I never met Joseph Strauss, the chief engineer, but I saw him around a lot of times. I never shook hands with him or nothing. I was out there working. We were busy. We couldn’t leave and go shake hands with him. That was for the upper man. See, all the big shots were the…
I got an email message last Wednesday from a writer who I follow on a regular basis. It was Friday before I opened it and his inspirational message could not have come at a better time. I was enthused when I got up that morning and I was on fire after reading his message and…
I have been hard at work in fits and spurts on my daily quota of words for National Novel Writing Month. I have no idea if I am writing chapters of a book or a collection of stories. At this point I am following the advice of former Oakland Raiders football coach, John Madden: “Don’t…
“We bombed, we killed; it was all a part of war…We had an enemy in front of us, and we had to prove that we were stronger and more prepared.” —Nadezhda Popova It might have something to do with Halloween, or perhaps it is just a twist of Fate, but yesterday afternoon I was doing…
This coming Sunday is notable for two reasons: Daylight Savings Time ends (move your clocks back 1 hour) and National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) begins. I will be participating in both events and look forward to the challenge. I have been dragging my feet this week and having an internal debate about whether or not…
Food was never a big deal to me when I was growing up. As a kid I was fortunate because we always had something to eat. I did not go hungry or intentionally miss meals because there was nothing to eat. That benefit came at the expense of both my parents having gone through the…
It is time for my weekly Multimedia Monday post and I am just not feeling it today. This feels more like a “weakly post” but bear with me, it might get better. I have been in a bit of transition in recent weeks. Part of me is gearing up for the NaNo challenge and the…
Good morning, ladies and germs. Today marks the beginning of my foray into the land of Poetry. “There once was a pirate named Bates…” —yeah, we are not going to go there. I signed up to participate in the WordPress Writing 201: Poetry challenge to warm up for next month’s NaNoWriMo challenge. Over the next…
In 1969 I was working on a Bache & Co. brokerage house in Hallandale, Fla. I was 20 years old and halfway through my first year of apprenticeship. There was a guy on the job—let’s call him, Bill—who worked for a major communications company and was installing a PBX board that would handle all of…
My friend Lenny was always fond of saying “Vas is los mitt der garten hose?” whenever he had a situation to ponder. Lenny was a carpenter—a damn fine carpenter of German descent—who could make the form boards for a concrete foundation look every bit as beautiful as a walnut China Hutch. He could also do…
