Thoughts of a Common Man

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...