Thoughts of a Common Man

Happy Birthday to my brother, Jeff. It’s hard to believe that he left us more than 17 years ago. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I’ve thought of him every day since, and I’m comforted by the fact that I don’t have enough information in regard to the grand plan. There are so many missed rounds of golf, and Yankees games, and dinners and laughs and laughs and laughs. On his birthday, as with other days, I think about those moments that so many of us were cheated out of. And the fact that 17 years has passed is mind-boggling to me. We have our memories, of course, and they’re enormous, but there are days when they aren’t enough. The new Stones record is three weeks away. He’d be fired up. Aaron Judge would be his favorite baseball player, and we’d probably argue about whether or not Anthony Volpe is a good enough player. But life is funny in a way because I definitely know how he feels on each subject… …I argue with his son, Johnny… …I sent over the new Stones songs as soon as I hear...

I had a great Dad, and I was fortunate enough to work with him professionally. We both worked in an office setting in New Haven, Ct., and Dad was the big boss. I had the chance to watch him run meetings, and manage personalities. We laughed a lot, and I was proud of him as a manager, and was in awe of how he went about his work. Cut to Friday. I was hired to speak at Jake’s company. He was pretty nervous about all of it, and when the owner of the company walked up to the two of us and said: “Are we good? We have a lot of people here.” I just laughed. I did the two hour talk, and at one point, I caught Jake in the audience, laughing and shaking his head. Made me think of how I felt watching my Dad do his thing. And I was doing that talk for more than just the company who was paying me. I wanted Jake to know that he can stand up and be confident, and that he should do a better job than anyone was expecting him to. He’d been beside me before they handed me the microphone so he knew I was ...

We watched 20/20 last night about a young woman who was abducted from her home while she was watching her two infant children. Kathy knew the story because I’m fairly certain that she’s seen every murder ever committed. I knew nothing about it, and as the story was told, I kept hoping that it was simply a story about a kidnapping that had a happy ending. It wasn’t, and it was simply horrific. First off, why do we watch such a thing as entertainment? There are a lot of true crime shows. They are highly rated shows. Secondly, I thought about the man who committed the crime. He was an unemployed plumber. He was a guy who’d lost his job, and his wife. He was also a father, of a 11-year old boy. He simply broke in, took the woman, and killed her. “How can a man do that?” Kathy asked. “Sir, there’s just a meanness in this world,” I said, quoting Charles Starkweather in the 50’s and mowed down anyone in his way during an infamous killing rampage. The young mom was in the wrong place when the ...

It’s been a long time since I listened to a politician speak and thought: “Damn, THAT guy is brilliant.” I saw a couple of great speeches yesterday. Mandami’s tribute to the Knicks was very well done, but the speeches made for the Obama Presidential Center were a lot of fun because those I listened to were filled with compassion, and empathy, and brilliance. “Obama is a cool guy,” my son texted me. “No doubt,” I said. “Handled the job with grace and class.” The ceremony for the presidential center was attended by all the living presidents THAT matter. As Obama spoke I considered how he must feel when he hears Pedo Pig refer to him as a ‘dumb son of a bitch’. Imagine hearing that from THAT thing. And I also thought about Michelle Obama being roasted by MAGA. The stupidity THAT goes into someone believing she is a man is astounding. The Obama family is what the religious right refers to as their idea of what every human should be doing. A man and a woman in a longtime marriage, with two ...

Wow. Iran did all right, huh? The Art of the Deal - which is absolute fiction garbage that fooled millions of Americans is on full display. I won’t bore you with the details but what America achieved was getting the strait open. It was closed when they dropped the bombs, used as leverage to out maneuver the morons who went in without a plan. America First, huh? Good job voting there, MAGA…. …Iran First was what you voted for. And Pedo Pig in his rambling, incoherent, fart-filled speech had the nerve to call Obama (who truly cut a deal) a ‘stupid son of a bitch’ on the world stage. So sad. Yet, it was all almost worth it because Marco Rubio, who hated pedo when he wasn’t a suck up pig himself, had to stand beside the orange dude as he let go with his gassy speech. Was almost all worth it to see the expression change on Marco’s face when he caught a whiff. What a beautiful celebration this 250 year anniversary will be. Celebrating the end. With the slothiest American ever leading the way...

Ollie will go over 30,000 catches today. He’s crushing it as we have a lot more time to play with the dry days. He also gets a lot of time in as I mow the lawn. It’s aerobic mowing as I make the trip up and back, and he figures my path, and drops the ball on my right hand side. I throw, he catches, and brings it back. It takes a little longer to mow, but it’s his favorite day of the week. Of course, summer always brings me a case of poison ivy because I like to scour the woods for stray golf balls. I have a mild case, but it’s irritating. Summer also brings earlier work hours, which doesn’t mean I get done earlier. Getting old for such long hours, but WNY has excellent weather this time of year. And that brings the summer backache. I tweaked it tying my shoes on Monday morning. I was sitting down. Simply turned to the right, and 💥  Poison ivy, a sore back and a crazy dog allows time to fly on by. Summer fun in the sunshine. Go Yankees.