All my life, I’ve had a fear of heights. When I was young, I found it difficult to get on rides at the county fair…and it was almost impossible to get me on a roller coaster. I’d find any excuse possible to avoid any situation where I’d have to look down from a great height…
Have you ever felt that you HAD to be right about something? When the local radio station reads their daily trivia question, do you rush to the phone to be the first caller with the right answer? When someone misquotes a famous saying, gets a fact or figure wrong or makes a mistake, do you…
This past year, 2014, has been quite something. I did a better job of setting and tracking goals than I have in the past, and looking back at the calendar, it shows. The year was filled with lots of ups and downs….and as if I were to use one word to describe the year, I’d…
Back in the 1980’s, I was an MP, stationed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. I was “sort-of” a police officer, running traffic enforcement, responding to alarms and urgent events and breaking up fights at the local Enlisted club. In reality, traffic enforcement usually consisted of being lectured as to why I couldn’t write a ticket for…
Mom was born in 1936, in the waning years of the Great Depression, to two hard working parents of modest means. She was the oldest of several children, and learned a number of lessons growing up, which she later taught me. Mom taught me the value of hard work. When I was growing up, we…
This past week, I ran in the 39th Marine Corps Marathon. It wasn’t my 39th…..(only my 3rd)….but it was the first marathon I ran since a motorcycle accident in 2004 fractured my spine. At the time, I didn’t know if I would walk again….in fact, that was the last thing I remember the doctor saying…
Tomorrow morning, at 7:55, I’ll be running in the 39th Marine Corps Marathon. It’s my 2nd MCM, and 3rd Marathon….although it’s been a while since the last one. I ran my first marathon in 1989. I got into NYC, and woefully undertrained for it. On top of that, I made the mistake of starting near…
For the past 6 months, I’ve been training for the Marine Corps Marathon. I’m doing it for a lot of reasons – it’s the 10th anniversary of surviving a major accident, 20th anniversary of the first time I ran the MCM, and the 25th anniversary of my first marathon (NYC in 1989). A lot of…
I’m sure lots of us have seen the GEICO commercial where car insurance customers are ‘happier than a camel on Wednesday’. The middle of the week is a place where we’re more focused on the upcoming weekend than the start of the week. Thursday and Friday, things seem to go just a little bit smoother…
In just a few days, I’ll be heading out with the kids (who are really young adults at this point) on a week-long getaway. We’ve gone lots of places over the years, with more than a few adventures….and several misadventures as well. While I didn’t go on vacation much as a child, and rarely did…