Spend Some Time With a Friend

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Bill Kasal

I met Rich “Da Coach” Gilgallon about 15-years-ago when our mutual friend, Cal Ahlers, invited me to round out a foursome on a Saturday morning.  Cal told me that Rich had been a “big time, east coast, sports-talk guy” who was now Continue reading →

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Top Three Ways I Get Likes on Facebook

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Bill Kasal

Once in a while, I use the social network, Facebook, to let my friends know what I’m doing or where I’m visiting.  It’s fun!  I’m not nearly as obsessed with it as I once was.  These things can get Continue reading →

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Premembering a Future

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Bill Kasal

My 4th grade teacher was Miss Rucker.  She was a very sharp cookie.  I had some pretty cool elementary school teachers and, to this day, I still admire them.  But the only comment from a report card that I can remember from Continue reading →

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The Bloomp Bloomp

Posted on June 7, 2013 by Bill Kasal

I’ve wanted to tell you about this for a long time.  I know I’ve told you about many of the stupid things I did as a child, but for some reason it has been particularly difficult for me to share this bit of… what can I call it? Continue reading →

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How Many Rolls of String Does it Take to Get to Hollywood?

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Bill Kasal

I guess it’s Karma that at one point in my life, I produced TV commercials.  It was my penance for devising the plot to end all commercials.  Or, at least, the ones I didn’t like.

My diabolical plan came back to mind about Continue reading →

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The Andretti Brothers

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Bill Kasal

Everything is childproofed these days.  There are latches for kitchen cupboards and tamper-proof tops for medications.  There are mandatory helmet laws for bicycles and seat belt and child-seat laws are strictly enforced.  There are safety locks for everything and plastic plugs for the electrical outlets.  Disposable lighters have extra buttons that one must manipulate in order to light a candle or cigarette.

Even with all of this, there are still childhood accidents and injuries.  But when I think back to the long-ago days of my childhood, I firmly believe Continue reading →

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DIHACU?

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Bill Kasal

One thing the technological age brought with it is acronyms, words formed from the first initials or parts of other words.  We baby boomers knew that many of the words in the 1960’s were acronyms.  NATO is North Atlantic Treaty Organization and NASA, one of the big words of the 60’s, was and still is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

We used other acronyms without sometimes realizing they were such.   Part of this was because sometimes these were added to our dictionaries and our lexicon as words and not written in all upper case letters.  Laser is an acronym for Continue reading →

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The Possibilities

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Bill Kasal

I write this as pitchers and catchers begin reporting for Spring Training.  For fans of baseball, it is as much a sign of springtime as melting snow, budding florae and newborn fauna.  To quote my ol’ friend, Shaun Hynes,

The grass always smells fresher, the hotdogs taste better, and the beer colder…. And the sound of a fastball hitting a catcher’s mitt is always crisper… No matter what is going on in the world… It’s a sign of spring and all things are possible…

Some of my happiest and saddest moments were spent Continue reading →

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The Power of Negativity

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Bill Kasal

I spent a few hours this past week visiting with some friends.  One of the men is attending college with long-term career goals in mind.  He talked with us about a conversation he’d had with one of his professors and that the professor had expressed doubt that, with my friend’s background, he would be able to achieve his career goals.

My friend said that this conversation had totally deflated him.  On his drive home he told us that he felt like Continue reading →

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Brace Yourself For This!

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Bill Kasal

Hold on to your hats, sports fans!  This is it!  The adventure of a lifetime!

I awoke on recent Sunday morning—a normal every day Sunday morning—a light mist hugged low to the ground as the sun warmed the damp grass and foliage in the back yard and nearby hillside.  The Sunday paper was already resting in the driveway, the dogs tussled playfully with each other and a blue bird serenaded Continue reading →

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Rainy Day Gravy

Posted on January 26, 2013 by Bill Kasal

The rain today patters on the roof, but I’m in Southern California so the temperatures accompanying the storm aren’t too low.  Still, the sound of the rain and the dim light rouses the nesting instinct.  On days like this, you yearn to pull on a warm sweater and curl up with a book—or Kindle!

Or you want to eat.  In reality, almost any kind of weather makes me want to eat.  It’s how I got into the shape I’m in today.  Round is a shape!  But putting on a pot of Continue reading →

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Pudocentricity

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Bill Kasal

I know there are thousands of women out there who will say from the get go that there is no need for me to comment on this.  Men’s obsession with a certain part of their anatomy is well documented, well chronicled and well… you’re sick of hearing about it.  Or witnessing it.

I once, on the internet, saw a picture of a toddler who had a remote in one hand while the other grasped his winkie.  The caption said something about Continue reading →

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I’m Not A Cat Person

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Bill Kasal

What is it with women and cats?  I have only been with one woman in my life who did not own a cat.  She didn’t like cats and she told me she never owned one.  But she’s the only woman I’ve ever known who wasn’t a “cat person.”

With a dog, you say, “Here, boy!” and he comes!  Try that with a cat.  Dogs come running to see you when you’ve been gone all day.  A cat Continue reading →

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Shopping with a Woman

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Bill Kasal

As far as I can tell, there are two distinct styles of shopping:  My Style of shopping, or The Regular, Normal Way to Shop, and there is Shopping with a Woman.  Let me first explain to you My Style of shopping.  I need to buy something for, say, my mother for Christmas.  If I haven’t seen something earlier in the year and already picked it up, then I must go to the mall. Continue reading →

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The Christmas Tree

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Bill Kasal

Another Christmas has come and gone.  The Christmas tree is back in its box and the ornaments are packed away.  At this writing, that makes 59 Christmases for me.

The earliest Christmas I can remember was my fourth.  It was three weeks after my third birthday and I can still see my point of view as I left my bedroom that morning, looked into the living room and saw presents under the tree—including an inflatable Continue reading →

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Silly Spinning Signs

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Bill Kasal

I was recently driving past a local strip mall and took note of a young man twirling one of those signs which now seem to be appearing everywhere.  They are, it turns out, called Sign Twirlers or Sign Spinners.  The concept behind them is that you see the sign they are spinning and, impulsively, go to that location and avail yourself of their product or service.

OK.  I don’t have a problem with that.  For the most part, it’s a fairly easy job.  I guess it is tougher for those Continue reading →

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Sparkly, Sprinkly Things

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Bill Kasal

I’ve always liked things that sparkle.  Somewhere in the recesses of what’s left of my mind, there’s a voice saying that, “Boys (men) don’t like sparkly things…”  That probably springs from homophobic prejudice(s) in the West.  Or, it could harken back 200-plus years ago when America was making every effort to distance and differentiate itself from Europe where men of wealth flaunted such by wearing ruffles and jewels.  So, American men wore more rugged clothing and all semblances of sparkles were relegated to the fops in Europe.

When Benjamin Franklin was sent to Paris in 1776, he chose Continue reading →

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When I Was Immortal

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Bill Kasal

It doesn’t seem that long ago… and it seems a lifetime ago.  Gee, to be exact, it’s my lifetime ago.  I was young and the thought of the end of my life—go ahead, Bill, say death—was not even a blip on my radar.

Those days melt into one another across the arc of my lifetime.  Continue reading →

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Blasé and So-on…

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Bill Kasal

I recently saw Daniel Day Lewis in Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln.”  It is a beautifully done motion picture and demonstrated how much effort was made by both Lincoln and others to pass the 13th Amendment, and how close it came to not passing.

I felt it was a bit long and that, perhaps, Spielberg tried to tell too many stories, but it was still a good representation of how the Amendment was passed.  The other slight drawback was the use of language.  Immediately after we saw the film, Continue reading →

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Too Old to Dream?

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Bill Kasal

When I was a child of, perhaps, seven- or eight-years-old, we played Cowboys and Indians or Army Man in our back yards.  We didn’t really have back yards as in the traditional suburban sense.  We lived in a rural area and our backyards were grass/dirt areas between our houses and the horse corrals and barns.  And on either side of our three-house “neighborhood” were expansive fields of wild grasses and weeds.  They were perfect for our adventures.

On more than one occasion—perhaps more than 100 occasions—something in our running battles would strike a chord with me and I’d stop play and announce that we should reenact what had just occurred as if it were a movie.  My friends and I would run through the “scene” again and make really cool suggestions on making it even cooler.  We’d invariably end up Continue reading →

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