Anybody seen my inspiration?

I don't know where my inspiration went tonight but I got nothin'. I am not doing a good job of making notes on the various blog ideas I come up with during the day. Now I am tired and cannot come up with a thing...

I played golf today. It was unseasonably warm here and I wanted to test out my surgically repaired hand. The test was successful. The repaired finger is actually very good; the sutures are still a little sore. I was concerned that the hand would not hold up and my concern was all for naught. Now if I could just get these stitches out...

Heading to Las Vegas Thursday for a little fun in the name of business entertainment. One of our best clients and best friends in the business loves Vegas (he's from Philly!), so we'll meet him there and do the Vegas thing. I won't lose a lot of money because I never really bet a lot of money. We'll have some fun going to see the show "Love" at the Mirage, which I have seen once, and am looking forward to again. A night of Beatles music in Vegas is settling. The place is whacko...A couple of days in Vegas is enough for us...back home Sunday.

Can't wait to go down to Florida for Thanksgiving for the weather. I wish all my kids could be there with us but some things are hard to work out these days. Hopefully, we can get together and eat another turkey sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

To all my friends and loved ones, I love you more

What do the Boomtown Rats know anyway?

Five questions for a Monday

1. Do you have an iPod (or other mp3 player)? If yes, how many songs do you have and how would you describe the music in there?

2. What TV show from your childhood do you remember and why?

3. What is your best quality? worst?

4. The Beatles or the Stones?

5. Are you looking forward to anything that you have planned for this week? month?

We Must Never Forget

This is not about agreeing with war. This is about honoring those that have given of themselves to serve our country. One of those that gave was my Dad. While he was lucky to come back from the Korean war alive, he really didn't survive it. It haunted him his entire life. I'm felt and saw his pain first hand. No, it's not about war; it's about humanity and compassion for the veterans and their loved ones.

Thanks to all that have served and those that serve for us now. We have much to be thankful for.

That's what we need

Last night I said I would provide some more details on the talk I sat in with General Colin Powell. Okay here are some details...



- He comes across as brilliant

- He grew up in Harlem and rose to the Office of Secretary of State of the United States of America. Great American success story. Don't tell me it can't be done.

- He was quite funny at times

- He tried to talk G.W. Bush into not going to war with Iraq. His words were "You break it. You own it. We broke it and expected it to just come together. No way this would work. I'm convinced that the whole Iraq thing left a really bad taste in his mouth and he was happy to depart the Bush administration.

- He recounted his initial meeting with Gorbachov when President Reagan asked him to go to Moscow for the first time. This was the beginning of the end of the cold war and not only was it interesting, he made it funny. I think the humor would be lost if I tried to write it out, so I will spare you the pain.

- He believes that while America has it's challenges, we are still in a good place. He did say that some of our worldly relationships need some TLC...which I believe was a little shot at GWB and his gang of neocons.

- He believes that partisan politics is a good thing when it works. He said he knows the American public is sick of the system right now because it's not working. The art of compromise has been lost. He said only the voters can get this changed. Seems like a tall order to me.

- His optimism is contagious. That's one of the virtues that contribute to his leadership skills.

- Someone asked him if he would ever run for president. He politely said he has no hunger for politics. I took it to mean that he is a man of integrity and does not like the compromises that must be made to get your butt elected. He's too good a man to run. That's one of the problems with the office of President. If you are smart enough to do the job, you're smart enough to know that you don't want the damn job.

I told you he was brilliant.

Technicality!!

Traveled back home from DC tonight. I feel as if I walked home. I have already been asleep once and as I was giving in to calling it a night I remembered. I DIDN'T POST TODAY. Since that is not acceptable and this cheesy technicality of a post will do...I am getting the post in. That was so close. I got a chance to sit through a talk by Colin Powell today...I will provide details tomorrow. He was quite entertaining and fascinating.

I did it. I'm in. I'm half asleep and I am going to find the other half. Goodnight all.

This Hotel is a Dump

Had a full day of convention duty. Surrounded by insurance geeks. My peeps...wow that's a sobering thought. Good day of business capped off with a fine meal at a restaurant in DC by the name of Palette. Excellent food. We saw Bob Woodward dining in the restaurant. The biz was all good...the rest of it....not so much.

This mornings room service saga has salted away dubbing this hotel, the Marriott at Wardman Park, the worst I have ever stayed at. We used the little door hanger breakfast menu to be safe or so we thought. We had a meeting at 8:00 so we indicated that we wanted breakfast delivered between 7 and 7:15. We called them at 7:20 and they said it would be right up. We're talking cold cereal here. It arrived at 7:50. We had to leave it and go to our meeting. Hungry. Agitated. As we were waiting in the lobby to meet our 8 o'clock we saw a Marriott Sales Mgr. I told her that this was the worst hotel I had ever stayed at and explained. I think she got the point and comped the breakfast. Weird side note...when we returned in the late afternoon our room service cart was in the hall and it was obvious the maid had drunk the oj, ate a muffin and pinched the cereal boxes. I'm figurin' she gets these uneaten breakfasts a lot at this dump. I'm pleased that at least someone enjoyed our breakfast.

Apparently one of the towers in the hotel had no hot water this morning. There seemed to be a lot of edgy people this morning. I think a nice cold shower has a way of doing that to your outlook on the day. Another gentleman told me he arranged a breakfast meeting in his suite this morning...it took over 2 hours to get the food. They offered to comp his breakfast; at which point he indicated they were going to comp all 6. Nice work...this hotel is not capable of handling guests. A minor problem, don't you think.

I can't wait to get home.

Now this is a Library!

The business portion of the convention has begun. This morning we did have some free time so we took in a few more sights. That is, after we decided to give up on our room service breakfast. It never arrived; after many calls and waiting patiently for over an hour and a half; no breakfast. I will have to let the hotel know that they are confused about room service. One thing I can help them with...hint...it's supposed to actually come to your room. What a frustrating waste of time.

One of the places we visited was the Library of Congress. It is the mother of all libraries. The picture is of the main reading room. Wow. Our government sure got fancy with our tax dollars. We did get to see a "perfect" version of the Gutenberg Bible. One of the 4 that exist. The library receives 22,000 submissions, books and other items seeking a copyright, every day. They keep about 10,000 per day. Holy moley...that's a lot of mail. It explains why they have their own zip code. Another interesting tidbit; books published in English only account for 30% of the books in the library. Smallest book, one twenty fifth of an inch...it simply says Old King Cole was a Merry Old Soul...they had to read it with a microscope. Largest book, weighs 135 pounds, 5 feet by 7 feet and its a pictorial study of Bhutan. I wonder what the paperback version would weigh?

Here are some other amazing facts about the Library of Congress for the year 2006. I didn't have any idea about the magnitude of this institution. Wow.

Where Have All the Flowers Gone

It's that time of year...the dreaded annual convention. This time we're in Washington D.C holed up in the usual small overpriced convention hotel room. The geek fest really doesn't start until tomorrow so I still have time before my brain starts to melt. You gotta do what you gotta do.

M & I took in some of the basic D.C. sites by visiting the Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson and Roosevelt Memorials followed by the Viet Nam, World War II and Korean War Memorials. The war memorials were sobering. We Americans have had too many wars in our short history. Millions have fought and died; the survivors forever scarred due to the horrors of war. When will we ever learn? My dad was forever scarred by his experiences in the Korean War. Seeing the memorial today was somewhat of a moving experience. The pictures are from the Korean Memorial. The Viet Nam memorial immediately drove me to reverent silence. The World War II memorial was mind blowing to think that 400,000 Americans perished in that war and that's only a fraction of the people that died in that war!

I know "Freedom isn't free" but as a species we somehow need to remember that "War is Hell". We need to teach all the people of the world, from the moment they come into this world that we hate war. I hate the idea of war.

When will we ever learn?

This could get gory

I really want to believe that global warming is a huge problem. I just wish that Mr. I invented the Internet wasn't the main spokesperson. Al doesn't just want to be our cyberspace hero, he is now going to save the earth. I cannot stand his act. He's just another mind numbing politician looking for face time. That's my opinion and I am entitled to that.

I don't know if all the hoopla about global warming is fitting or not. It has a kind of "the sky is falling" feel to it. Combine that with Mr. G and well, I'm looking for other opinions. However, whether its a true catastrophe or not and whether one believes all the stuff that's flying about I can't help but feel that trying our best to take care of the orbiting rock we call home is a pretty good idea.

Everyone in this country should be using CFL's instead of regular light bulbs. Everywhere we went in Italy, CFL's were in use. Damn smart those Italians (need proof? one word....gelato). CFL's are more expensive to purchase but last a lot longer than regular bulbs and they use less energy. I read somewhere that a CFL can save over $30 in energy costs over its lifetime. We have replaced all of our regular bulbs and feel pretty good about it. I also try to keep lights off as much as possible. It's not much but it's something....If everyone did a little something it would add up to a big something.

Next on our "green" agenda is looking for a more efficient car or hybrid to cut back on our fuel consumption. We found an electric car we love but holy crap is it expensive. Hopefully, Tesla will use what they learn on this project to create more affordable electric vehicles.

We will try to be vigilant in "going green". As long as I don't have to say it's Al's idea, I think I can handle it.

Are you ready for some football and more football and more football....

I spent my surgical recovery weekend watching football which is somewhat normal for me. Since my recreational options were limited I am sure I vegged a bit more than usual.

I played football for 9 years and football was something my father really loved. It was something I got to share with my dad. He knew the game better than anyone I knew. On weekends like this when football is on from noon to bedtime, I've often thought about how much my dad would have loved having game after game to choose from. I will never stop wishing he was here to enjoy it with me. I will always enjoy watching football as a small reminder and connection to him.

Last nights dinner went well. I did have a difficult time trying to keep my bandage out of the olive oil when I was trying to dip my bread. I ended up ordering soup (cauliflower, cumin and pear) as an appetizer and handled the spoon without incident. It may sound like a weird combination of ingredients for soup but it was delicious. For a main course, I opted for lamb which this particular restaurant really prepares well. It did take me a little longer than usual to eat the lamb but it was worth the labored knife work. The company at dinner was excellent.

Therapy starts tomorrow and the pain in my hand is easing up so I am looking forward to even less discomfort when I wake up tomorrow. Maybe a clear head will make writing these posts a little easier as well.

Fog Dog

Hand is still quite sore but it does seem to be improving. The painkillers are making it very difficult for me to be creative. I'm in just a bit of a fog.

We have a "business" dinner tonight which should be interesting. I hope I don't start drooling or play with my nostrils. As you can see my hand is bandaged pretty well so I'm not sure I can use a knife either. Maybe I'll just order soup...I may have to just eat with my good hand. Probably not good form....

I will try to do a post after dinner and let you know how I did.

The Vicodin Report

I had the finger surgery this morning and the procedure went well. The local is wearing off so the pain is mounting. Hello Vicodin! Yikes; one handed keyboard work and less than half a brain.

I watched a lot of the Live Aid DVD this afternoon, mostly because being one handed limits my recreational options. Man, there were some great performances at that event.

Observations....

Bono was sporting quite the mullet.

Its amazing how different (read old) most of the performers look today given the 22 years of aging. The jump from 20 to 42 aint to bad. From 42 to 64....whoa!

The 80's clothing and hair styles were interesting to say the least. Actually it was laughable. The styles didn't age well either.

The Who were phenomenal

I loved seeing Dire Straits

It was nice to catch a glimpse of Queen.

George Michael. No. Not then. Not ever.

The idea of using music to help feed the world is really cool. We shouldn't forget that there is a lot of suffering out there. Give. It is estimated that this cause raised about 150 million pounds.

Props to Bob Geldof and Midge Ure.

Happy Birthday KT!

To all my friends and loved ones, I love you more.

NoBloPoMoFo

This is the first official post of a solid month of posting everyday. Right off the bat tomorrow is going to be interesting. I am having some minor surgery on my hand (left ring finger to be exact) at 7:30 A.M. tomorrow. For future reference if somebody other than you is having surgery, it's minor. Unfortunately, it me this time. I'm looking forward to getting it over because my hand is semi-useless and the pain is not any fun.

I'm sure that tomorrow my keyboard skills are going to be further limited and the pain meds might alter my mind a bit. So, let me say right now that i am not responsible for anything I publish tomorrow.

I am planning on some regular pieces this month but you'll have to tune in to catch them.

To all my friends and loved ones, I love you more.

Van Halen Post #1

Two photos of David Lee Roth....

What kind of blogger are you?

RIAA has done it again

Check out this story...Lawyers, guns and the RIAA

Concertmania

Copy this list; leave in the bands/artists you've seen perform live; delete the ones you haven't, and add new ones that you have seen until you reach 25. An asterisk means the previous person had it on their list. Two asterisks means the last two people who did this before you had that band on their list. I ripped this from my daughter A and she found this at frogblog.

Dave Matthews Band*
REM*
Pearl Jam*
Barbra Streisand*
Paul McCartney*
Eric Clapton*
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young*
Roger Waters*
The Police*
Led Zeppelin
The Who
The Rolling Stones
The Eagles
Badfinger
Stevie Wonder
Temptations
John Mayer
Jethro Tull
Chicago
Billy Joel
Elton John
James Taylor
Buddy Guy
B.B. King
Ben Folds

These are others that I've seen that did not make this list...

REO Speedwagon
Styx
Allman Brothers
Moe
Seals & Crofts
Stephen Stills and Manassas
Robert Cray
Firefall
Jackson Browne
Koko Taylor
Steve Winwood
Joe Walsh
Santana
ZZ Top
John McLaughlin
Jeff Beck
J.J. Cale
Jonny Lang
Allison Krauss & Union Station
Johnny Winters
Los Lobos
Beach Boys
Doobie Brothers
Tony Bennett
Kool & the Gang
The Drifters
The Four Tops
Elvis Costello
Loggins & Messina
Kenny Loggins
Sheryl Crow
Billy Preston
The O'Jays
Rev. Al Green
Stevie Vai
Vince Gill
Hubert Sumlin
Sonny Landreth
The Derek Trucks Band
Robert Randolph and the Family Band
Bon Jovi
Albert Lee
Willie Nelson
Robbie Robertson
Pat Metheny
Eric Johnson
Genesis

Soon to be added: Bruce Springsteen and Van Halen

I you have any questions about any of these shows I would be happy to share. It took some courage for me to admit to some of these...

To all my friends and loved ones, I love you more.

All in all its just another...

Have you read about Apple "bricking" (making them useless) iPhones with a firmware update? Apple has said there is nothing they can do You will need to buy a new iPhone. Would I be upset about that!!! If you added any kind of third part application, BRICK! If you tried to free your phone so that you wouldn't have to pay uncompetitive phone rates, BRICK! I have less of a problem with the latter but this type of ploy solidifies my position on the iBrick. "Please turn your mind off sir, Mr. Jobs will tell you what you need." Style over substance...a truly sad American legacy. NFW...give me substance AND style and you have me; instantly. Give me just style and you insult my intelligence. I think the American auto industry has been paying for this lesson for a long long time. Apple too is paying...

To all my friends and loved ones, I love you more.

I can't Imagine

I wonder what John Lennon would say or sing about the world today? What would be his spin on terrorism? Just wondering....

To all my friends and loved ones, I love you more.

In a New York Minute

I ended up doing something on Sunday that I never anticipated. I went to a funeral service up in Wisconsin for a fraternity brother that was killed in a tragic motor vehicle accident. The accident occurred at 7:00 A.M. and Don was apparently on his way to work. Eyewitnesses said he appeared to be reaching for something on the floor or seat and swerved into an oncoming semi; small mistake with a tragic outcome. Cell phone would be a good guess. I've done it myself and on the way up to the service I saw a woman in a mini van do the same thing right in front of me. Fortunately for me and the driver yesterday there wasn't any oncoming traffic when we went into the other lane.

I hadn't seen Don for about 4 years. My lasting memories include how smart I thought Don was; how funny he was and how, after drinking as much alcohol in college than I will probably drink in a lifetime, once out of college he never touched another drop. That takes fortitude. I loved the guy and I am sorry I hadn't seen him more recently. He was, by all accounts, a dedicated family man; a good man, a good friend, a good co-worker. The service was packed with people that Don had touched at some point in his life including his lovely family. His is a legacy of showing love and being loved. He definitely died too young at age 55 but he had it down.

The following is an excerpt from Don Henley's "New York Minute"

In a New York Minute
Everything can change
In a New York Minute
Things can get pretty strange
In a New York Minute
Everything can change
In a New York Minute

Lying here in the darkness
I hear the sirens wail
Somebody going to emergency
Somebody's going to jail
If you find somebody to love in this world
You better hang on tooth and nail
The wolf is always at the door

In a New York Minute
Everything can change
In a New York Minute
Things can get a little strange
In a New York Minute
Everything can change
In a New York Minute

And in these days
When darkness falls early
And people rush home
To the ones they love
You better take a fool's advice
And take care of your own
One day they're here;
Next day they're gone

I know this to be true...that is the way it is. Tell the ones you love that you love them at every opportunity. Appreciate the time you have with them...it's borrowed. Every angry moment is poorly spent. I know I have written this before but these life changing events have a way of hammering these points home.

To all my friends and loved ones, I love you more.

Thanks Don.