Thoughts of a Common Man

I’m an idiot. I haven’t been a regular visitor to the dentist, and I probably wouldn’t have gone if the cap on my front tooth not fallen off and ended up in my sandwich. Biting it a couple of times left it mangled and chipped… …but I had to wait a while to get some work done on it. Yesterday was the day. At my first appointment my new dentist a couple of weeks before, he asked if I was an author. Not sure how he knew, but I confirmed it. “I want a book,” he said, with a laugh. I brought him one yesterday, and he looked it over before he started up his drill. He numbed up my face and then I spent about 40 minutes in that chair getting set up for a new tooth. Couple of things: It was late in the afternoon and I was laying down - felt relaxed. Also, I kept thinking of the news of the day. I have taken the Wednesday flight home from Wichita, Kansas. It always stops in D.C. Had I decided to check Kansas sites this week… …I would’ve been on that flight. And I kept thinking about those people...

In a never-ending attempt to avoid the news of the day we have taken to watch ‘Fanily Feud’ around dinner time. First off, don’t ever look up how much money Steve Harvey gets to host that show. It’s an ungodly sum, and I’d imagine that they knock out about a year’s worth of shows in a few weeks time. We laugh because he pretends that he’s hosting a Super Bowl every night: “We got a good one for you tonight!” By the time the first question is over we have decided which family we want to win. There are some crazy people out there - and some who are truly not swift. “What state has the most millionaires?” “Philadelphia, Steve.” And Steve Harvey doesn’t hide his disdain. “It’s up there,” the contestant will say. “The great state of Philadelphia!” X And of course, we shout out our own answers. “We asked a hundred wives: ‘What’s the most annoying thing about your husband?’ Kathy doesn’t run short of answers on those types of questions. She’ll shout out about 12 answers in 20 seconds. “There ...

We have arrived. At straight up chaos in our government. Money that was appropriated is being withheld. That news came with a 5 p.m. deadline. An executive decree from King Pig sent shockwaves through offices in every state as Federal monies was held for ransom. The procedures of how it all works means absolutely nothing now as Federal judges across the land had to file emergency paperwork to make sure that food stamps and meals on wheels and veterans benefits were still available. The decree from the man who spent the last two days on the golf course had to be treated seriously because people depending on the grants and benefits were in real danger of NOT EATING! And it’s all in an effort to show how tough they’re going to be and how they’re going to cut federal spending so that all those suffering billionaires can make ends meet with a promised tax cut. Federal employees were offered buyouts. Justices were fired. No explanation of anything. People scrambling. Constitutional amendment...

Man, January has been relentless this year. Checked temp yesterday before heading out and 30 seemed doable. The wind whipped across the white out there and I was yelling into the great void. A quiet day around town because of the Bills loss and I was driven a little mad because of the “It was rigged!” talk. They had the ball with a chance to win.  Second straight year. They made some bad calls and didn’t make the plays. My boys weren’t saying much. “They’ll never beat that team,” from Jake. “Gotta’ go win it,” from Matt. “You know how much money I spent on them this year?” from Sam. And yeah, like the cold wind right in your face, it’s like a hard smack. A long way back, and the community will be down in the dumps. “I ain’t talking about it,” one guy on the job site said. And then he talked about it for twenty minutes. “Draft is coming up in April,” I mentioned. And that got him talking again. Fanatic is the correct word for how people feel, but I hate the idea that everything is r...

I wasn’t emotionally invested but man, I did get anxious as I watched the Bills season end. I had texted with my boys all through the game as they watched with friends. I felt their pain because we live in Buffalo! Close. No cigar. And my pre-game thoughts were “no horrible calls by the refs” and no earth-shattering injuries. I thought the game was officiated all right - nothing blatant - Bills might have lost a first down on a 50/50 call where 22 players get stacked up and the refs try to figure out the spot. Shouldn’t have mattered. Bills were winning at the time - they promptly gave up an 80-yard drive. That’s not the refs fault. But, close is frustrating. And as for the injuries - Benford for the Bills was questionable to play because of a bad concussion from last week - he didn’t practice all week but was suddenly good to go. He took a hit to the head and that poor man was out on his feet. They showed his face and he wasn’t even in there. Heartbreaking - he should have been left o...

I was driving through the quiet roads leading to my childhood hometown and I had to hold up on a lightly traveled road as a group of snowmobilers crossed onto the trail. Was instantly taken back through time and the trips we would take with my Uncle Herb and my older cousins. My Uncle had a number of sleds and he would take me and my brother with him on a long ride through the woods. We were just kids, but we would stop at all the watering holes and drink Pepsi and eat fries as the older guys drank beers.  Then we’d be off again, speeding along in the dark and cold. This went on for hours and winters as we grew up were a lot like this winter. There was always snow on the ground and it was cold from November through the end of March. I was probably the least great rider because even as a kid I was cautious. I think I worried too much about ending up in a pond. I would putter along, my Uncle urging me to pick up the pace a little. I didn’t care much about being cold either, so before...

Who halts the funding for cancer research, withdraws us from the World Health Organization, talks about abolishing FEMA and threatens to withhold federal funding for a state devastated by wild fires? Not to mention the price of eggs is at an all-time high and the bird flu is going to be the next craze. I don’t think we will have any doctors lining up to help because the last guy who did was turned into a villain, and they just yanked his protective service. That’s what I read about after work… …which included six hours of training for fifty people. Followed by more cold and wind and a phone alert that warned about more lake effect snow. But it was Friday!!! Life is always better on Friday… …you’d think. The phone vibrated as I sat down and caught an episode of ‘Everybody Loves Raymond.’ “I got a flat,” Kathy said. “Hit a pot hole.” BAH!!! The other vehicle is sitting under a blanket of snow… …dead battery. “What can I do?” I asked. “Nothing,” she said. “Triple A is coming but it’s goin...

Believe it or not, I voiced my opinions as a young man. My brother-in-law, Chuck, and I would have long, spirited debates about the death penalty.  I enjoy a good argument with a well-armed man and Chuck is a smart guy. We would go back and forth on the issue, listening to one another make our arguments. Chuck was the first guy to say: “You’re a bleeding heart. That’s your big problem.” I took that as a badge of honor. My bleeding heart is taking a beating about now as I see that gays, women and unbelievably people on Medicare are going to be taking their lumps. I don’t fall into any of those categories, but I do my best to see the world from their point-of-view. It was minus four degrees on Wednesday. I drove down Michigan Avenue in the city of Buffalo and I really wish that I hadn’t looked to my left where I spotted a group of men, in sleeping bags below the underpass. “The market is soaring!” Someone texted me. “There’s a new sheriff in town!” I erased my response to that messag...

This is about how I’ve felt this week. The cold 🥶 has been absolutely numbing.  Digging the car out only to watch it get covered again. Heading to work sites that are moving slow.  Feeling worn out despite the fact that the cold has slowed everything down from traffic to enthusiasm… …and watching the news… …despite trying to ignore it. A Hitler salute. A bishop preaching about mercy receiving death threats. Equal Employment Opportunities being eliminated. Drug prices that were reduced to allow seniors a chance to eat…being repealed. Nonsensical to an American who was raised on values and compassion and there’s not a damn thing we can do about it. Watch it burn. Just a lion flipping off the world. That’s about it.

Whenever I see a number displayed I automatically associate it with a professional athlete. Wilt is 13. Reggie is 44. Guidry is 49. Mariano and Jackie Robinson are 42. Jeter is 2. And of course, Mickey Mantle is 7. George Costanza was going to name his son 7.  I mentioned it when Jake was in line to be named, but Kathy said: “That’s worse than Clifford.” Got in the car yesterday morning and saw Mantle flashing back at me. The outside temperature was just 7. Yet, I was glad to be out of the house and figured that heading north would allow me to visit a couple of sites. The prognosis was for more snow, but not until later in the day. Of course, I looked at the 7 and then at the huge pile of snow in front of my car. Grabbed the shovel and got the blood moving. Stray thought being: “I don’t want to end up face down in a pile of snow when it’s Mantle degrees outside.” The day was going smoothly. Blue skies above. Not bad as the wind was quiet. And what seemed like seconds later, I was i...

“There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself.” That’s a line from the novel, “Long Goodbye”, and it called to mind a subject manner that has always fascinated me. Our need for self-sabotage. We build our lives with one hand and burn it down with the other. We carry the seeds of our own destruction and as life goes along we spill a few of those seeds around out of boredom, out of self-loathing, for some damn reason. I thought of this and more yesterday as my day began with a string of texts from a friend of mine who I’ve had a weird banter with for years. He’s a fan of MAGA. I’m not. We have had good-natured conversations about it, that have never gotten angry. I don’t even know how we’ve been able to pull it off, actually! It seems that each time it gets too heavy one side or the other will crack a joke. Anyway, he texted me a few jabs about the inauguration and I lobbed the ball back at him. We made one another laugh with our responses, but then I asked him a serious o...

The Bills played the Ravens in a huge game just about a mile and a half from my house. I returned from a visit to Mom’s and Sam and his buddy met me at the door. “Can you drop us at the game?”  It was 1:30. The game began at 6:30. And I thought about the Lions and Texans fans - their teams lost on Saturday and all that hope was dashed. Detroit thought they had the Super Bowl in the bag. As I dropped the boys off I said: “Have fun, and go easy, even if they lose.” “If they lose going easy isn’t an option,” Sam’s buddy said. And I must admit that fans of football are a rabid bunch. Especially around here. At a checkout at the grocery store the clerk hands you the receipt and says: “Go Bills!” I do respect that and as I’ve said, it’s impossible to dismiss. I would be happy for a whole bunch of people if the Super Bowl trophy was ever stored less than 2 miles from here. There is red and blue everywhere! People have a chance to forget their troubles for a little while and bask in the ga...

 “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you in trouble. It’s what you know is true that just isn’t so.” Mark Twain. We are in for a whole lot of unease in the next four years, and that quote caught my eye. There are a whole lot of people swearing that things are true that just aren’t. I will be part of the blackout tomorrow, as the clown show continues in the nation’s capital. There are already so many things that have made me sick when just hearing about them. A coin being released that puts 80% of the money in the president’s pocket? It’s insider trading. It’s making money off the presidency. It’s criminal and wrong. Jimmy Carter put his peanut farm in a trust because he didn’t want to give the impression of being compromised. Yet, here we are. Selling two-dollar bills with his photo on it for $50. Selling coins and shoes and water. Talking about withholding emergency funds for blue states, and claiming that water flows from Canada to Los Angeles but the mayor didn’t want it. Al...

Over the last couple of weeks there’s been a true sense of dread as I’ve opened my eyes. 🥶 🥶 🥶 🥶  The bed is warm. And it’s been so freaking cold that a lot of jobs have slowed down so that is also aggravating to me. I climbed a scaffold to a rooftop at a job and I’m telling you, sixty feet up, the wind howling, the deck slippery. It was like Antarctica. But Lo and Behold… …8 degrees turned into 32 on Friday. I felt like barbecuing! Now, I know that it isn’t going to last very long, but I have a card in my pocket… …”I’ll be on a golf course in 21 days.” Friday will be the second day out of four. I picked up the golf ball that I carry around with me, and I told that ball that he was going to a great course. (Yeah - I talk to my golf ball). “There’s water on the first hole,” I mentioned. “It’s off to the right. I’m not going to hit you into the water.” The ball didn’t answer me. I think he was too cold from sitting in my car. It isn’t going to last long. They’re saying that the g...

I was young when I read Bob Uecker’s book about his baseball career. I read it again a few weeks later because it was hysterical. One of my favorite jokes of his was that he came up to bat with his team down one, the bases were loaded and there were two outs: “I looked into the dugout and all my teammates were in civilian clothes.” A funny, funny man. And man, he took a mediocre baseball career and turned it into a wildly successful life as a broadcaster, a guest on the Tonight Show, and Mr. Belvedere. Everyone loved Mr. Baseball. Yet, he was self-deprecating but he was pretty great as an announcer. “Get up! Go! Get out of here “ was his call when the Brewers hit one. He loved that team.  He announced for them for more than 50 years, and last year when the Brewers won their division he was in the middle of the celebration… …when they were eliminated, by the Mets, Uecker was emotional. Seemed he knew it was his last year. I think I have the Uecker book around here somewhere - I’m th...

Went to the new Bills Stadium project yesterday. It’s the multi-billion dollar palace that people without a pot to piss in are building for a billionaire. Ah well, they’d waste the tax dollars elsewhere anyway. The current stadium is across the street and it’s hard to even fathom that on Sunday night all of America will be watching Bills-Ravens. But it’s a star-studded game, and while I’m not emotionally involved whatsoever, it’s hard not to get caught up when every person you walk past yells out: “GO BILLS!” I think of how excited my boys might be if they get a chance to see their team run out there on Super Bowl Sunday. I remember that moment. (Right after Whitney crushed the anthem). I’m skeptical about their chances to get there. They’re good, but so are the Ravens. There are going to be a whole lot of anxious people here on Sunday night. I can’t imagine that I won’t end up watching it, and that’s the power of the NFL. “I’m worried,” one carpenter said, as I mentioned his Bills cap...

I don’t normally stop for lunch, but I met with the owner of a big company years ago and he offered this advice: “You run around too much. Everything is too fast. Once a month, go to a place, by yourself, and eat lunch alone. It does wonders for your mind.” The decision to stop yesterday was an easy one as it was 14 degrees and wind chill made it feel like it was 2. I walked into a John & Mary’s in Cheektowaga - not an around the corner place, but I had visited it about a dozen times over the years - the last time about six months ago. As I walked through the door, the man at the grill said: “How are you? Royal with oil with onion, right?” I laughed. Here’s a guy I see maybe twice a year - I don’t know his name - he don’t know mine - but he knows my order! And it was perfect as usual. And my lunch with all my friends was relaxing. Now will someone please turn the heat up?

That’s a photo of Bob Dylan’s apartment in 1964. He had a desk, a lamp and a typewriter. There were a couple of other photos that accompanied the article and for some reason I thought: “Such a great setup.” I had a buddy in California who was a reader and a writer and I stopped by his place once - it looked like Dylan’s place - his cassette tapes of music lined one wall and his books were stacked up along the other wall. When I lived alone in Connecticut, (and here in Lackawanna) I had a similar setup.  I had a desk chair that rolled and I would eat dinner in front of the television and then roll over to the desk where I’d write. I think of Steinbeck getting a cabin where he wrote ‘East of Eden’, and although I’ve never seen what the inside of his cabin looked like, I’m thinking of a candle lamp on a brown desk. Just enough light to write. And of course, my favorite writing spot ever was at my parent’s home next to the hot water tank. I had enough room for my desk and my chair. I w...

Evidently Artificial Intelligence is going to change the world and replace people at their jobs. I saw a demonstration of a robot that looked like a beautiful woman. A television show about a sex doll woman brought to life was unbelievably spooky because the doll was programmed to be as realistic… …it was creepy. And we are watching a terrific show starring Samuel L. Jackson - The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey. In the story, Jackson’s character receives a shot that reverses his dementia and allows him to remember. If you have known anyone who has suffered Alzheimer’s or from dementia, you understand just how sad that affliction can be. Got me thinking about the future. Think of all the advancements in our lifetime. I marveled at my Grandfather as he saw the world go from horse and buggy to airplanes and cars. The television being introduced had to be wild. And in my lifetime… …I showed my boys the computer games I used to play. They about laughed me out of the room. And this damn phone tha...

The other night I got home from work and Kathy and Sam were engaged in a game of backgammon. Sam had never played and wanted to learn. He got some late doubles and won his debut game. (I helped a little). And I thought of my buddy, Gag. We were roommates at Gannon back in 1983. We played at least 25 games of backgammon a night. By the end of the year he wound up beating me by just a couple of games out of a few thousand. That’s 60-year-old Gag in the photo - running the Disney marathon with his son, MJ - they do it every year. To raise money for Duchenne MD research. “He’s running again?” Kathy asked me as we talked about the donation.  “Of course.” “Italian men, man,” Kathy said. “You’re a stubborn, loyal lot.” “I ain’t running no marathons,” I said. “Gag is a maniac.” I enjoy following the posts as the run progresses - on Saturday morning I was fighting a cold or some such crap… …and they were running in the rain in Florida. There is a lot of negative energy in the news we see br...

I heard an interview with a man who had to make some quick decisions about evacuating as the fire alarms went off. The truly tragic thing about this massive event is that there  wasn’t time for people to plan their escape.  The fire was just on top of them… …like instantly. The man who was being interviewed spoke of his own cowardice as his wife and kids were looking to him for answers. He didn’t have any. He explained that he didn’t know if it was safer to go East or West or North or South. If he chose wrong, he could take his family to their deaths. That’s a pretty horrible position to be in. He told his kids to grab all that they couldn’t handle leaving behind. What the hell would that be? Only minutes to decide. Phones? Computers? Books? I have a box filled with memories. I haven’t opened it in years, but it has cards, letters, newspaper articles from when I was a kid.  I haven’t opened it, but every time I came across something I wanted to hold onto, I put it in that...

The Los Angeles fires are bad enough. The comments on the photos of the devastation are even worse. Every damn thing is a political argument now. Seriously, there are people who truly believe that God started the fire because He was upset with liberal living. As if the only people who live in Los Angeles are blue hippies who are into free love. That’s as dumb a take as there can possibly be, but it is certainly out there. There’s a whole ‘nother camp who buy into the idea that the fire couldn’t be controlled because the hydrants were empty because the governor doesn’t believe in water or some such crap. Looking for blame, and somehow trying to swing it back around to make a political point somehow. It’s a tragedy. People are scrambling to find places to live. They’re devastated and unsure about their future. They aren’t all movie stars. Plenty of regular old people out there with jobs and families and dogs and dreams. If your first impulse in a time of tragedy is to yell out, “Good for...

Can you imagine? Asked to evacuate your home, and then find out that it’s just gone. An absolute nightmare brought to life, and then the incoming disaster in chief is taking pot shots at the governor and the people of the state because they voted blue. We caught a report on the burning down of the Pacific Palisades and Malibu. It’s heartbreaking. There are people living in those homes.  Imagine the mad scramble to try and find a place to live. Losing all of your possessions, and books and photos! There was a woman included who spoke of her 90-year-old parents having left when told to evacuate - within the last few weeks - they had been informed that their fire insurance was cancelled by the carrier. No reason was given. 75 years in the home. Totally lost. Not getting anything from anyone to fix it. “You gotta’ rake the floors,” isn’t the garbage you want to hear right now. I’m not quite sure what to say.  This is America.  We are supposed to feel for our fellow Americans....

Word is that we’re looking to use force to occupy Greenland and the Panama Canal. There’s also a move to make Canada the 51st state and to make Wayne Gretzky the prime minister. Is this what was on the table? Greenland is a NATO ally and they aren’t for sale. Canada doesn’t want to be the 51st state. Wayne Gretzky isn’t eligible to be prime minister. Water comes out of shower heads just fine. Windmills don’t kill whales or mice or birds. It wasn’t a landslide mandate. Jack Smith didn’t make up the stolen classified documents story. The judge wasn’t crooked in the rape trial. The insurrection wasn’t a peaceful gathering of patriots. Anywhoha… …just thought I’d get some of that out of the way. Oh, and the Gulf of Mexico is a perfectly fine name. We don’t need it to be the Gulf of America. Ridiculous.

I do annual training for a bunch of companies and every once in a while they’ll ask me to include the Harassment training with the safety topics. Every state has added an anti-harassment law. New York State passed the law about 7 years ago. The topic has always been poorly accepted in the construction field where busting chops is an every day occurrence. Yet it’s about more than busting on a co-worker. Regardless, construction folks had already decided that it was ‘garbage.’ It’s all garbage unless it happens directly to them, I guess. I have always been able to get through the subject matter and get the point of the law across. Yesterday, I brought up the topic and someone said: “January 20th can’t get here fast enough so we can get through with the ‘woke’ shit.” I just sighed. What else is there to do? Major corporations are pulling back on diversity programs. Those who fought hard for rights to simply live a life are deathly afraid that those rights will be taken away. And they may ...

The wind was howling. Believe it or not, I was all layered up to toss the ball for Ollie, and then I headed to the grocery store. I was behind a young, black guy in line and he kept shaking his head as his order was tallied. “I don’t even want to go back out there,” he said. “How freaking cold is it?” “It’s only like 25,” I said, “But the wind is nasty.” We both bagged up our stuff (remember when it was bagged for you?) (Remember when you didn’t have to pay a dime for a thin bag that rips as soon as you pick it up?) We stood at the door. “It’s like getting punched in the face,” the man said. I laughed. An apt description. I ran to the car (as much as I can run now), and saw the guy doing the same thing. He let out an epic howl and it made me laugh again. Reports are this is going to be the coldest January in decades. They’re talking about tremendous snow storms. I’m 30 days from the golf trip… …it’s going to pass slowly. Like a punch in the face.

The iconic fictional home of Walter and Skylar White is on the market for $4 million. It’s a 1,900 square-foot home that should sell - in that market - for $350,000 - but the family is asking for the high price (and will probably get it) so that fans finally have access. We were there! And it was so weird to be on that street, looking at that home. It was also odd that the homeowner was in the front yard when I raised my camera to snap the photo. “It’s just a house!” She yelled at me. “It’s so cool,” I answered. And it was weird to me because although I’d never been there before that day… …I felt that I had been. The magic of television. I watched a short feature with the home owners and I wasn’t surprised to hear that Cranston was very gracious and that he had made the pizza toss to the roof on the very first try. I love Cranston. Loved the show. Would love to move west. It’s a nice neighborhood. I’m not paying $4 million for it again.

This out of routine mess is coming to a close. Today should be the last day that the world runs at half-speed. I’m thinking we should all get back to the usual by Monday. Perhaps it was weird that the holidays fell on a Wednesday this year. I spoke to a roofer on Thursday. “We just got the one day, and the way it was set up, if we didn’t come in the day before or the day after, we didn’t get paid for the holiday. Couldn’t even use a vacation day. They excluded that.” “Ah, man,” I said. “It’s weird. You amp up to go back to work and then you get a day. Work at half-speed and two more days.” And the 5-day work week seems a little much when you consider it in the context of your life, but it is what we are used to. When I woke on Thursday morning, I did my internal inventory and I kept thinking it was Monday. When it hit me that it was Thursday I don’t know if I was excited or not about the coming weekend. Also, it didn’t help that 2025 got off to a truly violent, tragic, terrible start. ...

Looked at the box score from the Cleveland Cavaliers game against the Los Angeles Lakers. The two teams combined to shoot eighty-one 3-point shots. They made 27 of them. That must’ve been fun to watch! Baseball made some changes before the start of last season to speed things up and encourage guys getting base hits because everyone was trying to hit homers…and they were striking out at record numbers. Hockey has been unwatchable for a long time as goalies wear pads as big as my bed mattress and everyone is dressed in armor so when the team heads into the offensive zone they have to shoot through 5 goalies. And football? Good Lord! The refs called about 50 penalties on Sunday. The quarterback is protected as he should be, but it’s led the QB’s to cry for a call on every play. I know a guy who plays QB for the team everyone loves around here… …he flops around on any play that goes wrong. 3rd and 15? Incomplete pass? No problem… …just pretend that the guy who touched you hammered you and ...

I didn’t make it. Officially called 2024 at 11:26 PM. Couldn’t keep my eyes open. And I wasn’t quite as reflective this New Year’s Eve because I don’t know quite what to expect for the coming year. I think we have a lot to fear… …Hope I’m wrong. In any regard, I exchanged a whole bunch of texts before 11;26 hit and my eyes started to close. Have the best year you’ve ever had in 2025! You’ve earned it!