LIFE CHANGES RAPIDLY

I am down this morning. I just heard about a dear friend in Utica. Her husband e-mailed me. She has been diagnosed with cancer. Everywhere. Breasts, lungs and spine. Plus a mass in the pelvic area larger than a softball. The doctors are still testing to determine if the mass is cancerous.

A sweet woman. Never hurt a soul. Her husband my best friend.

In a split second, the world turns. Life changes.

Don’s 60th birthday party last night at Don’s Place. Packed! Larry Smith and his group entertained. Christine and the lovely Kathleen Peace singing. Ray on the guitar. Skipper on the drums. A loud night.

The crowd was a three way combination. Don’s friends, Larry’s followers from the Wine Galley, and Don’s usual friday night crowd. A good time was had by all!

Don is one of the finest people I have met in my lifetime. I feel fortunate to have met him. We are friends. I wish him sixty more years!

Hershel and Erika are in town. They left Key West several months ago for a northern state. They flew in for Don’s party. Good people! Love them both!

I saw something last night I never thought I would again. Gas under $3! $2.99 at the K-Mart station on the boulevard. My sense is the price will continue its downward trend for a  while.

Every time I think about the price of gas, I recall its cost when I first got a driver’s license. $.16 a gallon! Would you believe!

Today is Joyce Kilmer’s birthday. He died in World War I at the age of 31. He was part of the Fighting 69th.

Kilmer was a poet. Trees being one of his finest compositions. The best lines…..”I think I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree…..Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.”

Syracuse basketball tonight. Play St. John’s. A former Big East foe. Syracuse is a 7.5 point favorite. I hope.

I recall when Lou Carnesecca coached St. John’s. A short, thin amiable sort. A powerful sense of humor.

I met Lou two times. The first in Utica. My son was chairing the United Fun Drive. The final dinner a big deal. We were able to get Carnesecca as guest speaker with Jim Boeheim’s assistance. We met prior to the dinner. My father was with us. Carnesecca said several nice things about my Dad during his speech.

Lou would not take pay for his attendance and speech. Only asked that his plane ticket and motel be covered. That is the kind of guy he was.

The second time I saw him was about a year later. I was in New York City to see the Syracuse/St. John’s game at Madison Square Garden. My seats were first row behind the St. John’s bench. Lou saw me and came over to chat for a few moments.

Lou Carnesecca is still alive. He is 89. God bless him!

Dinner tonight with my Buffalo friends Tom and Fran. We are meeting at the Chart Room and then off to Hot Tin Roof for dinner. The third consecutive night I have been out on the town. For a while there, I thought I had slowed down.

Enjoy your day!

12 comments on “LIFE CHANGES RAPIDLY

    • “Good, drill baby drill.” I often wonder what our actual commercially viable reserves really are. I hope we keep pushing the envelope on fuel efficiency and alternative fuels as I keep having a bad feeling we are using all the fossil fuels we have and leaving precious little for the future generations. They are not called “fossils” for nothing as there is no more of them once used.

  1. “Marty (The other one) on December 6, 2014 at 6:27 pm said:
    “Good, drill baby drill.” I often wonder what our actual commercially viable reserves really are. I hope we keep pushing the envelope on fuel efficiency and alternative fuels as I keep having a bad feeling we are using all the fossil fuels we have and leaving precious little for the future generations. They are not called “fossils” for nothing as there is no more of them once used.”
    end quote

    At one time we were the greatest oil producer in the world. Now, the really smart guys say the eastern slope contains two centuries worth of crude, while the northeast shale contains at least a century of natural gas. That gives plenty of time to continue advancement on ‘green’ [ if there really is such a thing] energy.[ wind mills kill millions of birds/waterfowl each year]
    Proper drilling [ including Fracturing] is safe.[as safe as anything can be, no matter what, stuff can happen]. Large trucking companies that have converted from diesel to natural gas state the change has been profitable. There is no fossil fuel as clean as natural gas and maintenance costs are reduced.

    • “The really smart guys say the eastern slope contains two centuries worth of crude, while the northeast shale contains at least a century of natural gas.”

      If that is true and I have serious doubts, then fossil energy production will continue so long as prices are not unprofitable. However, projections I have read show a down-sizing of US production from “tight” reserves in the future. Also, such reserves exist all around the world and if we are drawing ours down now others will surely step in with the potential to once again control the market. That said, I will say energy has been a good investment.

      Then, of course, there is climate change due to carbon emissions from fossil fuels. If one is honest the science is beyond a doubt that we have anthropologically altered the carbon dioxide content of our atmosphere significantly and continue to do so. The scientific record of the planet shows what happens when this state occurs, global die-off events such as the Great Permian die-off. In that event is was massive volcanic activity and an asteroid that altered the atmosphere. Today, our myriad smokestacks, tail pipes and slash and burning (not to mention cows with flatulence) are the primary cause given the atmospheric record.

      It took thousands of years for the Permian die-off to end the reign of the dinosaurs. We are working on ending our reign in under a 1000 and maybe significantly less. If we are not a selfish species we could at least realize that we are polluting the future for our grand children and altering their environment. To people with property interests in places such as Key West this should be a big deal as sea level will continually rise and one day cover the keys and all coast lines below ten to fifteen feet of sea level. Island nations such as Vanuatu must take sea rise seriously or vanish; to them it is not an academic exercise where to me at 500 plus feet above sea level, no big deal.

      http://reliefweb.int/report/vanuatu/mobility-matters-taking-steps-build-climate-resilient-infrastructure-vanuatu

  2. This ‘Global Warming’ thing was debunked years ago. So, the name was changed. Well, climate changes, thats its job. Always has been and always will be. Look at weather history, real weather history, and, its found that weather has been far worse thousands of years ago than even al gore predicts. Its also been better too. The temps during the 9th-13th centuries were an average of 8-12ºF warmer than today which showed the greatest advancements in science, health, architecture and agriculture. How else could the Norwegians have gotten here during the 9th century.
    CO2 levels haven’t climbed as thought/predicted. I know I was told in science class that CO2 was a good thing. And, its still actually a good thing.
    Sea level has to change, it’ll continue to rise at a rate of 7″/century. We are still coming out of the last 2 ice ages.
    There is a point of no return in the reduction of emissions. I don’t know anyone that wants dirty air or water and we have cleaned up both considerably over the past 4 decades. But, to continue at what cost ? Other countries are greater polluters and have no interest in changing their ways and are to continue to increase their emissions.
    Its proven that the decline of the sun [ Its playing the back nine] and its resultant increase in sun spot activity along with the decline of our solar filter [ the earth’s magnetic field ] by 30% over the last 3 centuries [ we are over due for the next pole reversal ] has more effect on our weather than man.

    • Not sure about “debunked” given mainstream science and Nasa’s position. Changes in climate typically take tens of thousands of years and I am talking extinction events not “mini Ice Ages.” It is an extinction event that is accelerating whether we care or not. Won’t really effect you or I that much but the future generations may not revere our memories.

      However, I agree we will do nothing about it that isn’t directly market related. Fuel efficiency for example saves money so it is a positive. As for environmental protection, yes, rivers catching fire and cysts in your baby’s formula water aren’t terribly smart.

      I concur Russia, India and China could care less and thus the world is doomed. They literally couldn’t give a s%it about their people, only the party or oligarchs. Not too much different here but our overall standard of living is still pretty good but declining rapidly for many.

  3. Loved Louie Carnasecca! Nothing was better than watching the Big East when Louie was going against Rollie from Villanova and Big John Thompson from Georgetown! Amazing time, really the golden age of college hoops before players began leaving early.

    Chris Mullin was legendary. At the same time Pearl Washington was great at Syracuse and Ewing and Wingate carried Georgetown. I certainly miss the vintage Big East!

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