Eastward Bound

The Back Burner - It's been a long time between blog posts, I know. Finishing the book, packing, moving things around (including myself) - it's meant putting some things on the back burner, as they say. That explains the disappearance of my blog writing.

But that's changing now. If nothing else, writing more, and doing it daily, often forces my brain to get creative. It doesn't allow me to be lazy, which I can, of course, sometimes be. I remember when I first left NYC and headed to the Midwest, it was the daily journal writing (which turned into the blogs) that kept the juices flowing. And from that writing, everything else seemed to blossom. It's hard to explain, but I know it happened.

City to city, I managed to find some quiet time to sit and reflect on... well... anything. If I ate at a good restaurant that day - I wrote about it. If I visited a national landmark or met an interesting person - I wrote about those things. I miss that aspect of my life. Call it "mundane routine" - something pulled me away from that writing practice. Once settled into the Kansas City phase of my life, I soon fell into a schedule. The adventure part of my journey came to a halt. Work at CBIZ three days a week pushed me into the business world again. And during that set-aside "business" time, I did legislative research for a living, which I enjoyed for the most part. I know that sounds hard to believe, but it's true. And the truth is, that work proved to be the perfect balance against the "other" side of my life. The Eldercation side.

The balance of my week was then spent transcribing interview tape after interview tape, one after the other, day after day, week after week. Once that was "done" (a relative term, since I'll never really be done with this process, I love it so much) - it was time to distill each interview down to a page or so.

And that's a quick explanation as to why the blog writing was put on hold. Some folks seem to be able to do it all - all the time. For me? I made a choice, and my choice was to pay attention to one thing and one thing only: the book.

And I'm happy to report that the book is done. I've taken it as far as it can go.

Onward & Upward - (Actually - EASTward) - It dawned on me that most, if not all, of the folks who are going to help me set up Eldercation are located in the Northeast, so I've decided to head back that way for the time being. I'm keeping my main address in Kansas City and will come back that way periodically. But, for me, it's time share with the world that which has provided so much joy to me all these years. And to do that, it means traveling. Again.

After dropping off some things with my brother in Chicago, I headed East two days ago, stopping for one night some place in Western Pennsylvania. I think it was Clarion, PA? Honestly, I'm not really sure where it was. And it didn't matter all that much. A drive from Chicago to NY means you only have to remember two numbers: 90 and 80. Trust me, there's nothing all that interesting about that particular drive. And there is certainly no way to get lost. I can't remember the last time I drove such a long distance (850 miles or so) and never once did I look at a map. So, in that sense, a pause to find some place to sleep for the night - it could have happened anywhere. Quite frankly, I really didn't know where I was most of the time. I just watching the signs for the big cities on the route, "Toledo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, East Stroudsburg, Newark, New York - and as long as the numbers to those locations kept shrinking, I knew I was doing okay. So, to me, a stop was a stop - it didn't matter where I took my rest. All I needed was a warm bed, shower and a good breakfast. This particular time - it was a Quality Inn - Clarion, PA. (That's what the address on the phone said).

I've Arrived - The sight brought a smile to my face. And I snapped this photo (with my "LCD-less" digital camera. Built-in obsolescence, you gotta love that). I glanced to my right, down the Hudson, looking at the NYC skyline. "I used to live there," I thought to myself. And then I kept driving North on 95 until... everything stopped.

Let me put it this way: it took me 14 hours to get from the front of Stuart's Bikram studio in Evanston (Chicago) to the middle of the George Washington Bridge. Then, it took me almost three hours to get from the middle of the GW Bridge to my Aunt Florence's house in Oceanside (Long Island). Traffic, traffic and more traffic. On 95, The Cross Island Parkway and the Southern State Parkway.

"How do people deal with this everyday!?!" I wondered, over and over again. I remember asking myself that same question most of the time I lived in the city.

And over and over again, as I drove I thought, "I will never, ever return to this kind of life.

As much as I love NYC, and I do love it very much, I can't see dealing with this kind of... what can I call it? Congestion? I lived this life for many, many years. But now, it's all about setting up this fantastic project.

Which reminds me. It's time to go.

Friday Night Lessons

Glad To Be Back - It's been awhile since I've posted on here - I know that. For those who've been following, there's a very simple reason for the absence. I've been finishing my book. Unlike some folks, I suppose, I seem to be at my best, writing-wise, only when I'm hyper-focused. So, that's what I've been doing. Hyperfocusing. And, apparently, that technique worked. Last weekend, I handed a finished first-draft of the book to my editor; I'm moving on to the next stage.

But, it's not as though my life stopped completely over the past couple of months. In some ways, my eyes have opened up to a number of things since I've lifted them up and away from the laptop screen. Months ... what am I saying? Years of transcribing interviews have taken their toll on my social life, as well as my upper back. But I'm pretty excited about what the upcoming year holds in store for Eldercation. Finally, I'll be able to share with many others, the value I've discovered from meeting so many incredible seniors from all over the country.

Now - on a completely different front - one of my recent "post-first draft" discoveries ...

A Teacher Is Born - About six months ago, a neighbor from down the hall asked me if I'd be interested in tutoring him. He's a young Korean gentleman (early 30's) and he wanted to improve his conversational English. "Expressions," he said. "You don't have to prepare too much. I just want to be more confident with my English speaking," he explained.

At the time, I was in the throws of meeting a deadline I'd agreed to with my editor, so I wasn't too keen on taking on a new venture, even though the young man was willing to pay me pretty well for a couple or hours a week. A few days, and then weeks, passed ... and then the idea kind of dissolved into thin air ...

... until Chin-Hwa moved out of the apartment building. (Note: the names have been changed to protect the innocent). When I ran into Chin-Hwa packing up in the hall, he was quick to bring up the tutoring idea again and, this time, with the book just about completed, I scribbled down my cell number on a slip of paper and asked him to call. "We'll figure something out," I assured him. Two weeks after that, I was walking into a new world to teach my first English class.

The Brightest Minds - As it turned out, Chin-Hwa asked if another friend could join in our "sessions," and knowing it would mean a bit more money for me, (along with some extra work), I told him I didn't mind. And so, Kazuo, (from Japan) joined Chin-Hwa and me at our first class - on a Friday night. We decided it would be best and easiest for the three of us to simply meet at their building. Oh, yes ... their "building." I'm going to take a moment to fill you in on this "building."

Briefly, Chin-Hwa and Kazuo are both scientists. When Chin-Hwa first told me why he was in the U. S., I thought it was to go to school, so I had them both pegged as young students. Well, that's not the case. These are two very, very bright young men. And I mean young. Chin-Hwa is the veteran at 31. Kazuo is ... well ... I call him "Doogie Howser," since he finished medical school at the ripe age of 24. Amazing, huh? Chin-Hwa and Kazuo both work at The Stowers Institute For Medical Research. The one sentence explanation about this company is as follows: the institute "conducts basic research on how genes and proteins control fundamental processes in living cells." If it sounds intense, I can pretty much assure you that what goes on inside this building is, in fact, intense. (A full background sheet can be found at this link, if you're interested - Stowers Institute Fact Sheet).

I mention Stowers here, because apart from the teaching part of this experience which I'm about to describe - the overall immersion into ... how can I best put this? Another world? Every Friday night, from 7-9PM I enter a context that is so completely foreign to me, there's simply no other way to describe it. And I mean "foreign" in a few different ways.

First of all, it appears that 98% of all the scientists in the building come from other countries. I love this. Not many of them speak with me, but they all seem to smile a lot. The truth is, I really enjoy being around folks from so many different backgrounds. That's a genuine treat for me here and it's happening at a time when I feel myself missing NYC more and more, to be honest. I really miss that diversification. I don't miss it enough to move back, mind you. But, a few more months down the road?? Who knows?

Secondly, another reason the Stowers' setting feels so foreign to me is because ... well ... the last time I was around this many microscopes and petri dishes, I was busy failing out of blue biology in the 9th grade. Or was it the 10th? It doesn't matter. I didn't actually fail, but I probably should have failed, that's how completely lost I was that entire year. Looking back on it now, it didn't take long for me to figure out that I wasn't, what one would call, a "natural science" kinda guy. I'm definitely more of the "social scientist" variety. Having said that, the first time I walked down one of the Stowers' hallways with Chin-Hwa, I'm pretty sure my mouth was wide open the entire time. For moment I was back in Mr. McCullough's room 112, staring at the open body cavity of a dissected bullfrog.

Chin-Hwa showed me around a bit, taking me into his laboratory area and explaining about his particular research - which is fascinating, I have to say. More on that in a future post. In fact, I'm pretty sure I won't get into the "teaching English" part of the story today; just taking in the Stowers' surroundings affected me in ways I never imagined. I came to see very quickly that this is one very powerful place. For one thing, the security is impressive - I'm talking "lock-down" impressive. And for good reason, as one of the security guards explained to me while he initially signed me in.

"They do stem-cell research here," he said. "So ..." he shrugged, "... you can imagine some of the stuff we have to deal with."

That little tidbit of info really added another level to my whole tutoring adventure.

To be continued ...

"Hmmmm...."

Riddle me this.

Basmati rice in a hermetically sealed jelly-jar - I'm talking air-tight here, complete with one of those rubber rings around the edges of the top. I love these kinds of jars and picked up three of them at an Essentials that was closing down on the Plaza a few months back, figuring this would be the perfect way to store various kinds of dry goods. Rice seemed to be a natural choice, especially since I've been trying different rice types as I do more cooking and experiment with different dishes. (How to cook the rice? That will be a different entry; I didn't realize how challenging that can be). Back to the issue at hand.

You see the photo on the left. You see the photo on the right.

Get the point? Well, perhaps you don't quite yet. Here's what you'll need to do, take a better look at the picture on the right. Do you see two little dark specks? Now, allow your mind to do its thing.

"The Best Laid Plans ... " - So I came home the other night after a yoga class, having picked up some fixin's for my special - I don't know what you'd call it - but it has onions, yellow peppers, mushrooms, curry, garlic, pineapple chunks, red kidney beans, cashews and my absolute favorite, "Tuong Ot Toi Viet-Nam" chili-garlic sauce (do any of you know this sauce? Fantastic - here's a link to one online vendor. You've probably been served it when you go to a Vietnamese restaurant. I know Saigon Grille serves it. Mmmm, mmmm, good). So, anyway, I saute it all together and then serve it with, you guessed it, basmati rice (sometimes wild or brown to mix things up a bit). And then ... if I'm in a really good mood, I add some mango chutney to the deal, to give it that sweet and spicy touch. I call it ... well, actually, I don't have a name for it yet, but I'll take suggestions. Perhaps "Harry's Special Rice?"

That's where I was at the other night when I started unpacking the groceries. To say I was psyched for a good meal? That would be an understatement.

Now, this is when it gets interesting (and a little unsettling, for those of you who have exceptionally weak stomachs). I started sauteing the onions, peppers and mushrooms and went to grab the large jelly-jar with the rice, so I could get that on its way.

"What the h...?"

I dipped my head down a bit to get a better look, turning the jar so the light reflected off to the side, allowing me see things more clearly.

I'm not going to go into the details here - you have the photo up there, so you see what was happening. All I can say is I'm just glad this was "white" rice; thank God for the contrast. The dark speck was, you guessed it - a living creature and ... if one little friend wasn't enough, after I twisted and turned the bottle a few more times, I noticed the guy had some company.

Needless to say, Harry's Special Rice was going to be served sans rice that night; I didn't want the dish to be too special. The fact is, the whole situation grossed me out. I mean, to see moths in the rice like that. Still, as disgusting as it was, I was also, as I said, pretty fascinated by the situation. I couldn't help but wonder, "How the hell did those critters get into that damn bottle!?" I hadn't opened that thing one time since I bought the rice at Whole Foods and poured it out of the plastic bag and into the jar. And when that metal clamp locks down over the rubber ring thingy - there is simply no way anything gets into that jar, right? I mean, am I right or am I right?

It's Wikipedia Time! - Well, I started out with Googling the words, moth, rice, basmati, gross. And, sure enough, I started to read posts about how rice can often contain the larvae of certain kinds of bugs, including moths. This certainly explained how something like the great moth caper could have happened. The fact is I usually wash the rice - someone told me it's a good way to rid the rice of the extra starch, allowing it to cook better, and all that. And that does seem to work, I have to say. But now I see that washing rice has some extra benefits.

A Sad Farewell - First of all, before anyone out there goes all "Michael Vick" on me, I love animals and would never intentionally do anything cruel to them. Having said that, after moving the bottle around for about an hour or so, I ... well ... let's just say the moths are no more of this world. My morbid curiosity pushed me to search for more bugs or perhaps even see some eggs. So, of course, this then prompted me to twist and turn the jar, up, down, right and left - over and over again. I'm guessing the thousands of kernels of rice must have suffocated those guys at some point during this process. At one point, I actually thought about that scene in "Witness," where John Book (Harrison Ford) releases that huge load of grain into that silo, suffocating that cop. I guess you could have called me a kind of John Book that night. That works, except that cop was evil and these two moths were most likely good, solid citizens. Or were they? They cost me my dream meal that night. Bummer.

Into The Fridge - Until I get to the bottom of what's going on in those jars, I'm not taking any chances. Everything open, food-wise, is heading into the cold. The good news is I haven't seen any other moth friends hanging around, but I'm still concerned. Then again, what's a person to do? I mean, if the larvae are already in there when I buy the stuff, who's to say ... Yecchhh. I can't go there. All I know is, I'll be scrubbing my rice every night from now on. Either that or the name will simply be "Harry's Special," and we'll go with the stand-alone dish.

Look What I've Created

I remember days, lying in bed in my old West 87th Street apartment, staring up at the ceiling, listening to the people above me pounding away on the floor - wondering - when the hell was I gonna get out of that place!?

The last year on the Upper West Side was not fun, I have to say. With the building sold, new owners moved in and determined to force us out on their greedy terms, life in the city was stressful, to say the least. I was tired of the whole thing but, like my co-tenants, I wanted to fight - until it was time to stop fighting. And as things wound down with the lawyers, I found myself turning my attention back up to the ceiling, and I'd think about the next move; dream about the next move. And, what's amazing to me now, looking back on those moments, at no time did one cell in my brain, for one microsecond ever think I would some day end up in, of all places ... Kansas City, Missouri.

Amazing.

And so, it's that very thought that swept through my head last night as I sipped sangria and munched on my mushrooms and shrimp, surrounded by a group of really good and nice people. One line kept popping into my head: "Look what I've created here." I mean, when I left New York to start my cross-country Eldercation trip, I knew I was heading to new places and I was excited about it. Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa - all these states I'd heard about, read about, flown over for so many years - finally, I was driving through the small towns, meeting the people. It's been ... for lack of a better term ... thrilling. And the thing is, never during this entire process, have I ever given much thought to where I'm going to end up once this stage of the project is completed. Having said that, I'll again mention - Kansas City was most certainly never on the radar.

And yet, there I was last night. Surrounded by people - new friends in a new land - all of us in Kansas City.

As I pointed out last month, the end of the year presented me with a good opportunity to do some solid thinking. That's when it gets dangerous for me. Still, I realized something pretty important - I was downright tired of dealing with my December 28 birthday the same way every year. Alone. What can I say? It's just in that "spot." In what I like to call that deep valley in between Christmas and New Year's. And so, this was the year I was determined to change course, seize the moment, and create something special. And I did just that.

There really is something envigorating about sharing friends. It's not something I've been especially good at over the years but, last night, I took a shot at doing just that by organizing a night out at a fun (and delicious) Spanish restaurant here in KC. Just about every person at the table last night has figured in my adventure here in some special way. I could have invited - in fact, I wanted to invite - more folks to the outing, but the La Bodega-man told me that 17 was pushing it. That was the number I had to work with, so I dealt with it. And it was fine.

Once again, I'm now looking just up around the next turn and I can't say for sure what's going to happen next. Then again, who among us can actually do that? (If someone out there can do that - I'd like to meet you, so we can write a book together. We'll be rich). What I do know is something big is going to happen for me - and I'm not just saying that. The last time I felt this way, I had just started my adventure with The Jerky Boys and, even then, friends of mine thought I was nuts to be giving up on my law degree (which, as it turns out, I haven't given up on at all. I use that knowledge every day of my life). If I took that Jerky Boys' feeling and multiplied it by 1000 - that's what I feel for this Eldercation project. As far as the first stage? The first book? I'm finished. After years of well over 1000 interviews, hours upon hours upon hours ... (upon hours) of transcriptions - long days and nights in the libraries and coffee shops - I feel I really have something special here. And so, now I'm on to the next challenge - how to get this information and message out there. I'm fighting a bit of a battle with that one -the same battle for which I had box seats during my years in the music business. I've always been a grass-roots, indie guy at heart and, from what I can tell, not much has changed in terms of my style and outlook. But I'm not going to go into that here. That would be a supreme waste of energy - energy better spent on the task at hand. That task being - producing and then marketing this book on my own. More on that at another time.

For now, I'll finish here by saying this - I bring up the winding down of the book because it's very much tied to what I was feeling last night during our little La Bodega fiesta. Now that I've lifted up my head, after being so focused over the past few years, I need to think about what's next? And before any changes come about, I wanted to make sure I took a solid snapshot of what I have right now - in this moment - with the people I've met here in Kansas City, Missouri. Amazing. Never in my wildest dreams. It's funny how this life thing works.

"The Right Person For The Times"

"The right person for the times."

That’s what someone said to me, I think it was, about 8 months ago, during the campaign.

Watching the inauguration today, while listening to President Obama speak, I thought of that line. I thought about how, sometimes, the times find the person. I think that’s what's happened here. It just feels so right. Now, I know, it doesn’t feel this way for everyone. I understand that. But, I feel the hope; I feel the power. And I’m guessing it is washing over the vast majority of our citizens as I write these very words.

Sure, today’s events are exciting; the images are moving. I know I teared up when Aretha sang. The parties will be fun tonight and we'll all share stories about where we were and what we were doing when the new President took his oath. But the fact is, the real work will begin tomorrow. And then the day after that. And then the day after that. And as much as we all have a tendency to look to others to help us meet a good many of our challenges, at the end of the day, it really is all about personal responsibility. It’s all about the choices each of us make every day of our lives. I like it when I hear our new President speak of such things. I find myself sitting up just a bit straighter when he talks about such things. He inspires me. He inspires many. It’s just what the doctor ordered, don’t you think?

The right person for the times?

I’d say so.

Basement Hockey

Caving In ... For many months now, people have been hassling me to join Facebook - to get in the game, and all that. I've resisted. The Capricorn in me, I suppose. I mean, I don't even text. What kind of a person am I? Listen, it's certainly not that I'm anti-technology or anything. The fact is I'm actually pretty plugged into things without needing every single contraption that's on the market. But, the past few years have been about wanting, needing some quiet. As one person put it recently - I've needed a place to incubate what is now just about to be completed - my first book.

And then ...

Three Facebook invites from some close childhood friends ...

Marshall's invite was the first to reach me here in KC, followed closely by John's and Jeff's.

Many have tried to get HJ to cross over into Facebook-land, but all have failed. Until this morning, that is.

So, what snagged me?

"Kick Save - And A Beauty!" - I remember hanging out in Marshall's basement a lot when we were all kids. First, there were the Strat-O-matic baseball games, with Marshall, John, Steve and me - that was our league. I was the last one to join in the fun, so I got to pick from all the droppings when the opening year draft first occurred. That would account for my 0-842 record. Actually, I think I won one game ... in 18 innings. It was exciting for me. (A quick note for my old league-members: that's Dave Winfield's "rookie" card on the left - which explains why it pretty much stinks. I'd be curious to see what it looks like today, after a Hall-of-Fame career. Remember the old-timers' cards? Walter Johnson? Hank Aaron? Babe Ruth? And my old favorite - possibly the only good player I had on my team back then ... Nap Lajoie).

I remember Marshall's bar mitzvah party, also in that basement. I made out with someone that night - I'll omit the name here - my folks raised me well. At least I think I made out with her. It may be that I was merely intimate with her shoulder for most of that night, I can't be sure now that I think about it.

Lastly, there were those hockey games. Marshall, John and I would suit up and whack those sticks around - that puck was pretty real, too, from what I can recall. I know this because I remember getting struck in what I'll call a "bad spot," when I was playing goalie one afternoon. Yes, that's the kind of thing one remembers some 40+ years later, trust me.

Anyway - it was fun to hear from such good old friends this morning. Sure, I have resistance to many of the things available out there on the market. So much of it feels like overload to me. But sometimes ... something special appears on the web that catches my eye; something that really works. Things that come to mind: Amazon, eBay, the original America Online with it's IM's, roadfood.com (check that out - especially when you're hungry), myspace, and now ... Facebook.

So ... I'm in. Hopefully, it will mean re-connecting with some special people I've known up until this point. It's funny to me - I love how I've discovered this particular site (and the rekindled friendships flowing from this discovery) right at the time I've lifted up my head, after years of relative isolation, while I've been traveling and dedicating myself to Eldercation. Those who know me well, understand my passion for what I've been pursuing. It's been a challenging but very rewarding time. I'm planning on you all seeing the fruits of my labor very soon.

For now, it's simply good to be back into the flow.

Happy New Year

POSTSCRIPT: Harry J. - sitting here and wondering, "How much of my life can I waste by spending waayyyy too much time on Facebook?" (I love it but ... boundaries will have to be set up).

The Day I Was Born

Tomorrow ... I've been a bit worried lately. Worried about my birthday, which, incredibly, seems to fall on the same day every year. Amazing. Seriously, I've been concerned because the way I've planned things this year, the way things are unfolding I'm going to be in Kansas City on that day, which is December 28, by the way. And, usually, this less than ideal calendar positioning makes for some less than interesting birthday celebrations. I mean, 12/28 is right smack in the valley between Christmas day and New Years, so you can imagine just how eager folks are to go out and party yet another time. Sure, when I was a kid, it was actually pretty cool to have a birthday during that week. My friends were always around and, as a bonus, we were always off from school. What could be better? Add to that, if the Jewish lunar calendar was cooperative in a given year, it was also Hanukkah at the same time. Talk about a windfall.

But once I went off to school, the realities of a 12/28 birthday started to take hold. The hard truth is that folks just aren't around when it's time to cut the cake and blow out the candles. Actually, (now this is not a pity statement here, I'm just stating the facts, Mam. Just the facts) - I can't remember the last time I even had a birthday cake with candles placed in front of my face. Come to think of it, I was just at a friend's birthday party a few weeks ago and I was sitting next to him when the cake was presented, so ... the cake and candles were, technically, in front of my face. It was thrilling for me. (Note: I've decided this year's going to be different and decided to make a list of folks I've met here in KC and plan a fun night out. Perhaps Spanish food, lots of sangria, and then ... yes ... karaoke. Why the hell not? My "month after my birthday" celebration. It's time.)

A Return To Blogdom - I haven't written on the blog in a long time but figured this would be a good time to dive back in. The book is almost completed and my attention has been focused solely on that over the past few months. As most of you are aware, the ones who really know me, Eldercation is my labor of love - it means a lot to me. And the past few weeks have been especially challenging as I do my best to put into words just what this project means, not just to me, but what is can mean to a lot of folks out there.

But, for now, I'm blogging away, reflecting on what tomorrow's going to bring. My 2008 birthday - that's 51 years from 1957. (I'm shaking my head right now). It really is speeding up, I swear it.

Well ... I'm happy to say, I've plotted out my day tomorrow, and it's looking pretty good. Of course, with 51 years of living comes a bit of wisdom, and I know that the very best things in life usually present themselves when they're least expected, so ... I look forward to the unplanned part of tomorrow. What I have planned however, is the following:

Hopefully, I'll wake up. That would be a productive thing to do on my birthday. That would be a productive thing to do on most days, come to think of it.

Next - off to yoga. I've been practicing a lot lately and the past few weeks have been especially fulfilling. You see, my gift to myself in 2008 has been one of the best gifts I've received in many years. This year I gave myself a new body. Now, I'm not trying to be funny there - I really mean what I just said. About four months ago, knowing my birthday was coming up as it does at the tail-end of the year, I decided to create two deadlines for myself. One was to finish the book. And I've pretty much done that - I'd say I'm about 99% there. The second commitment I made to myself was I decided that, after years of reading about the body-mass index ("BMI") and flirting with reaching that number a few times - this was going to be the year where I reached my goal weight. The actual number always seemed kind of ridiculous to me; a man my height is supposed to weigh 165 pounds!?! For years, I've laughed at that figure. But to get to a BMI of less than 25, which is what they call "normal" weight - that is, indeed, the number. There' s nothing I can do about it.

It's funny, pretty much since I was around 20-25, I've always hovered around the 185-188 area, only once flirting with 190 when I lived in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. Of course, that's when I had Nino's 50 feet from my Henry Street front door, with it's silver tins filled with seemingly unlimited portions of eggplant rolatini and ziti parmesan (and the best Italian bread I've ever tasted. And the best cannolis I've ever tasted ... I could keep listing things here, by the way). The more I think about it, it's incredible I didn't weigh 300 pounds back then. Thank God I have at least a little vanity in my makeup and that I do, in fact, care about the way I look. More importantly, as I've lived through my 40's and now starting my 50's, I've become much more aware of my health and nutrition. Hence, the Bikram yoga and the occasional dates with Stanley Burroughs.

So, did I reach my goal? Keep my commitment to myself? Well, I already gave away the answer to those questions when I talked about my gift to myself. As of a few days ago, I finally broke through the 170 barrier - I'm now in the high 160's. A big moment for me. That means a loss of about 20+ pounds, with a bit more to go. And I'm doing it the best way, I think. I'm still eating. Trust me, I'm still eating. But - and here's the secret - are you ready? It's so simple - I eat less food. Who knew? If you want to lose weight, folks, you can try all the diets, pills, shakes and tricks in the world. But believe me, the only real way to lose weight effectively is to simply eat less food. It works.

But, back to tomorrow. It'll be yoga, followed my a 1 1/2 hour massage, following by a movie. I love history and have heard great things about the new Tom Cruise movie, "Valkyrie". I'm a fan of World War II history and have always been intrigued with the whole plot to kill Hitler thing, so ... I'm there. (btw - It was a tossup between that and the Benjamin Button movie, which I'll see next week). So, I made my trip to Whole Foods earlier and compiled a nice, spelt sticks, sesame sticks, cashews and wasabi pea mixture, which provides me with a healthy snack tomorrow while watching the attempt on the Fuhrer's life.

Now, what to eat? Yes, I'll have a healthy alternative to 4,000 mg. of sodium popcorn while I'm at the movies. But, when it comes to my birthday meal?? I'm not going to be a moron about it - it'll be more than carrots and celery sticks for me. I've thought about going the red meat route. After all, I'm in Kansas City - home of the Kansas City Strip. And I've grown fond of a place across the street - the M&S Grille. Great bar, by the way; always a nice group of people there. And ... because I've been TV-less now for almost three years, that's where I watch my sporting events. (I feel the Jets/Dolphins game a callin'). M&S is known to have one of the best steaks in the city, so ... we'll see. I've been veggie now for about five weeks which, I know isn't a very long time span. (Stu - the last meat I had was that Portillo's Italian beef. I think that alone will keep me from becoming a vegetarian). But, all jokes aside, I feel friggin' great and have to believe the new diet choices have at least something to do with that good feeling. I'll see what happens tomorrow and won't hold back if the spirit moves me.

For dessert? I'm a huge fan of the apple crisp dessert at the Cheesecake Factory. I've mentioned to a few people lately that my dessert instincts have shifted over the past decade or so. I used to make a beeline for anything chocolate. As a kid, my favorite dessert was a hot fudge sundae at Friendly's with chocolate marshmallow ice cream and chocolate sprinkles. Chocolate, chocolate and then more chocolate. But, I've noticed that kind of thing doesn't get my juices flowing any more. It's the fruit desserts - especially the apple cobbler/crisp kinds of things. And, yes, they have to have good ice cream on them. I'm thinking that will be tomorrow's dessert. I'll stuff a candle in my pocket.

So, that's that. A self indulgent blog entry, to be sure. But, what the hell? It's my birthday tomorrow.

And, yes, one more thing. An important thought. I forgot to mention that throughout the day, certainly while sweating my ass off in class, my mind will wander around to the notion that, yes, Harry Jacob Getzov was born on December 28, 1957. That's the day I started my life on this Earth and I won't allow that concept to escape me. And I'm just trucking along. Not exactly the way I thought I'd be trucking but ... isn't that a silly statement, now that I think of it? How was I supposed to truck, anyway? Everything appears to be working out just fine. After all, I have an improved body, a super-duper movie snack ready to go tomorrow, I'm going to watch Tom Cruise try to kill Hitler, and ... the Mets have a closer. Actually, I've been corrected on that one. They have TWO closers!! What could be better?

Happy Birthday To Me.

I Never Thought ...

Some of you will remember a blog post for a few months back - if you didn't see it, I'll paste link here: "Those Were The Days." When I wrote and posted that piece, I never thought ...

... Well, this morning on the way to work, I passed a Quik-Trip and immediately noticed today's unleaded regular gas price - $1.59!! (Update: Now $1.49) Okay, so the election is now over and the conspiracy theories don't seem to be taking hold any longer. The price is dropping faster than I've ever seen prices drop ... for anything. Honestly, I can't believe what I'm seeing these days. And it's changing by the day. It seems like just yesterday the prices cracked the $4.00/gallon barrier and they were talking about $5.00 or $6.00 prices by the end of the summer. Well ... it didn't happen, although at the time, it seemed like we were easily headed up, up and away. The fact is, as fast as prices are plummeting now, that's how fast they were shooting up earlier this year. Listen, I'm not complaining here. It feels good to be spending only a third of what I was spending on gas - actually, it feels tremendous. And with the way things are looking with the rest of the economy, the increasing layoffs, the Dow inching below 8,000 for the first time in many years ... it may well be that the less expensive fuel is the only thing keeping this country's act together. I can't imagine what things would look like if fuel prices were too high now, as well.

Anyway, on the way home today, I had to pick up my cleaning and I made the turn at 53rd and Main, where I spotted - yes, yes ... my favorite gas sign, still showing that $1.25 figure. Will we? Can we? Dare I even whisper it? Listen, when the gas price was at $4.00/gallon, I would've scoffed at the very thought of a return to what I can only call "yesteryear" prices. When it then dropped down to the $3.00 level, I still wouldn't have given it a chance - I just figured it was someone playing hanky-panky with the oil price levels - for political advantage. Yes, I'm one of those cynics,I can't lie. Then, when the price started approaching the $2.00 level ... well ... I remember driving past the Quik-Trip sign one morning and I actually saw them changing the price board - where the first digit was moving from "6" to "5" to "4" to "3" to "2" to ... "1!!" What a countdown. I think I pulled my car over to the side to take in that special moment. And that was only about a week and a half ago.

So, now that it's at $1.59, what's to think it won't ... now, I don't want to jinx this. Could it actually break a dollar? A friggin' dollar!? I can't remember the last time gas cost less than a dollar a gallon, can you? I'll have to check that out. I mean, wouldn't that be something? Of course, few of us will have jobs, food prices will continue to soar, and I won't have any place to service my Pontiac Vibe when it needs help - (it's a General Motors/Toyota joint-venture car, so let's just hope the Toyota people let me in the door when I come 'a callin'). But at least the price of gas will be a true bargain, thank God for that. I knew there had to be a silver-lining to all of this.

The Garden Village News Club

The group was great, much larger than expected, actually. I'd say, by the time I pulled out the first article, about 20-25 people had taken their seats - they were ready to go. It was time to talk about the world.

Mary Jane first suggested the idea to me about two months ago - to come up to Garden Village (my adopted retirement community - the first place I visited for interviews when I arrived in Kansas City) - and do a kind of current events discussion group thing. (Mary Jane is the activity director at Garden Village). We didn't know what it was going to look like but I certainly had no problem with winging it, this being the debut and all. I knew I was comfortable there, so it was pretty much going to work out, no matter what.

Over the weekend, I spent some time perusing through the NY Times, KC Star and looking at different web news portals. By the time I'd finished, I'd plucked out about ten articles - more than enough to keep us busy for an hour or so. I was excited about heading back up to Garden Village since I hadn't been up there in ... well ... it had been too long.

"Save One For Me!" - As soon as I walked into the place, I saw Mary Jane, walked over to give her a hug and heard a voice from above. It was Martha, one of my favorite Eldercation interviewees. She was walking on the third floor and I saw her waving over the balcony, flashing her warm smile, as always. She was laying a claim to the next hug, of course.

Once Mary Jane and I had worked our way up to the third floor, there were more hugs to be had - and new introductions as well. Mac was there - all 101 years of him (he'll be 102 this coming December 23). And Faye was there, too - some of my favorite folks. Mary Jane and I decided to move the group from a formal, rows-of-chairs setting, over to an area with couches, pillows, comfortable easy chairs - to keep things more relaxed and intimate. I'm glad we did that.

Once settled in, it was time to start class. And it didn't take all that much to get started, let me tell you. No matter the subject, the group was more than eager to express themselves. One subject, in particular, started to take over the session and you won't be surprised by what that was. One week out of the election - possibly one of the most important elections of our time - the news cycle was still focused on the political world, so there was little I could do to avoid the topic. And, trust me, I knew this was going to be the issue of the day and did my best to set up escape-hatches beforehand, just in case things started to get out of hand.

"I don't want any bloodshed today," I joked more than once.

And they all laughed when I said it, too. Still, I could feel the energy and could see that certain people were just itching to "have their say," which they were able to do ... until I stepped in with a "Whoa" and another joke about people not killing one another. The good news is that we ended up having a spirited discussion about voter turnout over the past 50 years, and there was another article which talked about a proposal to have early elections in Missouri for the next election. Those topics kept things pretty neutral, which was good. Toward the end we talked about the current economic crisis which then prompted folks to share stories about the Great Depression, which always interesting to hear about, especially because of what's going on these days.

And that's the way things went. It didn't take all that much to fill an hour. In fact, I wasn't looking at my watch, but I'm pretty sure it ended up lasting closer to two hours - the time flew by. Before people started to take off, we talked about a next meeting and decided December 8th would be a good date for all of us. We also talked about people clipping their own articles for the next session - items they run across in the paper, online, or even something they see mentioned on TV. This way, everyone agreed, they'll be more involved for much more than just the one or two hours we spend together.

When it was time to finally break things up, everyone came up to thank me for coming in - for putting the discussion group together which, of course, was more Mary Jane's idea than it was mine.

"Thank me? Why?" I said. "I love doing this."

The fact is, every time I head up north to Garden Village, I get re-energized. I view that place as a kind of fueling station - a place that reminds me about why I'm doing the work I'm doing. Weeks and weeks go by where all I do is sit in the Roasterie or the library and I write, transcribe, write, and then transcribe some more. And I start to forget why I'm doing all of this in the first place. But five minutes sitting in a circle looking out at 20 faces - 20 curious, smart, smiling, fantastic faces - and I'm home again. And it feels good.

"I Love This Day!"

Well ... the day before works, too.

This past Saturday, after spending the better part of the morning down at a Vietnamese community event downtown, I headed to do some grocery shopping and ran into a friend.

"You vote yet?" she asked.

I told her I was planning on doing it the regular way, on November 4. "I've never voted here before and I want to take it all in," I told her. "You know, get a taste for the way they do it in Missouri."

"Well," she laughed. "Good luck with that."

Ten minutes and five horror stories later, she convinced me to try a different approach. Especially with the 2008 "unknown factors." I love, I mean I love that there is talk of an 80% turnout rate this year. (I'm praying for that, but it would truly shock me) But, having said that, I really didn't want to deal with an 8-hour line, so ...

Will 3 Hours Do? - Angry? No way. And the best thing is, I don't think there was one angry person in the lot. And I'm talking hundreds of people in the Plaza Library basement - one of four or five Kansas City absentee ballot locations.

This was such a joy today. Meeting people, I've learned over the years, is my absolute pass-time, so Election Day (or the day before Election Day) was, once again, right up my alley.

When I first arrived at the library, I wasn't surprised to see over 200 folks already lining the basement hallway. I started an informal poll, asking a few people how long they'd already been there - doing my best to gauge how long it was going to take. Honestly, it didn't matter what they told me, I was there to stay anyway, already armed with about 10 hours-worth of interviews to edit. (btw - I'm heading down the home-stretch, folks. And I'm excited about it)

I Stayed - I Visited -I Voted - As soon as I took my place at the end of the line, I met the most wonderful, warm woman. Little did I know at the time, that I'd be talking with this woman for the next three hours - every minute of it interesting, by the way. Of course, this always help time flow by, which it did. We talked about all kinds of things, including the election - (which we did very quietly, so as to not upset the election workers or other voters - the last thing I needed was a riot) The woman's name was Clara, a 50-60'ish? African-American woman, who was there with her husband. As great as my time with Clara was, I have to say, the entire group of folks, all kinds of people from all different races, ages ... you name it - they were great.

I wanted to make sure to get something about this experience in this blog. I have a feeling something incredible is going to happen tomorrow. I really do.