What Color is the Old Gray Mare?

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Bill Kasal

My first job in radio was Continuity Director for an AM/FM combo in Palm Springs, California.  Continuity Director was a fancy way of saying that my job was to write commercials for our clients.  My initial desire was to be a disc jockey, but the station had a need for someone to write commercials and I had a need to break into radio.  Plus, the job included two hours on the air every night on the low-power AM station, so I did get a chance to be a real live radio DJ.

The work was fun and creative and I got paid a whopping Continue reading →

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Free Pony Rides

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Bill Kasal

I recently attended my granddaughter’s first cheer-leading performance.  Is that what you call it?  A performance?  Anyway, she’s cheer-leading for Pop Warner Football games with another friend of hers.  Their first game was 90 minutes away—at 8 o’clock on a Saturday morning!—at, as it turns out, the high school that was the rival of my high school.  I’d spent my childhood in this town but, during middle school, moved away to the neighboring town.

This high school stands only a few short miles from my childhood home.  Boy, the streets sure seemed longer back then…  If I recall accurately, our annual football game against them Continue reading →

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A Simple Act of Kindness

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Bill Kasal

I awoke one recent morning to a shared message on FaceBook.

My grandmother is passing soon with cancer.  I visited her the other day and she was telling me about how she really wanted soup, but not hospital soup because she said it tasted “awful” she went on about how she really would like some clam chowder from Panera.  Unfortunately Panera only sells clam chowder on Friday.  I called the manager Sue and told them the situation.  I wasn’t looking for anything special just Continue reading →

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Space Age Rocket Surgery

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Bill Kasal

I grew up the first of six siblings.  Not a large family by some standards, but larger than most.

My mother wanted to have kids.  Later in our lives she told us that what she wanted to be when she grew up was a mother.  She also told us what she wanted to do was be a mom and have 12 kids.  Yes, that was not a typo.  She said she’d always Continue reading →

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The Greatest Game

Posted on August 24, 2012 by Bill Kasal

In the film Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner’s character, Ray Kinsella,  talks about his relationship with his father.  He says that no matter what was wrong between them, they always had Baseball in common.  I love baseball and when I was in elementary school, playing Little League Baseball was all-consuming.  Yet, instead of baseball as in Field of Dreams, for my father and me, the sport that bound us was Golf.

I don’t recall if I mentioned this before, but my father grew up in Belleville, Illinois.  One of his childhood friends was Bob Goalby, who won Continue reading →

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Oooh, Look at the Stars!

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Bill Kasal

One August evening, a former girlfriend and I took an air mattress and a couple of sleeping bags to The Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California.  I had missed our group’s party trip to see the Perseids Meteor Shower the previous Saturday night.  From some of their reports, it sounded like everyone else in Southern California was there.  I was sad to have missed our hiking group’s gathering but not so sad to have missed the crowds. Continue reading →

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I Was Cool… Once.

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Bill Kasal

I had to have them.  Had to.

I know I’ve spoken to you about the freedom I’ve found in my life by divesting myself of things.  First, I got rid of most of my possessions, keeping only those things required by law—clothing mostly.  Then, I felt freer.  It was a two-step process.  Divest.  Freer.

I am trying my best to remember that things are things and we place the value upon them.  And we suffer their loss in a magnitude commensurate with the value we place upon them.  So, I’ve been quite a bit happier without things.

Still, none of that value, real or assigned, holds a candle to Continue reading →

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Record Breaking Intelligence

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Bill Kasal

Every now and then when I am feeling like I am smart or wise or have just solved a really difficult problem or challenge, I remember some of the things I thought or did as a child.  Looking back on them now, I don’t understand what the heck I could have possibly thinking.

Two of the neighborhood dads worked for Hawaiian Punch.  On occasion, we’d get to try out a new flavor or something.  One day one of the moms showed us this really cool new drink.  Basically it was one cup of the “new” powder and a half-gallon of water.  I think the marketing concept  Hawaiian Punch had was that they’d Continue reading →

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Stupid Girl Toilets

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Bill Kasal

I like to think I’m a Sensitive Man of the ‘80s.  I know that, due to it being 2012, a sensitive man of the ‘80s may not be such a triumphant achievement, but I’d bet there are some women who would be happy to have any semblance of sensitivity in their spouse or significant other.

Way back in the 1980s, the media cast its spotlight on The Sensitive Man of the ‘80s, focusing its glare on how most men were insensitive.  Some journalists—undoubtedly female— would find some example of how sensitive some random guy was and tout that as the example of how that author thought a man should act.  That, then, put the rest of us Regular Joe’s in Continue reading →

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The (Sweet) Meaning of Life

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Bill Kasal

I must have been about three years old.  Those were the days when, to raise a family, only one parent had to work.  My father worked in the aerospace industry and my mother stayed home with me and my two sisters.

We had a three-bedroom home with a black and white TV (we received about seven channels).  We had a lawn in the back yard and the same in the front.  In those days we could play outside, unattended, while Mom did household chores.  If we went to the neighbor’s house we were then under the care of that mom.  Those were halcyon days.  Sitting with a PB&J leaning limply in my little hand, watching Continue reading →

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Opening Day

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Bill Kasal

April 4, 2012 was Opening Day of baseball season and in the evening I found myself at a T-ball game at the local Little League Field.  The significance of going to a game to watch some five-year-old’s play the first baseball game of their lives was not lost on me.

When I was young, we didn’t have t-ball.  You waited until you were nine-years-old and tried out to play real baseball.  My first year of tryouts did not go well.  My father was going through a period at work during which he had to work on Saturdays.  I think we only had one Continue reading →

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A Thousand Cuts

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Bill Kasal

In my ongoing efforts to get out of my rut and out the door to do something, I accepted an invitation from a friend to join him and his girlfriend at the Palm Springs International Film Festival premiere of A Thousand Cuts.

I have been “Facebook friends” with producer Kim Waltrip for about a year and have yet to be able to see one of her films.  This was the perfect opportunity to get out and enjoy an evening and I was Continue reading →

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Forcing Myself Out of My Rut

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Bill Kasal

I heard it said once that a “rut is just a grave without ends…”  That, to a point and perfectly, describes my life in recent months.  In the past I’ve espoused a philosophy of never again taking a job simply because I need the money.  Then I turn right around and do just that.  Other than the time I tried my hand at selling cars, this could be the worst job I’ve ever had.

As a youth, I remember thinking that I never wanted to have a “nine to five” job.  I recall saying it out loud several times while I was Continue reading →

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Tired of Getting it Wrong

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Bill Kasal

I’m just growing tired of getting it wrong.  Even as I write this, and contemplate how I’ll describe my thoughts to you, I’m getting pissed.

I am frustrated and saddened by my inability to control my thoughts and feelings.  I am discouraged with my failure to let the thoughts and opinions of others roll off my back.

I struggle daily with the words of Continue reading →

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Attempting to be Like the Younger Crowd

Posted on August 25, 2011 by Bill Kasal

I’m trying my best to not to sound like a crotchety old man, but at what point in history did an acceptable answer to the question, “How’s everyone doing?” become “WOOOOOOOOOO!”?

I had the pleasure of attending a family wedding this past weekend in a most beautiful ballroom aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA.  At the reception, the DJ begins, as do they all, with, “How’s everyone doin’ tonight?!!?”

And the majority answers, Continue reading →

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Proud to be an American

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Bill Kasal

Everyday, in many ways, I am reminded of the kindness of others.  While there are so many jerks in the world, and worse, the goodness of people is confirmed to me on a daily basis.

Recently, a friend who had emigrated to the United States of America, received his American citizenship.

He is the antithesis of those in this country who Continue reading →

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A Most Memorable Fathers Day

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Bill Kasal

On a Saturday evening back in 2008, my oldest son, Mario, was asking what I wanted to do for Father’s Day, the next day.

“You’re working,” I said.

“Yeah, Dad, I tried to comp off for you but, apparently, I was the sixth guy to ask.  I was thinking of doing something after I get off work.”

“Well,” I said.  “What I’d like to do most is come to work with you…” His eyes met mine.  “I promise I won’t say anything, “ I quickly blurted.  “You’re the police officer, not me.  I will sit in the seat and be quiet and I won’t say anything and I’ll do Continue reading →

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No Exaggeration!

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Bill Kasal

It isn’t usually good for anyone to use absolutes in conversation.  It is ineffective in arguments and, basically, does no good in any conversation.  Accusations like, “You always…” or “I never…” are rarely true and are not constructive in any disagreement or complaint about another or another situation.

Also using exaggerations—gross or otherwise—cannot help to Continue reading →

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Following My First Instinct

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Bill Kasal

With the way our economy has been, I seem to notice more and more homeless people, holding their cardboard signs, begging at intersections or off ramps.  I’m not sure if there are actually more of them of late or that—due to my own financial situation—I am noticing them more.  Recently I have found myself wondering if and when I might find myself in that same situation. Continue reading →

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Offering Encouragement

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Bill Kasal

One of the coolest things about staying with my daughter and granddaughter is the opportunity to get to help, a bit, with Kaia’s academics.  Since she is only in kindergarten, I didn’t expect that to be a possibility.  But kindergarten has come such a long way from the days when I was being taught my colors by pointing to large, bright circles on a cork board, smearing colored laundry starch on a large piece of Continue reading →

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