November 30th, 2023

Linus took his blanket and wrapped it around the base of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. Suddenly it transformed into a lush and bright display.

There is nothing wrong with having a Linus blanket. Something that gives us comfort and security. A lucky coin, a picture in your wallet, a locket, a lucky rabbit's foot or a religious metal.

Maybe going to the gym, or church or a walk in the woods gives you comfort and security. Writing the Morning Chalkboard has given me a sense of comfort.

Today is running late because I hemmed and hawed on the subject. I'm going to keep it short. It is the last day of November. It is Saint Andrew Day and it is Joe Costello's birthday. Over thirty years ago I made a "Joe Costello Birthday Dance." Thank goodness it was before cellphone cameras.

November 29th, 2023

 Yesterday was brutally cold and long, but it’s already Humpday. The weekend brings in December and the first festivities of the season.

Let’s have a good finish to November. Make sure to fill up your windshield wiper fluid today….

November 28th, 2023

 Waking up at 12:30 in the morning after an already long and exhausting start to the week isn’t good.

Like taking the keys away from someone who has been drinking. I should probably hand the piece of chalk to someone else. This is going to be a bitter and anxious entry to The Morning Chalkboard.

I have a job that I take too seriously. I’ve missed three days this year. One for a court date with Miss Hinsdale of 1995. She didn’t even show up. The second one was for a stress test and heart evaluation and the third day was to take care of a sick child. I would love to take a fourth, fifth, sixth day and walk a path without repetition.

I have a beautiful son that has been with me everyday for the last two years. In those two years he has spent about six hours with his other parent.

He keeps me grounded…. sometimes that’s a good thing. Most of the time I just worry how I’m going to prepare him to use his own wings. His feathers are arranged in a pattern that clash across the sky.

I try to leave politics and bitching out of this blog, but those last couple paragraphs sure sound like a crybaby at work.

I just humped a long Monday for someone else who at the end of the day tried pissing on my leg.

Oh shit… there I go bitching again…

It’s now almost 2:30am and I still can’t get to sleep. I’m up for the rest of this cold Tuesday.

I’ll be making breakfast and lunch for my Georgie Boy in about ninety minutes. I’ll shit, shower and shave…. Then off with Betty the Green Blazer to my trading floor in a building in the suburbs. No train, no art deco lobby, no colorful trading jackets. Just a boring building with a duck pond.

That path that I mentioned up above before the last paragraphs full of complaints… It would be nice if it led to a cabin surrounded by pines. Maybe from the French Quarter to the Saint Charles Streetcar. I could go for a beignet and a cup of coffee right now.

This piece of chalk has been good therapy early this morning. Thanks for letting me give you a piece of my mind that hopefully leads to a peace of mind.

If I can get about 45 minutes of sleep before the alarm goes off. I’ll be good to go. I can sleep when I get to heaven.

Just keep on setting good examples and putting the smile on the sun…. That’s what today brings.

November 27th, 2023

 I have a very long day ahead of me, so the Chalkboard is short and sweet.

Seems like a serious flu bug is going around. Many of us are worn down from a long Thanksgiving week. Take care of yourself and rehydrate. Rub some Vicks on your booty.

December is almost here and these next five weeks can be a MoFo. Maybe this is the year of K.I.S.S?

Keep it simple stupid!?!?!?!

Instead of a Moët Chandon December, lets make it a Prosecco celebration? Instead of a beef tenderloin, you get a couple Alpine Subs? Bake enough cookies for the family and let the neighborhood fend for itself. Maybe you cut back the feast of seven fish to a potluck supper this year?

Since this decade started, we’ve been beating the crap out of ourselves.

Maybe it’s time to stare at the Christmas lights and find a peace of mind.

Let’s enjoy this next month with our straight F’s!!!

Let’s reiterate the story of stretching out a one day supply of oil to last eight days. Be the Shamash that lights brightly for those you love and hold close.

Think about the young pregnant girl who was a virgin. Traveling with an old guy on a donkey with very little. Then she gives birth in a barn and the rest is history. Be the shepherd that witnessed this beautiful moment.

I think we need to get back to basics, skip the extravaganza and take care of ourselves this month.

Let’s walk into 2024 relaxed and rejuvenated …

… and maybe think about what Rodney screamed out at the end of “Caddyshack!”

November 26th, 2023

 Some Saturdays we sit around the house and breathe stale air.

….and that is on me because I’m the parent. I’m the one who directs traffic. If the kids are sitting around playing Roblox all day, it’s because I’m enabling them.

That wasn’t the case yesterday…..

Yesterday we lived life and got a breath of fresh air. We jumped in Betty the Green Blazer and parked her at the Harlem Avenue el stop on what is called the Greenline. Since I’ve turned into my Oldman and can’t accept change, it is still the Lake Street el in my eyes.

We took the el into the loop and down to Bronzeville, getting off at 35th street. A gentrified area in the shadows of De La Salle high school, IIT and Sox Park. The moon was lifting over the lake and the sun was settling over the stadium lights of Comiskey. Perfect timing to catch the CTA Christmas Train scheduled to roll in from the Southside.

Announcements started flooding the CTA speakers. They ran the gamut of excuses.… signal issues, equipment malfunctions and finally the hard truth, police activity.

As darkness pressed down, a regular train pulled in going northbound towards downtown. We jumped on and headed back to the old platform above Adams and Wabash.

I started getting peppered with, “I’m cold,” “I’m hungry” and the ultimate kicker…. “I need to use the bathroom.”

I had George look at the CTA tracker and he said there wasn’t a sign of our colorful choo choo on the map.

I’m standing there on one of the oldest stations in the loop with cold, hungry children that need to pee. Gleaming through the old wood station was the sign for the Exchequer Pub. An old school joint that my dad introduced to me over forty years ago.

At that point I was willing to risk missing our annual ride that culminated with the ultimate goal, a picture with the person who drove the Christmas train.

We walked right in and sat right down. In the old Chicago we would have had to wait, but not in the new Chicago. This paragraph could go political. I’ll just say that I was grateful to have an immediate table.

Fritz and I split a pizza… the best pizza in the loop in my humble opinion. Exchequer is the place I send out of towners that want Chicago pizza. It’s less touristy and more authentic than the joints advertised in travel magazines.

Hazel and George both ordered cheeseburgers and fries. The boys had root beer, Hazel drank water and dad had an Old Style.

I had too….. I drank Old Style here when I was underage. Back then, in Old Chicago, my dad ordered an extra beer for the table. As long as I didn’t make a big deal out of it, I could be a fifteen year old punk eating pizza and drinking beer with his dad.

As we finished our dinner, George checked the tracker….

…..”Dad! The train is pulling into Roosevelt!!!”

I grabbed the check, everyone was full, warm and used the potty. We ran out the door and up the stairs to the platform…..

We got through the turnstiles as the distinct sounds of the Christmas train pulled into the station. We still had one set of stairs to climb. George and Fritz were way ahead of their old dad and sister wearing Crocs.

“Come on dad…. We are going to miss it!”

Hazel lowered her head and bull rushed up the old wooden stairs pulling me along…

“We aren’t missing this train daddy…..”

George put his mannish boy body in the door, Fritz was already sitting breathless in a seat as the announcement, “the doors are closing” was sounding off.

“We made it! We made it Daddy!”

That is when George said, “we definitely wouldn’t have made it if PopPop was here!”

That is when I replied, “are you shitting me George? We made this train because PopPop is here!”

Breathing hard from my quick jaunt up Wabash Avenue and three flights of stairs….

“How many times do I have to tell you guys that Heaven is closer than Hinsdale?”

We got back to Oak Park, we got our picture with Mr. Carr and we saw the moon and Jupiter shine down on the Christmas train.

That was when Hazel proclaimed that this was the best year yet and from now on we go to Exchequer Pub on CTA Christmas Train Day.

This morning when I pondered a quote, I decided on this one from Jonathon Swift.

It simply states that we must cherish every experience, embrace the moment and make the best of our time together.

That is how PopPop would have wanted it to be today. He sure did love taking the train with the Shepkids. He wasn’t there with his big smile and runny nose, but he was there in the shine of the lights and the glow of the moon.

Someday the Shepkids will take this train without me and George will say, “Heaven is closer than Edgewater.”

Go for the Gusto! If there is police activity delaying Santa’s train, go take a piss and get something to eat.

That is the lesson on today’s Morning Chalkboard.

Let’s finish November with gusto and bring December in with oomph!

…and enjoy the second Sunday of the week courtesy of thanksgiving!

November 25th, 2023

 Late start today…. I was summoned earlier this morning to fix blankos that turned into a request for snuggles. It was something I couldn’t refuse. After a soft rendition of “Rainbow Connection” my favorite daughter was sound asleep. Sound asleep with a tight grip on my arm.

So the chalk hit the board as daylight creeped into the kitchen.

Not much going on in the Divorced Dad District this weekend. This afternoon we are going to get our annual picture with the CTA motorman. The line is too long for Santa and we are a railroad family. It is more fitting to snap a shot with the guy in the overalls and engineer cap.

Oh and take the Christmas train through the city as well.

I hope you find a nice tree today. The snow tomorrow will make it feel Christmassy when you’re decorating .

Big game at that school up north. I’m an Old Woody Hayes fan, so I root for the classier of the two football teams….

Hang on sloopy………

November 24th, 2023

 I watched my first Christmas movie of the season, “Love Actually” and played the first Christmas song as well. I didn’t go with any of the classic crooners like Bing, Nat Cole, Frank or Tony Bennett. I went with the raw and controversial “Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues.

It’s not Frosty or Rudolph, but very Christmasy in its own way. I get all pumped up for the holidays when I hear…. “You scumbag, you maggot

You cheap lousy faggot

Happy Christmas your arse

I pray God it's our last.”

I heard something very similar during the Christmas of 2016. My final Christmas with a wife.

She was handing Christmas presents out to everyone. She handed both her father and me a Christmas liquor bag with colorful paper stuffed around the top of the bottle. It wasn’t a skinny wine bag, but a heavy one that fit a bottle with a handle. Something that would last well into the new year.

The kids all opened their gifts and my FIL and I still hadn’t unveiled the bottles of booze yet. We both reached into our Christmas bags and quickly pulled them out.

To my delight I unmasked a large bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue. A rare blend that is very expensive. Something I would have never bought for myself. My FIL pulled a bottle of Jack Daniels out of his bag.

Immediately my MIL nipped at her daughter that she gave us the wrong bags. Without hesitation my future ex wife corrected her mistake and the bottle of Jack ended up going home with me. It barely made it into 2017.

For many years I held a strong resentment towards everyone involved in that scene. The nonchalant recovery of switching the bottles burned inside my memory.

On the trading floor we would have called that an out trade. When you have a “OutTrade,” you have an error that you take responsibility for. In my experience I would have been leaving with a bottle of scotch and not a bottle of Tennessee whiskey.

My marriage was falling apart, The tension was unbearable, I was bitter over the bottle fiasco and George Michael died suddenly that day.

Time has gone by quickly and I’ve realized how petty my resentment was. It was inevitable that I was spending the last Christmas with a wife. That bottle of Jack Daniels wasn’t the reason my marriage was failing.

And my in laws were always very generous. I would have loved that bottle of Jack if the bottle of Johnnie wasn’t torn from my hands. Ripped so quickly that Christmas ornaments jingled on the tree as the bottles changed ownership.

That was our last Christmas together and this will be the first Christmas without Ed. That amplifies how petty we can be. Christmas comes and goes and eventually our loved ones will go as well.

Christmas of 2022…. Just last year my in laws were at my home celebrating with their grandchildren and their ex son in law. It was a little weird at first, but we had a wonderful day. I wish I knew it would have been the last one for PopPop. I would have made beef tenderloin and not a ham. I would have thanked him with a hug and not a handshake.

So that’s the parable of the mixed up booze bags. It might not be as famous as O. Henry’s “Gift of the Magi,” but the lesson is just as valuable.

Let’s roll Chalkheads…. The leftovers fill the fridge and Christmas trees are leaving the lots.

I leave you with one more earworm today. Even though George Michael has been gone for seven years, all you need to do is press the play button and he’s with you….

“Last Christmas I gave you my heart

But the very next day you gave it away

This year, to save me from tears

I'll give it to someone special.”

November 23rd, 2023

 My parents thought it was a great idea to get their ten year old son a paper route. Unfortunately the only one available was a “Chicago Daily News” route on the blocks south of where I lived. The ideal route is around your house delivering to the neighbors that you know.

My dad put the paper bag horns on my handle bars and a basket on the back of my bike. I wanted a banana seat, but now my bike looked like something a gramma rode to the grocery.

The “Chicago Daily News” was an afternoon newspaper. My stack was usually dropped off in front around 3:50pm. Just enough time to change out of my school uniform and grab a snack.

Most of my route was bungalows and flats, so it only took about an hour to deliver fifty to sixty newspapers around the neighborhood.

The only time it ever cramped my style was on Thanksgiving. The dreaded holiday edition with all the sales pages ready for the first weekend of Christmas shopping.

The normal “daily news” was about a half inch thick. Easy to fit in the paper bag tied to the front of my bike.

Not the Thanksgiving paper… it was at least two inches thick. It filled both my canvas bag and my gramma basket. Adds for Marshall Fields, JC Penney, Carson’s, Venture, toy stores, sport stores, fur coat stores and furniture stores.

That Thanksgiving I had to leave my Uncle Charlie’s house early and deliver the news to my devoted customers. When we got back to the house there were five bundles stacked on our stoop. Usually there was one sometimes two.

My mom helped me stuff all the sale adds into every single one of the newspapers. She then put them in the trunk of her 1969 Chevy Vega and drove along my route with her hazards flashing.

A couple neighbors were waiting at the door for the afternoon news. They were actually on their stoop to hand me a Thanksgiving card or package. By the time my mom and I were done delivering the papers.... her backseat was full of plates of cookies, pie, slices of turkey and envelopes.

Each envelope had a fin or a two dollar bill in it. It was 1976 and two dollar bills were being reissued for the first time in years. I think it was because of the Bicentennial. They became popular currency to tip the paperboy.

Mom and I parked the car and brought our bounty into the house. We had a second feast courtesy of the neighbors dedicated to the last afternoon newspaper in Chicago.

I ended up getting duked close to forty bucks that day. Mom and I ended up watching movies on the couch that night. It might have been the last time I fell asleep with my head on my mommy’s hip.

The “Chicago Daily News” went out of business a year or two later. My dad joked that the paper was around for over a hundred years. Moose gets a job with them and they shutdown the presses soon afterwards.

Happy Thanksgiving Chalkheads.

November 22nd, 2023

 The Wednesday of Thanksgiving week. Once a day to celebrate with dear friends consuming large amounts of alcohol. Today it’s a time to brine the bird and prep the sides.

Tomorrow morning I’ll wake up early and play the “December” album by George Winston. A tradition that started back in the eighties. The first song on the record is titled “Thanksgiving.”

Today is my Aunt Barb’s 80th birthday. I want to thank all of you that sent her a birthday card. Tomorrow will be my MIL’s first Thanksgiving without her dear husband. I want to thank all of you that sent prayers their way this last month.

These acts remind me of the things that I’m thankful for…. The straight F’s in life!

Most of you Chalkheads are familiar with them, but I’ll remind some of you new Chalkers..

FOUNDATION: FAITH, FAMILY and FRIENDS. This week we can add FOOD and FOOTBALL.

Today marks the sixtieth anniversary when Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination of a man whose father and brother double crossed the Chicago Syndicate. I always wonder how different the 1960’s and 1970’s would have been if Nixon truly won the 1960 election.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve…. Bring on your traditions, but don’t use my last paragraph at the dinner table. You might offend someone who believed in Camelot.

I noticed that I put the smile on the sun, but I forgot the rays of shining light. That means all of us must provide the rays of life today. We must take it upon ourselves to lighten up the day.

November 21st, 2023

 I just want to lay in bed and listen to the rain this morning. If you have a fat turkey… you better start thawing it out right now. If you have a jive turkey… stick it back into the icebox.

I didn’t have a sun to put the smile on today. It’s going to be one of those days you see beauty in gray.

Naked trees that recently lost their lush colorful coat. Standing jagged in the autumn rain have a stark beauty that can be just as brilliant as their summer counterpart.

Finding the balance in life is when you feel happy with the blue sky and the gray sky.

Back to listening to the early morning rain for me, But the top hat on my head is all you see.

November 20th, 2023

    Thanksgiving week has arrived. So much can happen in the next seven days. Let’s touch base on November 27th and see how this all plays out.

I’m thankful right now for how people come into your life and how people come back into your life. One occurred with comedy and the other with tragedy. Let’s touch base on November 27th and see how this plays out.

Don’t let this week and the following month stress you out. Everyone is going to love your stuffing and green bean casserole.

November 19th, 2023

 I’ve had a couple well being checks already this morning.

I’m alright, I’m alright.”

I’ve done something very unusual this morning. I slept until 6:23am?!?!

So the Morning Chalkboard is running late today. My mom didn’t wake me up early to go do my paper route.

It’s going to be too nice of a day to waste time on a Chicago Bears game. I’m at a point in my life that you save a shitty football team for a shitty day. Through life I’ve stuck with them thick and thin. Today, I’m putting them on the G.A.F. Shelf.

Today marks the day Colombus landed in Puerto Rico. He came across the Taino people who would later become “The Sharks” in “West Side Story.”

It is Thanksgiving week!

Pizza and pumpkin pie is all that I’m making.

I should have put a question mark at the end of today’s quote….

…what is YOUR word that would complete the Morning Chalkboard?

Let’s eliminate the big choices…

Peace, Love, Hope, Faith.

Let’s have fun with this question.

My word is onomatopoeia. I love this word and what it brings to the table. Sizzle, cuckoo, wham, zap, kapow, boing, pitter-patter, zowie, gargle, faloof and BAM.

I didn’t pick just one word. I picked a goofy sounding word that brings joy and fun into the conversation.

This is the week to bring joy and fun into the world. Just don’t bring up politics, the JFK assassination or the Milli Vanilli scandal up on Thanksgiving and all will be good.

Go be happy on this glorious Sunday Funday.

November 18th, 2023

 I have an old fashion ice cream scoop that has been in my possession for years. I don’t remember where or how I got the thing, but it has become a prized item in my kitchen utensil drawer.

It is a solid piece of grayish metal with a firm handle and a strong scoop. It moves through frozen ice cream like it’s butter.

I always wash it when I’m done making a bowl of ice cream. I dry it off immediately and put it back in the drawer next to the pizza cutter. Which is another important weapon in my kitchen arsenal.

George worked hard this week and battled through the onset of grief left from PopPop’s departure to heaven. So I bought a container of the Breyers French Vanilla that he likes.

Shortly after he finished his dinner,

“Dad? Can I make a bowl of ice cream please?”

….I replied from the living room,

“Sure son, just don’t leave a mess…”

Ten minutes later I got up to put my dinner plate and silverware in the dishwasher. Sitting in the left sink, the dirty side of the sink was my prized ice cream scooper.

“Geeeeeooooooorrrrrggggggeeeee!!!!”

Out from his Weird Science bedroom lurked my seventeen year old mannish boy.

“You’ve got to be shitting me son? Why is my ice cream scoop not cleaned up and put away?”

With a sheepish reply, “Oh, I forgot.”

Making sure George was a witness. I rinsed my Holy dessert ladle, dried it off and put it in the proper drawer.

“This is how we take care of the family ice cream scooper George.”

That was the moment my creamery spoon became an important part of the family history.

“Someday George! Someday…. You’ll be making bowls of ice cream for your kids. Maybe your nieces and nephews, If Hazel and Fritz allow you around their children…”

George just wanted to go back and play his damn computer game. Clumsily trying to inch back towards his bedroom.

“I’m not done here George… you will need to tell the next generation of Shepley about their Grampa Jumbo and the family ice cream scoop.”

George anxiously agreed and gave me the old, “yeah, yeah…. Okay, okay, okay dad!” line.

“and how Grampa Jumbo would come unglued if Uncle George put it in the dirty side of the sink without cleaning it!”

George went back in his room and continued zapping zombies running for president.

I stood alone in the kitchen leaning against the counter. I was trying to fathom a middle aged Uncle George telling Grampa Jumbo stories.

Those ShepKid juniors with their beautiful blue eyes and big butts will hear the old stories…

How Grampa got pissed if a driver didnt use his turn signal.

How Grampa made the best pancakes and pizza.

How Grampa memorized the Chicago Grid and thought everyone north of Armitage (2000N) (Cubs) was probably a jagoff and everyone south of Roosevelt (1200S) (Sox) spoke Chicagonese.

How Grampa loved Mardi Gras, Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July.

How Grampa worshipped Butkus, Stargell, Payton and Mayor Daley.

How Grampa held high the Royal Family and all the pomp of the British military bands.

….and how Grampa kept the family ice cream scoop clean.

Today is the 20,959th day since I met my parents in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago. I turn 30,000 days old on Wednesday, August 19. 2048. I’ll be eighty two years old and hopefully I’ll be able to personally tell Hazel’s son John how to use the directional and how to make a bowl of ice cream.

Today will be the first Saturday morning where we know PopPop won’t be pulling up to grab George for their Saturday errands, chores and lunch. PopPop would have been 30,000 days on November 14th. He was just three days shy, passing on the 11th.

I sure hope George will have fond memories and stories about Great Grampa PopPop to tell Generation Gamma. I sure hope GenG has some balls and responsibility. I sure hope GenG follows in the steps laid down by their Great Grandfather Ed.

Happy Saturday Chalkheads! Thanksgiving week is upon us. The stores will be packed and the roads will be jammed.

Be kind and use your F’ing turn signal!

You are now exactly

57 years, 4 months and 17 days old

Your next birthday is

in 226 days

and the day of the week is

Monday

The day of the week on which you were born was

Friday

Your age can also be expressed in different units of time as follows

20959 days old

57.38 years

688.57 months

2,994.14 weeks

503,016.00 hours

30180960 minutes

1810857600 seconds

The date on which you were or will be

1,000 days old is Thursday, March 27. 1969.

2,000 days old is Wednesday, December 22. 1971.

3,000 days old is Tuesday, September 17. 1974.

4,000 days old is Monday, June 13. 1977.

5,000 days old is Sunday, March 09. 1980.

6,000 days old is Saturday, December 04. 1982.

7,000 days old is Friday, August 30. 1985.

8,000 days old is Thursday, May 26. 1988.

9,000 days old is Wednesday, February 20. 1991.

10,000 days old is Tuesday, November 16. 1993.

11,000 days old is Monday, August 12. 1996 and the day you used your precious ice cream scoop.

12,000 days old is Sunday, May 09. 1999.

13,000 days old is Saturday, February 02. 2002.

14,000 days old is Friday, October 29. 2004.

15,000 days old is Thursday, July 26. 2007.

16,000 days old is Wednesday, April 21. 2010.

17,000 days old is Tuesday, January 15. 2013.

18,000 days old is Monday, October 12. 2015.

19,000 days old is Sunday, July 08. 2018.

20,000 days old is Saturday, April 03. 2021.

21,000 days old is Friday, December 29. 2023.

22,000 days old is Thursday, September 24. 2026.

23,000 days old is Wednesday, June 20. 2029.

24,000 days old is Tuesday, March 16. 2032.

25,000 days old is Monday, December 11. 2034.

26,000 days old is Sunday, September 06. 2037.

27,000 days old is Saturday, June 02. 2040.

28,000 days old is Friday, February 27. 2043.

29,000 days old is Thursday, November 23. 2045.

30,000 days old is Wednesday, August 19. 2048.

November 17th, 2023

 Before we start talking about baklava, I want to mention that I had a dream in which I was getting in an elevator with a former colleague and a Christmas tree. The elevator might have been at the Board of Trade. It started falling immediately after the doors closed, but I survived impact and I woke up exactly at 2:22, my mom’s Angel Number.

The dream book on my nightstand pretty much said that I’m fucked.

So let’s talk about baklava. One of my favorite desserts that always brings back memories of great meals in Greektown.

One of the first guys I worked for in the bond room was a Greek guy. He always took our crew over to Halsted Street on Fridays after the close.

We had a group of twelve or fifteen guys sitting around the table after a great lunch. I just finished my Greek coffee and a piece of baklava when the waiter brought a tray of Ouzo shots.

Each glass had a couple coffee beans in it and a blue flame. The waiter lit the shots as he sat them down on the table.

It was late winter of 1990. Most of us were in our early twenties to mid thirties. One of the guys was a younger kid from Wisconsin. Straight off the ice rink on the frozen pond. An intelligent kid, but not steep in the common sense of street smarts.

Seconds after the waiter set the flaming Ouzo shots on the table, the Cheesehead slammed his shot. He didn’t wait for the rest of the boys and he didn’t wait long enough after he blew out the flame.

In slow motion the group waved and screamed, “STOP!!!!!!!!!”

The poor bastard was done for the day. His lips and tongue scorched by the heated elixir and shot glass.

The injured kid drank every glass of cold water in front of him. Also sitting in front of him on the table was the baklava that this poor son of a bitch wouldn’t be able to taste.

So I reached over and took the plate and enjoyed a second piece of the gooey and sticky Mediterranean delight.

I’ve had many pieces of baklava and shots of Ouzo since that naïve afternoon. None of them were as delightful.

Back to the elevator ….. my life might drastically change. Maybe my routine, maybe my career or with a relationship. Hopefully it can all wait until after thanksgiving.

Have a strong Friday and a glorious weekend. After the rain comes through this morning…. the sky will be blue and the sun will be bright. The shine will be at a low angle, so you’ll need to twist your body to put some sun on your face.

and try to do something that will make you shout, “Opa….!!!!!”

November 16th, 2023

 When I was a kid my dad always made loose leaf sandwiches. Loose leaf sandwiches are basically Sloppy Joes without the tomato base. It’s a mixture of diced onions, sometimes garlic, salt and pepper.

Very simple…..

You can eat it on a bun, you can eat it in a bowl. You can add you favorite condiment and you can even melt cheese over it. Though my dad never put cheese on his. He would say it isn’t Kosher.

My dad made it a glamorous event when it was loose leaf ground beef night. On occasion he would pick up the small Hawaiian rolls and make loose leaf sliders.

Sometimes my dad would make hash browns as the side dish, but most of the time he’d put a handful of Jays on my plate. I would always put a half dozen chips on my sandwich to make it crunch. We called that Catholic school lettuce.

My dad would take whatever was left in the skillet for himself and pour Open Pit on top. He would sit in his chair in the family room and shovel the bits of ground beef in his mouth like he was late for work. The bowl was no further than ten inches from his face. Spoon after spoon after spoon until that spoon scraped across an empty bowl.

Occasionally I’ll make loose leaf in memory of my Oldman. The kids don’t like it so after I make my bowl I turn the rest of the ground beef into either spaghetti sauce or taco meat.

I used this Walt Whitman quote recently made famous by Ted Lasso. It simply means the judgments we make can be better if we ask questions before we make conclusions. Questions spark our curiosity and make better conclusions.

My dad said that everyone is prejudice, it’s just human nature. It is the weak that turn prejudice into hatred and racism.

We must ask questions before we come to a conclusion on what we are judging.

Seems nowadays everyone is skipping the stereotyping and prejudice and going right for the hatred.

If you were to say that Don Shepley was a big man from Iowa, he must like Loose meat sandwiches you’d be prejudging and you’d be correct.

If you were a little more curious you would find out that Don Shepley made loose leaf most of the time because it was cheap and money was tight.

Ask questions, be curious.

Today is Don’s eighty eighth birthday. I’m probably going to make loose leaf in his honor tonight. I should go over to the Joyce and have a Tullamore DEW to really honor the old Hawkeye.

Our mid November Indian Summer is coming to an end today. The weekend will be cool and seasonal.

Speaking of Indians… a week from today they get together with the Pilgrims for the TurkeyBowl.

“Keep your face always toward the sunshine and shadows will fall behind you.” Another Walt Whitman quote

Put the smile on the sun and be kind…. That’s a John Shepley quote.

November 15th, 2023

 Here we are already halfway into November. I know some of you have snuck in a couple Christmas Carols on the radio. I’ve been a good boy so far and stayed away from 93.9FM.

It makes it hard to hear about winter wonderlands when it’s sixty degrees outside.

Humpday for the week, humpday for the month. The smile is on the sun and it looks like a beautiful day is upon us.

Enjoy the only November 15th, 2023 that you’ll ever have.

I never met Charlie Watts or Ringo Starr or Keith Moon or Stewart Copeland, but I did meet the drummer for Blue Oyster Cult at The Brat Stop once. So I have that feather in my cap. It’s National Drummers day today. So a shout out to Riverside’s own Pete Durbin and Michael Casey.