August 31st, 2023

 Today is the day all the Europeans throw tomatoes at each other. I can hear my Gramma saying, “Waste not, want not…”

I’m going for an early morning walk under the full moon. So let’s keep this short and sweeet!

It’s the last day of August… tomorrow the weather girl is going to tell the news anchor,

“Can you believe it’s already the first of September?”

In a few weeks it will be EWF day and I know I’ll be changing the minds of pretenders.

Ba-dee-ya, dancin' in September

Ba-dee-ya, never was a cloudy day.

We are entering the 'Ber months. I always feel an attraction, a brotherhood, a mystifying bond to someone who says autumn is their favorite season.

It’s alright to leave your socks on when you make love to someone who is a fall person. This weekend is big for Autumnphiles. Labor Day weekend is when the short pants drawer becomes the sweater drawer. Huge event!

Speaking of sweaters and short pants. What a great combo? The short pants and Champion sweatshirt look. If you look back at old pictures of early season tailgating…. You will find that picture where you are wearing a college sweatshirt and short pants while doing a beer bong.

I am an Autumnphile person, but I don’t do pumpkin spice. I’ll pass, but between Thanksgiving and Christmas I’ll kick back a ton of eggnog.

Let’s finish Auggie strong and roll into the 'Bers with a full tank of Summer Lovin’!

I’m going out to put the smile on the full, super, blue moon… ciao!

August 30th, 2023

   I wanted to spend some time this morning on the balcony to howl at the full moon. It hung perfectly south of my perch just after three o’clock. Unfortunately the clouds got in my way.

Fortunately the breeze pushed the clouds quickly and created several moments where the moon peaked through. Every full moon is unique, but this one is something special. It’s a blue moon and also a super moon. We’ve actually had two super moons this month. We will all be fourteen years older the next time this occurs. 2037 seems so far away, but it’s as close as 2010.

Doesn’t seem so far away when you look at it that way.

The moon will be magnificent again on Wednesday night. It will plop out of Lake Michigan around 7:45 tonight and settle over Naperville Thursday morning as the sun makes its appearance in the opposite sky.

I’d give anything to be in an open field Thursday morning. Watching the moon float past and the sun flaring up. Fill up my dad’s Coleman thermos with strong coffee and gaze at the sky.

Unfortunately I have a lunch to make for George and Betty and I have to go to work. In 2036 I’ll be in a field watching the blue super moon. Hopefully I’ll be above the ground when the world spins the sky.

August 29th, 2023

    The seven thirty sunset tonight kind of hit me hard. Daylight is fleeting by quickly as the summer draws towards the end. I can already hear Don Henley singing about the fellas he’s been hanging out with since June.

I looked up the date that we turn back the clocks. It’s November 5th this year. In sixty eight days the sun will be going down at four thirty. Suddenly I started to think that tonight’s sunset is a gift. In February I’m going to be excited when the sunset is after five o’clock.

So I better enjoy tonight while I have it!

August 28th, 2023

      This is the parable about the dad and his son at their local hotdog stand.

George and I sat at the picnic bench outside of Parky’s. It was a perfect Sunday afternoon to sit on Harlem Avenue and watch the traffic creep past.

There was an older gentleman sitting at the table behind us who seemed to be loitering. He was wearing an old Bulls t-shirt and long short pants that met tube socks right at his knees. A greasy bag with used napkins and a hotdog wrapper was sitting in front of him. He was fiddling with his empty styrofoam cup.

A beggar was walking between stopped cars looking for change. He was wearing filthy sweat pants and a pilled sweater with warn down elbows. The street beggar was drawn out by what appeared to be drug use. His turn around point when the light turned green was right in front of the hotdog stand.

At some point either the old gentleman or the young beggar will intersect with George and me.

“Hey Big Man, they sure don’t make trucks like that Blazer.”

Betty was parked at the spot closest to the picnic area.

“Was you listening to Miles Davis when you parked?”

If you compliment Betty the Green Blazer and also know your Jazz… you’re alright with me.

The older gentleman was the first to melt into our afternoon stop at Parky’s. He immediately struck up a conversation with George about the CTA. Parky’s is located between the Lake Street to the north and the Congress to the south.

As George and the oldman talked about the el trains the street beggar approached the table. George and his new acquaintance paused their conversation.

Sweat dripping from his temples, he mumbled through his chapped mouth. I couldn’t understand what he was trying to say.

“I’m sorry buddy I can’t hear you. The traffic has stopped. You can go back to what you were doing.”

Now that he was standing up close I could smell the decay of drug usage that was destroying his life. He kind of mother fucked me under his breath as he cut between stopped cars back on the avenue.

For the rest of our lunch he starred over when he walked parallel to our table.

George and our lunch neighbor continued their conversation. We ended up talking about music, the Westside, sports and hotdogs.

He stood up and grabbed a cane that I didn’t notice laying next to his lap. He threw his garbage into the trash and thanked us for talking with him.

I had a fin folded in my palm and slipped it to him when I shook his hand. He thanked me and told me that he didn’t know any white men that liked Miles Davis. In a quick moment he was gone.

“He seemed like a nice man Dad!”

I smiled at George and told him to finish his french fries. Tears started dripping from the corners of my eyes.

“Are you sad dad?”

I replied, “Nope…. I just was thinking about Grampa Don…”

Sitting at that picnic bench eating hotdogs with George was something me and my dad used to do. Talking with strangers was something my dad was famous for.

Here is where the lesson comes to play in this parable.

There was an old black man who had lived a long life. Probably faced with poverty and prejudice his entire time. There was a drawn out white kid dying of drug abuse. Probably given an education and a chance in life.

The old Westsider just wanted to talk with someone. He was lonely and needed human contact. The ten minutes he spent shooting the shit with George and I will last a lot longer than the five bucks I gave him.

The panhandler on Harlem expected me to put money in his hand. I have no use for anyone who has lost their soul to drugs. I won’t contribute to his needle.

George won’t remember that I scolded him for ordering ketchup on his hotdog today. He will remember that we took the time to care and respect someone looking for care and respect. He also learned if you take a path towards drugs… you don’t get care and respect.

I’m not a wise Jew from the Old Testament or an Apostle from one of the Gospels. I’m just a dad who likes sitting at a hotdog stand for lunch with his kids. I just want them to grow up and be happy and kind. I want them to remember that Grampa Jumbo was always happy and kind.

August is almost over and we have the second full moon of the month on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Have a gorgeous end of the month and put the smile on the sun.

The Morning Chalkboard's Sixth Anniversary

     It actually all started on a chalkboard hanging at my ex-wife's house, but it started to come together on August 27th, 2017. It was a Sunday morning and I was going to the Sox game later in the day. I took a picture of the chalkboard hanging in my kitchen and posted it on Facebook. I immediately received good feedback.

                   Over 2000 Chalkboards later and I'm going strong.

       Who knows what the future of the Morning Chalkboard will bring, but if anything... it will be a historical account of my life after divorce. How an old trading floor guy raised his three kids the best he could. Maybe I'll help someone down the road. Hopefully Chalkheads out there are watching more sunrises and sunsets. I've introduced the world to Betty the Green Blazer, my mom's angel number and all the knowledge my Oldman passed down. 

    I want to say thank you to the growing number of Chalkheads that have supported me these last six years. 

          Let's continue to put the smile on the sun!

August 27th, 2023

 There is one thing that we all have in common that we must stop doing. I’m not talking about breathing, because that day will come. What needs to stop before that last breath is worrying.

…..Stop worrying

I know it’s easier said than done, but we are missing out on today because of something we worry about tomorrow. Don’t miss out on anymore opportunities!

That is the gist of today’s quote.

I made myself a Boulevardier last night and sat out and watched the sunset. I had the blues show on WDCB playing softly with a nice late summer breeze bringing it all together.

The leaves are starting to sound crisp with the wind. The sun laid down behind the building across the street. Last weekend it still set behind the building kitty corner to me. Next weekend it will set a little further south and a little earlier than today.

I had good music, a nice cocktail and the beauty of nature all around me. It was the perfect setting to relax and enjoy the end of a good day.

What did I do though?

I worried!

This coming Friday is September First and I worried about bills, taxes, check engine lights, Hazel, Fritz, George, the ex, my health, my friends…… Tom Marker played a string of Muddy Water songs and I was worrying about things I can’t control.

The other day I forgot to put the smile on the sun. Probably because I was worrying about something else.

I watched the sun go down last night, but didn’t see the grandiose magic it has as it faded into tomorrow.

To make up for missing out, I’m going to watch the sun come up just after six this morning and apologize.

“Good morning Sun! I owe you an apology! I let the shitshow part of life muddle my mind and I didn’t enjoy your departure last night. Thank you for coming back today and I will try my damndest not to let that happen again….”

Stop worrying before you stop breathing and don’t forget to put the smile on the sun…

August 26th, 2023

     A few weeks ago I mentioned the last time I went to a bar before I became a father. Yesterday afternoon I met the two guys from that story for a couple beers.

My Oldman always told me that dear friends are someone you haven’t seen for awhile, but when you do see them it’s like you were together yesterday. Good friendships never skip a beat.

A couple dozen old stories, a shit load of funny memories and several bottles of Old Style later…. We never skipped a beat.

….and for the record, all I had on the table in front of me was my phone, my keys and my RayBans.

(Reference to the Chalkboard story when George was born.)

When I went to the bathroom I ran into a kid with a Boston Red Sox hat. I told him John Wagner wanted to buy him a beer. He was hesitant, so I told him I owed a guy in heaven a few pitchers of beer from Red Sox and White Sox bets. After I explained the story he gladly excepted the beer and we toasted Wags.

Needless to say it was a productive afternoon with good people.

As for todays quote….friends and smiles go hand in hand. I just realized that I put an Oriental smile on the sun today.

Get out and see your friends today and don’t forget to put a smile on the sun.

August 25th, 2023

     Betty and I were just about to pull into the garage when suddenly her battery light popped on and her power steering stopped working. She limped into the garage gingerly.

The old girl got me there though. She got me through the first day of school and over to curricular night at the high school the night before.

If she was going to conk out, she did it right when she got me to my office building.

I walked up to the trading office thinking my relationship with Betty is coming to an end. The elevator up to the fourteenth floor was full of anxiety. I’m either looking at an expensive repair bill or I’m looking at a car payment. Divorced Dads don’t deal well with extra expenses.

I just needed to calm down and wait for Tony to get to work. Tony knows everything about cars. Tony carries his tools with him in his trunk. When Tony gets up to the trading floor he will know what to do.

The market closes at 7:45 every morning and opens back up at 8:30. We call it the Biscuit Break. Tony and I went down on the Biscuit and he examined my baby.

“I got this Jumbo! This is an easy and inexpensive fix….”

Music to my fucking ears!

A pulley snapped off that held the serpentine belt in place. Tony called around and found the part in Downers Grove. We drove over after work and picked up Betty’s new pulley. Drove back to the office building garage and five minutes later… Betty was purring like she just had a luscious orgasm.

It was like we never skipped a beat. Tony had us back on the road in about forty five minutes. The part cost eighty bucks… Eighty Bucks baby!

We all need to have a Tony in our lives.

The heatwave of 2023 has come and gone. All the media hype was just full of hot air. The weather this weekend is going to be perfecto.

Saturday is rugby day. Poi Dog is in town. There are many end of summer festivals happening and the moon should be gorgeous to sip a cocktail under. The moon is leaving the first quarter and starting her Waxing Gibbous over the weekend.

Put some pork on the grill, some love on the sheets and don’t forget to put the smile on the sun.

…and find yourself a Tony!

August 24th, 2023

      I had the first spot in the pickup line on Hazel’s first day of school yesterday. Sitting there in her glory was Betty the Green Blazer with her “I love hot moms” bumper sticker.

Car number one with Hazel Shepley’s dad sweating his ass off on a hundred degree afternoon. Seat reclined and straw fedora over my eyes and beads of sweat running down my back.

I pick the redheads up after school on Wednesdays. I bragged last year how lucky I was that it was never cold during the winter on Wednesdays. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut?

Hazel walks out of the middle school entrance full of pride. She shot me that Cocky Shepley Glance as she walked over to Betty and me.

When she got into the car she turned to me and said,

“Dad? Please tell me you got the air conditioner charged up?”

No…. “Hi dad, I’m so excited!” Or “I’m so happy to see you on my first day of school dad!”

Instead my ten year old daughter busted my chops about getting the air conditioning fixed on Betty the Green Blazer.

Today is going to be another cooker. I’ll be riding around town with the windows down and WDCB blasting baby.

Today is National Waffle Day. I like blueberries in my waffles. Though my favorite kind of waffle is a wide receiver down at DePauw, Colin “Waffle” Grace.

Play well this year Waffle and keep the Monon Bell out of Wabash hands.

August 23rd, 2023

          Did I mention that Betty the Green Blazer’s air conditioning doesn’t cool down very well?

I’m not sure I’ve put a 100 up on the Chalkboard before today.

Hot fun in the summertime….

August 22nd, 2023

I don’t have anything positive to post today. I slept for shit and had some intense dreams.

I fell off a cliff early in the evening. I rode a bike with no air in the tires and was late for dinner with my former wife. I walked into the front door of my dad’s house to take a nap and was suddenly awoken by the new owner, but the most horrible dream last night….

…I was in bed with who I think was Julia Roberts, the girl from “Mystic Pizza.” I forgot to manscape. I was going to make love with Julia Roberts and I forgot to manscape!

I woke up when she gave me a dirty look…

…I had to wake up anyway because I drank a ton of sun tea before bedtime.

Big heatwave hitting Chicagoland this week. The local newscasts are at their peak overdramatizing the weather again.

It gets hot in the summer. Drink some water, stay in the shade and use some GoldBond.

The moon is in its first quarter approaching a super full moon next week. It sets at 10:30pm, so you should get a nice look after sunset.

Before you look at the moon, remember to put the smile on the sun today. 

August 21st, 2023

        We were sitting around yesterday, everyone doing their own thing. I had Spotify streaming in the background while I was cleaning up the kitchen.

Fritz was on the computer playing Roblox when “Both Sides Now” started to play. All the Shepkids should be familiar with this song since I often sing the first couple lines when the clouds are fluffy.

I’m stacking up the dishwasher and I noticed that Joni Mitchell was still singing. In fact this four minute song has been playing for almost ten minutes. I went into the living room and noticed that Fritz played it a second time.

“You like this song FreddyShep?”

“I do dad, what’s it about though?”

Out of my three children, Fritz has always been the one that hears and sees the beauty of things.

“Why don’t you turn off the Robolotix game (I like butchering words of things I don’t like) and Google “Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell and read the lyrics.”

I stood over his shoulder and we ready them together. The song looks at clouds, love and life from both an imaginary viewpoint and a cynical viewpoint. As we get older we start to lose that daydream view of the world. Life beats us down and the romantic look at life turns dark and can fade away.

Don’t let this happen. Always let yourself see the whimsical side of things. The one line that sticks out is, “I really don’t know life at all.”

It doesn’t matter if your a kid playing on the computer or a dad washing syrup off a plate. We end up spending too much time analyzing life that we forget to live it. We really don’t know life at all!

My middle child and I spent five minutes looking at both sides of life. Fritz played the song one last time. That was the first time he heard it with a better understanding of looking at things from all angles.

Fritzy Boy starts his first full week of freshman year and turns fourteen on Tuesday. This is a big week for him. “Both Sides Now” was the perfect song to start the week to.

You know what else is perfect for starting the week?

Spumoni!

I’m seeing an end of summer pattern here. Saturday was National Soft Serve Day. It’s going to be hot this week in the Midwest.

Why not deal with the heat with ice cream products?

Speaking about this heatwave. Make sure you hit the nooks and crannies with some GoldBond.

GoldBond is a sponsor of the Morning Chalkboard.

August 20th, 2023

        I didn’t make a chalkboard yesterday and I’m not very motivated today. We are sliding into the end of August and right into Labor Day weekend. I’m collecting a huge pile of past summers.

I can tell you right off the bat what summer was what for the first thirty. That happened in 1985, that happened in 1992, that happened in 1974 and that, yeah that was 1996.

Once I get past thirty summers they start to blend into summertime blurs.

That might have been 1998 or 1999. I can’t remember if that was 2006 or 2007. That could have happened sometime between the summer of 2010 and 2013. Summers just melt together the older I’ve gotten.

Even these last six summers in Riverside. There was pre Covid summer and there is post Covid summer.

I don’t even want to know what the next twenty five to thirty summers will bring.

The summer of 1993 was thirty years ago. I lived in a awesome apartment building in Oak Park. My dad’s house was a mile away. I worked in the five year pit on the trading floor. Cocktails at Ceres were well under ten bucks. I traveled all over the place and met many people. They all loved “Jumbo from Chicago.”

The summer of 2053 is thirty years from now. I’ll either be rocking in heaven with my parents.

Or…….

I’ll be eating gruel in a nursing home wearing a diaper.

In a sixty year span between 1993 to 2053, I will have gone from a hot tub in Vegas with the Houston Oiler Cheerleaders to a bingo table at Shady Acres with Mabel from Elk Grove Village.

Here is a good reason to live in the past, because the future doesn’t look very promising.

Hey, it’s National Radio Day… I’m an old school radio guy. I always have a radio tuned in at home. WDCB, XRT and WFMT are my go to FM stations. WGN and WBBM on the AM dial.

Have yourself a fantastic week and put the smile on the sun.

August 19th, 2023

 We took the day off today.............

August 18th, 2023

     My Facebook feed is full of friends taking their kids off to school. I know many of you are going through an emotional roller coaster.

Just flow with the twists and turns and let it all out baby. I can hear Ella and Louis right now,

“…..One of these mornings

You gonna rise up singin'

Yes, you'll spread your wings

And you'll take to the sky….”

This is a big moment for all of you and going to the Kleenex box is alright. I’m sure when the day comes when I take a Shepkid to college, I’ll breakdown like Billy D Williams at Piccolo’s bedside.

This isn’t just a new chapter for your child… this is a new chapter for you too.

I know a couple that was near disaster. Ready to call it quits just before their last child left for college. Once the baby went to school the marriage found new life.

Serendipity Baby…..

Back to Mr. Armstrong and Ms. Fitzgerald…. “Summertime and the living is easy….”

ust yesterday a winner was drinking milk at the race track. It’s already time to get the old Champion Sweatshirts out of the plastic bin.

In a couple weeks it will be Labor Day… I got a little taste of September last night, sleeping with the windows open. That’s the best baby!

Go enjoy the weekend Chalkheads! Get out and hear live music, eat Alpine Subs, drink BuckleDown beer and look for airplanes jetting across Chicagoland.

Fish are jumping and the cotton is high……

August 17th, 2023

     One of the guys at work took his daughter to college yesterday. I took Hazel to fifth grade orientation. Another guy in our trading office takes his daughter to college next week. I was walking around a middle school last night.

Before we left…. I dealt with a meltdown because one of Hazel’s press on nails popped off. She also wore chunky Jane shoes without socks yesterday.

I got the nail back on after a stop to Walgreens and I talked Hazel into putting on some white socks with her clunkity dress shoes.

When we arrived at the school they directed us into the gymnasium. After a welcoming speech from the principal, we walked the halls and found Hazel’s homeroom. We walked her schedule and we found her locker.

The lock!

We worked with the lock a dozen times. It’s a finicky dial that wasn’t easy to finesse. I could go back to my high school and pop open my locker right now… almost forty years later, but I couldn’t manage getting my daughter’s open last night.

It took me at least six times before I could click that fucking thing open. Poor Hazel with her damn press on nails couldn’t get her fingers on the dial.

Why did my daughter put press on nails on her fingers the day of fifth grade orientation?

She finally popped the locker open and smiled up at me with relief. She put the face on her sun.

I’m still worried next Wednesday she’s going to struggle with her locker and I won’t be there to help.

I went to bed last night and had dreams about my high school locker. I was going to be late for work in Oak Brook, Illinois because my locker at a high school in Indianapolis, Indiana wasn’t opening for me.

I woke up at 2:22am panicking…. 2:22am! My mom’s Angel Number. Here is my mom telling me from heaven not to worry about it. She will be with Hazel on Wednesday.

We got into Betty the Green Blazer and headed to the Divorced Dad drop off. Always a sad moment…. So I started singing Hazel’s combo to the Empire Carpet theme song.

She was surprised that I remembered the numbers an hour later. I told her my high school combo and she was even more surprised.

“Wow Dad!!! You can still remember that from the olden days?”

I looked at her with my fake pissed off face….

“Hazel…. Maybe we ditch the fucking nails before Wednesday? It will be easier to spin the dial on your locker.”

She smiled at me and said, “Maybe you’re right dad…..”

Before I know it I’ll be taking her to Bloomington or Iowa City. When that day comes, I’m going to start singing her fifth grade combo to her before I leave the campus.

I ended up putting the smile on the sun yesterday.

August 16th, 2023

                 I just realized I didn’t put a face on the sun today. All these years that I’ve been doing the Morning Chalkboard… I don’t think I’ve done that before?

The faceless sun chalkboard.

Having no face makes the board look bland…..It has no character! I could easily start over and draw a face on the sun, but fuck it.

Maybe deep down inside I meant to skip the face today.

Most of the people in the background of a movie are faceless, the extras. So are all of the ordinary people that walk through our daily life…..People we don’t know.

When I was a kid I thought my dad knew everyone. When I got older I realized he was just nice to those people. My dad drew a smile on their faces and made them real.

The mailman, the clerk at the White Hen, the CTA worker at the Ridgeland el stop and the old black man who picked up cans and scrap metal in the alley.

My Oldman was nice to almost everyone. Everyone except the stupid son of a bitch who didn’t use his damn turn signal. My dad hated people that didn’t use their directional. They didn’t deserve a smile on their faces.

I need to finish out my life like my Oldman and put smiley faces on everyone that passes by me.

When you draw a smile on a stranger’s face you are reassuring them that the world doesn’t suck. The ABC News might tell you it sucks, but your actions won’t.

It takes a split second to draw a smile on someone’s face.

….and if they walk away without a smile, it isn’t your fault. That person probably is in pain and can’t smile. Those are the poor souls that need a prayer. Life broke their face!

Okay you Chalkheads! Get out their and draw some smiles….

I‘m not sure who won the crosstown game last night. It will either put a smile on my face or piss me off. Most of my life Chicago baseball is useless by the middle of August.

Happy HumpDay!

When your smiling, when your smiling…. The whole world…smiles with you!

August 15th, 2023

         I didn’t know it at the time, but seventeen years ago today was the last day of my childhood. After work that day I stopped at a pub near the train station with two buddies from the trading floor.

One of the guys, a witty Irish kid from the Southside pointed at my belongings sitting in front of me on the bar.

“You see how simple your life is Jumbo?” pointing to the bar.

“You have a cellphone, sunglasses and keys……”

“Pretty soon when you leave the house you’ll have a diaper bag, bottles, towels, binkies and all the rest of dat shit that comes along with your first baby… cherish the simple life while it’s here, because when dat baby comes, you’ll be bubble wrapping your house and carrying a shit ton of stuff wherever you go.”

That was the most accurate prediction of fatherhood given to me…. and from the moment my wife became pregnant I received quite a bit of advice.

The place was Irish Times and the professor was Eddie “Fugging” Farnan. Sitting with us in agreement was another father, Michael Grace. That was the last day that I sat in a bar with my friends without worrying about a Shepkid.

I still thought I had a little time left because this kid wasn’t due until the first of September. I finished my Guinness and went home to fix dinner for my pregnant wife.

Later that night I laid in bed next to the most beautiful woman in the world. Though she was miserable, she glowed with life. Her belly was laying up on the small of my back giving me a massage with little kicks from the baby. I was listening to that Kate Bush song on my iPod. The one from the John Hughes movie, “She’s having a Baby.”

“I should be crying but I just can't let it show,

I should be hoping but I can't stop thinking,

Of all the things I should've said

That I never said…

All the things we should've done

Though we never did…

All the things I should've given

But I didn't…

Oh, darling, make it go

Make it go away.”

That was the last night of my childhood. The next day I became a man for the first time. The day that I became a father was the day I gave away the selfishness of my adolescence. I was forty fucking years old!

The next day my wife’s water broke while she was on her lunch break. Fortunately, she was with her Nana and mom. They rushed her to the hospital and called me at work.

My first child was going to be a couple weeks early. I jumped on the next Metra and headed to fatherhood. I sat on that train by myself thinking about the advice I received the day before.

For the last part of that decade and the beginning of the next one, I would be carrying a baby car seat everywhere I went.

Everywhere!

I still get tears in my eyes when I hear “This Woman’s Work.” It reminds me of the beauty my pregnant wife showed and the gift of life she gave me.

Seventeen years later and I don’t carry a binky with me anymore. I carry bags of groceries to feed my baby who is now a man child.

The person that hates me the most gave me the biggest gift of love. Three of them as a matter of fact.

Maybe I should call Farnan and Grace and meet them for a pint and celebrate our seventeenth anniversary?

To this day I still think of that advice when my keys, sunglasses and phone are sitting on a bar.

It is Tuesday morning and I have to go make a lunch for the person who showed up a couple weeks early back in 2006.

Enjoy Two for Tuesday…. Maybe XRT will play a couple Kate Bush songs today?