Thoughts of a Common Man

I didn't have a lot of relationships prior to marriage that lasted much longer than twenty days. So, to be sitting here twenty years into wedded bliss is pretty amazing. And 20 is a nice round number that makes you think back. We were married in right field at the North Collins Town Park. When lifetime friend, the Honorable Ward Weiser, said: "Have you come here freely, and soberly." All the guys in my wedding party laughed. And what a wedding party it was... ...I had a whole bunch of best men. Then the party started... ...and it rained harder than I've ever seen it rain. It rained for hours and hours and the reception turned into a Springsteen-filled frat party. And there was sunshine. Three kids and two dogs made the years fly by fast. The great times took us to the highest of peaks... ...the tragedies took us down to the valley floor. And that's the thing about a long relationship. It's not easy. It isn't for the feint ...

What's the spin this time? That's what I was most concerned with once I heard that Agent 🍊 and his son-in-law were back in the news for Russia 🇷🇺 problems. This has certainly dogged the administration since day one and it appears that it is getting worse, not better. It depends on how you want to interpret the news, but it appears that the news is going to continue to be leaked because there are a whole bunch of enemies of the chaos. There's a moment, each time, when I think: "This is big! Sooner or later someone is going to have to explain it." But there is no explanation forthcoming. There's silence, and then there is a fight back. And the explanation is usually tough to fathom. Sunday morning brought some of the spin via the Orange 🍊 dude's twitter. "Fake news!" "Leaks!!" Some of the talking heads who crucified the Democratic candidate for looking at her email at home are now saying: "Having a back ...

I've always loved this weekend. When I was a kid there were barbecues each day and it was officially when the garden got planted. A lot of work, ton of family time, plenty of beer, and three days off. As a youngster we always went to the parade, and men from town, who we knew as friends of Mom and Dad were in uniform, saluting, marching. They looked really serious. Of course, as you age, you learn more about the sacrifices of those who went to war. Even those who came home were changed forever. What strikes me about Memorial Day these days is that I understand that I didn't serve... ...never even considered doing that... ...and I feel a little guilty, honestly. I sympathize with the men and women who were killed in wars that were a tad misguided. But the kids who died in those wars weren't to blame for the decisions that were made to get them there. I know one other thing to be certain: If some of these people worked for another government in an effo...

Did you ever wake up from a dream and think: "What the hell was that?" It happened to me the other night. I'm talking waking in the middle of the night, (because I had to pee) I rarely make it through a whole night without getting up once. And I instantly gathered the facts of the dream that I had seemingly just finished. I was on a construction site. (No big stretch). There were two pretty girls from high school there. (I haven't seen either of these girls this century). They were making fun of me. (Like they did in high school). We were all getting ready to leave the job, but we had to wait for one other guy. (Apparently it was to be a double-date). "What are we waiting for?" I called out. "Pence," Lisa said. "He's in the shitter." (Mike Pence emerged a moment later). That was it! What the hell does that mean??? I laughed as it all came back to me. "Mike Pence? WTF?" I thought as I lai...

I imagine that if you had asked my ten-year-old self what I wanted to be when I grew up I might have said: Newspaper Columnist. Perhaps that is why I write this blog every day. As a kid I read the daily paper from cover to cover, and my favorite parts were the columns. Thankfully, we had good columnists in the Courier-Express and the Buffalo News. 10-year old Clifford would've mentioned that news reporters were cool. Clark Kent was a reporter... ...what more proof do you need??? So, you might guess that I'm not enamored with the all-out attack on the crooked media, or lying media, or fake media, or stupid media, or liberal media... ...or whatever else you want to call it. The name-calling crap seems awfully juvenile to me anyway, and I know that it seems horribly slanted when the news about you isn't good. Yet, the press or media or news people are extremely important to the fabric of our nation. That's why we can't have politicians trashing th...

It's happening all over the country, right? Young adults dying on the streets because of heroin. One after another. A couple of weeks ago a kid was found in one of the port-a-lavs on a local job site. The man who was tasked to clean the toilets found the kid. Lifeless. He shot himself up at work and it killed him. The next day, on another site, syringes were found in another portable toilets. Luckily that shoot-up went a little better, I guess. But it shook me a lot. It's one thing to read about it... ...when it's that close. Damn! As per usual the news of the day was debated back and forth on the sites throughout the region. "We used to drink beer," one guy said. "On Saturday night," another guy added. "I don't much get this." Nobody does, but it comes down to the fact that it's readily available and cheap. What's more, it's not at all like beer. It needs to be sustained. So the needles are bei...

"Your eyes go blind and your blood runs cold. Sometimes I feel so weak I just wanna' explode." Not one of Bruce's most optimistic of lines, but I think of it now and again when I get a little fatigued. I have a job that calls for action... ...lots of phone calls and plenty of places to visit. I joke with co-workers saying that when the phone rings, and you're a safety guy it's usually not someone saying: "We're doing great over here!" Nah, it's usually an emergency, and the fact that there are so many different things to look at and think about, makes it eternally interesting. I couldn't imagine sitting in a cubicle. But I also know when I need a mental health day. A round of golf? It hasn't happened yet. Back-to-back days of nothing? Well, there's good news! A holiday weekend coming up. Our wedding anniversary too. Twenty years. Who'da' thunk? So, I always wonder about the guy that Bruce wa...