You can't make this stuff up!A while back I was minding my own business when I received an out of the blue call from someone who claimed his father had died and that he went to the Department of Motor Vehicles to turn in his dad's car plates. He claimed he discovered later that a one digit mistake had been made and that rather than his father's, m …
There’s a first for everything. When I voted in the congressional primary on Tuesday morning, I was the first ballot in my electoral district. At least the volunteers at the polling place had not been waiting in vain. I made their day. But it really wasn't good. I arrived at around 9:00 a.m. And the polls had been open for three hours. It was c …
No matter what is going on in your life, a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art will make it better. Its like taking a vacation in your own back yard. Recently voted the BEST museum in the world, finally beating out its chief competitor, the Louvre. There is something for everyone, paintings, photography, arms & armour, Greek sculpture, and t …
I will let you all in on a secret. I enjoy the part of my job that involves building our business. I enjoy meeting new people and hearing their stories. Our community is filled with so many experiences. I feel like I learn something new from every conversation I have. And, in my experience, the rest happens kind of organically. You k …
My Dad’s birthday was June 18, which usually fell on or about Father’s Day. This year it fell the day before Father's Day. A few days later, I went out to dinner with a friend and we spent a lot of time reminiscing about our fathers. It was amusing to hear that both of our fathers had interesting stories about their past. Here’s my favorite one abo …
When most of one's career centers around public service, helping others in dealing with those in public service, advising some to aspire to, or stay in it, no reader should be surprised by today's subject. My plan, before watching several reprises of a news report on my fave local news station, NY1, involved a chat around the wonders of getting …
As we all know by now, the UK voted to leave the EU. I found this funny and sad Instagram post and a very well written post to the Financial Times. This represents the bulk of social media over the past day.
My full given name is Fred C. Klein and the C. might as well stand for Chip as I am so addicted to them that I well might be made of them. Then, last week I sat next to my fellow Friar and New York Health and Aging GC Gideon Schein and right away I noticed his appreciable weight loss and, of course, always looking for a dieting SECRET, I asked him …
I was driving home and was cut off by an SUV driver who decided not to make the left turn she was signaling from the left-turn lane and cut back into traffic. I slammed on my brakes to avoid hitting her, sending things in the car that weren’t bolted down flying. I blasted my horn – realizing as I did that it wouldn’t make a difference. A moment lat …
So I thought I'd see what was "trending" on Google, so I could write a really up-to-date blog post. Here's what I found. 1. Hamilton Chicago - Tickets are going for $9000. 2. Michael Jackson - Stockpiles of violent porn at Neverland Ranch 3, Lauri Peterson - Never heard of her, but she's on Real Housewives and her son is suspected of attempted murd …
Friday afternoon I was busily working away at my laptop. To be completely honest, I was multi-tasking – talking on my cell phone, sending an instant message and reading an email. Really, I am not sure how I was doing all of those things and probably wasn’t really. But all of a sudden my mouse froze the computer. It wasn’t going anywhere and …
They say when something happens to your child you feel it worse than if it happened to you. I found that to be true last week. My youngest daughter, Sydney, was driving home from school in Buffalo last week. After dropping her friends off in Westchester, she called me on the blue tooth in her car to tell me she would be home in about an hour an …
Pets never made a regular presence at "Grand Junction," the name (my daughter) Marisa gave our place on Four Square. Occasionally we watched my nephew Douglas' hamsters; that seems ages ago. One of the four-legged variety seems capable of infusing himself as if he lived here each visit: Our niece Tara's little dog, Jackson. He seems very …
I am here. I am healthy. I am strong. The first third of my life started out as a 4.5 lb baby with life threatening congenital problems that in other countries would have resulted in my demise. The second third of my life started out with my world in complete collapse due to a set of events that made me an uneducated, broke, single parent of two …
We have all been captive inside a mechanized telephone maze. Nothing infuriates me more than the frustration of the urgent need to get through to the party I've called, but being put in the holding pen. Invariably, the delay becomes interminable as the loop interrupts the cheesy elevator music to proclaim "your call is important to us please stay o …
