Ah, man, at least i know what happened....

This is officially the last of my mourning publicly for two I considered my only friends. Maybe this happens and you don't see it coming. And maybe God's trying to teach you a thing or two. And maybe, sometimes, you don't appreciate the ones close to you enough. And maybe, ya wish they knew how much ya cared about them.. Enough said...miss ya boys.

Part ll

I don't know how it will be in the years to come. There are monstrous changes taking place in the world, forces shaping a future whose face we do not know. Some of these forces seem evil to us, perhaps not in themselves but because their tendency is to eliminate other things we hold good. It is true that two men can lift a bigger stone than one man. A group can build automobiles quicker and better than one man, and bread from a huge factory is cheaper and more uniform. When our food and clothing and housing all are born in the complication of mass production, mass method is bound to get into our thinking and to eliminate all other thinking. In our time mass or collective production has entered our economics, our politics, and even our religion, so that some nations have substituted the idea collective for the idea God. This in my time is the danger. There is great tension in the world, tension toward a breaking point, and men are unhappy and confused.
At such a time it seems natural and good to me to ask myself these questions. What do I believe in? What must I fight for and what must I fight against?
Our species is the only creative species, and it only has one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of a man. Nothing was ever created by two men. There are no good collaborations, whether in music, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man.

John Steinbeck


Still as true as it was in 1952

Me and Steinbeck been bonding lately

Sometimes a kind of glory lights up the mind of a man. It happens to nearly everyone.You can feel it growing or preparing like a fuse burning toward dynamite. It is a feeling in the stomach, a delight of the nerves, of the forearms. The skin tastes the air and every deep-drawn breath is sweet. Its beginning has the pleasure of a great stretching yawn; it flashes in the brain and the whole world glows outside your eyes. A man may have lived his life in the gray, and the land and trees of him dark and somber. The events, even the important ones, may have trooped by faceless and pale. And then-the glory- that a cricket song sweetens his ears, the smellof the earth rises chanting to his nose, and dappling light under a tree blesses his eyes. Then a man pours outward, a torrent of him,and yet he is not diminished. And I guess a man's importance in the world can be measured by the quality and the number of his glories. It is a lonely thing but it relates us to the world. It is the mother of all creativeness, and it sets each man separate from all other men.

Man...I been working there too long

Paddy was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn't find a parking place.

Looking up to heaven he said, "Lord take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of me life and give up me Irish Whiskey".

Miraculously, a parking place appeared. Paddy looked up again and said, "Never mind, I found one."

Who says Bruce ain't god?

"Dust and Devils" nominated for six grammys at the tender age of 56? Something tells me my brother has been eating his wheaties.

hey, all. thanks for the patience

I know how self-centered people get during rough times, but I never thought I'd end up in the same situation....but you all were kind and so understanding that I feel the need to say thank you....this will only remind me how to treat others in the same circumstance....and I appreciate this.

Rick

January 14

You came upon me carving some kind of little figure out of wood and you said, "Why don't you make something for me?"

I asked you what you wanted, and you said, "A box."

"What for?"

"To put things in."

"What things?"

"Whatever you have," you said.

Well, here's your box. Nearly everything I have is in it, and it is not full. Pain and excitement are in it, and feeling good or bad and evil thoughts and good thoughts-the pleasure of design and some despair and the indescribable joy of creation.

And on top of these are all the gratitude and love I have for you.

And still the box is not full.

John Steinbeck

The boys in happier times, playin foosball (ty sheila!)

Trudging up that hill

So it turns out i needed this blog more than it needed me.

7 months ago, Mark and I went to a memorial, left a friend behind, and ended up in some cheese-dick Mexican place, drinking Newcastle (?) and shooting back some really good tequila. I wish ya could have been there Scott.

I've been racking my brain for the last 48 hours to try and understand how half of the only male people that I've ever let get even remotely close to me, could die within a year. Scott, this is up to us, buddy, if not for us...then for our sons.

Nicole, thank you...I know I must look like a train wreck to you, but without you, I'd be so much worse. So, please indulge me as i steal some meaning from another dude I really admire.....this is for me and you Scotty...



Ants Marching


He wakes up in the morning
does his teeth, bite to eat, and he's rolling
never changes a thing
the week ends the week begins, she thinks

We look at each other
wondering what each other is thinking
but we never say a thing
and these crimes between us grow deeper

Take these chances
place them in a box until a quieter time
lights down you up and die

Goes to visit his mommy
feeds him well, his concerns, he forgets them
and remembers being small
playing under the table and dreaming

Take these chances
place them in a box until a quieter time
lights down you up and die

Driving along this highway
all these cars..and up on the sidewalk
people in every direction
no words exchanged, no time to exchange at all

The little ants are marchin
black and red antannae waving
they all do it the same
they all do it the same way


Candyman tempting the thoughts of a sweet tooth tortured by weight loss
program cutting the corners loose end loose end cut cut on the fence could not
to offend cut cut cut cut cut...

Take these chances
place them in a box until a quieter time
lights down you up and die.

DAVE MATTHEWS-1994

Hang tough with me Scott.

Mark Stewart

So, I thought this year was over, no more pain to feel.

Scott called to inform me that Mark had died Saturday in a traffic accident.

Rob, Mark....me next?

I'm not scared

Just six more years.....

have i sunk this low?

A cicada flits his way into a bar, crash lands on the bartop and chirps for a beer.
The bartender looks at him and says, "Wow, you're pretty popular around here, we even have a drink named after you!"

The cicada looks around stupidly for a second, then replies, "You sell a drink called Steve?"


da-dum-dum-tshhhh........

(i'm so humiliated)

Can Ya Take The Heat

Ya know, probably about 12 people in this world I'd walk across fire for. 5 are family members, 1 i would carry across the flames, the rest either workmates or those i have a great deal of respect for.

But, remember this, these nasty ole feet been walked on for 20 years in the restaraunt biz.......little, tiny coals ain't gonna hinder me much. I'd love to try it though.

...and i accuse the president of flip-flopping...

A couple of days ago, I decided to trash the blog I'd had for nearly a year and a half; I felt it was tired and stale (like mothballs might have been the cure). But, after introspection, I realised it wasn't ever gonna be complete. Change isn't necessarily a bad thing and I'm gonna follow that tack and see where it goes.

I apoligise if I confused anyone, it was a personal matter, but I just need this to be fun again..so please ...welcome to the newest incarnation and I hope I don't disapoint.

Rick