February 10th, 2024

 In Chicago we joke about our two seasons, winter and construction. I’m always talking about the path of life. Many of you have been on my path and I’ve been on yours.

Those paths could have merged due to road construction and one of us taking a detour.

My biggest detour was my marriage. If the Eisenhower, the Dan Ryan and the 294 were all under construction at the same time… you’d have my failed marriage.

Eventually the last traffic cone was picked up and all of the surfaces were paved. That is where I’m traveling now and during all those detours I picked up three passengers. The Shepkids!

I had another detour during my career when open outcry trading was starting to fade. The path had several road closures, but I finally found a road that I’ve taken from the trading pits to a trading office.

All of my plans and preparations, all of the plans and preparations my parents had for me… Well…. I lost those directions, I didn’t have a map, but finally GPS came around and helped me get on the right path.

Getting lost has some real benefits. In fact all of life’s detours and closed exit ramps have a reason for the madness. It ends up being those critical moments that help us grow and learn and live.

Shit if I took my parents plan… I’d be a priest. Could you see me dropping F bombs during my homily?

“Jesus went into the temple and told all these assclowns that they’ve fucked up the place and his Oldman is pissed off! He told those Jagoffs that his dad will destroy this fucking mess and rebuild it!”

My parishioners would walk out of ten o’clock mass dumbfounded.

If I took the path I wanted as a young man I would be an unemployed and bitter journalist. I think the demise of the newspaper is similar to the end of the trading floor. Both are relics….

I was never the next Mike Royko, but I am the guy who writes on a chalkboard that hangs in his kitchen. Have you noticed I’ve been doodling more often in the grabber section?

Time to get my big ass off of this typewriter and take the path of Saturday morning.

Chinese New Year, the year of the dragon. I’m a Horse guy myself who loves a good egg roll now and then.

I put a smile on the sun today. We have some rugby early this morning and Ike over at BuckleDown has collaborated with Aunt Diana’s.

They are offering a chocolate and beer special for Saint Valentine’s Day. I don’t have love right now, so I might partake for Mardi Gras reasons instead. You can’t go wrong with an Old Style and a Whatchamacallit!

Be kind, put some pork in the crock pot and a wet spot on the sheet.

February 9th, 2024

 Let’s finish the week strong and have a nice mellow weekend. Big sporting event coming up with the second round of the Six Nations tournament. Scotland plays France followed by England clashing with Wales and then the perfect Chicago marriage, Ireland versus Italy.

I left the radio on and the window cracked. I should be well rested, but I actually feel more tired. Wrestling a chilly breeze and Dvorak had me tossing and turning. I’m glad it is Friday.

Finish the first full week of February with gusto and enjoy walking your shadow today. It’s Mardi Gras weekend…. So get yourself one last taste before lent.

….and bring a flashlight with you when you walk the dog before sunrise. We are halfway between full moons and it’s dark outside

February 8th, 2024

 Hazel was just turning four when I moved back east of Mannheim Road. From the moment I would pick her up on my weekends, she would be glued to my side.

I was constantly playing with dolls or watching Disney Princess movies. I’d lay down on the couch and she would be on my hip. If I took a moment to sit in my chair to watch an inning of the Sox game, she would be on my lap.

I couldn’t go anywhere from 3:00pm Friday afternoon until 5:30 on Sunday without my little Hazelnut.

“Da? Where are you Da? Oh, there you are Da!!! Whatcha doing Da Da?”

“Hazel…… I’m trying to take a dump here….. can you go find Elsa and make sure she hasn’t frozen Fritz and George please?”

Last night I picked up Hazel. We sat at the table and had dinner and then she went to her room and did her own thing.

Then I heard her door open and she told me she was going to my room to take a shower.

Remember on yesterday’s Chalkboard when I said I was looking forward to getting into a made bed at the end of the day?

My bed was all twisted up and there was a wet towel laying across the pillows and a training bra on the nightstand.

Five hours yesterday and we spent fifteen minutes together. I didn’t have to dress any Barbie dolls up. I didn’t have to use scissors for Hazel. I didn’t have to glue this or tape that…

I’m not sure I’m comfortable with this independent little girl?

I did get a little back rub and neck massage, but that was followed up with…. “Can I have a brownie please?”

The next neck massage I get will probably end with the question….

“Can I have the keys to Betty?”

I was asked another question last night….

"Dad? Who are you rooting for in the Superbowl this weekend?”

I told her that I didn’t give two squirts who wins, I’ll be watching the Rick Steves European travel marathon on PBS.

“OMG Dad… you are soooo old!”

“Oh yeah Hazel!!! Who are you rooting for in the game?”

“Well…. Duh?!?! The Chiefs! I mean come on! I want Kelce to score a touchdown!”

I missed a SuperBowl five years ago to watch Moana. Things sure do change quickly in life. Luckily, Hazel is at her mom’s this weekend and I won’t have to watch any football on Sunday.

It is Fat Thursday! Get yourself a bowl of gumbo and a hurricane!

And remember……. Heart-breakers gonna break, break, break, break, break! And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake! Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake

I shake it off, I shake it off!

February 7th, 2024

  I just erased twenty minutes of going nowhere. Five paragraphs of dipshit sentences that related to marshmallows and kangaroo piss.

It is Wednesday and my feet hurt. I could go for a nice steam and breakfast at Ceres in the Board of Trade.

The only thing I’m looking forward to today is the cake in the icebox at work. Our office mom, Sue made a cake for the boss. The icing is lush, the inside is moist and it contains chocolate chips. That alone will make Wednesday Mo Betta’.

I’m going to go make my bed and see where the day takes me. Good or bad, I’ll be climbing into a made bed tonight.

Happy Wednesday Chalkheads.

Use your turn signal and have dessert for breakfast.

February 6th, 2024

 I’ll see you tomorrow.

How many times have you said that? How many times have you replied to that?

That is a huge promise that can’t be guaranteed.

Again, I’ve turned into my Oldman with something else that he once did.

Whenever someone tells me that they’ll see me tomorrow I reply, “God willing!”

I’m in a boring time in my life right now. When I look at today’s Chalkboard quote, I’m not booking a trip to Paris. I’m not even planning a trip to Twin Anchors.

For me, the perfect moment is when the lines are empty at Costco.

Whenever I see a bumper sticker or a poster that says, “Carpe diem…,” I think, “Don’t bullshit yourself!”

You’re not going to seize the day. You’re not even going to seize 2024.

Then I think to myself again….

All the little things that I do on a daily basis…. That’s what ‘carpe diem’ means.

Going to work, to church, to the grocery, to Labarra for a pizza, to the barber, to the cleaners…. Those are the perfect moments in life.

Going to see the Eiffel Tower or the Grand Canyon only lasts a moment.

But sitting on the same park bench and watching the path of shadows everyday. That is the perfect moment.

Taking the Shepkids on the same CTA Christmas train at the same time every year, that is the perfect moment.

Going to the James Joyce when England plays Ireland. The same people, the same barstool, the same pint of Guinness, the same exhilarating atmosphere…. That is the perfect moment.

The mundane routine of life is the perfect moment.

Mardi Gras is one week from today. Time to take the green, gold and purple out of the closet. It is the perfect moment to go to the same place that I go to every year to celebrate Fat Tuesday. The same hurricane, the same redbeans and rice, the same second line songs and the same faces. It’s the perfect moment to go to Shanahans for some King cake.

Life has some exciting moments through the years, but it’s the daily moments that give life gusto.

So carpe diem your laundry… carpe diem getting gas… Carpe diem thawing out that pork shoulder.

Today is the perfect day for a mundane moment.

Cherish it!

God willing you wake up tomorrow so you can wash your socks and underwear.

February 5th, 2024

 It is Monday morning and I’m at a loss for words today.

“Whatever you are?”

I’m sitting here trying to figure out what that is before I can say if I’m good at it or not.

This weekend I was told that I make the best pancakes. That’s what I’m good at…. Making pancakes.

Whatever you are, you’ve got to be happy about it. Because if you’re not happy, you can’t be good.

On a sad note…. Sorry.

I learned a kid that I worked with on the trading floor killed himself last week. One minute this kid was telling funny jokes, the next minute he was a spiteful prick. One day happy, one day sad.

Mental illness…. It finally became too much for this guy. Mental illness never let this guy figure out who he was. Mental illness never let him realize if he was good.

The world has a huge supply of hatred and mental illness. It’s our job as Chalkheads to be the smile on the sun. We are the dim light that shines through the crack.

I was just getting ready to wrap this Chalkboard up and I smacked everyone with a downer.

Sometimes a bad moment can help us define a good moment and that is how we can determine….

….who we are?!?!?!

February 4th, 2024

 If there is a quote that I’ve repeated on the Morning Chalkboard, it would be today’s words from William Butler Yeats.

Many years ago my father gifted me two crystal beer steins. Etched on the side is this quote about friendship. As I opened the box my Oldman gave me his speech on friendship.

Finding friends isn’t easy.

The hardest part is weeding out a friend from an acquaintance. Ninety percent of the people we know are acquaintances, nine percent are friends and one percent are dear friends.

I have a bottle of Chimay beer made by Belgian Monks that I will drink from my Dad’s glass tonight. A bottle of Chimay was the other gift I received that day and it’s the only beer I pour for special occasions.

…Today is a special occasion.

It’s Billy Hamilton’s birthday today. Billy is a good son, a good brother, a good husband, a good father and recently he has become a good grampa.

But for me and many others… he’s a good friend.

Friendship is a special gift and a key element in the Straight F’s in life. Faith is the food that nurtures our soul. Family is the arm that pushes us through life and friendship is the glue that keeps us in place.

I’m going to call Billy later and wish him a happy birthday. I already sent him a picture this morning of the button everyone wore on his 30th birthday.

I think today…. everyone should call their own Billy Hamilton and shoot the shit with them. Maybe you talked to them last week. Maybe you talked to them during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Maybe you haven’t talked to them since 2013?

Reach out to YOUR Billy Hamilton today and let them know that you care.

A large path will cut across southern and central Indiana on April 8th. Something billed as a spectacular solar eclipse. Make sure to get your protective glasses today.

Enjoy Sunday, February 4th, 2024.

It’s the only Sunday, February 4th, 2024 that you’ll get.

Make it count.

February 3rd, 2024

 The first Saturday of February and there will be a smile on our shadows.

Six Nations started last night with Ireland defeating a strong French club. This morning will have two more first round matches. I love rugby Saturday.

We’ve had a great start to the month Chalkheads. Monday we learned to be patient with the time that we have with each other. Tuesday was a hill climbed with enthusiasm. Wednesday’s was forgive and forget day. Thursday’s lesson was about finding perfection in being a good person and yesterday we realized happiness is all around.

.... and some Beastie Boys for the Saturday quote.

Today I am going to watch the sunrise and be a dad. It’s a great day to surprise someone with a coffee cake. If you have a favorite bakery, mine is Oak Park Bakery…. Buy two coffee cakes.

One for your family and another one for a surprised friend. Nothing makes you feel better than an unexpected knock on the door and a coffee cake shoved into your hands.

Tits Up Chalkheads… get out and spread some good stuff!

February 2nd, 2024

 My mom dragged me away from my home when I was in junior high. She took me from Chicago to a horrible place called Indianapolis. Everyone talked funny and everything was spread out.

I wanted to go home the whole time. I hated every minute I was there and because of that I became a problem child.

Going back to yesterday’s theme of how age brings a different aspect towards life. I look back now and realized that my time as a Hoosier wasn’t as bad as I thought.

I was foolish….

That was the one time in my life that I had the most family around me. The whole time that I was pissed at my mom, her family was at my disposal. Cousins and second cousins, aunts and great aunts, uncles and great uncles and my gramma. I even had a great gramma who lived in an old house in a town called Greensburg.

I was never alone, but that was the only time in my life that I was lonely.

….And here comes today’s quote into play.

The whole time I lived in Indianapolis, happiness was under my feet. I finally realized it after most of those family members left Indianapolis for heaven.

The other day I received a text from the kid I bullied in eighth grade. Yes, I was a bully. Remember… I was a problem child who just wanted to go home. Through the years we have become dear friends. The first thing I did when we became Facebook friends was apologize for being an asshole.

In fact, I had to apologize to a shit ton of Hoosier classmates as Facebook made rekindling old acquaintances easy to do. I apologized to my history teacher. My creative writing teacher and even a priest.

What I realized was that most of us were going through the same turmoil at that age.

Yesterday I learned that I didn’t have to strive for perfection and today the lesson is happiness.

Happiness isn’t miles away. It’s all around you….

Life takes us across an emotional journey that mostly teaches with hindsight.

Life might be a pain in the ass right now, but in ten years from now…

…it should be a fond memory!

It better be!!!

I’m going to get up and make George his lunch. I won’t be doing that in 2034. Later today, I’ll be picking up Fritz and Hazel at school. I won’t be doing that in 2034. Later today, I’ll ask Fritz if he has his homework done, I won’t be doing that in 2034.

Tonight, at night night… I will be asked to sing three songs and rub a back. I won’t be doing that in 2034.

Happiness is under my feet. Even though I worry about bills. I argue with my ex-wife. My parents aren’t around to bust my balls. I don’t travel like I used to. I don’t have a big house or a new car.

Happiness is under my feet and I sure as fuck hope that happiness is under your feet as well.

Wow…. These last two Chalkboards have been very therapeutic for me.

How many of you will be watching Bill Murray tonight?

First weekend in February and the temperatures will be mild and the sun should have a smile.

One last thing…. Happiness is all around you. Go smell it. Go taste it. Go hear it. Go see it. Go hump it.

February 1st, 2024

 With age I’ve come to realize that it doesn’t have to be perfect and with hindsight I’ve also realized that it’s been as close to perfect as it ever will get.

How did I get to the first day of February in the year of 2024?

I made a shit ton of mistakes. Made some wrong turns and pissed off more people than I can count.

Though I was never late.

I still have hiccups here and there. I’ve been around the block so many times that I never make a wrong turn and most of the people that I pissed off… I pray to them daily because many of them are in heaven.

I had a guy reach out to me the other day. A guy about twenty years older than me who told me we were related. His grandmother and my great grandmother on my dad’s side were sisters.

He has sent me family photos and told me about some interesting stories in the short time since our paths crossed.

Long story short…..

All the days that I’ve lived and all the stories of my life will someday be told by someone that I don’t know. A relative of a relative of a relative. Someone that is interested in genealogy will come across a Great great, great uncle of a brother who lived from 1966 into the middle of the twenty first century.

He was born in Chicago, Illinois and worked on one of the last open outcry trading floors at the Chicago Board of Trade. He wrote stories around the time when people went from writing on paper to using the original computers of the twentieth century.

That is it….

Someday that will be all my life will amount to. A paragraph in someone’s genealogy hobby.

They will find my birth certificate, a divorce document and my death certificate. They might find a picture of me at an old fashion football game at a stadium that was once on Lake Michigan.

This future relative won’t know all my mistakes or the wrong turns that I made or figure out who I pissed off.

So, I don’t need to reach for perfection. I just need to strive to be good.

Because that future relative might put together what kind of person that I was. I want that paragraph to read that I was a good person. That I was passionate about my faith, my family and my friends.

It will probably come out that I was a Chicago Bears and White Sox fan during the period when they both sucked. It was two years after John Shepley’s death that they both became frequent champions.

Dry January is over suckers. The February rent check is due and Mardi Gras is next week. By the end of the month the sunsets will be close to six o’clock and our shadows will be closer to our bellies.

Go out today and be imperfect and work on the record books to read that you were a good person who made the world better during your time.

…. and let the good times roll!!!