November 30th, 2022

     On this day in 1987 the “Joe Costello Birthday Dance” was invented. The other day I talked about friendship and how friends come into our lives. Joe Costello falls into that theory.

Joe is a member of the Wild Turkey Softball team out of the Southwest corner of Oak Park. Every year on this day I hum the song and if I have an audience of Wild Turkeys I do the dance.

On Friday the Wild Turkeys will be together for our annual “Wild Turkey Holiday Reunion” at The James Joyce. Joe has lived in California for years. He occasionally pops in to say hello and see the dance in person. I don’t think he’s going to be in the fine state of Illinois, so a FaceTime dance will probably occur.

Everyone needs something goofy in their life to bridge them from youth to old age. I sure as hell hope that I can dance the dance for many years to come.

There is that saying about living your life. Dance like nobody is watching, sing like nobody is listening…… well…. “It’s Joe Costello’s Birthday, It’s Joe Costello’s Birthday, It’s Joe Costello’s Birthday!”

Live a life that lets you do a goofy dance for a friend every year for their birthday. Because that is an ingredient for happiness.

November 29th, 2022

 Somewhere in the early nineties I had tickets to an opera at Lyric. I was going to see “Otello” by Rossini. I bought the tickets to impress a girl who loved opera.

I was able to talk opera with this girl because I had a book that Mrs. Haas let me borrow a couple years earlier.

Mrs. Haas always greeted me, “Hey Big John, how are the Republicans doing?”

I still had the book that Mrs. Haas let me borrow and it had a chapter on “Otello.” I took notes on that chapter so I could talk about it on my date. I bought the CD to get familiar with the music.

The opera was fantastic, but the date didn’t pan out. We went to Greektown and had nothing in common. She talked about other operas more than the one we were going to see. The date was a flop, but my love for opera was born. Every time I’d run into Mrs. Haas I’d tell her I still needed to return her opera book.

“Oh Big John, keep it a little longer. You might have another opera date. Hopefully she’s a democrat!”

That opera book is still in my bookcase. I’ve used it for reference many times in the last thirty years. I never gave it back to Mrs. Haas.

Over the weekend Mrs. Haas bought tickets for her first opera at The Heavenly Opera House. Lois Haas has a box seat with Mr. Haas and her loved ones in Eternal Peace. Hopefully Ron and Nancy Reagan have the box next to her.

From now on when I pull out that book I’ll think of the great stories about Mrs. Haas. This Friday the boys and I are getting together with Danny Haas for our annual reunion. The stories will be many as our memories of Lois Haas will come to life.

I’m at an age where all my friends are losing their parents. It is a sad period for my age group, but that’s life.

I guess the only good thing about the Biden Administration is a Democrat was in the White House at the end of Mrs. Haas’ life.

Enjoy the opera in heaven Mrs. Haas and thanks for letting me borrow your book all these years. I picked an Emily Dickinson quote for you today.

November 28th, 2022

 I think of many of you often. Maybe I knew you for a few years on the trading floor or we were neighbors.

I knew you for a few months in the late ’90’s or early ‘70’s. We hung out for a bunch of years in the early 1990’s or we went to school together for a couple years in the late ‘70’s and early 1980’s.

Some of you I’ve known close to fifty years. I met my Indy crew over forty years ago. I have friendships that are thirty years young and Riverside friends that I’ve known for five years now.

All of you have guided me along and shaped who John is….. Who Jumbo is…. Who Shep is!

My dad pounded into me the importance of friendship. How to tell the difference between an acquaintance and a friend… and how to nurture your dear friends.

I try to relay this same theory to my children.

I don’t have a big family. They narrowed down after the Great Generation. I’m an only child…. so my dad was right, again.

Friendships may come into your life for a few months, a few years, a decade or a lifetime. The good ones will always leave a mark.

That’s why we get dinged up so much as we age…. It’s because of friendship.

So from Chicago, to Oak Park, to Indianapolis and Riverside. From the Board of Trade to Saint Cletus to Blaze Rugby.

Thank You!

Cyborg Monday!!!!! Makes me miss Glendale Mall and North Riverside Mall in their glory.

November 27th, 2022

 Many of you know that I have been Santa Claus for thirty years now. It all started when a couple of the older guys in the pit asked me if I could be Santa for their kids. Jeez, those kids have kids now.

You know I’m fifty six fucking years old and I still believe in Santa Claus. Because I believe, he recruited me to The University of North Pole. I graduated with honors in the Class of 1994. Youngest man in the class.

You see…. Santa can’t be everywhere during the Christmas season, so he has his alumni fill in for him. It’s a great honor.

If the divorce didn’t jag my kids bad enough, having a dad who thinks he’s in Santa’s Army will definitely send them to therapy.

I believe in Santa!

I give two shits what people think. It is the one constant thing that I have from my childhood.…. Santa Claus.

Bozo is gone…. Ray Raynor is gone…. KiddieLand is gone….Steve Austin is gone…. SoulTrain is gone and Nixon resigned, but Santa is still around.

Don’t let some negative Assclown convince you that he isn’t!

If my parents are going to convince me a skinny Jewish kid gave up his life on a Friday 2000 years ago…. I’m sticking with the Big Guy flying around the world in a damn sled…. Pulled by eight skrawny reindeer.

I have a meeting with Santa on Thursday…. email me what you need this year and I’ll tuck it into his pocket.

Gloomy Sunday with rain and cold winds. I hope you got the neighbor kid to help with the lights yesterday.

Today is the day to mix a JumboNog and put up the tree.

It’s also Secondhand Sunday. I look around my home and seventy percent of it is secondhand. Given to me by many of you between my Oscar Madison Day and the first day the Shepkids visited their dad in Riverside. I sure as hell found out who was with me those two weeks. Another reason I believe in the Skinny Jewish Kid and the Dude in the red suit.

November 26th, 2022

    It took me years to accept “Love Actually” onto my Christmas movie list. It did and it’s been watched already for the 2022 Christmas campaign.

The movie opens and closes at Heathrow airport. It shows people in all different relationships meeting at the airport. No matter how sad and gloomy life might seem, the arrival gate at an airport is where people greet someone they love. The airport is the best example to see that love is actually all around.

In Chicago we have a saying, “if youse want to show somebody dat youse love dem, pick dem up at Ohare!”

I use to pick my dad up at O’Hare often when he traveled for business. He’d call on a pay phone when he landed and I’d drive up from Oak Park and pick him up at the Rosemont CTA station. He perfected the timing of him getting through O’hare and me driving from the house.

In October of 2000 I went to pick up a new girlfriend at O’Hare on a Saturday night. Pre 9/11 so I walked up to the gate. Me being of German and English blood, I was there very early, very early.

So I sat at the gate, waiting and waiting….. and waiting. It was a simple flight between Minneapolis and Chicago. Delayed and delayed….. and delayed.

Finally my flip phone rang and it was my new girlfriend. She and two other girls got kicked off the plane for being too drunk. They had a rugby match and social against Minneapolis and drank too much after the game.

So I went back on Sunday morning to Midway airport and picked her up.

OMG it was everyone else’s fault but my new girlfriend. The rugby team, the airline, the airport, the hotel that was full…. It wasn’t the fact that she over indulged.

Red Flag!

When I dropped her off at home her father was upset. At the rugby team, the airline, the airport and the hotel that ended up finding room for his princess. Dad was an enabler!

Red Flag!

My new girlfriend was asked to leave the rugby team! Who gets kicked off a rugby team for drinking too much? THEY saw the red flag.

I never saw the red flag, but luckily I have three children that love me. I’m fortunate I didn’t see the writing on the wall or I wouldn’t have a George, a Fritz and my princess, Hazel. Who I don’t enable!

The next week I had breakfast with Don Shepley at our joint in Oak Park. I told him the story that you just read. He saw the red flags. He saw the writing on the wall.

“Run for the hills Moose! This one is going to be a problem. And another thing son, Don’t date a squirter that doesn’t swallow!”

Only my dad would add that kind of color to a breakfast conversation.

That is my “Love Actually” story.

Pick your dad up at the airport and end up stopping at “Gene and Jude’s” on the way home. Pick up your new girlfriend at the airport and end up in divorce court eighteen years later.

Next Christmas movie, “The Family Stone.”

Enjoy this glorious last Saturday in November.

If you are over thirty-five don’t climb a ladder to hang lights today. Get a kid to do it…. But today is the day to hang those lights!

Big win for USA yesterday, Big loss for England…. Nil/Nil.

November 25th, 2022

 Thanksgiving for 2022 is in the books. The damage has been done. Some of it constructive and unfortunately some destructive.

I hope the positive damage was done at the dinner table. God willing there are no leftover cranberries this morning. Maybe a little turkey for lunch today.

Oh lord why did you talk with Uncle Stan about politics? That left a memory of an epic thanksgiving battle that will go down in family folklore.

And the battle on the gridiron or on the pitch? Please tell me everyone left the game in one piece? When fifty year old men put on their Walter Payton jersey they usually are putting the icy/hot on later in the day.

The Friday after Thanksgiving is a day of shopping, food comas, meat sweats and hangovers. Throughout the nineties and early part of the new millennium I had a Thanksgiving Friday tradition that stirs great memories.

The market closes early on this day, so I would jump on the Howard and go up to Division street by 12:30pm. I would grab prime real estate at Butch McGuires right at the front end of the bar near the big window. Butch’s does an excellent job of decorating for Christmas. Google Butch McGuires Christmas decorations and you’ll see. They even have a Santa taking a poop in his outhouse from the North Pole.

College football, College basketball, good friends, Bloody Marys and big ass juicy hamburgers. A great combination to fight what ails you from the day before.

I had a group of friends that merged from the trading floor, the neighborhood and from school. The one thing they had in common was Jumbo and that made me feel fanfuckingtastic. To this day when I talk to one of the members of this memory we laugh and smile at the antics we pulled.

Towards the end of this grand tradition I invited my new girlfriend from the trading floor. She decided to have her mom and aunt from Hensdale meet us.

Exactly!

This wasn’t going to end well and it did end a ten year tradition that many of us long to reignite.

We had the space by the front window. It was a gloomy day, but the temperature was in the sixties so Butch opened the window. As my future mother in law and her sister in law sip their Prosecco, Scary Mary walked up to the opened window. If you’re not from Chicago, Google Scary Mary Chicago homeless woman.

Scary Mary often panhandled by the Board of Trade, by both ballparks and on this day in the early 2000’s….. Division Street. Ol’ Scary Mary decided to pull her boobs out for the nicely dressed Dupage County ladies. It didn’t go well and the rest is history.

I’m sure we will all meet again at Butch’s on Thanksgiving Friday. Scary Mary is gone, the mother in law is an ex and people have moved away or don’t work in the city anymore. So the fates must decide.

Onward we go into a month of Christmas Carols and Christmas movies. I’ve already watched “Love Actually” and I came across a new movie that I recommend to my Italian friends. “Feast of Seven Fishes” from 2018. It takes place on Christmas Eve of 1983. This movie is in my Christmas movie rotation now. Next up “Family Stone” and “The Bishop’s Wife.”

Hey…… Sox play some team called SF in 129 days. I think they might be in the other league.

Until we meet again at Butch McGuires…..

November 24th, 2022

 Thanksgiving starts out like it does every year, no matter who I am with or where I’m at. I listen to the “December” album by George Winston. The first song on the album is “Thanksgiving.” A simple song played on the piano that simplifies the happiness and sorrow today brings to me.

I pulled the curtains open in my living room this morning to find great delight. I was greeted by the little Christmas tree in the apartment window across the street. This is the second year in a row the tree has lived there. Someday I’ll figure out who plugs that tree in and tell them the joy it brings to me.

Today is supposed to be overcast, but the early glow of sunrise is creeping into Chicagoland. I’ll take a moment of morning light before the gray skies set the background for TurkeyBowls.

Soon front yards and play grounds will be filled with Uncles wearing Dick Butkus jerseys and second cousins donning number thirty fours.

I miss my mom making breakfast while I watch the Thanksgiving parades. I miss my Gramma perfecting the day and reminding me what being thankful is through her generational eyes. I miss my dad making a turkey sandwich before bedtime on what he called balloon bread. Balloon bread was what he called cheap store bought white bread.

The list of what I’m thankful for is long, but know many of you reading this are on that list.

I will say today I’m thankful for getting straight F’s.

FOUNDATION: FAITH, FAMILY and FRIENDS. On this day we add FOOD and FOOTBALL.

I will also say that I’m thankful that three people that I love are softly breathing in their beds while I listen to George Winston.

May God be with you today. Let love and joy surround you and your people on this Thursday in November. Give your belt an extra inch of comfort after you push away from your feast.

Gentlemen born before 1975… you are not Walter Payton. Don’t try to hurdle your nephew for extra yards.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my people.

November 23rd, 2022

 Last summer I enjoyed my evening cocktail on the balcony. I’d watch the world walk by. On a good night I’d see five to ten people walking their dogs. Kids shuffling by having fun doing stupid stuff and several food delivery guys double parked.

Most nights two couples would walk under my festive perch. A young couple pushing a stroller with a new baby. Some nights the baby was sleeping, some night’s crying and often nestled in his daddy’s arms as mom pushed the empty stroller.

New parents with that dumbfounded look on their faces and circles under their eyes. I often caught them looking at each other in awe. Still stunned by the love they created.

The other couple that walked across my stoop was an older couple, slowed by life. the gentleman’s shoulders slumped over and a limp in his step. His wife, often wore a light sweater though the heat of the day was still felt. They walked in unison sometimes silent, sometimes chatting and a few times laughing and smiling. Every night holding hands. Hands that they’ve probably held for many years.

Here I was sipping my Manhattan and watching the path of life. A young couple in the infancy of their love and an older couple enjoying the passion of years in love. I’ve experienced the former timing of love, but I will miss out on the latter relationship.

When Terri abandoned the redheads last summer I lost a lot of freedom. I had slim pickings for that moment to myself. I started a weekly routine on late Tuesday afternoons.

I ordered BOGO pizzas from LaBarra for takeout. I’d leave right after placing the order and run over to get them. This would give me about thirty seven minutes of JumboTime. I would detour at the bar and have a gin martini often running into a friend or an acquaintance.

I started running into a couple that had their own Tuesday routine. They were out having a Blue Hair Special all to themselves. They had their happy hour cocktail and would split an appetizer and a dinner special.

Being the introvert that I am I started to get to know them. They raised their family in Riverside and now enjoy the retirement of empty nesters.

I really enjoyed that quick martini and chatting with Karl and Lois on Tuesdays. Once my martini was finished I would grab my pepperoni pizza and my cheese pizza and race home to the Shepkids. They never noticed dad was gone as they shouted “Pizza!”

Last night was a sunny afternoon. I saw the young couple with their beautiful baby and I saw the elderly couple wearing hats and gloves. I ran over to Labarra for the buy one get one free pizzas. I had a quick cocktail and I wished Karl and Lois a Happy Thanksgiving.

I thought the Freddy Tenny quote was perfect this morning after seeing the three couples from the Summer of ‘22.

Enjoy this beautiful sunny day. Don’t overindulge tonight….

November 22nd, 2022

 A flat tire isn’t the end of the world, but it does add stress to the start of the week. Especially Thanksgiving Week… but the problem was solved quickly and within the budget at The Riverside Garage. An asset to a great town.

So Betty got her groove back and though Disneyland Daddy is a day behind, The bird will fly and the pie will satisfy later in the week.

Seeing Betty limp to one side made me realize how special she is at this time in my life. It also reconfirmed how lucky I am to have a Work Wife that is always there when you need him. Thanks Richard Polich for the ride and for putting air in my tire. I’m thankful and blessed.

My dad was right, “this too shall pass” and it did. Let’s all leave the stress out of this special holiday week and enjoy football, food, friends and family. Maybe remember it is all held together with faith.

Today is an important day in Chicago Mob history. On this day in 1963 a very important New England family was taught not to cross a very strong Chicago family. So to all my Italian friends, Salute.

November 21st, 2022

 Thanksgiving week starts out flat, literally. Betty the Green Blazer has a flat tire and Monday has been rearranged. Now my work wife has to pick me up and take me to the office and after work I’ve got to get Betty rebooted.

Could have been worse! I could’ve been driving with the Shepkids. So I’m lucky the old girl is parked in her spot.

Usually in the morning I have music playing, but for some reason I have the news on today. WBBM has killed any flow that I have for today’s chalkboard. Between the bad news on the radio and my routine getting jagged by a flat tire… I’m not starting thanksgiving week off on a good foot. It will all Come together by Thursday.

Like my Oldman often said, “this too shall pass!”

November 19th, 2022

 Whenever my kids came down with a cold or flu I often noticed an incredible growth spurt followed. It’s more obvious when they are a toddler and subtle as they age.

When my parents died I realized that I’ll never hear their voice again. That was the hardest thing that bothered me. Not hearing my mom sing or my dad laugh.

A friend of mine posted earlier this week about his mom who passed away when her grandchildren were young and how they missed out on her love. He was right… they never had a chance to make memories with their Gramma. They did have her love and guidance through a Guardian Angel and sometimes that’s just as good.

My Grampa John Zoellner died when I was four. My memories of him are faint. Most of the memories that I have are hearsay… stories that my Mom, my Gramma and my Aunties would tell.

My Grampa came from a German family that owned a bakery. His parents came to Southern Indiana from Germany settling in a town between Indianapolis and Cincinnati.

John Zoellner lost several fingers in a mixer at a young age making bread in the bakery. It never stopped him. In the 1950’s Eisenhower stopped in Indianapolis on his birthday. My Grampa baked him a cake. The article from the “Indianapolis News” was framed at my Gramma’s house with the picture of my Grampa finishing Ike’s cake.

Just recently I was praying to my mom and she prayed back, “Honey, you never have prayed to my dad. All these years that he’s been up here. You’ve kind of blown him off.”

Boy, that Catholic guilt built up immediately. My mom can still lay it thick from heaven. It was at that moment that I realized John Zoellner has been guiding me out of danger since I was a little boy.

I’ve done some stupid things in my life that I made through unscathed. Memories of those incidents flashed through my morning prayers with my mom and suddenly I saw my Grampa. It hit me

Like a ton of bricks, “Holy Shit Grampa! You are the reason I’m not dead or in prison…”

My Grampa was always with me. He was there when I was playing on the railroad tracks. He was there when I got to second base for the first time. He was there when I drove and should have left the keys on the bar. He was there the first time I saw my children at birth.

The older I get the more things happen that define the mystery of my faith. Maybe they happened when I was younger and I was too big of an idiot to notice, but the closer I get to becoming a Guardian Angel myself, the more signs from above appear.

Blessings occur on bad days just like they do on the good days. You can’t enjoy the good days without feeling the sting from the bad ones.

Though I can’t hear my dad’s voice echoing… I can feel it within me.

“You got to be shitting me son? Count your G D blessings!”

The gales of November are upon us. The hats and gloves are out of storage. The long underwear will be next. Maybe a couple chicken breast in the crockpot? Maybe bake a cake for George and tell him the story about his Great Grampa baking a cake for the President of the United States?

November 18th, 2022

 I wasn’t as lucky this morning with the traffic lights, but the roads were slick so Betty the Green Blazer and I rocked steady driving out to work.

We are within a week before Thanksgiving. The weather of November is settling in nicely and Christmas lights are starting to pop up here and there.

I’m not sure what is going on with this Taylor Swift hub bub, but I don’t care because she will never be Taylor Dayne.

The NFL moved the Cleveland Browns at Buffalo Bills game to Detroit because Buffalo expects four feet of snow this weekend. That sucks for the Bills fans. They are made for these kind of games. The No Fun League protecting their babies.

Yesterday the Professional Rugby League expanded to Chicago. the new Chicago Hounds Rugby Club will be playing at Toyota Geek Stadium. Release the Hounds Baby!

I’m heading into the city tomorrow for a couple Tom and Jerry’s at Miller’s Pub and then Christkindle Market at Mayor Daley Plaza. It’s gonna be cold and windy so hopefully the crowds stay home.

That’s all I have today. No advice, no Jumbo Story… end your week strong and enjoy your weekend. Put some love between the sheets and a roast in your crock…

November 17th, 2022

       There are sixteen traffic lights between my home in Riverside and my trading floor in OakBrook Terrace. I got a green light on all of them this morning… winning!

Some of you know what today’s quote is…. You are Uber Cool in my book. Some of you are getting ready to Google it…. You’re welcome!

You’re welcome if I reintroduced you and you’re welcome if I introduced you to something brand new… though it’s been around forty years.

Forty Years?

Can you believe it? This was made forty years ago….

Enjoy your Thursday earworm!

Before the end of the year the world will have Eight Billion people on it…. Out of all those people I’ve been lucky to meet you…

November 16th, 2022

 I don’t care if it’s political issues, family issues, economical issues or weather issues. When the problems stack up you need to listen to Bobby Frost. I know I’ve used his quote on the chalkboard once or twice.

It’s true….these days that are ahead of us will be tough. Our political system has been pulled apart by hacks. Our economy is bearish and deep in recession. Yesterday’s blast of winter is only the beginning of the long, dark and cold months in the Midwest.

Family issues are always around. From sick kids staying home from school to our parents aging and falling quality of life.

We are all going through this thing called life together, so together we must trudge.

Lower your shoulders and chop your steps and trudge through whatever issues lay ahead.

We will get through this.

Your vote does count. CD rates are looking better. Menards has shovels on sale and our families will always be a burden. A burden with love.

We all live in the village of Anatevka. Let’s be villagers together. Because a village is what it takes….

November 15th, 2022

 I like to stand out on my balcony at 4:00am and listen to the quietness. Sometimes I hear the roar of Titus, the Lion at Brookfield Zoo. I often see racoons, coyote and deer trampling down Lincoln Avenue.

This morning it was a peaceful calm as snow gently fell. Lightly accumulating on the grass and sending a wet gleam off the street and sidewalk.

Standing under the cloudy sky gives me a moment to count the possibility that Tuesday November 15th will bring.

Today I quote the head coach of Richmond, Ted Lasso. Things might look impossible, but they can be conquered… I always think USA 4- CCCP 3 when I look at a hard issue or sing Don Quixote’s “Impossible Dream” when I need a boost.

Might sound stupid, but it worked for five decades on a trading floor and 15 years in a bipolar marriage.

Every fucking day be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause.

Heavenly Cause?

Treat people well and love yourself and you earn eternal life. Be an asshole and hate yourself and hope that you have someone that can get you in upstairs.

That’s my heavenly cause.

Binge television season is upon us. What show are you looking forward to watching?

I’m “Yellowstone,” “Marvelous Mrs. Mazel,” and “Peaky Blinders.” I just got into “Ted Lasso.”

November 14th, 2022

 After so many years the nows have stacked up. Nows are like laundry piling up in an overflowing hamper. Finally a rainy day comes along and you dump that laundry out and scatter it across the bedroom floor.

Whites, solids, sweaters, socks and underwear, pants, sheets and towels.

Good days, bad days, cloudy days, sunny days, celebrations, defeats, milestones and setbacks.

Once you get that laundry clean, folded and put away you feel accomplished. The satisfaction of an empty laundry basket is a delight.

Putting good nows in the top drawer and bad nows in the garbage also gives gratification and pleasure.

I had a handful of nows over the weekend. I’m gonna make pancakes now. I’m gonna do homework now. I’m gonna watch rugby now. I’m gonna make brownies now. I’m gonna tuck you in now. I’m gonna take you to your mom now.

That last now is still a hard one for me. Every other Sunday when the redheads leave Riverside still knots up my belly.

I’ve gotta make these nows count so when the Shepkids do their laundry they’ll know how to sort their nows. Take the good nows with the bad nows.

It’s National Pickle Day…. I love pickles from the relish on my hotdog to the pickle in my Bloody Mary.

I remember a now at my Gramma’s house in Broad Ripple. I can still taste that ham sandwich on homemade bread with bread and butter pickles. I’d do anything to get that now back and tell my Gramma this is the best fucking sandwich ever.

Wait, I was nine! I can’t say “fucking” to my Gramma. She’ll shit and then she’ll kill me!

“Gramma, this is a great sandwich and now is the best day!”

November 13th, 2022

 I had an abundance to say when I was writing today’s quote on the chalkboard. Then I sat down and looked at it and my brain farted.

Yesterday was a big rugby and gridiron day. New Zealand beat England in the Women’s Rugby World Cup. The Chicago Blaze won the Midwest Rugby Championship. DePauw won the Monon Bell Game. Mount Carmel beat Brother Rice and Cathedral became the smallest school to win a 6A Regional title.

Enjoy a gorgeous Sunday and like Scotty Fitz suggests… you control the size of your life. Live large or stay under the radar.

November 12th, 2022

 Get out the dream book again…. I’m sitting in my dad’s 1979 Fleetwood Brougham and Hazel is in the backseat. Don gets in the drivers seat and starts the engine. I’m worried he’s going to notice the front end damage. I look back at Hazel and she shakes her head at me.

The oldman pulls out of his spot and starts driving down the alley behind his house. I’m fucked because now the grill is coming up onto the hood. He notices the damage and asked me what I did to his Cadillac.

“Dad… I only drove it to pick the kids up after school.”

Hazel starts yelling at Grampa Don to put out his cigarette. He got apologetic and put it out and never went back to yelling at me about the front of the car. My dad never put out his cigarette whenever I asked him. He puts it out in a flash for his granddaughter?

At that moment I woke up to, “daddy, rub my back….please!”

Hazel saved me before my dad built me a new asshole. I’m not sure what the dream symbolizes, but it was comforting to be in The Dadillac with my dad and my daughter.

Today is rugby day. Good luck to my boys out in Lemont, The Chicago Blaze. They helped me survive my divorce with their support. They have a special place in my heart.

Play well today Gentlemen!

It’s cloudy and cold in Chicagoland… I’m going to hear bitching and moaning later today.

“Dad! It’s too cold to walk to the library!”

Maybe I’ll get the keys to my dads car and drive us over there instead?

November 11th, 2022

 Yesterday I went into work with short sleeves, today I grabbed a wool sweater. We’ve been fortunate to have a spectacular Autumn in Chicagoland this year.

I’m a man of few words on this Remembrance Day, Veterans Day, Armistice. I do know this… I’m sitting here eating a peanut butter and jelly, drinking a cup of tea because men and women fought for me.

Thank you.

“Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch.” read Flanders Field.

We must always keep the torch lit for those who are gone and for future generations not yet conceived.

It’s the middle of November already. Start stretching because two weeks from today some of us old boys will have sore muscles and extended tummy’s.

I’m itching to turn on a Christmas Carol and slurp the first cup of JumboNog…

Have a Glorious Friday and a peaceful weekend.

November 10th, 2022

 I was a kid when the Edmund Fitzgerald didn’t make it home. I became fascinated with the Great Lakes and the history of the sunken ships across Superior, Huron, Michigan, Ontario and Erie.

I have a bucket list of trips that I still need to take. France, New Zealand, Brazil….. the list goes on, but the one that I want to do soon is a camping trip around Lake Michigan.

Up Wisconsin, over the top and down Michigan.

“The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down

Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee

The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead

When the skies of November turn gloomy.”

At one point today you’ll hear Gordon Lightfoot sing.

It’s going to be a gorgeous day in Chicagoland. Probably our last warm day of the year. Don’t get caught lolligagging though. Later tonight the temps will drop quickly and November will kick in.

Great news in the rugby world…. Chicago is getting an expansion team in the MLR. I’ve been a NOLA Gold fan since the league began several years ago. I still will be, but Chicago is home. Hope they pick a good name.

Tomorrow is the 11th day of the 11th month. Lest we forget!

November 9th, 2022

     I went to bed early to avoid watching the election results. I Just figured the mediocre candidate won. Both sides only offered us crap to vote for. So enough politics on a Wednesday morning.

Between a time change, a 2 billion dollar lottery, a full moon and a midterm election…. I’m exhausted.

I have a feeling 76 on Thursday and 33 on Saturday is going to add nothing but problems. I already have one ShepKid with a fever and an e-mail telling me that 4th grade band is canceled due to illness.

When we stood on the trading floor coughing, spitting and sweating on each other we built up our immune system. The only illness that swept the Board of Trade was Brown Bottle Flu.

I’m worried my immune system has lost its protection since the floor closed. All those years of open outcry kept me healthy.

Two weeks from tomorrow is thanksgiving day! I’m looking forward to pizza and cake this year. Shepkids want to do a non traditional Thanksgiving…. I’ll give them one. 2023 we go back to Turkey and Stuffing.

Go GoldBond up these next two days, but get the Vicks ready for the weekend…