Kid Rock, Costco and Paying Dues: Keeping First-Class Without Sacrificing Coach

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Kevin Walsh

An American buying a Lotto ticket seems a bit redundant. After all, in the millions of years of evolution (or few thousand years–depending on which Texas schoolbook you’ve got approved) what are the odds that you’ll be born in a century with indoor plumbing, electricity and fabric softener?

Then factor in that you’ll most likely not be born somewhere between the Atlantic and Pacific, north of the Rio Grande.  Instead you’ll land where 50% of the world is born–a place where you survive on $2.50 per day or less–or nearly three scratch-and-wins. (source)

So as you tsk-tsk high gas prices and the lawn-service guy who’s ripping you off (causing you to get so upset you nearly spill that $4 mocha) remember the cost of … Read More… →

Divorce Court for Your Cable Provider: The Art of the Steal

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Kevin Walsh

Wouldn’t it be great if we could negotiate everything like a cable bill?  Try it the next time you’re in your doctor’s waiting room.

“That will be $148, Mr. Walsh,” says the cranky person behind the glass slidey-door.

“Hmmm…I’m not sure about that.”

“Hmmm?” she glances up from her computer.

“That’s right.  Hmmm.  You know, I think you might be overcharging me.”

“Sir, would you like me to sick a collection agency on you?”

“But $148 to have my kids’ acne examined?  And we had to wait an extra hour for that privilege.  Can you knock off twenty bucks because of the wait?”

“Sir, the doctor is very busy.”

“I’m sure he is.  Anyway, the zit-doc down the hall told me he’d look at my … Read More… →

“Gobble Gobble!” Thanksgiving, Northern Michigan and Family

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Kevin Walsh

Perhaps Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it’s front-loaded.  All the work is done on the first day and the rest of the weekend is comprised of football, avoiding the mall and general digestion.

TVWatchers

Throughout the late 1970s and into the early 1990s,when the above couch wasn’t full of random cousins it served as my bed.  In 1984, I was a college sophomore, stressed out completely, and couldn’t wait to drive with my family five hours north to my Aunt Joan and Uncle Bill’s cottage on Oden Island, just north of Petoskey, Michigan.

We’d load up the station wagon, pray … Read More… →

Why Not a Charter Government–If 80% Raises for Everyone Doesn’t Make Sense?

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Kevin Walsh

Click here to read... Click here to read… 80-90% Pay Raises! Come and Get 'Em! 80-90% Pay Raises! Come and Get ‘Em!

On a quiet Sunday, the Detroit Free Press has reported that the State of Michigan, under Governor Snyder, has decided it’s time to start paying people what they’re worth.

“The State of Michigan quietly increased the salaries of its top investment officials in the Treasury Department by more than 80% this year, saying it was too difficult to attract and keep qualified people under the former pay rates.”  (Source:  Detroit Free Press)

This is the same governor who agreed … Read More… →

Corinthian Leather: A Fond, Gas-Guzzling Reminiscence of Shag-Luxury

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Kevin Walsh

It’s funny what passes for luxury when you’re a kid.

Laura with JimBob kids in pool 1972

In 1973, we visited my Uncle Bob and his family in Winter Haven, Florida and I couldn’t believe they had a fountain in their backyard.  Along with so many in-ground pools, lizards running all over the yards was added the magic of my grandma’s mobile home park three miles away where they actually had adult bikes with three wheels!

Moving into our new house that same summer, I was amazed to see that each of the kids’ rooms had its own color scheme of shag carpeting—pink, … Read More… →

November 22, 1963: A Seventh Grader’s Loss of Innocence

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Joe Maguire

 

JFK2

Saturday was to be the day that my Mom and I would move out of the house my family had lived in for eight of my 12 years. The large three-story home which had held within its walls a family of eight and all that that entails had grown too large.   Dad was gone and gradually the family had dispersed as families do. Now it was just me and my Mom.

She had rented the bottom of a house across from the University of Detroit. She worked there managing the bookstore so the location made sense. The local Catholic … Read More… →

“The Returned,” A Great Show to Read — Even in French

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Robert Phillips

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TV is getting to be annoying.  Like never before, it interferes with our personal lives.  We have no time for our chores after work, for example.  Maybe we have to clean our kitchens, bathe our kids, even feed our kids, but there are just too many TV commitments.  Just last night, for example, I set out to make dinner for my three little ones, so I baked the chicken tenders, boiled the noodles, and then Almost Human debuted, followed by The Walking Dead, and then came The Talking Dead.  At 11 pm, I went to turn off the kitchen lights … Read More… →

5 Love Songs That Send the Wrong Message

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Kale

Love.

We are obsessed with it. Many of us bask in its glory; worship its treasures and truths. Others are shaped and molded by its destructive affect and merciless circumstance. Then there is the rest of us: those that are almost certainly meant to spend life trying to figure out if love is as real as Bigfoot, honest politicians or a Detroit Lions Superbowl win, and not some made up, human hoax to sell greeting cards and movie tickets. One thing is certain, though. We love to sing about love.

If it’s not about partying or politics, at times, it appears that every song ever written is about the wonder of or dismay for love. The Beatles, for example, used the word “love” 613 times in … Read More… →

Rating People Like Movies? Using a Metascore for Your Neighbor and Spouse

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Kevin Walsh

In the land of The Newsroom‘s Aaron Sorkin, everything ends up as it should be–Karma works and Yins and Yangs co-exist happily.  (For example, the Obamacare websites would be working on day one.)  In Sorkin’s final scene in The Social Network he portrays the Facebook founder as a miserable billionaire with no friends, cyber stalking his ex-girlfriend who started the whole ball a-rollin’–all to the Beatle’s tune, “Baby You’re a Rich Man.”

But unfortunately for us, Zuckerberg’s not really that sad and Martin Sheen isn’t in charge of the Affordable Health Care Act.  Hollywood isn’t real–but maybe a piece of Hollywood could be real–the Metascore.

Bloodsuckers in Washington?  Who Knew?

I’d finally caved and started a Netflix viewing of the … Read More… →

Go Pick on Someone the Size of a House: “Bullying” in the NFL

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Robert Phillips

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Yet another victim has fallen into the hungry maw of bullies. Another Rebecca Sedwick? Another Phoebe Prince? Thankfully, this is a man who did not die by his own hand, but still martyred himself to make us aware of an insidious problem. Jonathan Martin, an offensive tackle for the Miami Dolphins, endured a hardscrabble life, with nothing to go on but the example of a struggling Harvard professor for a father and a mother scraping by as a corporate lawyer. He grew to be a whisp of a figure, a mere 6’5″, 312 pounds, living no doubt on Ramen noodles and … Read More… →

Harry Potter & Social Responsibility: Eternal Life–No Horcrux Necessary

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Kevin Walsh

Imagine getting a royalty check every time someone is called a “Good Samaritan” or “Prodigal Son.”  Go to an RV park and you’ll see one of these stickers…

GoodSamClub

I remember camping for quite a while until I realized it was a nod to Jesus’ famous story.  Imagine inventing a character that is part of our vocabulary–2,000 years later.

In Joe Jackson’s  “The Man Who Wrote Danny Boy,” the narrator debates selling his soul to live forever in music or stay in the moment, loved by one person calling from the next room…

When Harry Potter was first banned in school districts, the “children’s … Read More… →

Former Students, Facebook Afterlife and Heartwarming Gore with “Deadheads”

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Kevin Walsh

HuffPost_Shared

It’s not every zombie film that you can share with a12 year-old daughter and 80 year-old mother in-law and have them exclaim they loved it. 

Until Facebook, every June was like a funeral.  The likelihood that I would ever see or hear from the 300 or so graduating seniors was small–aside from an occasional homecoming game or trip to the mall.  But I finally dropped down the Facebook rabbit-hole and discovered what these folks had done with their lives.  Some might even meet up for a beer–if it wasn’t too awkward for the  41 year-old father of four to meet with his 46 year-old … Read More… →

An Important Halloween “Thriller”: From Music Videos to Music Films

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Kale

It’s Halloween again, so it’s time to watch it:

But, watch.

I mean, really sit down and experience it all. Turn on that 480p, shut off the lights, grab a bag of popcorn and if you’re lucky enough to have a significant other, grab him or her too, sit down, and watch “Michael Jackson’s Thriller”. It’s one of the most incredible short films ever created, and its impact on pop culture can never be overstated. We view it every Halloween because it puts air in our tires. It gets us excited for horror films and candy and costumes and–dancing. But before it became a Halloween staple, it was the production that changed music videos and television and the role of the pop … Read More… →

A Story So Frightening Your Hair Will Turn White…Eventually.

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Robert Phillips

Halloween

The loud crack of my stapler hitting the floor startled me out of my work and re-acquainted me with my surroundings.  I was in my office.  It was dark out. Halloween night, 2004, a Sunday night.  I had no kids and no holiday related plans.  I was there on a Sunday because I had a Motion to file in the Freeman case, and with trial a week away, I had a deadline to meet.  I had never been in the office that late before.  My day usually ended at 5:30 pm, and if I was on the phone when the 5:30 … Read More… →

Like Razor Blades and Apples: The Top 5 Halloween Sours that Soon Become Sweet

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Kevin Walsh

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Some enterprising psychopath, according to my childhood’s urban legend, decided to bury a razor blade into an apple for the ultimate Halloween trick.  They were the carefree days long before candy-inspections were rivaled only by airport shoe-screenings.  It was a time of unlocked doors, keys in ignitions and Baby Jesuses safe in city hall nativity scenes.

And, faster than you can say tetanus shot, one hungry kid reaches into his pillow case, pulls out the booby-trapped apple and gets an instant cleft-palate. … Read More… →

The Prince and Us Paupers: Being Stingy with Others’ Money

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Kevin Walsh

I was at the cider mill today and a billionaire walked by me with a bag of donuts and a half-gallon of cider.  I could have yelled, “Hey, Mr. Karmanos!  Thanks a lot for hiking Fedorov’s salary so the Wings had to outbid your Hurricanes in order to win the Stanley Cup!”

But I didn’t.  First of all, it would have been tacky.  Secondly, to quote Sonny Corleone, “It’s strictly business.”

A week ago, one millionaire was celebrated in town.  Today, the same guy’s probably the real reason that Congress can’t get along.  And if it snows this winter, it’s his fault, too.

Detroit now has four sports stations.  Dodging commercials and jumping from 1130 to 1270 AM, from 97.1 to 105.1 FM you … Read More… →

We Are Still Fans…Somehow

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Robert Phillips

marshall

College football’s Nittany Lions won a thriller this past weekend, a tight game requiring multiple overtimes. I grew up in eastern Pennsylvania, in a region teeming with Penn State grads and Nittany Lions fans, and I befriended a few of the rare ones who tolerated someone who went to Notre Dame. After the PSU game this Saturday, my Facebook page was abuzz with Penn State pride. One friend wrote simply “We are…,” to demonstrate her team-pride. Discounting the possibility her typewriter broke before she finished the phrase, and ignoring the fact the slogan just may be appropriated from another college team … Read More… →

Detroit Sports Masochism: Big Papi, Crazy Uncle Jim Leyland and Neanderthal Man

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Kevin Walsh

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I learned long ago that my garage is never more organized than it is on autumn Sunday afternoons.  When the Lions are on, something positive has to happen by 4 PM.  So, to the embarrassment of my wife, I buried a coaxial cable under the ground and ran it to the garage so I could keep half an eye on my latest garbage-picked 32″ television  while I fold paint tarps, sort screws, clean bike chains or set mousetraps.

I have been a Lions fan since the mid 1970’s.  I have seen the Dallas Cowboys and 49ers go from bad, to great, to bad again, … Read More… →

Fighting the Fight: Running for Seven with Cancer

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Steve Mitzel

RunButton

I can’t pretend to know what it’s like to live my life thinking that the cancer I once had and fought might come back. Or what it feels like to panic when you feel a lump in your throat, or breast or somewhere else and think that it might be the worst. I can’t even fathom what it’s like to lose a spouse, a loved one, a father, a mother to this dreaded disease.

I can imagine the relief for those who successfully fight cancer to hear the words “you are officially in remission”. I often think of those people that get … Read More… →

Killing Kids’ Questions: Critical Thinking OR Critical of Thinking?

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Kevin Walsh

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autumn

Bad parent!  I could read it in the old woman’s eyes as my eight year-old son let the door shut in front of her. 

“Why do I have to hold the door open for her?” he pleaded to my embarrassed scolding. “She wasn’t carrying anything.”

“Because it’s polite.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why is it polite?”

“Because that way she won’t have to open the door.”

“But why can’t she do it herself?”

It was bad enough to get the old lady’s glare, now I … Read More… →