ever enjoy dressing up - there was a photo of me - as an African princess that made its rounds on Facebook. I was dead set against wearing such a get up, but my sister Corinne had other ideas - I had her bathroom garbage can on my head - she just yanked it down hard. Jeff went as my ‘husband’ in a loin cloth. We took first place in the costume competition. As a kid we went around the neighborhood but Mom wasn’t thrilled with any of it either - six different costumes weren’t easy to...

Back when ‘Friends’ was dominating weekly television it was hip to say: “I never watch that show.” I never said that. I watched it weekly and loved it. I’ve watched all the episodes countless times - and really enjoyed it. I still grab a rerun every now and again. And they were all such great, well-developed characters. The actors were great. Chandler Bing was the funny guy, and Matthew Perry was a good, comedic actor. Somewhere along the way we learned he was suffering with addiction - there’s a season where he is painfully thin. Making all that money and having all that fame - didn’t help him much. He went through rehab 15 times and had 14 stomach operations. A year ago, he wrote a memoir detailing everything and while I didn’t read it, I remember thinking: “Good for him. Sounds like he beat it.” There isn’t anything being reported that seems as though he relapsed, but it took a toll, I suppose and his death is tragic because he was a young man. There’s a price to pay. A cost associa...

There was a moment last night when I glanced out at the dance floor and saw my boys dancing with their dates and their cousins… …when I felt an immense feeling of pride in having raised children who have grasped what it means to be close with their siblings and cousins. They were jumping up and down and pointing to the sky, singing along with songs I’ve never heard. I also felt nostalgic - remembering my brother’s wedding and how we had tore the place apart that night. Those kids looked so much like us. That’s my nephew Rocco and my niece Paige in the photo with me. “Come dance with me,” my nephew Rocco screamed in my ear. “No.” “Let’s get a drink! Have a drink with me!” “No.” “How about a photo?” So, we took a few photos and talked about football. We laughed a lot, talking about his Dad, and then Rocco took off and met up with Johnny… …and seeing the two of them, working together to pump up everyone around them, I was struck by the thought that I was watching a rerun of a classic come...

Our nephew on Kathy’s side of the family had a wedding party last night. Tonight, our niece, on my side of the family will be getting married. It’s a lot! Two weddings?  Back to back nights? And, of course, the boys were all fired up. They were concerned about the half hour when the bar shut down for dinner. I recall that it was an eternal wait when we were waiting for the light to go back on at the bar. We were all so funny and wildly entertaining back when we were young. I did have a drink.  A big night! Yet, a little while after dinner, with the music blasting, Kathy said: “I’m ready to go.” I just kept thinking, it’s their time now. To get their lives going. To take their children to little league baseball games and dance lessons and watch them grow. More importantly, we were the ‘old people’ taking a look at the kids dancing wildly, telling loud jokes and laughing. I shook hands with the groom - he’ll always be a kid to me as I met him before he reached ten years of age. ...

How long did you hang in on the mass shooting coverage? I lasted about thirty seconds. I don’t normally listen to Fox News - even by accident - but it was on in the place where I stopped for lunch. “We need to really have a frank and open discussion about mental health,” the woman, talking head said. “Because it’s not the gun’s fault.” That was enough. Hate to break it to her, but the gun, in the hands of a former ‘good guy with a gun’ is certainly worthy of blame. Buddy showed up to meet me for lunch - he glanced at the television. “Eh,” he said. “Right?” I asked. “I feel lost saying that I can’t care about it anymore but what can be said?” “We didn’t change anything when children were slaughtered at school - any of them - we won’t ever change anything.” So, that’s about it. We don’t need to hear that: 1). We can’t believe it happened here! Or 2). The reporters have done a great job on a truly horrific story. Or 3). Heidi and I have heavy hearts and we are fervently praying. Or 4). Fo...

There’s no doubt that the athletes are better these days. Just watch Tyreek run with the ball in an open field, or count the number of arms coming out of the pen attached to guys throwing harder than 100 mph. Look at Durant drilling 3’s as a 7-footer. Curry drills them from half-court. Floppy James is built like a linebacker. Of course, my boys and I have had some healthy debates. They talk to me about Josh Allen who runs and leaps and throws the ball 70 yards downfield. I mention that Jim Kelly got drilled 30 times a game - all suspension worthy hits now. I also talk about what a fabulous athlete Wilt Chamberlain was. They say that he was playing against plumbers and insurance salesmen. Jake shows me video of the longest of the home runs that are hit these days. I countered with the breakdown of the ball Mantle hit that was over 600’. Yet, here’s my read: 1). Baseball made some changes that really helped the game this year. They got rid of the shift and a lot of the dead time. I was t...

Sidney Powell is singing like a canary. Mark Meadows was granted immunity. Jenna Ellis broke down into tears, shocked that she fell for it all. Come on, now! They knew that the 2020 election wasn’t fixed. They tried to overthrow the government anyway. And, it’s pretty amazing that the prosecutors used a tactic used to go after a mob boss to take down Agent Orange. The only sad part is that the deals they cut saved themselves from prison, and now that the writing is on the wall, I’m concerned that they’re going to cut one more big fat deal… …and the mob boss will also be spared jail time. What a strange world. Men are thrown into prison cells for shoplifting but over-evaluating your assets to steal millions is “business.” I travel a lot for work. I kept detailed logs noting my mileage, my maintenance, and my tolls. Submitted on my taxes. Received a letter telling me that I needed to have a receipt that showed my mileage on an oil change - one in December of the year before and one in De...

Social media doesn’t do anyone any favors by playing clips of the speeches being made by the orange dude who is fighting all those criminal charges. I don’t do myself any favors by clicking on them, but I had the misfortune of being curious about him saying that he wanted to punch President Biden. You read that right! That’s his big presidential talking point. He wants to punch Biden in the face. Then he threw a few fake punches with his tiny little hands as his cult laughed. If that were your talking points in running for 6th grade class president you’d be laughed out of the race. But wait there’s more! He spoke about Kim Jong Un and noted that the madman from North Korea loves him and doesn’t like Biden. He butchered a remembrance of FDR. Shat all over the GOP, the constitution and the entire country. He’s been saying that he is like Nelson Mandela. He is ready, willing and able to go to jail because he is doing it for us. 😂  Then when he said, ‘us’ he said. “That stands for U.S...

Bill Burr makes me laugh so of course we were going to watch the Netflix movie, ‘Old Dads.’ It was funny, and was centered around a 51-year old man trying to understand the sensitivities of the younger generation. Some laugh out loud stuff, but it isn’t lost on me that I’m sometimes lost when it comes to understand some of the new stuff. I remember when I first heard that someone couldn’t eat gluten. It never occurred to me that things could mess up someone’s digestive tract. When we were kids we’d possibly avoid eating something because: “Gives me the shits.” I never - and to this day - don’t think much about time off that I have at a job. “I’m taking PTO,” someone once said. “What the hell is that?” “Personal time off. You have a number of those days that you’re entitled to take.” Each year, some 37 years after graduating from college, I’ll get an email that tells me how many days off I’m entitled to before the end of the year. Missed those memos. Of course I’m lost when it comes to ...

It’s hard for me to fathom how anyone can watch a football game and a baseball game and not see that baseball is a wildly superior sport. The one football game I watched this year was an exercise in picking yellow flags off the field and waiting for the refs explain why the circus catch you just saw was being called back because one of the linemen was a foot past the line of scrimmage. And those who say ‘Baseball is boring’ certainly weren’t tuned in for the Diamondbacks tying the score in the 8th and winning it in the 9th or the 2 3-run homers in the AL game. And the complaint had been that baseball games are too long. The Phillies-Diamondbacks were in the 7th inning before the game hit the 2-hour mark. Check the football game tomorrow - it’ll start at 1:00 and end at 4:30. For 11 minutes of game action! The other 3.5 hours are spent watching commercials and replays and waiting for the refs to decide who won. Also, there is a pretty good Tik-Tok account that is devoted in showing play...

I was only 11 years old when I became a rabid Rolling Stones fan. My brother, John, loved The Beatles.  I had to go a different way. The Stones were weirdly different. The ‘Some Girls’ record was loved but also ripped up by the women’s groups. The Stones didn’t care. 48 years later I didn’t think I’d ever be waiting for a new Rolling Stones record. I woke at 3:30 in the morning - there was a text - the new record was in my phone! I did the only sensible thing: I listened to snippets of each song in the middle of the night. In the morning, it was on full blast and they’d done it again - surprised me with their excellence. Mick sounds like he’s 25. The riffs from Keith & Ronny are great - they sound astounding. Arthritis and all! The song ‘Whole Wide World’ is an instant classic - I listened to it seven times in a row. Great lyrics. Perfect message. Mick’s voice is so comforting to me. An interviewer asked Keith if this was the last Stones record. (If it is it’s a perfect end). “...

I have great memories of the books we read, as a class, back in high school. The Yearling The Outsiders The Catcher in the Rye To Kill a Mockingbird. The Call of the Wild. Of Mice & Men Well, a strange thing has happened because I recall being blown away and loving all of the stories mentioned above. Over the last couple of years, I’ve read each one again, and it’s saddened me to realize that they didn’t have the same impact. Other than ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and ‘Of Mice & Men’ I found them to be disappointing. It took me just two nights to read ‘The Call of the Wild’. I was excited to start it, remembering it as non-stop drama. Jack London was an author that I thought a lot of… …mainly based on the memory of that story. As a writer, I was disappointed. I found the transitions clunky, the language elementary, and the descriptions lacking. “You have the nerve to criticize Jack London?” I thought, but I said what I said! I felt the same after rereading ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ ...

Life is about anticipation. I believe that’s why I love baseball so much. The other day Eovaldi with Texas got into trouble - loaded the bases with no outs in a one run game with Peña, Altuve, and Bregman due. The next ten minutes were edge of the seat stuff. He struck out Peña and Altuve and got Bregman on a grounder. I thought of the millions watching in wild anticipation- Texas fans were thrilled but Houston fans were disappointed. Like life. Waiting for a moment that just don’t come - don’t waste your time waiting - badlands - you gotta’ live it every day. Oops - off track. But we all anticipate: “When I get paid…. “When we go on vacation…. “When the new Stones record comes out… All good stuff. “Lose your dreams and you will lose your mind, ain’t life unkind? Goodbye Ruby Tuesday… All right. Gonna’ be one of those days where lyrics take over.

Back is sore. Yesterday I was driving along and the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree! Pulled off immediately and noticed a flat tire. Got the small air compressor out with the idea of getting enough air in it to nurse it to my tire place a couple miles away. Bah! Wasn’t working. I looked up at the business name and noticed I’d pulled into a car repair shop. A kid came out and saw the compressor going and the condition of the tire. “Will take about three weeks to get enough air in that,” he said. “Might want to put on the spare.” Bah! I opened my wallet. “You put it on.” Ten minutes later, I was at the tire shop. I’d bought a brand new tire a month ago so I only needed 3. I listened to the guy tell me why I had to buy 4. Bah! Got a ride home and three hours later I returned to pick up my vehicle. $1,100! Bah! Hung around and watched the Sabres and the baseball game. Chased a buddy to see if he wanted to golf today rather than work. He can’t. “Tomorrow is your birthday,” Kathy said...

Still no leader in the house? Last I heard it was Jim Jordan’s name being kicked around.  Scalise, Jordan, McCarthy. No one can get the votes. And none of those names are appealing, but guess what? You aren’t going to get a good name out of that party. So, pick a puke and on with the show. And the show is ugly. War has never made sense to me in any regard. I’ve seen anti-Israel posts and anti-Hamas and anti-Iran rhetoric everywhere and I thought about something I heard Dave Chapelle say in the falling part of this world. He spoke about the Challenger explosion back in 1986 and how it had a profound effect because we saw it and were horrified by it. “Now there’s a space shuttle explosion every day!” He said. And we no longer have a horrified reaction to anything. We’re Desensitized. Things blowing up all around us. Makes sense. When the kids were babies I worried about them looking at the 9/11 footage and the sort of world they were going to see. If I only knew. Pick a stupid House ...

Read a long article on Facebook - which was loaded with ads and kept kicking me out, but it was informative. Whole bunch of things I didn’t know. 1). Hold your horses  Is a saying that we all have said. No idea why. Who has horses. It’s a message to be stable. 2). Chuck E. Cheese His middle name is entertainment. 3). Open Sesame Another thing we’ve all said! It is actually “Open says me.” 4). Bar Why is it called a bar? It stands for Beer & Alcohol Room 5). News Stands for News, entertainment, weather and sports. 6). Hard as hell Shouldn’t it be hot as hell? This one also got screwed up. It was supposed to be ‘Hard as hail.’ And finally: 7). Break a leg before someone goes on stage… …is a wish that you end up in the cast. I love stuff like this… …gotta investigate some more. There are a whole lot of weird sayings out there.

My Dad was a rabid baseball fan. As was his father before him. They were both Yankees fans for one reason: They had the most Italian-Americans. Think DiMaggio, Berra, Rizzuto. I never had a chance to be anything other than a Yankees fan. I recall watching World Series games with Dad as early as 1970, and in the early 70’s the Yankees were in a bit of a slide. So we watched the Orioles with Frank and Brooks Robinson. We watched the 1972, 1973 & 1974 Oakland A’s and we rooted for them in ‘72 & ‘74 because they had Sal Bando and Joe Rudi - Italian-Americans. We went with the Mets in ‘73 because Yogi Berra was the Mets manager. In 1976, we were fully invested as the Yankees faced the Royals for the right to go to the World Series to face the mighty Reds. It’s one of my favorite memories. Me and Dad watched every single pitch of that five-game series, and Mom was giving Dad the evil eye for keeping me up to watch extra innings.  The Yankees escaped the top of the 10th and I dist...

I was getting ready for Dateline last night and I switched on NBC and caught the tail end of the Jada Pinkett interview. I wanted to change the channel but I’d tossed the remote and couldn’t get my hands on it so I listened to the recap of the horror that her life became after the Oscars when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock. Ugh! She went into a deep funk and had to search for the inner strength to be able to survive such an ordeal. My Lord. Champagne problems, huh? Who among us haven’t been horrified by a spouse who slapped one of the world’s best comedians during a live awards show? And her biggest problem with all of it was having to survive the shock that Will Smith had called her his wife when they aren’t really quite married in the conventional sense. Can you imagine? And she’s just out there trying to sell a book, and she just wants the world to know that her struggles to cope with the whole world looking at her has left her stronger and more grateful because she was able to dig d...

I pulled the hoodie over my head on Thursday morning and I cursed the fact that it will be part of my wardrobe until April. It’s currently 46 degrees. Not a fan. I don’t care about the beauty of the changing color of the leaves. Those bastards are everywhere! I don’t get a warm feeling from snow At Christmas.  Bing Crosby was high when he was singing about it. And the grey will be everywhere! I put feelers out about playing golf this weekend. I’m the only one excited about it. My future appears to be: Hoodie Netflix  Ollie pissed about the end of baseball season. Me pissed about the end of baseball season. Grey.

Mary Lou Retton is fighting for her life in ICU with a rare form of pneumonia. You remember her, right? Her face was on every television screen - little girl with a huge smile and a lot of talent. She owned those Olympics. I remember her on a Wheaties box. She didn’t have health insurance and had to get help through a Go-Fund me to pay her medical bills. “America! What a country.” Mary Lou isn’t a one off. So many people in this country need help to stay out of the soup kitchen once they have a medical problem. And what are the chances that you’re going to get through life without needing medical help? We have insurance - pay a hell of a lot for it - we have to spend a lot of money on medical bills that aren’t fully covered. Want to try a different medication? Like the ones they advertise on television? “Three-thousand a month.” One of the pharmacists quoted that price to Kathy after a doc advised trying it. “That’s double the cost of our mortgage!” I simply cringe when I see someone o...

I haven’t been able to dive into the coverage of the terrorist attack in Israel. Don’t have the stomach for it, and am having a hard time anticipating what might be the end result. It made me think of the scene in ‘About Last Night’ when Rob Lowe’s character is asked if he’s troubled by trouble in the Middle East. “I live in a pretty good neighborhood,” he said. That’s how most Americans see it. Of course the usual fingers are being pointed in the usual directions but one thing that’s for certain: There’s enough unrest in our own government to understand that we aren’t in the best spot to respond. There are also a lot of people who need to comprehend that what happens elsewhere has a direct impact on what happens here. Iran and Russia appear to be the main villains here and there has certainly been some recklessness in how sensitive information was handled. It’s hard to know who to trust… …and that’s here! In our own neighborhood… …so, deep down, I’m pulling a Rob Lowe act and I’m pret...

I didn’t have much of a choice. Watched the Bills game on Sunday morning from London. A few thoughts… 1). If there were a drinking game that required people to take a shot every time Josh Allen’s name is mentioned, one would die of alcohol poisoning by the end of the first quarter.  They say his name on every play - even when the other team has the ball. He’s in every 3rd commercial. If he takes his helmet off and sits on the bench the camera zooms in. He’s the Taylor Swift of the Bills. 2). Football has changed. There was a play late in the game. Josh Allen dropped back and Josh Allen broke through the line. Allen sacked Allen. Flags rained down. Personal foul. I laughed. How was he supposed to get guy to the ground? The QB named Josh Allen is the most elusive runner in the league. The defensive player named Josh Allen wrapped him up and took him down. 5 years ago that was a good hit and while I’m all for safety, I can’t believe that a player would beg for a flag on a play like th...

My buddy went to London for the Bills meltdown and other than the game it appeared he had a bloody great time. It’s always fun to see photos of places and I’ve traveled a whole lot within the United States but have never gone across the pond. Not sure I ever will make the trip as that’s a long damn flight and Kathy still needs to feel better. Yet, I need a trip somewhere! It’s always good to visit another town and eat different foods and look at different sites. Once again, we’re thinking about Arizona - where we’ve always had a good time. There’s something about the landscape out west. Walking around in Sedona a dozen or so years ago was amazing. One of the other trips I’d like to make in short order is back out to San Jose and San Francisco. I spent so much time out there that I would think it would be cool to see what’s happened in the 35 years since. The weather was lousy this weekend and the clubs stayed in the front room so I guess my mind wandered to places I’d rather be. London...

Not quite sure what I’d even do with $1.4 billion. Don’t even know if I’d want such a headache. I was walking into the grocery store and there was a man seated at the desk in the lobby. I thought about Salvation Army or Girl Scout cookies, or a credit card application or some such nonsense but he asked if I wanted to buy powerball tickets and avoid the line. I threw down ten bucks. “If you just sold me the winning ticket you and I are going to be good buddies.” “If I sold you the winner and didn’t owe it for myself I’ll be a tad pissed.” “I’d give you a hundred bucks,” I said. He laughed. But I’m serious. The much money would be a hassle. Of course it would be generational money for my family - and my family would get a lot bigger - but I’d also do something that most billionaires don’t do. I’d spread it around, but would do it quietly too as I don’t want any attention either. I’d get new clubs and I’d golf all year round, but I can’t think of much else. I don’t want a mansion or a fan...

Rudy had a lien placed against his property because he owes lawyers millions. The my pillow dude is singing the blues because he’s broke. Their leader spent all week pouting at his fraud trial, and yet, there’s a real dread among people I talk to about political things that perhaps… …they’re all getting away with it! That’s certainly not what is happening. When the New York trial concludes the Trump name will come off that NYC tower and all business being conducted in New York will be over. There’s a true rift over the valuation of his West Palm Beach property. You can’t claim it’s worth a billion dollars to bolster your portfolio and then claim it’s worth $18 million when you’re talking to the tax man. That’s fraud as well and the tax man will be holding his hand out. The fines. The lawyer costs. The guilty pleas. They’re coming and no matter how much you scream about the judges and prosecutors, the law knows no difference. Calling the New York prosecutor’Peak-a-boo’ (and who knows wh...

We stumbled on the David Beckham documentary and despite the fact that we were going to watch one and be done we kept going. I’m not the world’s biggest soccer fan and I didn’t know a hell of a lot about Beckham even though he was a big a star as there had been in any sport. I also had zero idea that Victoria Beckham was so beautiful. I couldn’t stop watching because I couldn’t wait for her to appear on screen. And at one point there was a discussion about whether or not he cheated on her in their marriage. “How the hell does he cheat on her?” I asked. And they don’t actually address the infidelity in detail other than saying it was a difficult time. Some of the other things that caught my attention was the crazed obsession that the world had with the family. Their car was surrounded at one point and I mentioned: “Can you imagine living like that?” “The $250 million dollar contract would’ve made some of it tolerable.” And yet there’s a whole lot that goes into such a life, and then it ...

I won’t shed any tears over Kevin McCartthy being kicked out as leader of the house. He sealed his fate as a spineless man, in my eyes, when on January 20th he went to Mar-A-Lardo to kiss the ring of the man that he claimed was responsible for the January 6th insurrection. Like Graham, McCarthy went off on the night of the 6th saying that it was disgusting and a sad day and that Putin Jr. was responsible. Two weeks later, he went down and placed his lips on a big ass. So, I was all done with him as a ‘leader’. Yet, the entire charade yesterday is embarrassing. It’s never happened before. Big forehead Gaetz was all over the place as the man who escalated the chaos because he NEEDS to be in the news, and because there is an ethical committee situation that may prove sticky for him - given the escorts and the paying for them - some who were underage - allegedly - and transporting them across state lines. Yeah. Our leaders! A GOP house member was on one of the news shows yesterday and he w...

Oh my God! I got a news alert when Taylor Swift arrived at the Chiefs-Jets game. I looked at the photo because she arrived with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds and I really love looking at photos of Blake Lively. I had zero interest in watching the football game, but the Swifty updates as she cheered on Travis Kelce of the Chiefs, were fascinating. I’ve dubbed them as Travis Swift. The ticket sales went through the roof. Fans of Swift - who weren’t fans of football - are now buying Kelce’s jersey. His jersey sales exploded - like 486 percent! And, like I said, I watched the Swift documentary, all the while listening to Kathy and the boys telling me that she’s great. What I saw was a songwriter who has a pretty decent voice. Jewel, Natalie Merchant, Natalie Maines, Sarah McLachlan, Barbara Streisand, and Tracy Chapman all have better voices - in my opinion - when I’m thinking about Female singers. Yet, I’m not trying to minimize her popularity or her influence. I don’t care that people a...

I’ve never hated a sports team more than the 2002-2010 Boston Red Sox. The ‘02, 03 and especially the 04 teams were loathsome. The beards, the filthy helmets, Ortiz, Manny, Pedro (throwing Zimmer to the ground), Varitek and the eternally hateful Curt (that was ketchup on his sock) Schilling. Hated them! Well, most of them. I couldn’t hate Tim Wakefield, the knuckleball pitcher who was always a stand-up guy. Wake was always thoughtful and considerate. He did an amazing job in the New England area as he was charitable beyond what he needed to do. A good dude. He also served up the gopher ball to Aaron Boone in extras that sent the Yankees to the ‘03 World Series (they lost because after battling Boston in the ALCS they had a letdown and lost to the Marlins who may not have hit a ball out of the infield during the entire series). Anywhoha… …my son, Jake sent me a text on Thursday: “Tim Wakefield has brain cancer.” I responded with an: “Oh man!” Turns out the Wakefield family wanted to kee...

I watched news footage from the Philadelphia police department that showed about thirty people busting through the front doors of a department store and escaping with everything they could grab. Computers, televisions, printers, appliances. The video was stomach-churning and I can’t imagine what those poor employees were thinking. They had to be scared out of their minds. Now, I’m not one to cry about huge corporations getting robbed, and I certainly don’t advocate shooting the looters in the back (as Putin Jr. suggested), but wrong is wrong and robbing stores is simply wrong. It appears that the government is staying open for business after watching the GOP bumble their way through a series of embarrassing misadventures including a farce of an impeachment inquiry, and complete disaster of an exchange between the extreme lunatic fringe and the simple, regular lunatics that make up the rest of that hapless party. Speaking of which, the front runner of the party made a long speech that w...