I knew I was an alcoholic 25 years before I quit. It took a DUI, very public firing (TV weatherman), my inability to get a decent job and another DUI before I finally quit. I'd been to Hazelden in the mid-80s and a couple of subsequent out patient treatment things, but… Read full post »

In my last post I blathered on about how the Feds should give the 'people' the handouts rather than unload it on the very institutions which had a large roll in getting us into this mess in the first place. This lay theory was explained to me over lunch with Jon,… Read full post »

So I'm having lunch with a friend who used to frequent my craps table and the Ultimate Texas Holdem tables. He a real estate investor, and about a year ago I was seriously considering investing a large chunk of my retirement money with him. It would have helped finance a housing… Read full post »

I'm in San Francisco. Here's why:

I'd just come out of the gym with Charlie after meeting with Kim, a personal trainer and climbed into the car, when my cell phone went off. It was my nephew David in San Francisco, in tears, blurting out that his dad was dead. Steve… Read full post »

So I sleep late and, to assuage my guilt over not being an early riser, I plop onto my little nesting spot on the couch but don't turn on the TV, a big sacrifice. I begin reading The Tipping Point and alternately thumb through The New Yorker and Vanity Fair while… Read full post »

Yes, I did make it to the gym. Yeah, it went OK... until later that night!

Did a few leg presses on the big leg press machine, pain in the front of my knees, stumbled and fell on my way out of the contraption, looked about embarrassedly and found my… Read full post »

Alright! It's time! Tomorrow I hit the gym and begin to seriously watch my diet. Ferchrissakes I'm 30 pounds overweight and I'm sick of it. I look like crap, feel like crap, and I can't get into most of my clothes. It's disgusting. Tonight I sent away for some berry milkshake… Read full post »

I took a walk this evening, just a short stroll around the block. It was getting dusky and though it was overcast there was some clearing along the western horizon. Red-orange sunlight shown up from below, illuminating the underside of the clouds. The air was still, the temperature fortyish, and… Read full post »

The snow began mid-morning and it fell steadily until after eight that night. Couple of inches at my house with more in spots around town. I get a call from my ex, can I get up with Thomas and take him to school since he's such a fledging driver - he's… Read full post »

It's Tuesday morning and I am cleaning up the messy kitchen from last night. It was a late dinner and my 15-year-old son Thomas was late arriving as he had  to go 'home' to his mother's and pick up some clothes for today at school. He has a lousy cold/flu thing… Read full post »

It struck me right after Halloween: stores were up and running toward Christmas, or "The Holidays," as we're supposed to refer to them nowadays. My first thought was, what about Thanksgiving? Is it getting short-shrift because the economy is so critical that retailers are especially desperate this ye… Read full post »

I retired around 3 months ago. I'd been dealing blackjack and, occasionally, craps, and I was really tired of the job. Nine months ago I had both knees replaced, so I can walk again without too much pain. So as soon as I left the job and got Social Security and… Read full post »