Pics from Long Ago

The avocado test

Saturday night, 9 PM I had dropped off my little one at a friend’s house, and was picking up a few items on my way home. The ALDI store that I stopped at didn’t have any baskets available (due to COVID, perhaps?) and I wasn’t getting enough items to justify using a cart. This will

The cruel certainties of 2020

The year 2020 started off in the typical fashion: champagne toasts and fireworks at midnight, together with untold numbers of resolutions to be different—and better, if at all possible—in the coming 12 months. On New Year’s Day, which happened on a Wednesday and was therefore smack dab in the middle of the workweek, my family

A tragedy Trump didn’t talk about at the SOTU tonight

    I watched the President’s Address to Congress this evening, against my better judgment. I say that because he’s not interested in speaking to me. Never has been, and never will be. As he spoke about the virtues of building a wall on the Southern border, he introduced some of the family of  a

R.I.P. to President Bush 41

It’s been a few years since a former president has passed away, and George Bush 41 died today at age 94. So what is a picture of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s hat and guitar doing in this post? Several years ago, my family and I traveled to California for Spring Break. There were many sights to

The Cubs’ 2016 Graveyard

Some people, in my neighborhood and in other places, turn their front lawns into faux graveyards at this time of year. So with Halloween upon us and the Cubs still playing meaningful baseball, here’s a look at some of the fake styrofoam tombstones that the Cubs could plant at Wrigley Field this year: The Cardinals’

Looking forward to some Mighty Cubs Blasts

I recently happened upon Evangeline, a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I’m not very much of a poetry guy, but I found an old book at an estate sale with some poems inside, and decided to start paging through them. I even spent a quarter on the book, so I may as well see

The rainbow necklace

12 and a half years later, this necklace is being worn to the Chicago Pride parade. And the girl wearing is is more happy and beautiful than ever.

MMM, Donuts

For International Donut Day, I wanted to see if it was possible to go five years of writing a blog and NOT mention donuts along the way. Turns out it isn’t, at least not for me. The Dunkin’ Donuts ad pic was taken on a visit to Fenway Park shortly before I began this blog

A half-empty bottle

The worst night of my life started with a half-empty bottle of beer. It was not quite five years ago in New York City, and I was in the process of trying to give up drinking altogether. The details aren’t really that important. The bottom line is I knew that alcohol was no friend of

An Open Letter to Sarah Palin

Originally posted on Global Security, Privacy, & Risk Management:
Dear Mrs. Palin, I am a former US Marine and US Navy Officer with a Combat Action Ribbon as well as service connected disabilities. I am also a Republican.  I have also served with, and am friends with, dozens of combat veterans who suffer daily from…

Governor Snyder, you can’t fix this

When I think about what’s going on in Flint, Michigan, I get really angry. Whoever thought that giving poisoned water to the public–in order to save money over clean water taken from another source–needed to be reined in by the person who had the authority to do so, and in this case it was the

A Great Emancipator Doodle

I wanted to preserve this for future reference. It’s my Lincoln thing, I suppose.

My 9/11 story

Source: My 9/11 story

Fair Questions to Ask

Did Subway know about Jared Fogle’s predilections for child pornography? If they did, and did nothing to address it, was this the wrong thing to do? Does Subway have any sort of responsibility to keep the face of their brand on the straight and narrow? Does Jared Fogle have any ownership stake in the company

Carry on

A terrible storm blew through my neighborhood on Sunday, and its aftermath is still with us, in tree limbs and, in some cases, entire trees that sit along the curbs of my neighborhood. It’s rare to find a block that doesn’t have some natural debris in it still, five days after the storm. The tree

The way I remember the 70s

This was taken in about 1978. I’m on the left, in the crouch position, and my neighbor Scott is on the right, going into his windup. I’m sharing this to wish him a happy birthday today, August 4, 2015. Hope the day is a good one, Scott!

The fragile nature of trees

As I understand it, the Chicago neighborhood I call home was built in the 1920s, in response to general prosperity and a desire to move away from the race riot that happened on the South side in 1919. This means that there are many tall, mature trees where I live. And that’s usually a good

American anticipation

I took the picture above on July 3, on Central Steet in Evanston, Illinois. There’s an annual parade down Central on the 4th of July, and people set out chairs to reserve their spots along the parade route the day before. Whoever sits in these chairs today, we can be sure that they love this

A win for progress and love

Today is a historic day in America.

The wonders of a blog

I wish everyone had a place to go with their thoughts and ideas, before they disappeared into the ocean of life. Some place where one moment or one sensation could be left behind for posterity. I’m in such a moment right now, on a cold, wind-swept beach in Evanston, Illinois. Waves are crashing, birds are

I’m not a hockey fan, but….

I like it when Chicago wins. Go Blackhawks!

Step right up and sweep the Mets

A couple of weeks ago, I was checking into a hotel in Brooklyn. The woman working at the front desk was a Mets fan, and I congratulated her on her team’s recent ten-game winning streak. Without missing a beat–and in true New York style–she said “Eleven.” I promptly stood corrected. As I’m now waiting to

Stevie Ray and the Grammies

I have to admit that I wasn’t very excited about visiting the Grammy museum in Los Angeles. But since it was my daughter’s 16th birthday, off we went. As often happens in life, there was more to it than I expected. I found an exhibit of Stevie Ray Vaughan items on the third floor, between

There’s baseball in the air

Baseball’s almost here! What more is there to say?