Thoughts of a Common Man

My work takes me out to construction sites from Erie Pennsylvania to New York City and sometimes to other states where I conduct audits, write reports, and give presentations. Every year I do a presentation at a company just around the corner from where I live. Through the years I've grown to know all of the guys at a tight-knit company and we laugh a lot as I try to get the rules across. The problem being that this company works in the middle of busy roadways, and sometimes, safety is not possible because there are way too many variables. At the start of this week, one of those men who attended my safety trainings was run down by a truck. At 27 years old, his life ended. An accident that cost the man his life, his dreams, and cost that company in ways they won't even imagine. I've been around such things before, but I tell you, I wanted to vomit when I heard the news. Three days later, I'm stuck with the thought that you need to learn to live with that you can't ri...

So, Eva Longoria is done with her marriage. I am back in the picture...I got that going for me. When I mentioned that at dinner my son, Jake, said: "You have a better shot at getting Tony Parker." So, some guy shot his television set after watching Palin's daughter dance and advance into the finals of Dancing with the Stars. (No, I'm not watching it - I couldn't take the chance that I'd see her goofy mother cheering her on). Yet, after seeing the Palin kid close up I can only say at least the guy only shot the tv...she's enough to re-direct the gun to your own temple. The luckiest guy in the world is the father of her kid. He got away. So, The Mission Accomplished sign is going to be hung in George W.'s historical museum... are they going to wait to hang it when the mission is actually accomplished? It's only been 7 years since they hung the banner. So, The Buffalo Bills finally won a football game. There were only 54,000 fans on hand to see it. R...

What is the first thing that you think of when you wake up in the morning? I thought of that today because when my eyes opened today, before the freaking alarm again, I automatically started saying a Hail Mary. Sister Henrietta would be so proud, and I wondered about why I clicked that button as soon as the eyes came open. During baseball season I often think about the Yankee result from the night before. Being that the Bills lose on a weekly basis, and that every single hockey game ends in some sort of tie before they decide it with a skills competition, I don't have that to concern me anymore. Of course, my new reality is to say good morning to my brother and my Dad, but that usually brings a sense of resignation and defeat that doesn't exactly lift me out of bed. Then the next thing that hits are the lists of tasks for the day....one thing after another, laid out before me in a to-do list that threatens to keep me cowering under the covers, but I always toss the covers aside...

New Bruce today...well actually it is "old" new Bruce...songs that he set aside during the making of Darkness on the Edge of Town . What gets me about it isn't the music, but the journey that I've been on since 1978 when I first heard Badlands at a buddy's house. Hooked on the first few notes...and the old familiar voice sounds just as good to me today, but it was wrapped in life... Like riding in a car playing The River for my brother John - who up to that point, hated Bruce and then two years later picking up the Born in the USA album for the first time and listening John try to sing along with a song he never heard before. It wasn't good. Like going off to college and listening to Bruce every free minute with friends who are among the greatest people I've ever met. Terry, Rosie, Gag, Fluff, George....song after song...album after album...everyone else begging us to listen to anything else. Like going to the concerts...the first one with John and Tom......

Early on I asked my beautiful, talented sister Carrie to write a foreword for Oh Brother! At the time we had a different title for the book and were still working through the initial stages of grief (we haven't gotten real far) but this is so beautifully written that I needed to share it with you. Thank you, Carrie Lynn. Here is one story where it is impossible to separate the author from the subject matter. Clifford J. Fazzolari, as an author of nine books previous, has written this memoir about his very best friend and brother, Jeffrey Frank Fazzolari, and has said time and time again, “He is the greatest character I will ever write about.” The family has come to refer to Jeffrey as a “walking celebration” despite the fact that he suffered from constant back pain and walked with a noticeable limp. When Cliff asked me to think about writing the Foreword for this book, I did not hesitate and responded “Absolutely.” The title is Life, Laughter and Love after all, and as the youn...

Yesterday the question of leaving a last will came up. Now I don't know anybody who really wants to talk about such a thing, but in our family, given all that life has brought in the last couple of years, it is probably a responsible thing to do. Well, Kathy and I will hopefully make an appointment soon to muddle through such a task so that there is a smooth transition for her when I collapse. Thankfully, I was smart enough to take a few life insurance policies years ago...so good start. Not saying that it's coming anytime soon, but I do have to hand it to my beautiful wife, she has it nearly set up, financially-wise, so that I don't need to be present. Her only act left will be to clean out the twenty-three bucks I carry in my wallet. Yet I kid with you. That is exactly how it should be and the level of trust is such that I don't even care that she has enough money to pack up the whole shebang and hit the road should I get stuck in a Jameson cloud. She deserves that mu...

Its funny with dreams, you know? This morning I distinctly remember two of my dreams from last night. One was of my dog, Max, and carrying him up the stairs when he was sick at the end of his life. Awwww, Max-A-Million , I thought when I awoke. He was a king amongst dogs. The other dream was actually a recall of a 1981 concert by George Thorogood, Journey, and the Rolling Stones. I recall my brother John, my buddy Tom, and my buddy JC watching Jagger and Richards onstage, and the one sung that stuck was Tumbling Dice - a Stones classic that opened the encore. How's that for a memory? Yet Tumbling Dice was in my dream because its always been one of my favorite songs, yet I had no idea what Mick was saying. I used to wait for the part where he sang, sixes and sevens and nines and You can be my partner in crime. Thank God for the lyrics app on the droid. Are you ready? Tumbling Dice by the Glimmer Twins Women think I'm tasty, but they're always trying to waste me And make m...