Happy Holidays

Below is what I posted to Facebook on Christmas Eve.  I saved this post to my blog as I wanted to expand on it.

 ...this is my favorite time of the holiday season - Christmas Eve Night. Everything finally winds down, kids asleep in anticipation, the one Silent Night to behold. A time to reflect on the true meaning of the holiday, underneath all of the materialism and commercialism; this is a season of giving, of sharing, of caring. Take a silent moment to be thankful for all that you have been given, for all who play significant roles in your lives, and for those who have passed on from this world. Make a vow to give more and more often throughout the year to come.

Tomorrow - Christmas Day: CELEBRATE!!! :)

Rock Climbing (Metaphorically Speaking)

(Note - I wrote this about 15 years ago.  Pics are from Moro Rock, Sequoia National Park, in the Sierra Nevadas in CA, 2005)

Imagine that you’re rock climbing.  Picture yourself starting at the bottom:  as you look up, you can’t see the top, because this rock is very very high.  But since there is nothing at the bottom, you decide to climb up.  You’ve never actually climbed rocks before, so at first, you teach yourself how to, and as you get enough strength and courage, you grab the first piece and pull yourself up.  You do that again and again, going straight up, gaining confidence until the first time your hand slips, or a piece of rock crumbles, and then you fall.  That first fall causes you to second-guess every piece of rock you think of grabbing next.  It also starts a cycle of gaining confidence and falling, and is only broken when you stop gaining confidence.  You begin to find yourself being more careful of what handholds you pull harder on, and what footholds you place your weight on.  This now causes you to sometimes move laterally, instead of always straight up.  Sometimes, you find, frustratingly enough, that you have to climb back down a little, move over, and then move up, because you get stuck at a certain point.  Every so often you find a ledge to relax and catch your breath on.  Every now and then you fall back to a previous ledge.

You soon begin to realize that you’re not the only one climbing this rock.  There are over five billion people climbing, doing the exact thing as you, falling and climbing and testing holds, and yet no one person has taken the exact same route as you. You find that some people will follow your lead, assuming you know which way to go.  Then you might see someone above you finding all the right spots, and you follow them.  Sometimes that works, other times not.  Some people will try to give you advice on which way to take, or how you can tell how strong a rock is by its look. Other people may even toss you a rope to pull yourself up to the next ledge.  A few people will tie a safety line from their waist to yours, and the two of you may climb together, working as a team.  Some teams reach the top, others don’t; your line may get torn, or the other person may think you’re too slow or even too fast. Some partners may get impatient, or you may find that they just climb better alone.  A few people may be just using you to get up to the next ledge faster.  Some people may even push you out of the way, in their self-made hurry to get to the top.  You hear people from below crying for help and from above shouting for joy.  Sometimes you’re tempted to scream or yell too.  And then sometimes, you may get tired.  Some people get tired, decide to stop where they’re at, and fall asleep.  They may decide that getting to the top isn’t worth the trouble.  No one knows what is at the top, and everyone has a different idea of what the ultimate search is for.  For 5 billion plus people, that uncertainty is directly or indirectly the driving force behind the climb.

I don’t know what is at the top; I’d be lying if I said I did.  But I tend to think that once I reach it, I’ll find that the view from up above is absolutely and literally breathtaking.  That view will show everything, the universe, and even things beyond imagination.  And the accompanying sunset may be the best part of all.  And finally, I’ll be able to pull up to a soft cloud, next to a star as my night light, and fall asleep with the infinite number of those who have made it before me to enjoy the view.

Trampled Time - Giving Pearls To Pigs

"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.” - Matthew 7:6

For me, this is by far the hardest lesson to learn. This has long been my favorite Bible verse; from when I first read it in college.

What is sacred to me? Time. I give my time in many ways to many people in many situations and in many cases, my time is trampled. Not respected. Not appreciated. Not returned. So, what to do?

Prevent. Or confront. Or both. 

How?

My Gift List

December 9^th. I have yet to begin my shopping. I cringe at joining the crowds out there, all looking for the “right” gift, in the form of a purchase, wrapped in shiny paper to be opened as close to December 25^th as possible.  Everyone has lists of what they want, or need; of people to buy for, and their lists of what they want, or need. This is supposed to be the time of giving, of cheer.

I’ll give my first gift here – I’ll try not to make this too preachy.  :)

But really, I have a wish. I have a few items on my list that I’d like everyone to get for the holidays. And give. And these items are free. They can’t be bought. My list is:

• Appreciation
• Thanks
• Compliments
• Smiles
• Reminders that you’re thinking of them

Any one of these gifts, given once, can go a long way. Any one of these gifts, given once, can change a bad day to a good day. Given repeatedly, they can change someone’s life. There’s no limit as to how often these gifts should be given…in fact, the more these gifts are given, the better.  These gifts tend to multiply.

And guess what?  Not only does the recipient get something nice, the gift-giver gets some happiness in return. Thanks given usually generates thanks in return. Same with smiles and compliments; appreciation and “I’m thinking of you.”  We all want to be appreciated, to be thought of, in general. And when we do give of ourselves, and we're not thanked or appreciated, we all feel cheated or taken for granted. 

It doesn’t matter how many of these gifts you give today, or how few. There is no required waiting period, or unacceptable time frame. These gifts can be given now, and often.

And I know this is cliché-ish at this time of year, but this season of giving, in giving gifts of peace and appreciation, should last the whole year through.  So I urge everyone to take a minute from the material gift shopping, find the people in your lives who mean something to you, whether they’ve helped out in some way; look out for you, been there for you, whatever; and tell them how much they’re appreciated, as often as possible. It will mean the world to them. 

...it's been some "time" since I've posted...

(suggested music pairing:  Minute By Minute - Larry Carlton)

Time. It ticks away, every second. Tick. Tick. Tick.  

We talk a lot about time. We don’t have enough time; there aren’t enough hours in the day; where does the time go, time sure seems to fly by. Can you believe it’s already December? Can you believe it’s already 2012?  

Or sometimes, we have too much time on our hands; we have time to kill; or the day is dragging. Is it three o’clock yet?  Can this day be over already?  

But time is just that – time. We all have a specific number of minutes we’ll be alive, and none of us know what our number is.  I’ve been alive for over 20 million minutes. 20,685,616 to be exact. Oops, I mean 20,685,617. And each minute is exactly 60 seconds. Yes, I’ll do the math:  1.2 billion seconds. 

Tick. Tick. Tick.

At the age of 39, with an average lifespan of 78 years (to make the math easier), I am at the exact halfway point of my life. Which means I still have another 1.2 billion seconds to live.  

One less. Another less. And another. Tick. Tick. Tick.

And guess what? I can’t slow it down and I can’t speed it up. They say that life is long, but that life is short. I’m 39 years young. Or 1.2 billion seconds old. Which is it? Both? Neither?

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Time, as exact and specific and consistent as it is, is really a fluid concept. Time…is what you make of it.  There is no single answer…it’s all in the perspective.  Our perspective. The perspective we choose. So, as consistent as time is, we control it. We control how fast it seems, or how slow it feels. We control how much of time we look at, or how little of time we let go past.  And yet, we can’t control the past and we can’t control the future. What’s done is done, what may be is not yet.  

And others control our time, or take up our time. Time demands things, yet time waits for no one. We can give our time, or take some time, or spend some time. We sometimes have spare time, and other times we don’t have a minute to spare. At work, if a call ends early, we get some time back! If a call ends late, we ask if everyone has more time. Some people are living on borrowed time. Some people don’t have any time to give, and others have all the time in the world!   

Tick. Tick. Tick.

And finally, some times (time can be plural, too, it seems), we can share our time.  I’ve spent my time writing this in hopes of sharing it with you…thank you for spending your time reading this…hopefully it was time well spent. 

Dear Occupiers...

(suggested music pairing:  Wake Up Everybody - Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes)

Dear Occupiers:

Occupy Rochester

First, I want to say that in general, I am a fan of your movement. Protest movements in general are interesting to me, as I posted in my Labor Day post. And as I understand it, your message in general is to stop Corporate Greed. Or to try to convince the wealthy 1% of the country to try to help take care of the remaining 99%, especially the ones in need. Either way, I am a fan of that general message. I am sympathetic to the cause, being raised in an extended family that started out with little and was directly affected by racist agendas of the past generation; and being raised on a blue-collar old steel mill town like the one in Billy Joel’s song “Allentown”. 

So, I am behind you in general. 

A Fall Walk In Philly

I took vacation the week of Thanksgiving to spend with family and friends back in my hometown in the Philly suburbs, and I vowed to also take some time to myself.  When I lived back in PA, one of my favorite ways to spend a day was to go into Philadelphia, park, and just walk around; whether I went alone, or with local friends, or out-of-town friends, Center City Philadelphia (in my opinion) is a great city to walk around in.  (The same could be same for the other major cities in the Northeast - Boston, New York, Washington DC, etc.)

So...that's what I did...here are some photos I took along the way...these are just a few examples of what can be found wandering...


(clicking on a picture will open the pic in a slide-show window)

walking route - Google Maps

I parked my car at the parking garage on 4th Street between Market Street and Chestnut Street.  

view from parking garage, S 4th Street

Thanksgiving...

This is MY list - a list of things that I am thankful for, and try to be thankful for every day...


(I'll try to keep this short, and I'll try to stay away from cliches, and I'll try to not be TOO sappy...but I can't promise to be totally successful at all that.)

• ...my parents.  Without them; a) I wouldn't be here at all, and b) I wouldn't be who I am.
• ...my little guy, who for his entire four years, he's brought out the little kid in me, amazes me every moment we have, makes me grow stronger and makes me think outside of myself
• ...my family, immediate and extended.  You help me stay real by reminding me who I really am; who call me out when I try to pretend I'm something that I'm not, or when I try to pretend I'm not something that I am
• ...all the friends and acquaintances I've ever had, past and present.  To those friends in the past who I've drifted from or who have drifted from me, past tense doesn't take away from the fact that our friendship served a purpose for each of us, and past tense doesn't take away the good memories from our time together.  To those friends and acquaintances who I haven't know for very long, I appreciate the fact that you see something worthwhile in me now and hope that our friendship serves a purpose that makes both you and I better people.
• ...all the special friends I've had for a very long time or are very close; the ones who have stuck with me through everything.  You are also my family.  You give me a place to let me guard down and you give me a place to feel needed and helpful.  I am very lucky to have as many close friends as I do.  There is not enough time in a day to spend as much time as I'd like to...
• ...my current and prior employers.  Though I complain at times, and REALLY complain at times, in the end, I do know I am fortunate to have been given opportunities and have been able to provide for myself and the above list of people, and more importanly, enough financial freedom (just enough) to be able to explore the places and creative expressions that move me.
• ...the concept of America; the freedoms that we have and share, the safety that we have, and the willingness of those in the Armed Forces to defend this concept.  There may be things broken in and about America, but this is the greatest country on the planet.
• ...creativity, and the people who have the courage to openly express themselves and share their inner voices, at sometimes great personal sacrifice, all to make the world a better kinder place.
• ...everything else.

And seriously, everything else.  In everything else, there is a lesson to be learned, an opportunity to grow, a step to be taken.  For every night there is day, for every rain drop there is a sun beam.  We can't have the good without the bad, happiness without sadness, down without up.  It is all necessary and it all serves a purpose.  And though sometimes things can be hard, and overwhelming, and maybe we don't think we can get through it, every moment leads to another moment and any moment can be the greatest moment if we just look for it.  Not every moment WILL be the greatest, but every moment can be, or lead to one.   There is a lot out there to deal with, but if we keep walking forward, and we keep moving, anything is possible, as long as we live.

Of course, I could therefore summarize this list into a single statement.

What am I most thankful for?
Life, and everything that is created by it.   

Any Given Wednesday. Or Monday. Or Thursday, Tuesday, or Friday.

Wake up get up gotta lot to do today jump in the shower make a mental list already behind let’s go get dressed three texts already two phone calls and a meeting at 8:30AM hop in the car can’t wait for it to warm up hit the gas run the yellow light it was yellow right hurry hurry don’t have time to see the sun is shining but here come the clouds crud I forgot my umbrella no wait I don’t own one now here’s a red light.

Breathe.

Flip the radio dial commercial flip commercial flip news blah blah green pick up the phone listen to messages now wait here’s a cop gotta hide the phone don’t have time or patience or the money for a ticket why is that a law anyway I’ll never get into an accident not me, I can drive and talk and tune the radio and eat and work out today’s schedule in my mind and a left here and almost hit someone didn’t they see me coming and a right there and I’m at work.

Breathe.

Get out of the car do I have my iPod my phone my keys my laptop my wallet my frozen lunch good take three steps check my pockets again, yes I have everything, keep walking fast but not so fast I lose my breath no time to breathe no time to hold the door open for anyone else (and at least I don’t own a Bluetooth or else I’d be talking on the phone, and I’ve thought about walking and typing at the same time) flash my badge hit the elevator walk out go to my desk unpack my laptop take off my coat put my keys and cell phone in my desk and plug in my iPod, turn on computer, feed the fish…

…look, he’s swimming as fast as I was walking…

…check my work voice mails when did the sun go away turn on my desk light why isn’t the logon screen up yet stupid technology I have 27 things to do and 3 people waiting and ah, here it is type in password crap too fast type it in again crap too fast again last chance let’s slow down and…

…d e l I b e r a t e l y    t y p e    I n    e a c h    l e t t e r    o f    m y    p a s s w o r d    a n d . . . .

Plateaus and Protests

It’s been a while since I posted anything. To be honest, I’m stuck at a plateau.  A writing plateau, a weight-loss plateau, a career plateau – I think any subject that could be brought up, I’d be at a plateau.  And what does one do when one reaches a plateau? Take a look back, take a look around, evaluate the landscape, review the options, check the map, etc.  And when I did all of that, I realized something that is very discouraging:  there is a lot of misery out there, a lot of unhappiness, stress, struggle. And I have to admit, I can’t seem to escape it myself.

What is going on in the world?  Am I the only one who feels this way, which leads to the question of “is there something wrong with me?” And in the process of looking back and around, I keep coming back to the answer of “no, there isn’t anything wrong with me.”  But something is definitely wrong.  

And as I’ve posted before, I know quite a few people who are struggling with some real situations; some deeply stressing, what-am-I-going-to-do-next situations, and I feel for them all. And I can’t help it. But misery and stress is not additive, it is multiplicative. And collectively, we are all suffering and struggling.

So, I want to begin a protest. I want to protest misery.

Dreams and Puzzles

(suggested music pairing:  The Dream - David Sanborn)

I have a close personal friend who is a very talented writer…at least in my opinion. She has written poetry, at least one short story and I believe the start of a novel, along with other written works that would probably fall into the category by default – creative, metaphorical, free form and free flow. She is creative, witty, sharp, intelligent, and has a great sense of humor. And on the surface, she is well liked and would fall into most-people’s definition of successful:  steady job, good marriage, loving parents, mid-level management in a large stable company in the financial sector, gets out, huge sports fan and goes to several sporting events each year.

And yet, she is sad - at least that’s probably the closest applicable emotion to use. Empty. Unfulfilled. Lost. The issue is this sentence from above:  “she is well liked and would fall into most-people’s definition of successful…” Because it’s not her definition of success. Her definition of success, in my words from the many written conversations we’ve had, is to have her creatively-written expressions have an impact on the world. To be published, recognized, critically acclaimed – and maybe not in those specific concrete terms, but definitely along the looser generic abstract terms.  

She has always known that she wanted to write. She recognized early that she had a talent for writing that she wanted to develop. And growing up in the town we grew up in, in the generation we grew up in, we were always told to follow our dreams, reach for the stars, and embrace your talents. UNTIL…

A Shared Thought

The following is an except from an e-mail exchange with a close friend of mine...this is, in my opinion, some powerful stuff and worth sharing.  I'll let these words stand on their own without any additional commentary:

_____

 …then I was reminded that although currency pays the bills, nothing compares to family, our personal fulfillment and our personal values in life. I walked out of there happy with my shoulders relaxed for the first time…just knowing that there is no right or wrong in life, no rhyme or reason sometimes... as long as we do our best to make ourselves happy, not at the cost of others then we did good.  I am no longer looking at life as "chapters" that have climaxes and turning points. No plots or scenes...now I see life as just a moment to live. No turn of a page or voice from any other reader gives me life. It's my breath, my thoughts and my heart that beats the idea of my life...

It's not that we need to run away from it all. It's like we need to run to something that's our own and a refuge. A personal sanctuary.

I do believe [the word] “to live” is very understated and I for one have had moments where I did not appreciate it in its fullest form. That does not mean I have to go bungee jumping every other weekend or complete a bucket list in order for appreciate & live life... it simply means to respect life. To honor it. I should find my own fulfillment in it.

Allow your life's metronome to keep your steps in rhythm, but let your inner ear guide the creativity that takes you off the page...

A Day Of Near Perfection

I needed a day of roaming.  I needed a day out on the road.  Today was one of those rare days where perfection was as close as could possibly be!  Here are the factors and stats into today's near perfection:

• hitting the road at 9AM
• temps in the mid-70's
• 250 miles of back roads (some flat, some hilly and curvy, some on top of mountains, some lakeside)
• 5 miles of hiking (some steep climbs, some sandy beaches, some flat trails)
• bright sun and no clouds
• a full sunset and a simultaneous moon rise (near full) - at Irondequoit Outlet
• fall foliage
• endless tunes
• a reliable car
• a picnic lunch
• a spontaneous stop at a winery
• amazing unique natural attractions (waterfalls at Watkins Glen State Park, cliffs at Chimney Bluffs State Park)
• no schedule, no interruptions (cell phone was off)
• home at 8PM 

11 hours of peace and bliss and relaxation and inspiration...couldn't ask for anything more!

_____

Words

So, it’s been a while since I posted anything on this blog.  To be honest, life has gotten in the way a bit, as life tends to do.  And of course, when I say life, I mean those parts of life that are required in order to exist within a society…work, bills, drama, and issues.  Those same parts of life, which we have at best some control over…but definitely not total control over.  Those same parts of life, in some cases, which at best have some control over us.  And somewhere along the way in the past few weeks, I read a post on Blogger Buzz (a blog for bloggers) about “how to make your blog more effective.”   (…which I find to be kind of an interesting topic, since there are many different types of blogs, for different purposes and reasons, with different agendas.  I’m not sure how a single blog post can cover such a widely-varying audience, but I digress…)  One of the points was, a blog author should plan to post on a regular cadence, such as every 3 days, in order not to lose readers.  Oops…I’ve failed.

Business Meeting Time

Well, I’ve been posting to my blog for 9 months now, and I think it’s time to take this blog to the next level. I’ve been out of pocket for a while, and one of the outcomes of this was a realization; the need to come to a meeting of the minds of my readers. So, let’s have a roundtable, so we can brainstorm on ways to either level the playing field and/or come up with a real win-win situation.

I want us to think outside the box, color outside the lines, and form some synergies with you. You all are my change agents. I don’t have the bandwidth to do this on my own. You all bring a lot of value to the table. At the end of the day, I’m looking to get more than just the low hanging the fruit. I gotta raise the bar on what I’m posting; improve the user-experience. Who is going to step up to the plate? Grab the bull by the horns? Feel free to leave a comment or you can ping me and we can touch base and take this off-line. Or we can schedule some face time. But I don’t want to have to take anyone out behind the woodshed. Will you be in the trenches with me?

From a high-level, specifically the 8,000 foot view, I like where I’ve been. But this is a chance move up the value chain and offer something game-changing. I’ve been flying under the radar and it’s time to be front and center.  Time to bring my “A” game. I’ve done some back of the envelope calculations and I’ve realized that I need to push the envelope.  Go off-road.

Net-net, my goal is to create a fully-integrated, precision-engineered, streamlined reading experience. I want this to be a ground breaking, state-of-the-art collection of cutting-edge posts and I develop this blog to be more robust and customer-focused. The name of the game is to create not just the industry standard, but the industry leader. The benchmark of blogs. This needs to be a world-class collection of thoughts and the bottom line is that I want this blog to offer everything from soup to nuts. I need to expand from my core competency.  It’s not really a paradigm shift, but more building on my best practices in combination with analyzing some lessons learned. My goal is to architect each post to differentiate myself from the rest and hit the sweet spot every time. My posts should sometimes include all the bells and whistles, but at other times I’m Ok living under the 80/20 rule. But I don’t want to be all things to all people.   

Excuse me, I have to take a bio-break.

….

RIP Flaky (1995-2011)

So, I said good-bye to my old POS car yesterday, somewhat affectionately known as Flaky. The picture should explain the name quite well. I bought Flaky from a co-worker who was moving overseas; it was her grandfathers’ car, single owner, 42K miles over 9 years at that time, good condition, maintenance records kept in details, and yes, it had all of its paint at the time I bought him in 2004. I didn’t drive Flaky much during the rest of my time in PA; Flaky was the “second car”, the “drive back and forth to work” car. So, in the first three years, I only put 10K miles on him. 

But also in the first three years, the paint flaking had already started. The flaking occurred mainly in the winter – during the worst of it, pieces of paint 6 inches in diameter would fly off the hood while driving down the highway. In doing some research online, I found out that for many GM cars in the mid-90s with white paint, flaking was a commonly reported problem, yet GM would not do a recall. In the Rochester NY area, I have seen at least four other cars, same model with white paint, with the same flaking problem.

So, yes, as I moved up to upstate NY, relocated and re-started my life, Flaky became a steady, reliable, every day car for most of the last 4 years. Flaky survived 4 lake-effect winters without issue at all, and in that four years, I added the final 85K miles on him. The only non-maintenance item that I had to repair was a new $250 water pump in the spring of 2010. That entire time I didn’t have a car payment at all. And yet…he was Flaky. But in the end, all things must come to pass, and I ran Flaky down as far as I could push...a broken engine mount and an intermittently-failing cylinder was the end.  

And see, here’s the reason…driving cars until the bitter end is in my genes. My dad did it growing up, and his dad before him. My dad’s infamous saying: “a raggedy ride beats a dressed up walk.” The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

My Journey on 9/11

So, without much fanfare, or the normal clichés of a day of remembrance, below is my story of 9/11. It is a somewhat unique story, unique compared to most of the people I know, though I’m sure many other people across America have similar stories. My story is fortunately not tragic; and if you’ve followed the general themes of this blog, this story fits very well with those themes.

The Greatest Things Since Sliced Bread

According to Wikipedia:  “Sliced bread is a loaf of bread which has been pre-sliced and packaged for convenience. It was first sold in 1928, advertised as "the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped."  Yes, Wikipedia has an entry about sliced bread.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliced_bread

The contents of the entry are:

    1 History

    2 Effects

    3 The 1943 U.S. ban on sliced bread

    4 Around the world

        4.1 Thickness by country

    5 Home slicing

    6 Popular culture

    7 Notes

    8 External links

Yes, there are different thickness standards in different countries.  There are two sentences discussing the options of home slicing.  Yes…there was a ban on sliced bread in 1943.  According to the entry, a letter was sent to The New York Times about this:  

"I should like to let you know how important sliced bread is to the morale and saneness of a household. My husband and four children are all in a rush during and after breakfast. Without ready-sliced bread I must do the slicing for toast—two pieces for each one—that's ten. For their lunches I must cut by hand at least twenty slices, for two sandwiches apiece. Afterward I make my own toast. Twenty-two slices of bread to be cut in a hurry!”

So, I thought I’d take just a quick moment to list the 25 greatest things since sliced bread, in my opinion, in no particular order: 

A Golden Rule Gentle Reminder

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Did you know that the people that seem the strongest are usually the most sensitive? 
Did you know that the people who exhibit the most kindness are usually the first to get mistreated? 
Did you know the ones who take care of others all the time are usually the ones that need it the most?

Why can’t people say what they mean and mean what they say?

_________

The quotes above may appear to be unrelated, or at best loosely related. The first quote is, of course, the Golden Rule. The second is a generic post on Facebook that has been passed around, and the third is a comment I posted not too long ago. These quotes are related to each other in two ways:  one, they have been on my mind lately; and two, they all deal with how we treat and interact with others; the connections and inter-connections between us as humans.

The Rooster And The Rat: Rochester's Cold Case Archives (Part 3)

This is the last of three newspaper articles chronicling one of the great unsolved cold cases in Rochester history... 

_____ 

Rooster Found In Michigan – Cleared of Any 

Wrong-doing In Kidnapping

Police Baffled, “Back To Square One”

BATTLE CREEK, MI. (8/13/10):  In yet another amazing turn of events, The Rooster once thought to be the animal behind the recent kidnapping of the Rat, was located in Michigan and has been deemed innocent.  Authorities are now returning to the original crime scene to re-start the investigation  

 “I received a frantic phone call overnight Tuesday night from my cousin Cornelius, who most people know ‘that Corn Flakes rooster.’ He heard a rumor that Kellogg’s was gonna ‘get rid of him’ because they need a new, hip logo.  Well, that really ruffled my feathers!” said the Rooster, who then called his brother.  “My brother Blackie, who lives in Parma, we needed to get away anyway. We were recently on the news on 13-WHAM for supposedly making too much noise.  I mean, really?  But I digress” he said.  He then hit the road on a quest to help his cousin Corny.  “I left a note at work and headed west.  You know, as we Roosters are up at the crack of dawn anyway!” (Editor’s Note:  the link to our sister news station 13-WHAM.com’s story: Town Wants Rooster to Stop Crowing  

The Rooster And The Rat: Rochester's Cold Case Archives (Part 2)

This is the second of three newspaper articles chronicling one of the great unsolved cold cases in Rochester history... 

_____ 

Kidnapped Rat Makes Miracle Escape!

Police Intensify Bird-Hunt

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (8/12/10):  In an amazing turn of events, The Rat was able to escape from his kidnapper, and has returned home safe and sound, to the relief of his friends, neighbors and families.

Sometime late this afternoon, Mrs. Rat received the phone call that she would never forget.  “He said, ‘Honey, I’m OK, you can stop worrying about me now,” and I just broke down into tears of joy!  I then called my mother, who was watching our son Ratatouille, to tell her the good news, and I can’t get over how great it feels to have our family back together!”

According to the Rat, he never had a good glimpse of my kidnapper.  “I was at my desk at work, silently working away, when all of a sudden, I was hit in the head and blacked out.  When I woke up, I found myself hung on the wall of a dark, musty room.”

The Rooster And The Rat: Rochester's Cold Case Archives (Part 1)

A little over a year ago, starting on August 11, 2010, one of the great unsolved cold cases in Rochester history occurred.  This is the first of three newspaper articles chronicling these events.  The case is still open and unsolved.

(Ed.note:  I inherited the fake rooster from the office where I worked in PA.  When my job and I relocated to NY, the rooster came with me.  A peer in another department owns the fake rat, and one week the rat made it's way around the floor...)
___________

Local Rat Kidnapped:

Police Begin City-Wide Search

ROCHESTER, NY (8/11/10)– Authorities have reported that a local Rat was reported missing yesterday, in what appears to be a kidnapping for ransom. 

The ransom note, which did not specify an amount at this point in time, was delivered to a Xerox employee on the same floor where the Rat was last seen.  The Rooster, who is also a Xerox subcontractor, signed the ransom note.  The Rooster left a note on his desk stating he was “out of the office indefinitely,” according to police.  He left behind a picture at the scene, which the police have released.

(Picture left at The Rooster’s desk)

At a press conference today, Police Sergeant Beaver stated, “We do not have many leads at this point.  We believe the kidnapping took place in the morning hours of Wednesday, August 11.  We have reviewed the crime scene and are currently analyzing potential clues to determine where to narrow the search.”

It appears that as of right now, there is not a motive for the kidnapping.  “He was here this morning, just minding his own business, and I left to go to a quick meeting.  When I came back, I saw the feathers on the ground and feared for the worst,” said Michelle Defendis, a fellow Xerox employee.  Another Xerox employee, Kristi Carlton, said, “I just hope he is found safe and sound.  I can’t imagine who would do such a horrible thing!”

Labor Day

(suggested music pairing:  Hot Night, by Me'Shell Ndege'ocello)

According to Wikipedia, Labor Day was created in response to civil unrest related to the Pullman Strike of 1894. The article states, “Following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland reconciled with the labor movement. Fearing further conflict, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through Congress unanimously and signed into law a mere six days after the end of the strike.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day

In college, my second favorite college course was an elective course titled “Protest Movements Of The 1930’s and 1960’s,” which I took as a pass/fail course. (My favorite course was a Senior Synthesis course, which studied the historical and cultural influences of New Orleans, but I digress.) I took that course to hopefully learn more in detail about the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s; but I found the entire course to be completely fascinating. The course was structured chronologically as an exploration of the American people organizing, advancing, and influencing major social change, starting with the Great Depression, and ending with the anti-Vietnam-War movement. The professor’s general stance was that this four-decade period of history was unique and finite; mass influential protests had not occurred and/or had such a significant influence before that period, or since.  

Music: Queen Of My Soul -OR- Who Am I? (Part 4)

(suggested music pairing:  Queen Of My Soul - Average White Band)

A few weeks ago, I had a friend ask me about the influence of music in my life, in life in general, and why and how we as humans are drawn to music. As I may have hinted, and as those who know me know, music has and still does have a major influence in my life. This topic cannot be adequately explored in one post, so this post will be more of an exploration of what music means to me. I’ll attempt to make broader connections with music in later posts.

As I wrote in my Father’s Day post, I “inherited” my base love of music from my dad. My dad had a huge record collection, which is direct predecessor to my CD collection. My dad was of course into the Motown sound of the 60’s, but he was also into the socially-conscious performances of Marvin Gaye, Earth Wind & Fire, Sly & The Family Stone, James Brown, and Donny Hathaway. My dad also liked some of the classic rock sounds of The Doobie Brothers and Steppenwolf. Finally, my dad was into a lot of the fusion jazz of the 70’s, such as Grover Washington Jr and Wes Montgomery. On top of that, my maternal grandfather and his brother (my grand-uncle) performed for decade in a band, the Verda Tones. The band featured Cape Verdean traditional and jazz music. My grandfather played the upright bass; my grand-uncle played the maracas. Growing up, on  Saturday afternoon when my mom worked, my dad always had his records on, or we would watch the music trifecta of Soul Train, Dance Fever, and Solid Gold.  Music was always on in our house, or in the car.  To this day, I am still very much the same way.  The MP3 player is the greatest invention since sliced bread! I have my MP3 player with me at home, at work, and on the road – it’s is probably on and playing an average of seven hours a day, every day of the week.