Thoughts of a Common Man

Mellencamp is often my guest blog-writer. Great song, great album. Save Some Time to Dream Save some time to dream Save some time for yourself Don't let your time slip away Or be stolen by somebody else Save some time for those you love For they'll remember what you gave Save some time for the songs you sing And the music that you've made Could it be that this is all there is? Could it be there's nothing more at all? Save some time to dream 'Cause your dream could save us all Save some time for sorrow Cause it will surely come your way Prepare yourself for failure It will give you strength some day Try to keep your mind open And accept your mistakes Save some time for living And always question your faith Could it be that this is all there is? Could it be there's nothing more at all? Save some time to dream 'Cause your dream might save us all Cast your eyes up to heaven Oh what does that mean to you Try not to be too j...

What a disgusting season the political season is. One candidate after another...none of them able to stay out of their own way. Questions that anger, enrage and stump men and women who are running for the highest office in the land. Here's one: What do you feel when I say God ? Candidate: Well, I say God is the ultimate. You know, you look at this? Here we are on the Pacific Ocean. How did I ever own this? I bought it 15 years ago. I made one of the great deals, they say, ever. I have no more mortgage on it, as I will certify and represent to you. And I was able to buy this and get a great deal. That's what I want to do for the country: Make great deals. We have to, we have to bring it back. But God is the ultimate. Seriously! That is how the candidate, who is leading the polls for one party, answered the question about God! I say God is the ultimate. If that response, which is word for word, doesn't make you think of a beauty contestant answering a ques...

Well... ...that seemed quick. Yet we had a really nice September, didn't we? Yet I can't help but be sad, living in Buffalo, at this time of the year. Autumn is nice. My birthday is coming up. It should still be safe to walk around town without a 40-pound coat for at least another month. But it's coming, bitches! "Remember when we had ten feet of snow?" Sam asked the other day. "I hope that happens again." I thought back to those days last November. How aggravated I was being stuck in the house. "What's wrong with you?" I asked. "It wasn't that bad," Sam answered. We couldn't get the dogs outside. The cars were buried. I walked a mile and a half for tobacco products and salt and vinegar chips. "It was horrendous," I said. "Think about it," Sam said on a beautiful September morning, "That could happen again in about 50 days. Two weeks off of school. Sleeping late."...

I finished up the memoir that Jewel wrote about her rise to fame and I don't think I'll listen to her music in quite the same way anymore. I'll have even more respect for her talents. I highly recommend that you read it for yourself as there are a whole lot of self-affirming messages placed in the pages of her story. Yet Jewel also showed herself as a flawed human who struggled with a whole bunch of things. As we all do. Think about it, though...she was a human being who was living on the streets, afraid to get out of her car because she was scared of life... ...and then she was an International star...flying to Europe with Sean Penn and performing with Bob Dylan. That's a pretty great story. Yet there was a single chapter in the book that really hit home. Jewel had been discovered a bit after singing her heart out in a dump of a place. She was chosen to do some acting and was thrilled to meet a high-powered Hollywood producer. The person with Jewel o...

The Patrick Kane story has taken a few Law & Order type twists this week. And much like that stupid show featuring Munch, Olivia and Elliot... ...I'm losing interest. For those who have already tuned out. Kane was out drinking and he invited some girls back to his mansion because he is such a star for flipping rubber into a net. If you hear his fans talking the girl was looking for a payday so she feigned a rape. If you listen to the alleged victim's mother... ... I don't know what the hell you get when you do that. The alleged victim's lawyer quit because the mother evidently played some sort of games with an evidence bag. Then news broke that Kane's DNA wasn't anywhere near the victim and all kinds of shit hit the fan on social media. The alleged victim is a 'gold-digging whore' is about the extent of it. The sad part about all of it is that the alleged victim, her dopey mother and the bumbling lawyers have done a huge disservi...

Most people don't know who the hell Martin Shkreli is. Perhaps his D.B. of the Week Award will change all that. Shkreli is an executive at a pharmaceutical company. He made an executive decision to jack up the price of a drug that is mainly used to keep cancer and HIV-AIDS patients alive. The pill was being sold for $13.50. But Shkreli wanted to jack up the profits. So the price on the pill was going to be raised. After all, there are other drugs that are researched. The profit margins are tight. So did Shkreli double the price? Nope! Triple it? Nope! He decided that in order to remain competitive he was going to have to raise the price of the drug that saves lives to... ...get this... $750!! Per pill! The pill costs just a bit over a dollar to produce! That's a D.B. my friends. Once more... ... someone tries to take the crown of D.B. of the century. Shkreli is backing down a little bit since he originally made the announcement. $750 a ...

My favorite Yogi Berra memory comes courtesy of my Dad's cousin, Marion Fricano who pitched in the Major Leagues in the 1950's. I was about ten years old when Marion told us the story of having struck out Yogi... ...once. "He homered off me a few times though," Marion said. "He loved to hit pitches that were a mile out of the strike zone. I threw one that was over his head to try and strike him out and he hit it a mile." I recall every second of that story and was in awe, of course. Then I learned that Yogi was famous for being a bad ball hitter. Yogi won 10 World series. He's the all-time leader in World Series hits... ...by a mile. He was funny. But the best stat of his life? He was married for 65 years! RIP Yogi!