Focused at Fifty

There is a beautiful song called "A Boat on the Sea" by Kristen Vigard from the movie, Grace of My Heart with the lyrics "I never knew I was built so strong ... my heart is a boat on the sea ... I never knew I was built for hurricanes ... my heart is a boat on the sea."  There is a strength you get from getting older that you never had before. It amazes you, tends to harden you, and also greatly saddens you.  It is a strength you develop from loss. You deal with death with emotions, tears, anger and frustration, but you start dealing with it rather matter of factly as well. It kinda sucks but it also comes from a place of strength you gain in being exposed to it more and more. The heartbreaking emotions are still there but you learn to process them better. Time does not heal old wounds. The wounds still hurt, but you get through it, somehow, hopefully stronger. Forgive me for my rambling style, I may be a bit all over the place. I have found out this evenin...

Bloggers NOTE:  I posted a picture of a dead rabbit in the middle of the blog post. This blog post is also a bit graphic in terms of dealing with a dead rabbit. There is no blood though, just a recently departed rabbit. You have been forewarned! Covering the rabbit grave. On Monday, I had the unhappy pleasure of burying a dead rabbit which I found in my front yard. Yep, that was my evening. I had wanted to work out. I had wanted to do a nice bit of yard work. Nope. I had to dig a grave in the woods behind my house and bury an unlucky bunny. I had just pulled into my driveway and stepped out of my car. Glancing over between the bushes next to the car was a large rabbit, just lying there. I literally gasped as his size. He almost looked like he was peacefully sleeping on his side. But I knew he was dead. His one visible eye was glazed over and cloudy. He was just such a magnificent example of an eastern cottontail rabbit. Poor guy. Looked like a pretty hea...

BART So a while back, I went to a Starbucks at the tail end of a head cold, just wanting some good coffee. I placed my order and the barista asked my name. I said Marc and in her cheerfully effervescent voice, she exclaimed my drink would be right up and to pick up my coffee at the end of the counter. I went down to that area and waited. I picked up my coffee and on my cup was written "Bark."  YUP, as in tree BARK. Like someone would be named BARK?? Wouldn't you even question it??? Like, "Sir, did I hear you correctly, is your name Bark?"  I mean i know I had a very stuffed nose and my "M'"s sounded like "B'"s but geesh! Way to give a guy a complex!! I guess I should be happy she got the "K" on the end, even though it's actually a "C". Another Starbucks, another coffee and on my cup was written "Bart."  There is NO "T" in my name!!! UGH! BERT Fast forward to a week ago and ...

The other day, I saw an internet meme about the gym. It basically stated that the next time you go to the gym and make fun of someone overweight who is working out, you should realize that at least they are there making an effort. We shouldn't bash someone for trying! The newbies at the gym are (at the very least) realizing that they need to be healthier and doing something about it. And we should all be supporting each other whether it's doing the 50 day push-up challenge, day '1' at the gym or day '365'!! I have realized that this should also apply when I sometimes see someone walking very slowly on the treadmill or moving slowly on the elliptical machine. I don't know what their health issues are or their training capacity is. I need to give them props for just being there. When I had my surgery in December 2015, I took 4 weeks off from the gym. I got back into it slowly. I didn't want to overlift or overdo it with cardio for fear of (ICK) rippi...

source I like watching NCAA college basketball. I don't watch the NBA. Totally dislike it. When I watch COLLEGE hoops, I always root of course for my alma mater , Rutgers University. Yes I know, Rutgers isn't in the NCAA Tournament this year. In fact, they haven't made an appearance in the Tournament is a long long .... long long ... very long time. But I still love my Rutgers! I don't usually do the brackets though. I know it's based on stats, teams standings, player ability, etc. Just don't have the time to figure it all out. I do appreciate the passion others have for it. I got passion, just not for brackets. I did attempt to do brackets twice before. I was convinced by my buddy to have some fun and try it. We used to hang out at a bar called the Central Tap in Fleetwood, PA. We did the brackets about 8 years ago. I had no idea what the heck I was doing. So I was buzzed and figured I'd pick them based on my favorite mascots. Now I didn't tel...

Love the film noir look! One of the biggest issues in this recent election is that America is mad! They are tired of government, tired of being politically correct. You've heard it on CNN, MSNBC, FOX, etc. ARGH! Everyone is so mad mad MAD! Forget calling someone an ass, forget calling someone a #$&%*, forget using the forbidden words. Oh my God, I can't even type the forbidden words as an example for fear of the Internet backlash! I know what I'll do! When I want to use a curse or a forbidden word, I will substitute the word "bunny." Nah, that won't work. All the Easter bunny followers will have my head. Even though guess what... the Easter bunny is NOT REAL. And neither is Santa, nor the tooth fairy, nor the Hanukkah man! OK OK, I digress... Well I have the perfect solution for America. Our insults are so boring and predictable these days. We hear them on TV and the Internet all the time. "Lying Ted, Little Marco" (Shut up Donald!) Peo...

A couple months ago, an acquaintance I'll call Karen invited me to a gathering at her home. We were never that close but were friendly enough. We just never truly clicked though. It's neither a negative nor a positive thing. It's just a part of life. Now I appreciated being invited by Karen but I hadn't even seen her in the past year and then it was only for a couple minutes the previous Spring. I really didn't want to go to her party but felt almost obligated because a number of other mutual acquaintances were going. How could I politely decline the invite and what would my reason be? My close friend Jackie was attending but raised a good point:  unless you are family or good friends, you don't really owe them an explanation. You definitely owe them a reply, an RSVP, a response. But other than "Thanks, I'm very sorry but I can't make it", you owe them nothing more. If it were my sister, or my friend Jackie, I'd owe an explanation ou...