The Bible is the greatest story ever told.

When I was young enough and not able to express my own feelings about religion and church, my parents made it their personal agenda to see to it that I was brought up a good Catholic and that I attend church every week. Back then and now in hindsight it was probably not the right way to go about introducing me to religion. Forcing me to attend church just made me resent going even more.

Now, as an adult, I have my own feelings about my religion and beliefs, even though I still have a mother who every once in awhile lays the guilt trip on me about my lack of attending church regularly. That standing, I have always been fascinated about my Christan background and its roots beginning with God, Adam and Jesus Christ.

Being that we are now in the Christmas season, it is hard not to think about Christ and what he means to Catholics and Christians everywhere. With all the hoop-a-lah and shopping, the real reason for this holiday gets lost in marketing for new I Pads, phones and the latest electronics that our kids can’t live without

All of my adult life I have always believed in religion and had hoped that what I had been taught really happened, but being an adult I also questioned how incredible it would have to be if it were in fact all true. I know that as a Christian I am not supposed to question my faith but how can any person not think that it might possibly be just “the greatest story ever told”.

Just thinking about it all and how it was passed down for centuries almost seems like an impossibility that one story could live on for that long and not be based on truth and real events. It seems to me that people who believe without question are more at peace with their lives than those who don’t. There must be something to it.

Although I have always questioned my faith, I have always wanted to believe. When people would ask the silly question about one person I would like share a conversation with, I always chose Christ, even though I think I would turn to a sobbing ball of mush in his presence due to the awe of it all. It just seems to me that this life we have must be for some bigger reason than the stress and craziness we live with day to day. To believe strongly that someday we will be in a better place, would make this life easier to get through.

And so in closing, I think its probably better to believe and find that in the end there is no afterlife, than it is to not believe and find that there is a judgment day and I failed the test. So as the good Catholic that my parents raised, I should say that this year, I hope you  remember to keep the Christ in Christmas…God Bless!

At some point in life we all get to an age when our eyes start to become unreliable, especially in dimly lit restaurants.

Being a Regular Guy, I fought the good fight for the last five or six years, trying to get by without optical help. Always one for seeing (no pun) eye doctors, I was told that I only needed readers and that my left eye was only fixable with surgery. So on I continued, hazing cereal box labels, newspapers, and menu’s trying make sense of it all.Wearing glasses never seemed like an option because I had  great “walking around ” vision. Carrying glasses for reading was even worse because I don’t use a “man purse” and glasses on a chain were strictly for my sun glasses ( which is still fashionable to date).So what does the Regular Guy do?

Alice, its time for contact lenses. Changing eye doctors, I had hoped that this one would be able to offer the option of contacts to help with my reading debacle. Watching my wife use contacts, never seemed like a daunting task to me and I figured that I could master the art of lens wearing in short duty. Okay so maybe I had ideas of grandeur. As my wife has observed and pointed out to me, I have three things playing against me in mastering the insertion and removal of these wonderful optical  pieces. Finger tips that over the years have lost sensitivity ( from work), hands like bear paws ( piano fingers preferred) and last, eyelid slivers. These three things, if you have not figured it out, will make placing contacts in your eyes VERY difficult.

Needless to say, I stymied the assistant in the docs office for a very long hour, the first time I attempted to install my superior eye wear. Retreating back to the safety of my home, I enlisted the assistance of my favorite contact wearer, to teach my the ropes on how too install these little domes of magnifying wonders.

So armed with visions of expert techniques buried in my mind, I attempted a second installation visit with the docs asssistant. Being blessed with skills beyond most mortal men, I conquered the task at hand and left with contacts in place!

After putting in the lens, I should tell you, I felt like I was in my thirties again. I was walking around the office in wonderment of how much I could read and from such as distance. These things are incredible. I am a new man!

But alas, all good things come to an end. Contacts, as I already knew, must be removed every night and put back in every morning. What a bummer! So maybe I still haven’t really conquered the task just quite yet. Already I have ripped one lens, dropped another (and found it stuck to the soap dispenser bottle) and placed one in backwards (ouch),but I move on with the hopes that great vision is still within my grasp. Its only been three days and it hasn’t gotten much easier, but when I do get (the one lens) it in, seeing everything clear again makes it worth the effort.

Already I know the best thing about reading so easily again. Perusing a menu and actually knowing what I am ordering instead of ordering out of frustration or with the aide of my trusted sidekick’s vocal descriptions. Life is good!

(as submitted by Lea for “She Say’s”)

A real man is a woman’s best friend. He will never stand her up and never let her down. He will reassure her when she feels insecure and comfort her after a bad day.

He will inspire her to do things she never thought she could do; to live without fear and forget regret. He will enable her to express her deepest emotions and give in to her most intimate desires. He will make sure she always feels as though she’s the most beautiful woman in the room and will enable her to be the most confident, sexy, seductive, and invincible.

No wait… sorry… I’m thinking of wine.
Never mind.

I raise my glass to those who are lucky enough to have found a real man, as well!

It’s probably a good idea for you to first read the article linked to this post before reading my thoughts on it below.

www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=137298

As much as I hate to think that this person is correct in his opinion, I believe he could have hit the bulls-eye!

Marriage really doesn’t work, at least not like it used to. We have become a society of me rather than we people. Marriage after all, is just too hard for most people to become adept at, mainly because there is very little incentive for them to do so. People used to marry for love but if you ask couples today why they are marrying, most place love at the back of the list, and some never even mention it. It’s usually “we’ve been together for years and it was time”. How can anyone expect a marriage to last if that’s a reason to get married. Time together should never be a reason to marry.

Marriage works if both people want it to. Period, end of story! If you aren’t fully commited to making your marriage the single most important thing in your life, it’s probably doomed. I always beleived that if a person put their spouse’s feelings before their own, it would increase a marriages chance of survival. Too often I am around friends that talk bad about their spouse openly. I also witness couples that curse at each other. I have never in my life,heard my parents curse at each other. You need to respect your spouse and treat her that way. Never talk bad to people about her or curse at her like you curse at friends or others, especially when in a disagreement.

I am one of the unlucky ones who married then divorced. I am also one of the luckier ones who found the right girl the second time around. When I married the second time, my mom told us both, just one thing. “Be kind to each other”. That’s all..just be kind. Sounds corny huh? I sure as hell thought so. But after thinking it over  I conscientiously tried it. It makes sense too. It can only make your wife love and appreciate you more if you treat her kindly. Kind words, hold hands, little notes in everyday places, open doors for her (ALL THE TIME) and treat her like a woman used to be treated when our dads were young.

Yes, maybe the institution of marriage as we know it is doomed. And maybe its because we have forgotten what is truly important in our lives because we have all gotten caught up in computers, long hours at work, reality television  and what makes me happy. We allow our lives to become so complicated that we often don’t think about how to make our marriage better but just let days turn into years without thought of how it is actually falling apart. We allow our childrens’ interests to rule our marriage and forget that at one time, when they weren’t around, we were both what was important. Now, many husbands that started at number one in their wife’s eyes may very well be three or four, depending on how much she loves her parents and pets…

The formula for a good marriage isn’t that complicated. It just takes two people to be committed to making each others happiness the most important thing in their lives…Pretty simple huh?

(The following is the opinion of a guest writer and a close friend)

A few weeks back I was watching my favorite sport, Major League Baseball, on television when a foul ball was struck by the batter into the right field stands. The right fielder on my “not-so-favorite” team these days, drifted over to attempt the catch. The ball barely made it into the stands and suddenly, a fan and his son who were merely minding their own business while watching the game were thrust into controversy. It seems the man, we will later find out, was simply trying to enjoy a baseball game with his son and give him a father-and-son experience that most young boys savor when they are ten years old.

Anyway, back to the ball going into the stands…  As luck would have it the ball came closer and closer to this man and his unsuspecting son. The man looked up, as all the other fans in the ballpark did, and he noticed the ball heading directly for his 10-year-old son who was standing by his side.  As we all would do, the man tuned out the rest of the world (about forty thousand screaming fans).  He raised his arms in expectation of catching this little white prize falling out of the sky directly toward his naïve offspring.

Unexpectedly, a big baseball glove entered his field of vision and hence the controversy began. It seems the competitive right fielder decided to reach into the stands to try to catch the ball. Nothing wrong with that you say?  Well on the surface I tend to agree, except for what ensued after the catch was attempted.

As you may have already guessed the right fielder and the man collided in their attempts to capture the soaring white object.

This is where the story takes an ugly turn. It seems the right fielder was so dismayed about not being able to complete his gallant effort that a bit of anger bubbled up. He looked at the man and one can only surmise that he didn’t notice the young boy next to him. Let’s give the player the benefit of the doubt and say he did NOT observe the father-son team. The player, in venting his frustration at having not caught the ball, suddenly let a (no pun intended) foul expletive fly.

“Get the F_ _ _ out of the way,” exclaimed the right fielder, directing his anger at the perplexed dad.

What happened next is rather disconcerting to say the least. The player walked away in disgust, shaking his head in frustration. The dad threw his arms up in embarrassment, and the son sat down, looking as if he wished he could hide, he was so obviously embarrassed.

Now the crowd started to get into the act. Many people started booing the poor man and jeering at him and his son.

Let’s forget the fact that this play had no immediate effect on the game and would not affect the eventual outcome either. Of course there was no way for the right fielder and the ignorant fans to know that at the time, so many decided to chastise a poor man who was just trying to have a nice outing with his son.

Let’s try and forget the ignorant fans for a moment. They have the right to act like immature and ignorant idiots, correct? After all they paid for their tickets and certainly have the right to act any way they like.

Let’s concentrate on the right fielder and examine his moral obligation as a professional athlete. Ok, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say he lost his temper in the heat of a competitive moment. Once this happened though, does he have an obligation to offer an apology?

Consider who may have been affected by his deplorable action! Obviously the man involved was made to feel like less of a man in the eyes of his son and to the fans around him. Possibly other children heard the expletive and were affected as well.

Does this player have any values or morals? Did he return to the man and his boy and offer them an apology or a peace offering, like an offer to sign a ball and present it to the young boy to make things right?

I would suggest that this player isn’t really a professional at all nor does he appear to be much of a man. Actually, to this observer, the player appears to be an immature jerk. Is he so caught up in his own career aspirations and professional frustrations that he chooses to ignore societal norms?  Where’s the public outcry to demand that this player “right his wrong” and offer an apology to the fans in general?

In my humble opinion he is not only obligated to offer an apology, he should also sensor himself with some sort of self-imposed penalty.  Maybe contact the father and son and offer them tickets to be his guest at a future game. Show the world that he takes his professional career and child role-model status seriously.

And what about those fans who thought it either funny or serious to chastise the father?

Most of us have done stupid things we’d take back in a minute after having the time to ponder them. Personally, when that’s happened for me, I’ve learned that I owe an apology to those I’ve affected. I’m not one to preach, I’m simply one that has learned from my own mistakes and understands the damage one’s actions can have.

I think the behavior this baseball player and many fans demonstrated during this incident has become all too common in our world today. Could some good old fashioned values and morals be revisited, even promoted, as a way to fix what has become wrong in our lives today?

As a side note to this story, the man was contacted by a popular local radio sports talk show to be interviewed because this story had become a national media event. It was explained by the talk show host that in conversation with the man before doing the live interview, he learned the dad was somewhat shy and didn’t really feel comfortable with all the media attention and scrutiny, but despite this had agreed to do the interview anyway.  The man was clearly humbled by the experience. He went on to explain that as a season ticket holder, he was upset that this event would impact future games that he and his son would attend and possibly feel strange around other season ticket holders in his section.

Is this fair? Again doesn’t the ball player have some obligation to right this wrong? For that matter doesn’t the team have a sense of obligation to appreciate this innocent fan? Shouldn’t the team feel a desire to talk to the player, even if strictly from a public relations view, no less a moral one? Have we really lost a sense of what is right and wrong in our lives when we simply let this eruptive behavior pass without any sort of reckoning for those who present it?

From this writer–   I have lost complete respect for this player and the team for which he plays.

Some one tell me why in Gods name would ANYONE, man or woman buy a candle for a man? Does a person stand in the middle of a chachki store with scented candle in hand with a smile on their face and say” Wow, Joe is going to love this!”

Men don’t do well with gifts. I can understand now what my dad went through all those years for birthdays and Christmas. How hard it must have been for him to smile when inside he was probably thinking” What the hell am I going to do with this singing fish?”

Men don’t do well with gifts especially when women buy them. Not always but most often true, women don’t get us in life, so picking gifts for us is just nuts. Most of us have everything we want, unless its too expensive to buy, which means we aren’t going to get that as a gift from someone else!

So what do you buy for the Regular guy? Probably nothing. Unless you pay attention to what he does in life and especially in his spare time, then nothing works better that a gift card.

In closing, perhaps an example of such a tragic gift story would be fitting. This is what happens when, not one, but two women engage in what they believe is the perfect gift for yours truly.

At some time in my past I mentioned that I always wanted a small pair of binoculars. One that I could easily carry, you know, like to the beach to check out bikini clad women ( What? Were you thinking I was going to say for a sporting event!). So armed with this information, my wife sets out to buy me the gift I always wanted!  UNFORTUNATELY, she shopped at a store that a woman she knows owns and this woman proceeded to talk her out of the small pair of binoculars. She instead, thought that a singular monocular would be much better for me. So, that Christmas, I got half the gift I always wanted!!

To be honest, in the end I did get my binoculars about two years and three gift occasions later but I figure you get the point. This past year I started a list with details like brand names, model numbers, colors, and even a contact person from which to buy these gifts. Not bad huh? Get to it guys……Merry Christmas!

Just one man’s opinion…

The Regular Guy

Hey, that's just not a safe riding style....

For those of you who never saw the movie “Wild Hogs”, you should if you want a good start to understanding why men ride motorcycles.

I can remember being a child and what my first impressions of motorcycling were. The thing I most remember is my moms cousins and their “motorcycle garage” behind their house. Back in the sixties cut up choppers were the thing to have and at any given time you would see a large variety of them at their garage.

As a child, you can not help to feel awe at the sight of tattooed men with all that iron and noise around them.  Even at this age I still find myself in awe, at times, when I am surrounded by motorcycles. It’s like being in the wild west without the guns.

But even though I have always had a love of motorcycles, it wasn’t until I reached forty or so that I truly appreciated what it does to enhance my life.

Having a motorcycle in itself doesn’t necessarily bring excitement and adventure. It is with whom and what you do with it, that makes motorcycling a great thing. Nothing else exemplifies this more than owning and riding a Harley Davidson. It is like belonging to a club with out walls and rules. It’s a fraternity with out the hazing.

The absolute best reason for riding is the people you meet and become friends with. Someone tagged it “male bonding” but I think that’s a load of commercial crap. Yeah we all get along, but I always think of bonding like a bunch of men sitting around singing Kum Ba Yah. That just isn’t happening. What happens is that the motorcycle becomes the common denominator that brings together men of all backgrounds. Doctors, lawyers, chefs, Realtors, electricians and so on, just wanting to do one thing. Experience life through simple transportation and being able to share that with someone else who can understand it.

A lot of people always ask me why we get together to take a trip and ride for hundreds of miles a day.  They think its boring because you have no one to talk to, like you would in a car. They can’t understand what reason we would have to go to Ohio, for instance. What could possibly be a reason to ride there. This is the one thing people don’t really understand about motorcycling unless they ride one. The trips aren’t about the ride itself but the friendships that come from them. The best part of the ride is always at night when you pull into a new town, and go out for a steak, some drinks, and laugh your ass off about the events that took place that day. There aren’t any phone calls from work, no bills to pay today, no kids to drive to soccer, nothing but you and that bike and your friends.

I just spent the better part of four days on a ride that rolled up 1200 miles. On that trip I got to spend time with my uncle, that I probably would never have done with out our motorcycles. We were all drenched in rain that was so heavy, we had to dry our boots on the heaters in the hotel rooms. I smelled the aroma of at least 12 different things that I would have missed if I were in a car. I got to act like a college kid again, when we all did shots of Vodka in a small cafe in State College Pa. I experienced roller coaster excitement on rte 322, where roads were cut out of the sides of mountains that were so steep that trucks had to ride their brakes just not to crash.

There’s a saying bikers have, “Ride to Live, Live to Ride.” which just about sums it all up. At no point in my life have I ever felt as alive or as free as I do when I ride.

So here’s to my friends “The Mild Hogs” and to another safe and successful trip…

The Regular Guy

One minute things are as they always are. Happy, easy going and with no real thoughts about anything. Then in an instant, it changes.

Now you both aren’t talking. Well you talk but the words aren’t the same. They are short and given without intent to provide honest conversation. Even touching each other is awkward when it used to be natural. Almost as if you both forgot how its done.

Saying I love you now, is like giving in, when at a time like this, it is when it’s needed most. It’s been written that love meant never having to say you were sorry. Well men, that is not true.

Saying your sorry, especially when you feel that your side of the rift is the correct one, is the only way out of this mess. The problem is that it is always you that has to be the one to do it, in order for things to be normal again.

As hard as it is to always have to be the one to say “I’m sorry”, its even harder to live with the fact that you always give up what  you believe in just to keep the peace.

Maybe its just part of being a man. Maybe because our feelings can be hurt or we can be upset and then just move on. Start over when things are said and done like nothing happened. After all most men argue and then have a beer and its all forgotten. I guess it just isn’t that easy for women.

So now it’s just a matter of how long you decide to let this linger before you break the ice and clear the air, because you know she’s not going to do it. It’s really unfortunate that it has to come to this especially when you both know that the what caused this wasn’t even serious.

So with mop in hand, it’s time to clean up the mess you helped create.

Funny thing is that once its all cleaned up, it’s like it never happened. Back to hugs, back to kisses, back to meaningful conversation…..

Just one man’s opinion

The Regular Guy

You have to give Governor Jan Brewer credit. She’s got BALLS!!!!

Not only has she worked on and helped get passed, a Senate Bill to enforce immigration laws,  but she also went over her Attorney Generals head when he refused to represent the people of Arizona on her behalf. Jan Brewer  had a statue written giving her power to join other States in their lawsuit against our President and Congress for passing what many believe to be, an unconstitutional Health Care Bill.

More of our Representatives should have the guts to do what this woman is attempting…getting back our country and doing what the people of her State ask her to.

I would hope that all of you Google Senator Sylvia Allen and Governor Jan Brewer, write to them, and let them know you support them for their efforts…After all, our President thinks illegal aliens are a joking matter,,( see Governors website video at  www.janbrewer.com/news-room/videos ) while we continue to carry the financial burden of having to pay for all the free health care they receive everyday. Do your part…its time..

The Regular Guy