Failing Up

As this important election is about to reach its climax. I find myself overwhelmed with all the polls.  For the last 90 days is seems a different poll comes out daily with different percentages. The Emerson College Poll, the Siena College Poll, the New York Time, Wall Street Journal, Fox News, CNN, NBC, Taco Bell, McDonalds, on and on.  Stop the madness!  They are up they are down they are all around.  Then in the end, they say the race is tied??  It's like Whac-A- Mole!
 

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Growing up in the Northeastern  United States presented unique cultural occurrences back, "in the day".   One of them being the purchase of some type of car that was on life support that would be driven throughout the winter months instead of a motorcycle or nice hot rod.  This car was disposable and it did not matter if the salt on the roads ate what was left of it alive. Now, in my case, being a guy who knew very little and did not care about cars, I drove these cars year round.  Vehicles, I purchased for $75, and $200, held together with tape, no floorboards, mufflers  held on by coat hangers, and beer taps for shifters.  Cars with names like, "The Tape Mobile", "The Wagon" etc.. To this day these cars for cash death traps remain my favorites. 

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Just like that Labor Day ends, and in the northeast you wake up the next morning to autumn.  The trees start to change color overnight.  Every apple orchard and pumpkin patch comes to life.  The air is crisp, and the apple fritters are warm. Cider is flowing, and every drink is pumpkin spice or cider, and yes donuts are ok to eat.  Football is everywhere so are politicians.  It's Autumn, the brief but best season, especially in the northeast. Where the hell is my flannel shirt?? 

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Labor Day marks the unofficial end of the summer, and for this region of the world the last ritual of the season is the New York State Fair.  I have attended the Fair on a regular basis since I was a child, and just like when we grow those experiences change with age.  Except one thing never changes, the smell and instant craving for Fair fried food!  Fried onions, potato's, greasing sausage and onion sandwiches, and the main event...fried dough!   At the Fair, the fried food is good for you even when served with sweaty hands an eaten on community picnic tables.  Nothing is bad for you at the Fair!  Just watch, as people devour their sandwiches in a slow motion ritual that puts Jaws to shame!  I love the Fair!!!  

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I grew up, well if I ever actually did grow up, loving the news, especially broadcast.  At one point I even worked teleprompter on the local news.  That news is gone on to a better place. Instead, we now have 24/7 news right, left, up and down, panel after panel full of experts screaming at us!  Why do they all scream!!  All opinions and projections and not news.  The news is lost, fact is fiction and audiences are being entertained and believing it, because it must be true.  Fuel flaming the fire for ratings.  I miss one or two co-anchors just reporting the news without their opinions, and let our individual brains be the panel of experts. 

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Fifty years ago a Saturn V rocket launched three astronauts into space and off to the moon. Two of them walked on the surface of the moon while the other orbited, then they returned safely to earth.  It was one small step for man, what happened to the giant leap for mankind??

I am really a simple guy, and not the brightest bulb in the pack, but for the life of me I cannot fathom why we are having such issues going back?  Now we have two astronauts stuck at the International Space Station.  Why can't we just pull out the old plans, modify them like a Mustang and off we go?  "Fly me to the Moon."

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From September, 1964 to June of 1977 I was transported to and from school on the magical bus #34,( it later became bus #62, but I always called it #34) driven by our captain Eddie the bus driver.  Eddie was not just a bus driver he was everyone's uncle, the bus decked out with speakers listening to top 40 radio spanning the British invasion to Disco.  The bus  was our cocoon and Eddie the Captain of our journey, that took us from childhood through puberty.  

From the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, four Presidents, (one resigned), eleven Super Bowls, (four of them AFL vs NFL), tragedy in the 1972 Munich Olympics, the escalation of the Vietnam war and the fall of Saigon.  Bus #34 and Eddie remained magical, with music, singing, racing other buses.  You know you survived the school year when he handed you your ice-cream sandwich at the end of the year in June.  That last ice-cream sandwich marked an end as well as a beginning. What a gift to ride through those turbulent years with Eddie at the helm.   

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Well, I had an extremely disturbing revelations this morning.  In the middle of having morning coffee sitting in my  comfy chair, in my robe feeding nuts to the chipmunks and squirrels, I realized I am an old fart!  The old dude who waves to the neighbors in his robe and loafers!   Next I will be wearing slippers to the store!! Snap out of it old boy!!

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In our current day,  the news is ever present and in our faces 24/7.  It's every where all the time!  On our phones, televisions, social media, it follows us, and it is loud and in your face!  Most of it really is not even news, just a bunch of pundits screaming at each other to make a buck. It's all reality TV, and that has seeped into our nations conscious and new norms.  

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Summer travel is here and we are off on the highways. There is no place more comforting on a road trip then  the rest stop.  With the much needed bathrooms, a chance to stretch, a selection of the finest fast foods, chips coffee.  These pit stops much like those at the Indy 500 have vehicles coming in and out nonstop. There is no worse feeling then when you think you can make it to the next stop, only to realize that it is 40 miles away.  Urgency even gets urgent!  I just love these highway spas where the weary meet before hitting the road for miles and miles!

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