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Mission Accomplished
Back in January, I set a 2025 reading goal on Goodreads of 30 books. Today, on May 29, I finished number 34 and started number 35. Guess I should have set a more ambitious goal. With the exception of my sampling of pulp fiction a while back, I haven’t written much in this space about Continue reading
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Musings on Potential from a Twilight Dog Walk
“You may grow frustrated and depressed, never realizing that the source of it is your alienation from your own creative potential.” ~Robert Greene I came across the above quote online the other day and it resonated with me. I’m not currently feeling frustrated or depressed, but when I think back on times in my life when Continue reading
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Exit Stage Wide Right
I don’t like Hallmark holiday movies. I don’t like the fact that there is going to be a Hallmark holiday movie about my favorite football team. I really don’t like the fact that, despite not liking anything about this concept, I’m still 100-percent going to watch this movie when it comes out. All that said, Continue reading
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Clark Reservation State Park
Memorial Day is the traditional kickoff for summer, so my family took the opportunity to visit one of the many New York State Parks we plan to hit over the course of the season. Today’s destination was Clark Reservation State Park located in Jamesville, a suburb of Syracuse. The park’s webpage describes the place as Continue reading
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Cascading Effects
Like Al Capone in the 1987 film version of The Untouchables, I believe that baseball is often a good metaphor for life. Take, for instance, a team’s starting-pitching rotation. We tend to think of the quality of each starting pitcher as being independent from each other. You have five starters, and the assumption is that Continue reading
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Salmon River Falls
In my corner of upstate New York, there are certain sights that one never has to travel very far to see. A few such entities that come to mind are Dunkin’ Donuts locations, abandoned factories, and all manner of items emblazoned with a Bills logo. Oh, and also waterfalls. We are very fortunate to have Continue reading
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Done Done
Every early December and early May, it seems that a smattering of people who know that I teach part time will ask me if I’m done with the semester yet. If they catch me during the period between final exam week and when grades are officially submitted to the registrar, my stock answer is, “Well, Continue reading
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Andor
When Star Wars hit theaters in 1977, I was an eight-year-old boy. That is to say, it was more or less biologically guaranteed that I was going to lap up everything that George Lucas had to feed me. And I did. As much as I enjoyed the original trilogy, the toys, the novelizations, the comic Continue reading
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Pulp
About a month ago, I started reading a novel by Charles Bukowski called Pulp. I selected it on a whim. I was in the mood for something short and I had seen enough about Bukowski’s persona as the “poet laureate of Los Angeles low-life” that I was intrigued. Pulp is a quirky little book. It’s Continue reading
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House Arrest
“I’m alright now, but last week I was in rough shape.” ~ Rodney Dangerfield Take Dangerfield’s quote above, swap out the word “week” for “month,” and it would serve as a good summation of my February. Last month was tough. Mostly, it was tough because of the weather. This area is currently recovering from the Continue reading
About Me
Researcher. Marketer. Teacher. Father of adult children and dogs. 20th Century holdover. Central New York native. Long-suffering Buffalo Bills fan. History nerd. Traveler. Vintage advertising enthusiast. Hat wearer.
a.k.a. V.J. 