Fair question. Was I ever this young?

Ran across this pic a while ago, and I think I was about 11 or so.  My sister took this pic for a senior photography class in high school.

Who that is in the background is a mystery, and so is why I was posing like the Sears catalogue kid.  Why was I wearing a collared shirt while playing football too?  Times have changed, and so have I too I guess.  And how is it this particular pic has survived all these years when others have not?  Maybe because it's my moms and sisters favorite.

Seeing a pic like this reminds us on how long of a journey life really is.  That is me, but that's a few decades and life phases ago.

Do you have similar pics?

Life is great!

Last Friday I played in the Junior Achievement Golf Outing at the terrific Chenoweth Golf Course in Akron and it was a great time! 

I know, playing golf is fun, and spending the day with workmates on the course, eating good food and the rest of it doesn't sound like tough duty, and it's not. But there is something good about supporting people that are worth supporting and Junior Achievement is one of those groups.

Everyone made us feel so welcome, and the day was so great.  Feel free to support JA in the Akron area.  This outing has been going on a long time, and with good reason.

Good people!  Support Junior Acheivement!

“Rain all you want on my old house, as the roof is new”

It’s raining today on my old house, and I’m fine with it.  I have a new roof,  and the rain finds a place away from me and runs off like a snow melted stream in the Rockies.   I believe rain gets us all thinking.  At the place in life we all are, we have all been rained on a few times in one way or another.

I have been through many changes in my personal life over the past couple of years  Much like the rain, changes happened, and quite frankly, as many don’t embrace change, I am much better for it.  My health is very good, and my professional life is better than ever.  But the void that change can leave in ones personal existence sometimes is the toughest hurdle to clear.  Even with that said, I knew then, and know even more now, that all will be fine, and in fact better than before.  Maybe even better than I could have imagined before it clouded up.

But no matter what direction the rain came from, I was ready, and I am ready still.  I don’t want to be the one that scoffs at the rain, or runs from it.  Sure, storms can be challenging but they do end, and skies do clear to brilliant blue.  And when they do we can either look at it two ways,  One, is that everything is soaked and ruined.   Or that the rain was needed and much will grow strong and tall from it.

I choose the latter. 

New flicks out this week! 

Shaft (Preview)

Here comes another Shaft movie, and this one is bound to be a big hit with hardcore fans.  The original Shaft from the early 1970's was very different than the movies made since, but that's OK.   Things reinvent themselves, and this has into a "buddy" action series. Now we have three generations to deal with.

Samuel L. Jackson, and the original Shaft, Richard Roundtree lead a fun cast.

Men In Black: International  (Preview)

Being honest, I may be the wrong guy to ask about anything MIB. This is a continuation and/or reboot of the originals of course. It has been re-casted and made over, and that's fine too.  I am just not so sure there was enough material for sequels to the original (which I liked), and I am not sure there is enough new to support this.

Seems like the same gags, and jokes again, but I hope I am wrong. But as of this writing, I'm not buying it.

Late Night  (Preview)

Emma Thompson stars as a late night talk show host, who is seemingly out of ideas and is being cancelled.  So they try to breathe new life into the show by hiring a new, young writer played by Mindy Kaling.  This is a comedy, and my gut tells me all ends up well in this story, and knowing that today is OK. 

This could be really fun if done right

The Dead Don't Die (Preview)

This has a great cast and looks really funny, in this dark comedy and parody on the whole Zombie thing. Bill Murray leads this and being honest I am looking forward to seeing this.

Yesterday on the show we had a lot of fun with this.  Someone actually calculated that on Memorial Day itself, 818 hot dogs were eaten EVERY SECOND!  Got us thinking, about the big eaters in our lives. The three of us all love to eat. - And we don't run from that!

So we opened up our phone and text lines to tons responses that made us laugh. One guy ate 11 dogs at a Dollar Dog Night with the Tribe.  Another ate 38 pizza slices at a pizza buffet!  Still another 4 big plates of shrimp at an Asian joint.  And our biggest hero ate 8 steaks at a Ponderosa once!  AWESOME!

We LOVE when you call the show and chime in!   330-370-2000

And these guys went after this pizza at Mr G's!  - NICE!

I am a big eater, and yes, hot dogs are on my radar - sausage too!   I could knock down probably about 7 in 10 minutes.  

It's officially eating season.  So let's get on the grill!

One of the best parts of my job, or any job, is when you do right.  Over the weekend was our 18th annual WQMX Pet Expo.  I work this event every year in conjunction with lots of amazing sponsors and it's one of my favorites.

HUGE Thanks to our amazing team at Rubber City Radio -  They made this event run great! Lots of work!

With a goal of adopting out as many animals as we can in a single day, it always feels good to give a voice to such a worthwhile day.

 AWWWW  - Dogs!

If you came out and were a part of this incredible event, thank you, and put it on your radar for next year.  And if you adopted a new family member   -  Thanks again!!!

I am very proud to say over the next few weeks I'll be telling you about all the incredible things that Habitat For Humanity Of Summit County does for us on the air on WQMX.

I have been associated with them for a number of years as the Honorary Chair for the Annual Golf Outing (that you can play in and/or sponsor if you want to register) and I am proud of that.  But when I was talking with Annie Boyer and others from Habitat a few weeks ago about ALL they do, it dawned on me that you never stop learning about all the incredible things they can do for you, and for us all. And it's all non-profit of course.

The time is right for Habitat. They, of course believe in doing well for those who need help, but they reuse, recycle, and redo and have been for years.  If you take a few minutes and click on their website, you can learn of many things that may benefit others, maybe even you.  They provide outstanding services I never knew before that can help you save money  -   and lots of it. And it's free.

See How You Can Donate Here

I am very proud to endorse, and be the voice of the great people there and all the fantastic work they do.  They are amazing people.

Let's Play Some Golf Too!

"Father time, is undefeated….”

Time, is it friend, or foe? This question does have a correct answer.  It is both. We never seem to have enough of it.  But at the same time, there are moments in our lives where it seems to drag on without any real redeeming regard.

Mercifully though, the scales seem to balance in end. Life is a lengthy journey, as it is the sum of all of our journeys. In a perfect world the road ahead is far brighter than the road we leave behind. It represents optimism, and reinvention. As where the road already navigated is tattooed with the permanence of reality. The moments that worked – and didn’t.

As time marches on we watch the new become the old, in our world, our friends and family, and ourselves. But I believe that no matter the circumstances, time in the end, is our friend. The only true path to reinvent ourselves is to look forward to times future. Searching for the sunrise spawns optimism, as where insisting on a sunset can lead the exactly the opposite.

Everyone and everything is walking along with us and at the same pace as time continues its relentless trek. In the end, Father Time is undefeated, where we are not. The even though the adventure does end the same for all of us, I choose to focus on the view ahead, and on those I am lucky enough to have along side me for the days on the horizon that time will graciously provide.

This week we celebrate National Hamburger Day.   Might be the best holiday ever!  I don't know if this is you, but it sure is me.  I could eat hamburgers every day.  EVERY day!  Breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, wake me up at 3am and tell me the burgers are ready, I'd come downstairs and eat one - or two.

It's perfect.  Ground up steak, pressed together, grilled and bunned!  The beauty of the burger is there is no real wrong way to make it.  Or wrong way to eat it!  Cheese? OK!  And whatever you want me to throw on it, I'm good with it.

But if I had to choose a favorite way.  Big burger - grilled - Swiss cheese -  onion bun - tomato slice - Vidalia onion slice - Dukes Mayo.

Word is Akron is the birthplace of the burger, and I'm good with that too.  If it was  - great!  Or if it was invented in Bob McGee's kitchen in Boise, Idaho - I'm good with that too.  But whoever it is, he or she should be in some Hall Of Fame somewhere.

Oh wait,..... the Inventer's Hall Of Fame is also here in Akron.

Burgers EVERY day!

Over the weekend, The Beautiful Windy and I went to the Tribe game during the lat home stand. It was the 3 hour rain delay game where it never rained.  And as we were devouring hot dogs, and BBQ, we decided to go Tribe fan all the way, and participate all the rest of the off field fun.

So we Tweeted to the Tribe as they ask you to and send a pic in hopes of getting on the huge scoreboard.  And we did. Almost. As we #Tribefan, our pic made it up there, sans half my face, and virtually all of Windy's head.

As we howled every time it came back up on the screen, we resigned ourselves that true stardom would have to wait for another day.  

Almost as much as we laughed at Windy's hashtag later  #wheresmyhead

BIG win for the Tribe last night, coming from behind and beating Boston 7-5!

GO TRIBE!