As I write this the tears keep coming and the water faucet of my eyes just will not shut off. I have lost two friends this weekend. I call Mrs Frazer my “Second Mother.” As a late blooming teenager I was fortunate enough to meet Laurie her daughter in a church youth group that was putting on a production of Jesus Christ Super Star. The Frazer household was a family with six children, with that many children I think Mr. & Mrs. Frazer were use to a lot of stragglers following their kid’s home. They definitely had an open door policy.  At Mrs. Frazer’s house I learned about politics, I learned to appreciate art and I learned to appreciate a good debate about things that were important in life. When I arrived on the scene three of the older children were already off at college and the three youngest daughters were there. As I mentioned earlier I was a late bloomer and the friendship with Laurie was probably more than that to me but I was too dumb or shall I say naive to notice and or act on it for that matter.

No matter who you were it seemed that you were welcome in the Frazer household. As a teenager who didn’t know where he was going my second mother gave me comfort, fed me, gave me guidance and what I felt was her motherly love, not that I was headed down the wrong path. But knowing I had a second family for a teenager that didn’t know where he fit in it was comforting. Thirty some odd years later I had been speaking to Mrs Frazer every few months or so but the last two years we weren’t able to talk and I missed that. I hope you up there giving Mr. Frazer what for in a good argument!

My second loss was our Golden Retriever Mesa, just less than two years after her sister Vegas who we had to put down. This was hard as you see Mesa as a puppy actually chose us to be with. No, maybe it was more like found us. The wife was at the pet store getting ready to take home another puppy a Shih tzu we named Jake. Marisia happened to walk by the dog cages that all the puppies were in and out of let’s say ten dogs only one was up all the others were sleeping.  Marisia came into view and this little Golden Retriever went crazy barking at her as she walked by.  Another lady came down the aisle and the puppy ignored her completely. Then, the puppy ignored a man walking past them. Marisia walked by again and sure enough the puppy went crazy again. All the other dogs are still asleep so what does my wife do but ask to see the Golden Retriever puppy. Once you get into the little cubicle with the puppy you know it’s over! My phone rang at work..”can we bring home another puppy”? What was I going to say but sure why not the more the merrier.  This pet store is where we had bought our first Golden Retriever “Vegas” but that was two years earlier.  Marisa asked to see the new puppy’s birth certificate. We were all in shock, this little puppy who was alone in the world, who could have been shipped anywhere in the country had found a home with her true sister as “Mesa” our new puppy had the same mother as “Vegas” our Golden Retriever at home.

Mesa was a good dog and everyone loved her and she went to doggy heaven on her own last night. I know her and Vegas are finally together again chasing the tennis balls up in heaven.

This is weird but, I swear I see dead people every day. At least that’s one theory. You see I occasionally find myself staring at the ceiling. Or sometimes I’m staring at the tile floor or even the wall in my office. Suddenly a face appears in the tile from the swirls and lines on the surface. Or the texture on the wall is a sprayed on texture then it was troweled down with the edge and a smooth irregular surface appears.

It’s kind of spooky, hence I think that they are the souls of dead people reaching out to me. I can’t hear them I just see them. They can appear as a man or woman, even rarely as an animal also.

I better say it now, I am not on any medication (though maybe I should be). It’s kind of like when Mary or Jesus appears on the side of someones building or tree stump. Sometimes the faces even morph into different looks depending on the angle you look at them. Have you ever seen different shapes and animals in the clouds in the sky?

Whats really bad is when I’m in the bathroom walking around naked and then I see a woman looking up at me from the floor. I mean come on, no one needs to see me and my private parts that bad. Maybe there just random patterns. Maybe they are the poor souls trapped in purgatory begging for my prayers to help them. Great Grandma said past relatives were visiting her and trying to sit on her bed when we asked why she was swinging at the open air with the large wooden spoon. She wanted to get rid of them.

Maybe they can make a movie about me like the “Sixth Sense,” “I See Dead People” I just will need Bruce Willis to help me right? I think a better idea would be some attractive actress to help me make sense of it. Yeah that’s the ticket! Or just begin the labotamy now doctor.

At one of my restaurants, we have a manager who is from Russia. It took a few years before we were in sync to some degree, in the way we ran the business and handled customers. It was actually quite a fight until we saw shall we say, “eye to eye” and understood where each of us were coming from.

With the turmoil in the Ukraine and Crimea I’ve held my tongue as she is an avid supporter of Putin. What’s interesting is when I finally had the courage to say something sarcastic about Putin and Crimea, boy did she let into me. After the discussion, I have to say I am questioning my original thoughts. It’s an example of something I have discussed before. Here in the United States our news is filtered quite a bit.

Many of us may not remember or were not old enough to know that the Ukraine use to be part of Russia. In our conversation, Galina (our Russian manager) said that the separation that happened a long time ago was not actually legitimate. A lot of questions were raised after the fact. She stated that Crimea is like Florida where many people from Russia retired to. The majority of the population there was originally from Russia. One of the reasons the people in Crimea wanted to leave the Ukraine, is that the American equivalent to Social Security for those Russians who had worked all their years in the Ukraine was 4 times higher if they collected from Russia than from the Ukraine.

What bothers me now is how do we know what the truth is in evaluating this situation? Our filtered news we get each evening isn’t really helping us. It may do more damage actually in world wide relations with other countries. When we come to the table to discuss things because of our distorted views / opinions it hurts us. Maybe that’s why the United States isn’t liked much in many parts of the world.

Oh the feeling I get when these warm days return! We are having a heat wave finally here in Chicago. For us here in Chicago, temperatures here in the 40’s definitely designates a heat wave. We are just about to go out in our “T” shirts and shorts.

My friend Gene lives further south in Illinois just north of St Louis. He’s been very lucky to get 60 degree weather already the lucky bastard. He also keeps talking about the wild life that surrounds him that he runs into on his daily hikes. What he may not realize is how envious many of us might be of him to be able enjoy his activities here in Chicago on a daily basis so early in the year.

I know I’m repeating what a lot of people are saying, but I am so tired of our winter. Maybe I should get one of those lights that is suppose to help you get over the darkness of the winter. Our poor dogs are suffering too, imagine trying to pee and your “dig a ling” is just buried in the snow below you.

Let’s hope the warm breezes will stay a while despite what the ground hog has predicted. I may just have to help Gene move up here as that way I won’t have to listen to him talk about all these things we can’t enjoy yet, maybe then he can suffer!

Still today, I tell people I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up! If you don’t take control of your life it will take control of you. I ventured into the hotel business by accident, in that I needed a job and I had a friend that happened to work at a hotel so I was in. Some 35 years later I’m still here in the same industry. Every day is different and I think that helped, as I get board easily if I’m not challenged. Even though I didn’t choose this industry it really chose me and I guess I kind of hung on for the ride. When I was a young lad I always wanted to be a fireman but it just didn’t come my way. I guess I put out fires in a different way now. My kids seem to be falling into their careers also. Which I hope it means that its something they like also.

All three of my kids seem to have developed a good strong work ethic which I have to tell you makes me proud. The latest bunch of young kids coming into the workplace really expect to have everything handed to them. Many of them can’t even take being criticized at all. I see no work ethic in them either. I know people are working smarter now and the use of computers have lightened our work load but what I see in our future workforce really depresses me. I hope I’m wrong about this!

I’m starting to read Malcom Gladwell and his new book called “David and Goliath.” In it he gives many examples about how the under dogs actually have many advantages. I think I need to look at more people that seem to be under dogs in our hiring practices. I kind of feel I’ve been an under dog all my life. But I don’t think I was aware of my “advantages.” I better keep reading this may help.