Backstory: Since 1996 my wife and I have been honored to host Thanksgiving Dinner at our home for friends and family with 30 to 60+ guests not uncommon. We assumed this family tradition after the passing of my father in 1996. My late father was an English major at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY and an attorney / judge by [...]
Says it all…
This Friday is Nov. 11, 2011 (aka 11/11/11). Or, to put it another way, it’s Nigel Tufnel Day. Enthusiasts of loud (if not necessarily critically acclaimed) music know all about Tufnel. He’s the fictional rocker from the semi-fictional band Spinal Tap who loves to turn his amps up to 11 when he needs that “extra push over the cliff.” What better time [...]
Today we celebrate the 236th Birthday of the USMC. Let’s not forget the gratitude for their never-ending vigilance. May God Bless the United States Marine Corps. The Marines’ Prayer Almighty Father, whose command is over all and whose love never fails, make me aware of Thy presence and obedient to Thy will. Keep me true to my best self, [...]
Like a scene out of Atlas Shrugged… Wall Streeters recently struck back by dropping leaflets on the Occupy Wall Street movement. Here’s what the leaflets said: “We are Wall Street. It’s our job to make money. Whether it’s a commodity, stock, bond, or some hypothetical piece of fake paper, it doesn’t matter. We would trade baseball cards if it were [...]
Today is one of my favorite days of the year! The extra hour presses the “reset” button for a life lived at full throttle. Wanted to share one of my favorite “Sunday” songs and the back-story. Kris Kristoffersen wrote this song and tried to give it to Johnny Cash in the studio where Kris was working as a janitor. Cash tossed it [...]
My inbox has been bombed with e-mails from folks outraged by the wealth disparity between the richest 1% and the balance of America. A few bullet points: The Top 1 Percent of Americans Owns 40 Percent of the Nation’s Wealth The Top 1 Percent of Americans Take Home 24 Percent of National Income The Top 1 Percent Of Americans Own [...]
Written by a third grader, on what his grandparents do. After Christmas, a teacher asked her young pupils how they spent their holiday away from school. One child wrote the following: We always used to spend the holidays with Grandma and Grandpa. They used to live in a big brick house, but Grandpa got retarded and they moved to Arizona [...]
The weekend project in my oldest daughter’s 9th grade literature class is to find 10 songs that tell a story (narrative poem)… and then summarize ‘em… very cool assignment. Have a favorite song that tells a story? Here are five of mine: 5. Roy Orbison’s cover of “The Comedians” written by Elvis Costello 4. Pearl Jam’s cover of “Last Kiss” [...]
I was talking on the phone to a friend of mine today (he is 70+ years young and still working every day as a real estate broker/investor) and was stupefied by a statistic that he shared with me: over 10,000 people a day will be turning 65 staring in 2011. Even more staggering is the fact that this wave of [...]
