Ray Rossi's Blog

The Year of the Skinny Santa...My Induction into the Reindeer Club

2010-12-17T13:21:00.002-05:00

Christmas Eve, 1966….It was a biting cold, windy, and snowy Saturday…..so snowy in fact that there were near blizzard conditions, and “thunder snow”…..something I’d never seen before.

I was out delivering Italian bread that day with my godfather, Uncle Frankie, and looking forward to the eventual evening’s feast of 7 fishes…..which, since I was only 15 at the time, still hadn’t grown to appreciate. Now that I’m 59, my tastes have changed a bit, but then, it never made any sense to me how anyone could make a salad out of something that gave off an odor so foul, it lingered in the house for days! And God knows, it did!

Part of the evening’s tradition involved the eventual visit from Santa Claus. Now, you’re probably thinking, “….if you’re 15 at the time, you can’t possibly still believe in Santa?” Well no, I didn’t….but I still had my kid sister and my cousins that did…..and even if they didn’t, it was still something of an event when Santa came to the house. A cowbell would clang, someone would rush in screaming, “…I hear banging on the roof….I think he’s here…..it’s Santa”…and then Santa himself, or someone in a Santa outfit would scurry in…bellowing in his best “ho ho ho”….practically throwing gifts at us so as not to be identified by us wiseass kids. After all, you didn’t want the kids to identify which of the older cousins was playing Santa…that would spoil the fun! Besides, by that time, everyone had an inkling that it was either one of my uncle’s nephews Tommy or Joey. C’mon, who where they kidding? You couldn’t put anything over on kids from Avenue U!

But this year would be different! Tommy and Joey, and my Uncle….collectively known at the “Reindeer Club”…were all snowed in! Uncle Frankie had the Santa outfit in a closet a block away…Tommy and Joey….well, they were probably snowed in somewhere in a bar on Bay 50th St., and even if they wanted to, it was snowing so hard, they would never have made it out anyway.

Now this presented a problem…..who was left to distribute the toys to the kids? The prospect of there being no Santa was just unthinkable. All eyes turned to me….all of 115 lbs of me!

The real cool thing was that now I’d get to be a part of that elite group known as the “Reindeer Club”. Not that it had any special privileges or anything….it was sort of a “coming of age”…..like a bar mitzvah, only for goyim! “Today you are a man…..just don’t tell your cousins who’s playing Santa!”

Anyway, once we trudged through the snow, and made it to my Uncle’s apartment, I was outfitted with the Santa suit. Four pillows later and a lot of eye makeup to make me look scary enough so that the kids wouldn’t get too close to me…and we were off! Dashing through the snow….without the one horse open sleigh…or the ’63 Pontiac which was stuck behind an enbankment….exposed to the howling winds and snow…AND the wiseasses on the Avenue who made sure to bust my chops wanting to know what Santa had in the bag for them. I could have said something like “I got your presents right here”, but that wouldn’t have been too Santa-like…and I probably would have wound up head first in a snow bank….so I let Uncle Frankie handle it.

First stop was Grandma’s apartment over Rome Bakery on the Avenue. The usual characters were there… aunts, uncles, cousins, and my biggest pain in the ass cousin….Dominick, who I thought was gonna heave up a lung when he saw me….that’s how loud he laughed! But the best reaction was the one Grandma had...sheer terror, as she cowered in her chair gazing up at this figure that, to her, looked like the grim reaper, all the while saying in Italian….”chi e’ sandi claus?" (Who is Santa Claus?) “But it’s me, Grandma!” All to no avail, since A) she couldn’t hear, and B) she may have overdosed on a bit too much anisette!

Santa’s next stop was a bit more fun! Upstairs by my Aunt Grace and my uncle who we used to call O’ Zi. Aunt Grace had a voice like sheet metal being ripped…..”ohhh, is that Ray Ray”…..she kept saying over and over between puffs on a Pall Mall.

Ahh, but the real acid test came next…..downstairs….the Rossi house….and this was “showtime”, because there is where the kids were! One bad move and Santa would have been outed. Uncle Frankie kept going over the line with me……..”no, it’s ho, ho, ho (deeper), and whatever you do, don’t look at any of the kids, ‘cause they’ll know who you are.”

So in we go, Uncle Frankie ringing the cowbell, somebody else screaming, “...he’s here, he’s here”, and in I go. My kid sister Chrissy, cousin Frankie Boy, who gets a bike, who gets a doll, bam, bam, bam….who’s laughing, and all the while I’m worrying that my “ho ho hos” don’t measure up. If you’d put a stopwatch to it, I’d say we were in and out in 2 minutes flat! We had thieves in the neighborhood that would have stayed longer!

I’d like to tell you that Santa would have hung around for the traditional milk and cookies before being whisked away by the reindeer and the sleigh….but that wasn’t to be. Someone finally dug out the 63 Pontiac….and off Santa went, down the block and back to Uncle Frankie’s and Aunt Fran’s to shed the Santa suit…and back to my life as a civilian. Waiting for me would be a piece of my mom homemade “migliaccio” (cheese cake) and struffelas. After all, it's the very least Santa would have wanted!

My daughter wants to go "old school"!

2010-04-01T13:21:00.002-04:00

Some kids need to keep whatever roots they have alive. I guess that's why my daughter has been "hocking" me to find out how to make her own Italian bread.

Mind you, back when I was a kid, I avoided going by the "bench" or the oven at all costs. The work was way too intense, my father hated the thought that his sons would be condemned to a life of having to bake for a living....and I had other plans anyway!

But there are just some things you don't forget...and even if I never baked, I was around it so much there was no way to avoid knowing what to do "just in case".

So, here's the letter I wrote to my daughter, giving her, to the best of my recollection, my recipe for Italian bread:

Eebs,

OK, here's what you need.

Flour
Water
Yeast (see if the bakery will sell you a sliver of the yeast cake....if not, then go to the supermarket and see if you can find the dry yeast in the package.
a pinch of salt
maybe some seeds
possibly a cookie sheet.
possibly some sesame seeds

I would mix some warm water, salt, and yeast together to melt the yeast. Then, place the mixture in a bowl with some flour and mix it until it's firm but not too sticky. When that's done, knead the dough, then place it on a plate with a towel over it and a little flour on the top so it doesn't grow a skin on it, and give it a chance to rise.

Once it's gotten airy, cut the dough into as many loaves as you want, and knead them again so that they are nice and tight.

Let them sit a while longer to rise. You might also want to moisten the top of the dough, and place some seeds on them.

Preheat the over ( I'm guessing around 350 ), and if you can, also a small pot with some water in it in the oven to make the heat moist and give the bread a shiny coat. Then, put the dough in a pan with a cookie sheet or some Pam so that the dough doesn't stick. (It would be better if you had a baking stone to put the bread on, but I don't want you to have to go for your lungs!) Make sure you pierce the top of the dough so that it doesn't crack while baking.

Bake till a golden brown.

That's all I can remember for now......you can channel Grandpa Augie and curse all the while you're doing this. He always did and the bread always turned out fine!

Love,

Daddy

Workout Diary……Days 5 and 6!

2010-03-23T13:37:00.000-04:00

…didn’t exist, so we’ll go onto day 7.

First I’ll account for the preceding 2 days. Sunday I stayed in bed a bit late than usual…went to Mass…and spent the rest of the day reading the papers and following the health care debate on TV. Not exactly a waste, but not exactly physically taxing either!

Monday I had some errands to do in the morning, not the least of which is walking my daughter’s dog that we’re watching this week! She’s “defecation shy”, so she’ll only poop after she’s walked for 30 to 45 minutes. 30 to 45 minutes that I don’t have…so I had to find out the hard way! There goes the routine!

Today, it’s a little different! I still spend a half hour outside walking the dog, even though she won’t poop for me, then spend online, and eventually get over to the gym. I only have about an hour, so I try and mix in as much cardio and resistance training in that time.

First a series of 60 rope skips, mixed in with some abdominal pike ups. I do 3 sets of each.

Then it’s on to the incline bench, where I do some barbell chest presses….5 sets starting out with 115 lbs, and working up to 135….followed by some wide grip bent over rows to work the lats. Here I go with 80 pounds, and do 3 sets of these.

By this time, I have about 20 minutes remaining, so I’m off to the dreaded treadmill, and work in my remaining minutes there.

Alas, one hour in the books, and something actually accomplished!

All in all, week one had 5 days spent doing some physical activity and 2 days rest.

Tomorrow begins another week of fun and frivolity!

Workout Diary……Days 3 and 4!

2010-03-20T16:37:00.002-04:00

I could easily have been done in by the flaky monster known as sfogliatelle…..my favorite pastry…and easily a diet killer.

But I did not let it happen!

The other night, my wife surprised me with 2 of these crunchy, tasty little beasts for our 31st wedding anniversary. I mean…how could I say no. She even made a special trip into Freehold to buy them fresh!

So there they were, sitting there all sugary like and waiting to be devoured! And yes, I have to admit, I gave in….but I told myself, “…what the hell, I deserve it!” After all, during the wedding last week, I’d been pretty good. I didn’t go too far off the chart, so I felt that to indulge was not such a terrible thing.

Anyway, no harm done, ‘cause when I got on the scale Friday morning, it showed that I’d only put on a pound…which was workable. I mean, had it been more, I probably would have gone into a funk.

So, once at the gym, I started by doing some smith machine squats. The smith machine, for those of you that don’t know, is a rack that you place weights on and could do a variety of exercises with. I chose to do squats by placing my shoulders under the bar of the rack, and starting out by squatting with 50 lbs…working my way up to 70, then 90, and finally another set of 90…all the while skipping in between sets of squats for an interval of 30 seconds with my one pound rope. After that, I did some barbell deadlifts, starting with 95 pounds, then 185 for 2 sets. I also worked in some plate loaded shoulder presses, working 50 pounds each side, then 75…all to fatigue. There's probably a couple more I'd done, but for the moment, I forget. Suffice it to say that I finished off with 30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical machine.

Today (Saturday) was a big day….it’s the day most of everyone in Manalapan is in the gym, and even though there’s a fair amount of work to be done, one can’t help but socialize and break up the routine with a bit of chit chat. After all, I’m Neopolitan, and the art of the chiachione is one that I pride myself in.

I had decided to work abs and arms, but it didn’t work out that way. I did mostly abs, starting with a pike up, where I use a “dolly” and pike my rear up about 12 times to work the lower abdominals. I then did some rotational twists with a medicine ball, where I elevate my legs, holding the medicine ball in front of me, and rotate the medicine ball from side to side…doing 3 sets of each. Next came the weighted leg lifts…taking a 12 pound hexagonal weight, and holding it in my feet, elevate my legs and rear to fatigue. Oh, and forgot to mention that I did 4 2-minute rounds of boxing on the heavy bag, and 30 minutes on the dreadmill….I mean treadmill.
Again, there's one or two movements I'm leaving out, but you can say that with the chiachiaone activity and workout routine…I’d probably been there at least 2 ½ hours! More than enough time to spend there.

Tomorrow’s another day, and Monday begins another week, so we’ll see how it goes. I’ll probably do more arm work tomorrow (Sunday) since I didn’t do much of it today.

I mentioned to you the body fat composition loss competition coming up in April. That’s really the only way you can tell if you’ve made any progress. We’ll see, or as my grandmother used to say, “…’mo verrime’”.

Workout Diary……Day 2!

2010-03-18T20:52:00.001-04:00

Starting out behind the 8 ball screws up everything down the line, as I’m finding out today. I got out of bed at 6:53, already 23 minutes later than I normally do. So naturally I’m rushed for the rest of the day.

Once the pre show prep is done, I’m over for my usual “carb break” and coffee, and then to the gym. Today however consisted of a warm up routine of twist-squats and rope skips in between. The twist squat is like medieval torture…I take a weight plate and hold it out in front of me, then twisting down to one side, I squat down, and on the upswing, twist the plate up and out. I then reverse direction. I started with a weight plate of 10 lbs, upping it to 12, then 20, 25, and back down to 12. I try and do as many reps as I can to fatigue. On me I carry a 1 pound rope, and between each set of squats, I’ll skip rope 60 times to get my heart rate up.

Once I’m done with that, it’s over to the pullup bar. While I never have trouble doing chinups, overhand pullups are another story. I managed 4 unassisted….then used a thin band to assist me for the next set. Seeing how I was already fatigued, I tried to do another set unassisted, but only managed 2, then tried it with a thin band, and got to the original number of 4. Finally, I thought that I’d like to get in a few more reps than just 4, and used a thicker band which got me up to 10 reps.

Finally, to finish it all off, I hit the elliptical machine for 20 minutes and did 2000 paces. Total time of workout was 75 minutes…and while I would have liked to stay longer and worked more muscle groups, I was there just the same.

During the show’s commercial breaks, I’ll try and do 25 resistance band crunch ups, and 25 side twists on the balance ball.

BTW, my trainer, Chris Larocca, tells me that he’ll be holding a body fat loss competition coming up in April. Can’t wait…..

Workout Diary……Day 1!

2010-03-17T22:08:00.000-04:00

Over the next few months, I’m going to use this space to document my progress, or lack thereof, in trying to stick to a workout routine. I’ve mentioned countless times how I wanted to be “jacked by June”…blah, blah, blah. But somehow, I feel the only way to accomplish anything is to put it out there for all to see.

Today was Day 1, and the only reason it was so is because this past weekend, with my daughter’s wedding, my routine had gotten all screwed up. So I begin with today, March 17, 2010.

Once I’m up and out of bed, I head to Dunkin’ Donuts for a medium cup of black coffee and a multigrain bagel plain…to jumpstart my metabolism.

Then it’s off to the gym. Today’s routine will center on working my shoulders, and if time allows, my lats. For my warmup, I take the big fuzzy 8 lb. medicine ball, and throw it up against the wall of the basketball court. I do what I call the “medicine ball squat”, where I squat down, and as I get up, pressing my shoulders up, throw the ball against the wall, allowing it to fall, while I squat down again and repeat the motion. I’ll do 20 of those, and 3 sets of 20. Then, I’ll take the medicine ball and toss it across my body against the wall…doing that in one direction, then the other side….20 times per side…and 3 sets of 20.

Today’s warmup also consisted of taking a thick resistance band, and wrapping it around my ankles, walked forward and backward the length of the basketball court. I did that 3 times…and also tried to walk side to side, but felt some pain in one of my legs, so I only attempted that one once.

Once done with that, onto the weights. For my shoulder workout, I did a barbell clean and press starting with a 45 lb weight, up to 65, then 75, and back to 65. Then a dumbbell shoulder paddle starting with 25 lb weights, up to 30, and another set of 30. My final shoulder movement is a rear deltoid cable press. Once done with that, I worked a close grip bent over lat row band going 45 lbs, 55, 65, and back down to 45. All movements are done to fatigue.

I wrapped it all up with 20 minutes of cardio on the elliptical machine.

Day one….done, and all told it took some 90 minutes.

We’ll see how it goes….I’m shooting for at least 5 days a week.

Nothing short of amazing!

2010-03-15T09:58:00.003-04:00

You always wonder what that day will be like when you walk your daughter down the aisle…but nothing prepares you for the reality…the nerves, the butterflies, the wondering if “I’m gonna cry” stuff that goes through your brain, the weather, which in this case turned out to be a record setting monsoon!

But the monsoon was no match for us! It was going to be my daughter’s day come hell or high water, and high water was lapping all around us! Guests began arriving at the Courtyard by Marriott Friday evening, and throughout much of the early afternoon on Saturday…even as the hurricane force winds threatened to blow the doors off the guests’ cars as they arrived.

Upstairs, the wind whipped the tree outside my hotel room, I was having a quiet moment. I said a prayer, and then started to slowly get dressed…all very deliberately. As I unfolded the shirt, I wondered whether or not I was putting the studs on the right way, carefully taking the shoes out of the box, and placing them on my feet…all the while thinking I was mere hours away from taking that long walk with my little girl!

The limousine surfed through the puddles on Route 21 on the way to Nanina’s in the Park. I couldn’t help but notice the gushing water cascading into the brook that ran alongside the park and wondering if the affair would be washed out! What a day to get married!

Once at Nanina’s, we were all able to take a deep breath and savor the moment until the bride arrived! The groom was told to stay in the study while I went out to take a peek at my daughter in her wedding gown! All breath was taken out of me…I was mesmerized at how beautiful she looked walking through the doorway and into the foyer. And just beneath us, scampering about was my little niece in her flower girl gown…looking very much like a little princess in a fairytale.

As the guests arrived in the pouring rain, the anticipation grew even more intense. Peter, the banquet manager, got all of us together and prepared us for our entrance while the band played the processional.

And then the grand entrance! Walking in, my biggest fear was tripping over the runner that I could feel pressing against my shoes…my daughter’s arm in mine as I whispered to her, “don’t cry, you’re a pro, just remember daddy loves you!” And then it happened! I could feel my eyes watering as I took the final steps toward the minister where her soon to be husband waited. As I kissed her, I thought back to that day almost 30 years ago when she came into the world, feeling shocked all over again as I’d felt then. Another life milestone has been passed!

And then they danced, to the Platters “Only You”. After which came our turn, and a treasured moment that will stay with me forever. For our dance, I took the sound clip from the show I did on the radio the day after she was born, announcing her birth, and playing the special dedication I’d made to both her and her mother, to the tune of “Betcha By Golly Wow” by Phyllis Hyman. As the sound of the radio clip washed over everyone present, I couldn’t help but think of that day in June of 1980 when my little girl, just a day old, was lying in a crib in the hospital down the hall from where her mother lay. And now I was about to take her hand in mine and dance to that very song!

To describe everything that came afterward would take pages more. Suffice it to say it was nothing short of magical. The band, Alive N Kickin', lived up to their billing! The special waltz that my wife and I had prepared weeks before the event went by in the blink of an eye! And everything that followed…the food, the dancing, the pure joy of having loving family and loyal friends together in one place together on a night that wasn’t fit for man nor beast to be out in…all sharing it with us....and the smile my daughter wore the entire night!

And above all, I’ll be grateful that she found the man of her dreams…even though he came up short on recognizing the movie line “…do you know how to make sauce?” Sounds like something his father-in-law would do!

Work out at work…part 2!

2010-03-08T09:19:00.002-05:00

One the exercises I’m fond of doing is the resistance band crunch. Whether or not you’ll be able to do this one at work will depend upon your being able to bring a balance ball to work with you.

If you already have the resistance bands, take them and tie them around the base of your desk or the leg of a sturdy table. (The desk would be preferable since it’s sturdier). Then place the balance ball a short distance away from the table or desk….just so much so that you can feel some resistance from the bands. Place the small of your back into the balance ball, and grabbing the handles of the bands, crunch up while holding the resistance bands in front of you.
After about 10 or 15 repetitions you should feel some fatigue in your abs. Try and work in as many sets of these as possible without injuring yourself. I usually go for 3 to 4 sets of 25 on any given day. You can also try holding one of the bands out in front of you, the other hand on your hip; and performing a crunch and twist.

A very simple resistance band abdominal workout using the balance ball is the resistance band twist or as some like to call it a "woodchopper". Again, make sure the resistance band is fastened around the base of your desk. Then, while lying with your back on the balance ball, grab the handles of the resistance bands, and twist your body away from the desk. You’ll be working the muscles along the sides of your abdominals. Do one set twisting one way, then reverse direction and work the other side. I like doing these during commercial breaks, and in the space of 3 to 4 minutes can work both sides of my abs. I’m figuring you should be able to get in a complete abdominal workout in 10 minutes, and still have time to grab a cup of coffee!

The inclusion of the ball offers you countless other opportunities to work out at work.
I’ll be going into some of these in future blogs.

Again,….feel free to offer your own suggestions and feedback on what’s worked for you!

Five Minute Fitness…..the simple “take to work” gym!

2010-02-23T06:56:00.003-05:00

Months one and two of your New Year’s resolution have probably gone by the wayside….the one that had you going to the gym at least 5 times a week.

Ah yes, that one!

Has the guilt set in yet? Well, maybe the best way to avoid that guilt is to take the gym to work with you…and I don’t mean lugging along an elliptical machine. All you need are a couple of pieces of easy to transport equipment. In fact, I keep a few of those items here at the station.

What I’d do is to start small….say, with a set of resistance bands. You’ve probably seen them in the gym…long tubular rubber bands with handles on each end. Very functional and easy to find. (You can probably get an inexpensive set at your nearby Walmart or Target.)

When time allows, and if your clothing will allow you to move around freely, you can start by standing in the center of the bands with your feet shoulder width apart, elbows at your sides. Then, with an underhand grip, slowly curl the bands up, then back to the starting position. Try and do as many curls as you can....curling both arms up and down at the same time. Once you've done a set of those, you can then try to alternate curling each arm at a time.

There, that wasn't so hard!

Now, try a one arm seated curl. Again, just step on the center of the band, and while grabbing the two handles of the band with an underhand grip, rest your elbow on your inner thigh, and curl the band up to your chin.

Not so bad! Next, try a shoulder press, by again standing in the middle of the bands and with your elbows at a 90 degree angle, press the handles of the bands over your head.

Other movements you can do will allow you to work other muscle groups like the triceps (the horseshoe shaped muscle in the back of your upper arm) and rear deltoids, which I’ll go into in future blogs.

Some of the other things you might want to consider bringing along could be a set of leg weights, small dumbbells, a small kettle bell, and perhaps even a balance ball….assuming you have room to store all of these. If not, just using the chair and desk will allow you to do a daily routine.

These are good for a start. Keep checking in as I'll be looking to update this spot regularly with some other suggestions….and, of course, if you have any of your own, feel free to share!

I thank God….

2009-11-25T13:22:00.000-05:00

This issue of UNICO taking exception to the depiction of Italian American youths on the upcoming MTV show “Jersey Shore” got me thinking. Just what is a “guido” and what perpetuates the “lifestyle”? If by “guido” you mean a 20-something male of Italian extraction who drives a fancy car, needs to have his hair done up a certain way, visits the gym religiously, brags about his female conquests; and still lives at home with mom who dutifully cooks his meals and washes his clothes…then you’re probably on the money!

I, thank God, never gave myself the luxury. Oh sure, there were always “guidos” around, even though we didn’t call them that….(the term would have been “cuzhine”, which is the Italian term for “cousin”.) And while I lived at home for a short while after I graduated college and may have even contented myself with a civil service job as many of my peers were…..no, I had to aspire to something different….I had to be on the radio! And in order to be on the radio, I had to leave the protective cocoon of my neighborhood, friends, family, and girlfriend…and go off to find myself! In Middle Georgia, of all places! Imagine the culture clash that was! (If you saw the movie “My Cousin Vinny”, you’d be close!)

There are days when I tell myself that perhaps that the path of least resistance path would have been far better. Days when I say that had I taken that job with the New York City Transit Authority back in 1978, I’d probably be retired today. And you’re probably reading this and saying, “….so who’s the dummy?”

But leaving the bubble I’d been living in gave me an education I would never have gotten had I stayed behind.
Things like “how the other half lives”, “self reliance”, “doing what you love”, things like that…and most all, having the kind of support system in a wife and family that saw me through it all!

So as I sit here and write this, I really can’t help but kind of feel sorry for those kids in that show! I’m sure that one or two of them will wake up out of their stupor and realize they’re on a path to nowhere going fast! So do you blame MTV for holding up a mirror to them…albeit somewhat of a trick mirror? They’re merely the conduit for what passes for “entertainment”. Hopefully these kids will see that the joke’s on them.

Happy thanksgiving,

Ray

A favor to ask….

2009-10-19T13:44:00.001-04:00

I have a favor to ask on behalf of a friend of mine who desperately needs help.
If you’ve frequented gyms in the Marlboro/Manalapan area, you’d know who my friend is. His name is Brian Wecker, and he’s one of the kindest, most giving individuals I know, who unfortunately is dealing with the unthinkable right now. He’s in a desperate search to find a bone marrow match for his son who was diagnosed with leukemia. The boy is only 13, and unfortunately has a rare bone marrow type.

Plans are in the works to set up a bone marrow screening in the area in the very near future, but for the moment he’s holding one this coming Wednesday, October 21st, at Doc’s Clam Bar on Page Ave. in Staten Island from 3 till 8 PM.

I know it might be a bit out of the way, but if you have a moment, and are in the area, please make a point to stop by. Again, that’s Doc’s Clam Bar, right off the Outerbridge on Page Ave. in Staten Island.

I’m told the screening only takes a few minutes…just a swab of saliva is needed.

If you need any more information, check out the Facebook page they’ve set up:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=144025285317&ref=mf

Again, you could be saving a life, and what’s more noble a calling than that.

Thanks for caring,

Ray

Show me your friends……..

2009-10-17T14:52:00.001-04:00

My mom always used to say, “show me your friends, and I’ll tell you what you are!” So by that logic, I guess that if you have friends that are “schmucks”, chances are you’re probably a schmuck yourself!...with all due respect, of course.

The reason this comes to mind is the endorsement that the Reverend Reginald Jackson, executive director of the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey, recently made to reelect Jon Corzine as Governor of New Jersey. That probably wouldn’t be much of a surprise if it weren’t for the amount of face time he’d received in the movie, “The Cartel”.

By now you’re probable aware that “The Cartel” is an independently produced movie documenting the failure of the public school system in New Jersey, about how it wastes millions of dollars of taxpayer money to support an administration who’s only concern is to continue feeding at the trough…leaving children out in the cold! It’s an indictment of, among others, the powerful teacher’s union in propping up a system that rewards incompetence. All at your expense, dear taxpayer.

There are quite a number of public officials given face time in the movie…voicing concerns as to how broken the system is, and whether or not it can be fixed…most notable among them is the aforementioned Reverend Jackson. In the movie, he looks every bit the caring pastor, ministering to his flock, and showing much concern for the children of his congregation…and by extension, all the state’s children!

Well then, if he truly were a man of his word, and believed that to fix the system would be to promote competition within the educational establishment, i.e. charter schools, why would he then endorse the gubernatorial candidate who was already endorsed by the NJEA…the very organization that encourages maintaining the status quo.

Here’s his quote from the website, www.politickernj.com regarding the Corzine endorsement.

"I have not in the past and am not today making this endorsement lightly. This endorsement is made after much wrestling and soul searching. But it is an endorsement that I strongly make," Jackson said yesterday. "It's hard to be popular in tough economic times, but to his credit Jon Corzine has made the tough calls."

I know, it’s a rhetorical question And I’m not the only one asking that question. So too is Herbert Glenn, a Republican State Assembly candidate from Newark. Check out his take on the situation from politickernj.com.

http://www.politickernj.com/editor/34160/assembly-candidate-say-rev-jackson-will-gain-financially-endorsing-corzine

Especially the quote:

“"I am deeply concerned to investigate the understanding how religious leaders can compromise their spiritual convictions for their own personal political empowerment. This is a typical scenario of the pulpit pimp v. Christian crusader syndrome. Money talks."

So if money does the talking, there’s probably not a lot of “soul searching” and “wrestling” involved in deciding who should govern our state for the next 4 years, is there now?

And even though my mom never said it in biblical terms, saying “show me your friends, and I’ll tell you what you are!” got the message across.

"Lunchroom View"

2009-10-05T13:52:00.000-04:00

Opinions are like, well….you know; everyone has one, and even though you get your fill of them here; you really get them in abundance out of the lunchroom.

And depending on your point of view, if you work with a lively bunch of “chiachiaones” (big mouths), lunchtime can either be especially annoying, or revealing! Sometimes, when the din reaches ear-splitting levels, I’ll just put the iPod on and bliss out to Yanni or something equally embarrasing. However, I am nosey by nature, so there are those times when the lunchtime "bochinche" is just too irresistible…and loads of fun!

Take the other day……I’ve learned, even as I’d been typing, that one of my coworkers is ruminating over their sexual past, and how karma is going to work itself out now that middle school aged daughters are involved. Ooofaa! That one never goes well!

Then there’s today’s edition of “Lunchroom View”….talk of claymation cartoons a la “Mr. Bill” and “Davey and Goliath”; how long have you gone without showering; Bruce at the Meadowlands not selling out; and bad cases of “ass acne”, and is it a precursor to something more heinous…all while I’m devouring last nights still partially frozen arroz con pollo. Despite the “ass acne” talk, I can’t tear myself away from the chicken! Yeah, I’m that hungry! And I never knew that ass acne requires a dermotoligist’s care, and if it’s covered by insurance!

The ghost of Rodney Dangerfield will appear every now and then to impart some wisdom…I’d give you an example, but since Rodney never got any respect in real life, why start now!

Yes, lunchtime can be truly revealing! Sort of like being a fly on the wall in a group therapy session. Now if I only can get the image of ass acne out of my head!

Brooklyn Roads

2009-09-22T09:25:00.002-04:00

You may have heard that I’m a big Barry Manilow fan. That’s not quite true. The fact is I’ve always been a huge fan of another Brooklyn native. And no, it’s not Barbra Streisand either! It’s actually Neil Diamond. The “Jewish Elvis”!

And while his voice has given way to a sort of raspy shadow of its former self, the guy’s music is timeless. Not just the usual litany of hit material, but one in particular stands out as a personal favorite. The song is “Brooklyn Roads”. I think it came out in late ’68 or ’69, and it’s his autobiography of sorts. In it, he sings of his growing up “2 floors above the butcher, first door on the right”, running into his father’s bear hug, feeling his dad’s whiskers on his face. The imagery is stark and harkens back to a time when I can remember living 2 floors above a grocery store. Hearing the lyrics makes me smell the scents in the hallway of everyone’s cooking as he climbs the stairs to his apartment. It’s all so real for me. And as the story winds down, he bemoans the fact that his life has taken a few too many turns away from this simple life. But, in the end he realizes, as he looks up at his former apartment, and spies a boy not too unlike himself; that the more things seem to change, the more they remain the same. And even if you can never go back “home”, you’re never far from it either!

So it’s with that same feeling that on October 24th, I’m going to rewind back to 1965, when those familiar Brooklyn roads lead me back to my old grammar school….Our Lady of Grace! Quite a few of us have fond memories of OLG….a school which in the last few years has become a charter school.

God knows, the sight of the halls, the schoolyards, the classrooms, and the auditorium will bring back too many memories...and not all of them good! There’s the first day my mom dropped me off at kindergarten, and all I could remember, besides sheer terror, was the smell of burning tar from the construction of the school’s auditorium. Who’s ever challenged a nun’s authority? Well, you had to know that at that point, you were taking your life in your hands. A nun named Sister Genevieve ruled kindergarten with an iron fist. I had the nerve one day to tell her to shut up. That did not go well. Wooden sticks, smacks with both hands….I went home looking like Rocky after the first Apollo Creed fight!

Corporal punishment was the rule for nuns and even lay teachers…some were better at it than others. My 8th grade nun was so frail that when she went to smack one of my classmates for something stupid he’d done, her hand bled! No so with the other 8th grade nun. If you wore glasses and she told you to take them off, all the blood would drain from your face in anticipation of what was coming!

I often wondered whether any of these nuns could possibly have been canonized into sainthood knowing how they tortured some of us. I’d feel a little strange praying to one of them for a miracle.

But it wasn’t all hard knocks! Ringolevio, saluggi (grabbing someone’s hat off their head and flinging it around to your friends), getting initiated into the “bush club” (it’s not what you think, it’s actually getting tossed into hedges on the way to school), half days on Wednesday, pretzels at 10:30; and 8th grade prom (seeing real cleavage on girls you never thought had it!).

That’s only a small taste of where the road will lead on October 24th. I’m just wondering if I’ll find that same kid that Neil Diamond found at the end of his song!

In some ways he’s not as lucky as we were…..with one possible exception….he doesn’t have the bruises to show for it!

Off the beaten path

2009-09-14T13:51:00.000-04:00

Call me a little late in coming to the table, but sometimes it takes a while to discover those gems that are the true essence of what New Jersey was.

A recent visit to both Roebling and Ocean Grove opened my eyes to just that.

Roebling, in case you’re not familiar with it, is a small town just south of Bordentown, founded by Charles Roebling….he of the family that manufactured the cable for the Brooklyn Bridge, George Washington Bridge, and Golden Gate…among many others.

Time it was that Roebling was a bustling hub of activity as the steel mills ran 24 hours a day. The residents there all worked for the company, and lived in a sort of nirvana until the mills closed in 1974. But Roebling never lost its sense of community.

My tour guide is the town’s unofficial historian, George Lengel. His father, a Hungarian immigrant, worked the mill, as did George himself until his father prevailed upon him to find another career, because, in his words, he didn’t raise his son to be no steelworker! And even though George didn’t fancy himself to be a grade A student, off he went in search of a career as an educator!

Most of the original housing…..mainly row homes and semi attached houses, still stand; as do remnants of the original mill. It is said that, ever now and then, an apparition appears in one of the abandoned mill’s windows, and despite the fact that searching parties have been formed, no one to date has been found!

It’s one of those few places where people rarely leave since a good many of the residents are descendents of the original settlers…..the quintessential place where “everybody knows your name”. Outside of the fact that the River Line runs through the center of town, it’s as though the 21st century stops at Route 130!

So too the character of Ocean Grove…..a short drive off the Parkway or Route 18, at the end of Corlies Ave. Just past the light on Route 71, and you enter another universe….sort of like a New Hope on the shore.

Here again the homes each have a character all their own, and you never know what your going to find happening on Main Ave. Recently my wife and I were just browsing through the stores when we hear someone singing to a karaoke machine, drawing an enthusiastic crowd! And that’s not such an unusual occurrence.

There are loads of others too numerous to mention here…..I’m sure you can name a few of your own. But it’s always a treat that in a state known for bulldozing its past to make way for tomorrow, there are still a few places that time seems to have forgotten!

To those who’ve fought the good fight…….

2009-05-12T13:51:00.000-04:00

This may be a bit premature, but if you’ve been at the supermarket checkout in the last few days, you had to have seen the latest pictures of Patrick Swayze on the cover of the Enquirer. OK, I know it’s the Enquirer, but still, the pictures paint a grim picture, and that is that even though he claims to valiantly fight the pancreatic cancer that has him down to a gaunt shell of his former self, I can’t imagine he has too much time left! But fight on he will!

The reason I bring him up is how I’ve seen friends who’ve battled cancer wage the same battle, only to surrender in the end to the disease. There was a childhood friend who was diagnosed with leukemia in 1992, hoping to find a bone marrow donor, only to yield to the disease one year later. Another friend, a very popular local doctor, was diagnosed with a brain tumor back in January a few years ago, and despite all the knowledge he had about his condition, he knew deep down inside just how the story would conclude….which it did some 10 months later.

Then there’s my late friend Neil, great family man, friend to all who’ve had the pleasure to make his acquaintance, passionate Phillies and Eagles fan, well read, and connoisseur of fine wines. Just this past weekend, Neil lost his battle with colorectal cancer…his beloved wife Helene and his family by his side at the moment his spirit left the earth. Now if there’s one thing I’ve learned from his and the other’s pain and suffering, it’s just how strong the will to live is. Neil had to be one of the bravest guys I’ve ever known. While he was in the hospital, he’d always insist on doing whatever he could for himself…despite the great care he’d been receiving from the nursing staff. As long as he was able to get out of bed on his own to use the bathroom, he’d spurn the help of anyone who tried to lend a helping hand. He’d try to make light conversation with his many well wishers, even though the drugs had already taken their toll on his senses.

I look back over the many times we’d spent together…and there are great memories too numerous to mention, but if there’s one enduring memory of him that I’ll always cherish is his last visit to my home. It was around the time the baseball season was winding down last year. He knew his health was about to take a turn for the worst, but kept a brave face anyway. So, as a little present to him, knowing that the Phillies were on the Fox Game of the Week and about to clinch the National League East against the Nationals, I made sure to put the game on for him so that I could watch his glee at seeing that magic moment…..however much it killed me! (I’m a Mets fan, and my pain would only get worse once they’d choked for a second straight year to the Marlins the next day!)

So as the cancerous mass continued to spread, the man was steadfast in his belief that he’d beat it! Treatments came and went, but despite his best efforts to fight, and all the courage he mustered, those who loved him most knew that it was time for him to let go!

And so, this past Saturday morning, he gave in to their wishes!

The lessons that come from this experience are many….but filled with many “whys”…like why did medical science come as far as it did to prolong someone’s life only to make their quality of life unlivable? And while death isn’t a concept we’re comfortable dealing with, is it better that a loved one pass suddenly, very difficult for the family and friends; or that they know the eventual outcome, and be better prepared for it?

Questions that will remain unanswered for the moment!

Till we meet again, Neil!

Words can be fun……if not a little misleading!

2009-05-05T12:44:00.002-04:00

The language may be the same, but no two people use the same expression to convey a though or a concept. You know what I mean….saying something that would make absolutely no sense on the surface, but has a hidden meaning nonetheless. I go through this every day with Casey…realizing full well that whatever expressions I use might just be falling on deaf ears! However I carry on…because old habits die, and at this stage in the game, why change!

For instance……if I bring up having to spend an obscene amount of money on something, I might say, “…..jeez, I just went for my lungs!” Think about it. Ripping your lungs out of your chest to pay for something! Probably best left to a pulmonary specialist.
Why is it that when you go out with a group, and each person pays his own way, you’re “going Dutch!”. Is Holland noted for its cheapskates? Do the Dutch even mind the use of the expression in the first place! I’ve also heard it suggested that, again, a similar situation, when the bill for dinner comes, some folks will say, “let’s whack it up!” “Split it amongst ourselves” would probably be more to the point, but I marvel at how many uses the word “whack” has! This latest one might be a new one on you besides the obvious reference to pleasuring oneself…as well as the wise guy connotation to have someone killed.

But what can be more fascinating than the references made to the nether regions. I always loved it when one appeared “not to know his ass from his elbow!” if perplexed. Or perhaps, “he has his head up his ass!” Of course, these need to be said with the correct amount of panache! And nothing is more satisfying to me than, instead of telling someone to “get lost”, to just tell them to “go crap in your hat!” (a personal fave by the way)

There are others too numerous to mention…..like “crying with a loaf of bread under each arm!” (see if you can figure that one out.), or any of the multitude of expressions that substitute the male genitalia instead of using the word “nothing”. Fascinating stuff this language of ours!

And to think, they even teach this stuff in school. One might think it a useless endeavor…..like trying to “put diapers on piss clams!”

A slice of the past is now “toast”….

2009-03-15T10:45:00.002-04:00

Pizza. Ask a thousand people where to find the best pizza in Jersey and you’ll get a thousand different answers.

Yesterday I took the family up to the place that gets my vote…..an out of the way place in Hackensack ironically named “Brooklyn’s Pizza”. Funny thing is that there’s really nothing unique about it, since you can find coal-fired brick oven pie just about anywhere….not just in Jersey or Brooklyn. However, I’d been going there since my buddy Eugene from Lodi first took me there in 1991, so they’d become a habit ever since.

Ironic too that just yesterday, while we were sitting there enjoying the pie, we were talking about the place that was the precursor to many of these brick oven joints you find all over. It happens that, unbeknown to us, the place we were talking about had burnt down in a fire just that morning. It was a landmark in Brooklyn….so much so that it’s demise made the 11 o’clock news on Channel 4. My wife and I looked at each other in shock. “Weren’t we just talking about Totonno’s today?”

How the fire got started God only knows….the place had to be over a hundred years old. But if you had ever been there, you’d remember it. Character. No frills. Get what you want, and get the hell out. “We close when the dough runs out”…..that’s the kind of place it was. As kids, my mom used to drive us down to Coney Island on a Friday to eat there. She grew up a block away from the place. The 3 of us used to cry, “…but ma, we don’t want to eat pizza in the slums!” Not that we lived in the lap of luxury, but why go there!

But just like a nationally known chain uses the slogan, “when you’re here, you’re family.”…this place lived it. My mom knew the woman who was the only waitress, and the guy behind the counter who made the pies. They were brother and sister who inherited the place from their father, who happened to come from the same town in Italy as my mother’s father.

The guy behind the counter always seemed like an eternal grouch. Ask him how long you’d have to wait for a pie, and he’d bite your head off. Better just to shut up and wait, and if the dough ran out while you were waiting….well, too bad! His sister was a pretty sweet woman, although like her brother, she never smiled much. But thousands of people knew the place…..knew that they were only open 3 days a week….knew that they had the same marble fixtures and the same ice box where the soda was stored that dated back to the year of the flood! Knew that the tomatoes were always the best, the mozzarella was always the freshest, and even if the brother just schmered on the ingredients, it didn’t matter. The pie was still the tastiest.

So it came as no surprise that when the piemaker died in '93 or '94, the Daily News ran a spread on him…..detailing the history of the place and all the accommodations they’d won in years past. It was so much of a legend that their niece and her husband, not wanting to see it fade into history, took the place over, and shocker to think this, even opened up a place like it on the Upper East Side!

Well yesterday, a little piece of history was taken out in a fire. Will Coney Island see one of its original landmarks again? I guess we’ll have to wait and see. But it does make you remember all those great places you may have been to in the past that had “character”. Jimmy Buff’s in Irvington, where the hot dogs are deep fried in oil, and buried inside a "pizza bread" with greasy home fris…..Agostino’s in Hoboken. I’ve never been, but I’m told the waitress there is a trip….if you can get a reservation...because they only have 5 tables! Pat’s in Philly…..know what the hell you want or get off the line.

When you’re there, you really are like family…verbal abuse and all! Too bad the slogan’s gone corporate.

It was 30 years ago…..more or less

2009-03-11T13:49:00.002-04:00

Recently, the AOL homepage featured one of those wacky questions like…”Do You Regret Marrying Your Spouse?” I’m sure this is due to the results of the TV show, “The Bachelor”, Jason Mesnick backing out on his proposal to marry the perky Melissa, and instead falling back on his “true love” Molly. (There had to be a classier way to handle the end of that show, but then again, who says good television has to be “classy”?)

Anyway, I guess everyone gets a case of “cold feet” once the moment of truth presents itself. I did. And, boy, am I glad I had someone like Larry Sheets to help put me over the top!

Who’s Larry Sheets? Well, he’s a guy I worked with when I was a DJ down in Georgia.
Larry’s dad owned a real estate brokerage, and as a hobby, Larry did some fill in work at the radio station. Larry was what you’d call a sensitive guy….sensitive, but not very decisive. It seems that Larry was in a relationship for a number of years, holding out the possibility of marriage to his girlfriend, but never quite sealed the deal! One day Larry came to the radio station looking as though he was diagnosed with some fatal disease. “My girl dumped me” he said with tears in his eyes. “After so many years that we’d been together, she just decided that it was time. I never saw it coming…..I always figured she’d be the one I’d marry….but because I never popped the question, she just went ahead and told me she’d been seeing someone else.”

I don’t think I’d ever seen anyone take a breakup as badly as that. Just the admission that he needed something like ‘ludes just to be able to function was enough to convince me that there was no way to console him.

How fortuitous for me this little meeting. Not wanting to take any glee or comfort in his obvious misfortune, I told him that it wasn’t but a couple of days before that that I’d decided to give my relationship with my then girlfriend a “cooling off” period. I look back at it now and shudder. I mean, here was someone who stuck with me through all my own indecisiveness about leaving family and friends to pursue my dream…and I actually had the audacity to tell her that we needed a “cooling off”? Just writing this aggravates me…..but enough of that!

Mentioning this to Larry, he looked at me with those tear filled doleful eyes and said in his Garth Brooks like twang, “…..do you think she’s the one you’d be spending the rest of your life with?” “Well, yeah”, I said, unassumingly. “Well, if I were you, I wouldn’t let her get awaaaayyyyyy! “Go tell her nowwwwwww!” Don’t let what happened to me happen to you!

Later that day I was on the phone to the woman who would eventual consent to become my wife, and in my most unromantic proposal, said, “…babe, I think we should do this…..what do you say?”

Perhaps if AOL were asking the question and my wife were to answer, who knows, she might answer differently. As for me, I don’t regret a thing…….and will always be in Larry’s debt, wherever he is. Hopefully happily married and owning most of the real estate in Middle Georgia.

Is no pocket sacred?

2009-03-09T19:32:00.002-04:00

As many of you know, in the past year I’ve worked toward my certification to become a personal trainer. It’s a fascination I’ve had over the last couple of years, and was encouraged to pursue it as a sideline, especially since so many people my age share my interest in fitness and overall wellness.

Well, almost as if on cue, the New Jersey state government has found yet another pocket they’d like to pick…..anyone who has or will try to make a living as a personal trainer! Consider this recent letter from a concerned listener in the fitness trade:

Hi, Casey & Rossi

I run the group fitness programs at Princeton University, and recently a piece of legislation has been introduced (S 2164, Fitness Professionals Licensing Act) that would put most, if not all, personal trainers and group instructors in New Jersey out of business. It requires trainers/instructors to have 300 hours of classroom instruction, 50 hours of which has to be an unpaid internship. Even though I have excellent instructors that have been teaching for 10, 20 or even 30 years, literally every one of the 60 individuals I supervise at Princeton would be unable to continue working unless they spent thousands on a program.
Most of our folks are part-time and to have to put out that kind of money for a job that earns them at most a few thousand would likely prevent them from continuing in the field. The state (unsurprisingly) is creating a board that would oversee this process and require instructors/trainers to be licensed through the state and renew every year ($$$ for the state).
I understand the need to have qualified people as fitness instructors/trainers so participants are safe. There's a lot of questionable certifications out there in the fitness industry, and passing one of those wouldn't qualify someone to lead a class or train a client.
However, that's why I have a job--I get tons of resumes from would-be instructors and probably follow up with 10% at best. I look for a few well-respected certifications, audition and interview potential hires, and re-evaluate them every semester. Setting this sort of arbitrary requirement (why 300 hours? why does the internship have to be unpaid? who will be on this "board") will put thousands of individuals who ARE diligent and qualified in their training out of work at a time when none of us can afford to be out of work.

Thanks for your time!

Susan Crane
Coordinator for Group & Instructional Fitness, Princeton University

I'd agree with Susan that there may be some trainers that are under qualified, but the various certification agencies have pretty stringent policies already in place for those calling themselves trainers. Could the government do a better job regulating an industry, that, for the most part, seems to be doing a pretty good job of regulating itself? Keep in mind, even though personal safety is the stated goal, the underlying goal is something we all know as revenue enhancement.

In order for me to keep my certification active, I would need to take a number of what are called Continuing Education Credits during the course of any given year. These could vary in subject, such as different exercise modalities, special populations, nutrition, etc. The more CEC’s I have, the better I am at my craft, and the more current my knowledge of a field that is constantly changing! Does a governmental body really have a better grip overseeing the industry and its many professionals? Seeing how the many governmental bodies regulate our lives now, I would think the answer to be pretty simple.

Thanks again to Susan Crane for taking the time to bring this to my attention. Nothing ever surprises me with the many ways the state looks to pick one’s pocket!

Random thoughts over leftovers…lots of leftovers

2009-02-02T13:44:00.001-05:00

A few passing thoughts on the Super Bowl post mortem:

Why is having “just enough” never enough? These days I’m not much of a big eater, and my alcohol consumption is limited to wine; so why is it that when I want to make sure I have enough of everything….I wind up buying more of everything I need. For Super Bowl Sunday, I got at least a case of beer more than I needed, but it doesn’t stop there….it’s soda, crackers, foot long heros, cocktail sauce….oh, and the margarita mix. That plus the Spam I got for Christmas, and I’m set. All I need now is a year’s supply of water, some weapons and a generator and I can hide out in my basement… ready for Armageddon!

Aren’t the commercial breaks there to provide a “nature” break. Being in the media, I sort of have to stay glued to the TV during the whole time, but it’s just not natural. So when you know a seemingly cultural event like “Super Bowl commercials” are about to come on….do you just sit there and squirm like a 5 year old….or hope the Avodart kicks in and allows you to get up at a more opportune time...if there is one?

I’m sorry, but we never got to see what would have been the real halftime show…the girl in the skimpy blouse bouncing up and down in front of Bruce. Perhaps if he’d sung “Dancin’ in the Dark” and pulled her up on stage a la Courtney Cox, we’d have had a little more “bounce to the ounce”. Alas, there was to be no wardrobe malfunction. He only had 12 minutes, and a new album to promote! And, by the way, was she really that into Bruce, or would she have preferred Justin Timberlake?

I’m no football expert…but every now and then I like to shout out what I think is a “b.s.” call by the officials, and then listen to see if anyone agrees with me. Every now and then, judging by the reaction, I get one right! Either that, or my guests are just as stupid as I am!

All parties have a natural ending time! So why is it that when you, as the host, have to feign falling asleep to signal to your guests when it’s time to go! Either that or turn up the volume on “Mic’ed Up”! And they still don’t get the hint!

I’ll never again doubt my daughter’s ability to bang out a mean lasagna in record time. She started at 2:30, and by 5, both were being devoured.

At my wife’s insistence, I put up the decorations she bought for last year’s Super Bowl party….problem is they were all proclaiming the Giants’ NFC champions of 2007! It’s like my Uncle Frankie used to say, “..waste not, want not!”

Finally, it’s good to see that nothing endures like a classic…..Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head! Timeless!

The Saints come marchin' in

2009-01-30T12:38:00.002-05:00

The Saints come marchin’ in

Whether you’re a believer or not, there are a couple of days in the month of February that we set aside to commemorate the feast days of some popular saints, and maybe one not so popular, saint.

For instance, everyone knows that on the 14th of the month, we set aside some time to commemorate the feast of St Valentine…patron of love and bleeding hearts everywhere. The good St Valentine provides us with a couple of reasons to celebrate….one economic, the other a little more “physical”, if you will. Florists, candy vendors, restaurants, seedy resorts in the Poconos all benefit from the commemoration we give to this holy figure. Sort of a financial boost to the lagging economy. Sales of the DVD “The Notebook” hit record numbers…if you can stand watching it at all, and “KY His and Hers”…..fuggetaboutit! The manufacturers watch with glee as sales shoot through the roof….if you’ll pardon the pun!

Then there’s the universally celebrated Saint who’s name no one knows, but who’s day we all celebrate on the first weekend of the month. I’m referring to St. Mort eh Fame’….patron of over eaters everywhere. This saint’s origins, much like St. Nicholas or St. Patrick, are still being hashed out. I’m guessing he’s a creation of the NFL, the big 3 TV networks, Hormel, and Perdue. Why Hormel and Perdue you ask? Well, one is the largest purveyor of chili in the land and the other has a vested interest in chicken wings! Both the officially recognized modes of celebrating. But one wonders, can one substitute, say lasagna, for the wings and not provoke the ire of the good Saint? Well we at the Rossi manse have made the pasta substitution in years past with very consequence. But whatever you do, don’t serve salad, or else you’ll be cursed for the rest of the year….and Beano afterwards is only for the faint of heart.

The one who may have escaped your gaze is St Blaise…patron saint of the upper respiratory system. He is of particular interest to any of us that talk for a living since he protects the throat from all sorts of maladies…or so the legend goes. Every year in the first week of February, the priest from our local parish would make an appearance in class with two candles forming a cross, and bound together with a ribbon. He would then have you sort of walk into the space between the two candles, and with the candles firmly implanted around your throat, he would then place his hands over your head and say a blessing. ( I know that this may sound like some medieval torture, but that was, and probably still is the drill!) This, I suspect, was supposed to take the place of cough medicine since no one had medical insurance back then!
However, my faith in his restorative powers was tested a couple of years when I invited a priest friend of mine to the radio station where I was working, and had him perform the ritual on both me and one of the promotional staff. I had no problem taking part, but I could see that my much younger co-worker was not familiar with the practice, and actually recoiled in horror when the priest placed the candles around his neck. One, two, three, chop, chop…and it was done! My co-worker survived the ordeal, but much to my amazement, called in sick the next day with a sore throat and a fever!

So here’s to the doldrums of winter. May your celebration be a happy one, filled with good cheer, and just in case....keep the Robitussen handy!

190 and counting…….

2009-01-26T08:14:00.003-05:00

I’m sure you’re aware of Oprah Winfrey’s well documented battle with her weight. She now claims that she’s fallen off the wagon and ballooned to 200 pounds. No more cover shots of her anymore from the midsection on down!

Not that I’m comparing myself to her…but you’d have to figure it had to be easier for her stick to a plan….when you have untold millions and God knows how many people in your employ hired specifically to make sure that you’re up at 4 in the morning to work out and eat right! So how is it she falls off the wagon…..and if she can’t stick to a plan, how much harder is it going to be for me….or for that matter, for you!

This morning, after having a weekend of Chinese food, birthday cake, and God knows what else…..I got on the scale in the gym and had my first case of full blown denial. “No, this thing has to be *&^%$#ed up, can’t be right!” The big one nine oh! Red zone a go go……just where I don’t want to be. Marching backwards!

So, how does one rededicate oneself to the plan that you thought would be so easy to do once you got into a routine?

This morning was a good start….workout at 6, home by 7:15, black coffee, protein shake, and here I am by the computer hoping that I’ll be able to formulate something for the rest of the day, and, for that matter, for the week! I know how hard it is each day to stick to a plan, especially when, in the morning, the bed is so warm and comfy! Is it the same for you and have you had the same epiphany? If so, let me know, and fill me in on what you’re doing to get back on track..and better still, to stay on track!

Even the "trainer" needs a boost every now and then.

Nice Try

2009-01-19T13:29:00.001-05:00

Had the Eagles won the NFC championship…..difficult though it may have been to take….I would have rooted for them to win it all!

Yes you’ve read right…..I’d have jumped on the bandwagon. However, the thought would have been unbearable….it’s just not in my DNA. Hurts my hair just thinking about it….and I don’t have much to begin with!

But all that aside, I am truly sorry for Eagles fans not seeing their team get to play in the big one. (Ok, maybe not that sorry, but still….) I never liked jumping on anyone’s grave….it’s bad karma. In fact, if you can believe this, I actually had the blog all written out as to why I would have rooted for the Eagles. And no, I don’t think I put the mallocchio on them by writing it before the game…I think my reasons for wanting to see them win are pretty valid….at least in my mind.

And here are the reasons:

Number 1: Many of my friends and close associates are Philly sports fans….they bleed Phillies red and Eagles Green. During the Giants improbable run to the Super Bowl last year, one of them watched with me and audibly cheered when Eli Manning got to hoist the Lombardi trophy. Yeah, I know that he silently wanted to barf, but at least he had the grace to take delight in something that, to him, must have been like getting a root canal.

Don’t you think that the least I could have done was to return the favor?

Another of my Philly fan friends is actually a stage 4 cancer patient. I was with him the day the Phillies clinched the National League East….in fact, I made sure to juice the sound up on the TV so he could see and hear the climactic moment as Joe Buck proclaimed the Phillies champions of the National League East! (I know, I’m about to be canonized St Erasmo of Jersey!)

Number 2: Everyone likes a good comeback story…and this one would have had all the makings of a gem! It wasn’t too too many weeks ago that the chant was, “Andy Reid’s a bum, Donovan McNabb should be run out of town”…blah, blah, blah. You had to figure Donovan was done when, after the Bengals game, he was asked if he knew the game could end in a tie…and he didn’t know! Ooo faa! That made me think back to the “aw shucks” looks that Eli Manning would give whenever he’d throw a pick, and I pretty much knew…yes, I know that feeling. All you need do is substitute the names Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning for Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb; and the similarities hit you in the face.

The life lesson here could easily have been that you’re never really out of it….as long as you have a pulse and the will! Well, it sure looked like they had the will when they beat the Giants……not so much with the Cards. So I guess the chants of “Andy Reid’s a bum, Donovan McNabb should be run out of town”…will start all over again!

On February 1st, there will be a Super Bowl party at the Rossi mansion, and even though there won’t be any Eagles tchochkis …you gotta at least give me credit for making an effort! No? Besides, pitchers and catchers real soon, then the fun really starts!

2008-12-19T19:39:00.002-05:00

Christmas Eve, 1966….It was a cold and snowy Saturday…..so snowy in fact that there were near blizzard conditions, and “thunder snow”…..something I’d never seen before. I was out delivering bread that day with my godfather, Uncle Frankie, and looking forward to the eventual evening’s feast of fish…..which, since I was only 15 at the time, still hadn’t grown to appreciate. In fact, I still don’t. It never made any sense to me how anyone could make a salad out of seafood that gave off an odor so foul that it lingered in the house for days! But…well, that’s neither here nor there!

Part of the evening’s tradition involved the eventual visit from Santa Claus. Now, you’re probably thinking, “….if you’re 15 at the time, you can’t possibly still believe in Santa?” Well no, I didn’t….but I still had my kid sister and my cousin that did…..and even if they didn’t, it was still something of an event when Santa came to the house. A cowbell would clang, someone would rush in screaming, “…I hear banging on the roof….I think he’s here…..it’s Santa”…and then Santa himself, or someone in a Santa outfit would scurry in…bellowing in his best “ho ho ho”….practically throwing our gifts at us so as not to be identified by us wiseass kids. After all, you didn’t want the kids to identify which of the older cousins was playing Santa…that would spoil the fun! Besides, everyone by then knew it was either one of my uncle’s nephews Tommy or Joey. C’mon, who where they kidding? You couldn’t pull anything over on the wiseass kids from East 4th St.!

But that year, Tommy and Joey, and my Uncle….collectively known at the “Reindeer Club”…were all snowed in! Uncle Frankie had the Santa outfit in a closet a block away…Tommy and Joey….well, who the hell knew where they were, and that night it was still snowing so hard, they would never have made it out anyway. This presented a problem…..who was left to distribute the toys to the kids? You guessed it…..me….all of 115 lbs soakin’ wet! And the real cool thing was that now I’d get to be a part of that elite group known as the “Reindeer Club”. Not that it had any special privileges or anything….it was sort of a “coming of age”…..like a bar mitzvah, only for goyim! “Today you are a man…..just don’t tell your cousins who’s playing Santa!” That was the initiation….I think they do something like this when they initiate you into the mob!

Anyway, once we trudged through the snow, and made it to my Uncle’s apartment, I was outfitted with the Santa suit. 4 pillows later and a lot of eye makeup to make me look scary enough so that the kids wouldn’t get too close to me…and we were off! Dashing through the snow….without the one horse open sleigh….exposed to the elements…and the Ave U wiseasses who took the opportunity to bust my chops wanting to know what Santa had in the bag for them. I could have said something like “o’gotz”, but that wouldn’t have been too Santa-like…so I let Uncle Frankie handle it.

First stop was Grandma’s apartment over the bakery. The usual characters were there… aunts, uncles, cousins, and my biggest pain in the ass cousin….Dominick, who I thought was gonna heave up a lung when he saw me….that’s how loud he laughed! But the best reaction was the one Grandma had...sheer terror, as she cowered in her chair gazing up at this figure that, to her, looked like the grim reaper, all the while saying in Italian….”chi e’ sandi claus?" (Who is Santa Claus?) There was no way I was going to convince her it was me.

It was easy to convince the group in the next round…..they were a little bit older…..my Aunt Grace, and O’ Zi’ who lived upstairs from us. Aunt Grace had a voice like sheet metal being ripped…..”ohhh, is that Ray Ray”…..she kept saying over and over between puffs of a Pall Mall.

But the real acid test came next…..downstairs….the Rossi house….and this was “showtime”, because here is where the kids were! One bad move and Santa would have been outted. Uncle Frankie kept going over the line with me……..”no, it’s ho, ho, ho (deeper), and whatever you do, don’t look at any of the kids, ‘cause they’ll know who you are.”

So in we go, Uncle Frankie ringing the cowbell, somebody else screaming, “...he’s here, he’s here”, and in I go. Chrissy, Frankie Boy, who gets a bike, who gets a doll, bam, bam, bam….who’s laughing, and all the while I’m worrying that my “ho ho hos” would be adequate. I’d say we were in and out in 2 minutes! We had thieves in the neighborhood that would have stayed longer!

I’d like to tell you that Santa would have hung around for the traditional milk and cookies before being whisked away by the reindeer and the sleigh….but that wasn’t to be. It was a 63 Pontiac that took him away….ever so slowly back to Uncle Frankie’s and Aunt Fran’s to shed the Santa suit…so that I could return to my life as a 15 year old and maybe get a piece of my mother “migliaccio” (cheese cake) before everyone else glommed it!

Erasmo doesn’t live here anymore!

2008-12-10T13:42:00.002-05:00

When my grandmother was still alive, it didn’t take much for us kids to get under her skin. And whenever she was at the breaking point, her favorite refrain would be said in her best broken English, “…..I go Eetaleee eh no comma backa no mo’”, or loosely translated, “I’m going back to Italy and the hell with all of you”….or words to that effect.

Well, were she to go back, (and she did for a short vacation back in 1963), she’d have found a vastly different place than the one she left behind in 1928!

I too have had that same feeling…..I’ve been there too…..although I didn’t have to go to “Eetaleeee”as she would have put it, but to “Brook-ah-leen”, which is a short ride from Manalapan, but may as well be a world away!

Not long ago, when visiting the eye doctor, just to satisfy my curiosity, I passed through what I lovingly refer to as “the neighborhood”….that place I left behind 21 years ago to raise my little girl in the bucolic setting of Central Jersey. I look for the people I left behind, the little kid I used to take to Pizza Park…the guy who used to work long hours in the bakery…the wannabe wise guys hanging out by the social club. Kids hanging out on the “corner”. Pizza Park’s still there, but there’s no sign of the wise guys…the kids…..nothing! I guess I should have known….even the Sopranos moved to suburbia!

Actually, I knew I was in a different place when I came upon 3 kids hanging out on a street corner…..members of a “rainbow coalition” if you will…..2 African-American youths and a white boy. How odd it all seemed! Because that coalition on that very street corner would have gotten someone killed just 25 short years ago! "Yes, the neighborhood’s not the same"…..I said to myself with a chuckle!

So now I’m thinking, “there has to be somebody left….” sort of like the ‘last of the Mohecans”. Ahh, no such luck……no “Jimmy the Butcher”, “Charlie the Barber”..gone, replaced by an Israeli fruit vendor….Bennie the Bum, Peg Leg Artie, all having a cup of coffee in that great candy store in the sky...and the candy store itself is now a “cheap charlie’s” kind of a place! Jeez! And our bakery? Well, that didn’t make the cut either! It’s now an upscale clothing store! Well, we knew it wasn’t gonna last anyway. The only thing the new arrivals bought was an occasional piece of yeast to make their own bread. You gotta figure that went over well with my grandmother, as she'd get up from her chair, lumbering over to the counter….cursing under her breath in Italian. “What, they can’t they at least buy a couple of rolls?”

No, it’s pretty much all gone….except for the memory. And even though there’s a bit of melancholy whenever I go there, I always take some delight in the knowledge that it will always be a big part of who I am….despite the luxury condos and upscale clothing stores! Come to think of it, even the place that’s become my adopted hometown has grown beyond anything I would ever have thought it would.

Who knows. Eventually when I become a North Carolina guy, New Hampshire guy, Delaware guy, or God forbid, even a Florida guy, I know that when I make the trip to my new old haunt, I’ll bemoan the fact that Gordon’s Corner Road has become Interstate 395!

The Little Girl is Gone

2008-12-01T10:43:00.001-05:00

I talk to a lot of dads of little girls and listen to them tell me stories of how they’re the “man” in their little girls’ lives. And there’s no better feeling than being just that.
But there eventually comes a day when you as the “man” are replaced by the man who will ultimately take her hand and (hopefully) spend the rest of his life with her. That day came this past week.

Actually it started during the Giants/Cardinals game during a commercial. What better way is there for men to bond than during a football game….and what better time is there to pop the question than during a “time out”. When I was asked by my daughter’s boyfriend, “…I need to ask you something when the ladies aren’t around”, I guess you could say I saw it coming. And what was that thing that I saw?

All those years flashed before my eyes. Like when I remember my daughter’s birth..and how in shock I was at witnessing it….and how, when I had my mother-in-law on the phone, I said to her, “…and she looks just like you!” Ok, I was in shock, what do you want from me?
There was the time, when she was one year old and I thought she could brave one of the water slides at Busch Gardens down in Tampa. I held her on my chest as we went barreling down the slide thinking all the while, “…oh boy, I’m gonna wind up drowning this kid”….only to hit the water and have my daughter squeal with glee! I could never forget her chasing after seagulls on Clearwater Beach, and her fascination with them…calling out to them, “buhd…buhd”…which was her way of saying “bird”.

Too many other things flood my mind. Taking her to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, “Tire Park” on Shore Road, bringing her to school in the morning with her friends, checking out colleges, and finally her moving into her own place in Hoboken.

I look for that kid, and all I see is the woman she’s become….and the lucky guy that will have her as part of his family in the very near future.

If you happen to be one of those dads…..you’ll never need a camera, a diary, or anything like that to document any of it. It will be embedded in your brain….just like all of those moments are embedded in my brain. It’s a great feeling to live through all of them….and if you’re lucky, you’ll recognize them for what they are and appreciate the fact that you too will be wondering, one day, where did that little girl go?

Many Thanks to the Jersey Guys' Audience

2008-10-26T11:00:00.002-04:00

You made it happen! And we, along with hundreds of families of breast cancer survivors, couldn't be happier!

Because of you, the Tour for a Cure 2008 was a huge success. Four weeks, four malls....phenomenal turnout at each stop, and lots of heartfelt stories of how one of the most insidious types of cancer has affected the lives of many New Jersey families.

The Tour may be over.....at least for this year, but we know the battle rages!

Again, many thanks to the merchants and customers of the Monmouth Mall, Freehold Raceway Mall, QuakerBridge Mall, and Bridgewater Commons for hosting our tour and supporting us on our journey.

Hopefully we won't have to have a tour in 2009....but we look forward to your continued support. More to come!

God bless you if you’re a nurse……

2008-09-18T16:06:00.000-04:00

You never know how much you appreciate the people that make up a particular profession until you really need them. Remember back in the day when you’d see bumper stickers that read, “Next time you’re being robbed, call a hippie!”

Well, if I wore a hat, I would tip it to anyone in the nursing profession! They truly do the the work of God here on earth. Imagine having to work long shifts attending to some people who could drive a saint to the brink of insanity! Cleaning, medicating, comforting, wiping butts, the whole 9 yards, and all the while smiling as though that patient were the most important person on earth. Good God! Do you think you’d have anything left “in the tank” once you got home?

The reason I say this is because over the past week my wife was hospitalized after undergoing emergency surgery for severe diverticulitis. And while I think she’s a pretty good patient, if I may be so biased, I had to marvel at the great care she received from the nursing staff at the hospital where her surgery was performed. And, no, I did not play the Ray Rossi card either! She could have been anybody’s wife, mother, sister…and I have to believe that they all would have risen to the occasion.

I would be completely remiss if I didn’t acknowledge their hard work and dedication, and for helping put my wife in a more comfortable state over the last week.

If you’re a nurse……God bless you!

Reasons to be Cheerful.......

2008-08-18T12:47:00.002-04:00

I believe that was a title of a song that came out in the early 80's...."Reasons to be Cheerful" (I think it was Ian Drury and the Blockheads)...but here I use it to give you an update on where I'm at in my ongoing effort in self-transformation.

Here are some of the reasons I have to be cheerful.......

1) Health: The latest numbers were very encouraging. Total cholesterol is at 136, down from around 250...my weight is down to below 180 from 187. It's now at 177 to 179 depending on when I weight myself...and my body fat is at 20.8%....down from 22%.
I'm doing this with a 5 day a week workout...and a diet that consists mainly of protein spread out over 5 or 6 meals daily. It's pretty easy to accomplish during the week when things are more regimented, but I tend to relax things a bit on the weekend. That's my "treat" time. (Remember, it's "treat"...not "cheat"!)

I'd still like my weight to hover at around 175 with an 18% body fat composition, and my goal is to accomplish this by the middle of October.

2) New direction: Besides the daily show I do on New Jersey 101.5....I've also been involved with Sirius Satellite Radio for the past 7 years. That will all change in October as I'll be giving up the satellite radio position, and embarking on a course of study that will hopefully lead to a Personal Trainer Certification. This is something I've long thought about but never thought was possible...given my lack of confidence in my athletic ability. However, my wife knows how much joy I derive from training, and with her encouragement, as well as the encouragement of my trainers Chris and Brian, I saw that it was indeed something I'd like to accomplish.

So off I go.......

3) The love and support of family and friends. None of this would be worth it without some of the things I think we all take for granted. I look around me and remind myself of all there is to be thankful for....not just a beautiful family and great friends; but the kind of job I've always dreamed of having ever since I was a kid.

I'm sure that when all is said and done, I'll take a look from time to time during those moments whenever I get down, (and they do happen every now and then)...and just remind myself that the pluses are way more numerous that the minuses.

Thanks for reading....and for sharing.

Calling All Members of the Rossi Posse:

2008-07-22T13:06:00.000-04:00

I could use a little help with a friend who’s in a fair amount of distress and doesn’t know where to turn….and I know that you, as being part of the greatest audience in the world, would be only too glad to help!

I like to think I have the words to inspire people to do more about their physical appearance and mental outlook….but there are times when those challenges are quite daunting, even for little ol’ me, and this is one of them!

Here’s the deal…..I have a friend named Carlo. Nice guy. I met him years ago when I worked at the New York Country station. At the time, he was a broadcasting student taking a class that a friend of mine was teaching. Carlo and I bonded right away, both of being of a working class Italian background. At the time, Carlo weighted around 500lbs. He’d probably tell you he rivaled the guy who played JoJo the Whale in the movie “A Bronx Tale”.

Anyway, since that time, Carlo lost 300 of those pounds…mainly with the help of some gastric bypass…but also through modifying his diet and some exercise.

Since that time, he’s taken up stand up comedy and has a nice little thing going for himself. What is not working out for him right now is his love life! The other day he called me to tell me that he’s at wits end trying to deal with the flab that he’s accumulated from the weight loss….and it’s because of that that he feels as though he looks like a “sharpee” when he’s undressed. I guess he’s had a few ladies recoil in horror at the sight of that! What to do short of putting a bag over their heads?

That’s where you come in.

I could tell him that he’d need to work on firming up whatever flab he’s got around his waist with sit ups and crunches…and I’m sure you’d agree that he needs to continue exercising. But I’m sure there has to be a medical component in working out his situation as well.

As I’ve so often said, whatever you can offer by way of suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

If you’d like to reach out to him personally, I’ll give you his myspace address:

It’s http://www.myspace.com/clemenzascafe

As always, thanks for taking the time to read this. I’ll give you my own progress report in the next blog.

Ray

What's the point.........

2008-07-16T08:21:00.002-04:00

Yesterday you may have heard both Casey and me talking about how hard it was to get out of bed in the morning, and Casey saying to himself something like, "....what's the point?"

Funny stuff.....yet it rang true for me, and I'm sure may have even rung true for you too!

In one way or another, I've said the same thing to myself just about every morning.

Not counting the fact that we all have to get out of bed and either work, or get the kids off, or whatever it is that you do in any given day......here's the point of getting out of bed and either hitting the gym, or doing whatever you do to exercise.

You're giving thanks.

Oh, I know.....you don't want me to get all spiritual on you, but it's true!

My grandmother used to say in Italian something like, "....as long as I can get out of bed in the morning...", or in other words, when I get out of bed, I'm ahead of the game.

You're giving thanks, despite whatever ailments you have, despite whatever your head is telling you about wanting to stay in bed a little longer....you're giving thanks for being housed in the body you have.

I've shared with you the fact that I don't think mine is perfect....not by a long shot. I have the love handles to work on.....not to mention the "man boobs"....and still have to work around the "polio leg". But I do appreciate what I have, and the work that I've done so far to get to where I am. In fact, as of this morning, the scale at Elite says 181. So the goal is very much in sight!

I give thanks that I'm able to see how destructive taking your good health can be. I saw that in my dad, who died at the age of 70, ravaged by diabetes that he never took care of. I saw how it caused him to loose toes.....how his circulation practically shut down....how he could barely walk; and I made a promise to myself that I would never let myself get that way. Believe it or not, he really was a healthy man, but all the bad habits he'd allowed himself throughout his life eventually took their toll. I know he could have lived past 80 if he really made the effort. But he took his good health for granted.

I can't afford to take mine for granted. As it is, my cholestoral runs high, and I need to stay on top of that daily. You, like me, can't afford the luxury of taking for granted whatever good health you have, whatever good health God, genetics, divine providence, or whatever you want to call it, has given you.

Give thanks for what you have......or in the words of William DeVaughn in that 1974 soul classic...Be Thankful for what You Got......(though you may not drive a great big Cadillac, blah , blah, blah.)

So the next time you feel like telling yourself, "...what's the point?".....just remember, the point is to be thankful that you have what you do, and work from there.

Thanks for reading this, for sharing some of your stories with me, and for your continued encouragement!

Ray

Man boobs, bahnz' a nahnz', and Beach Haven

2008-07-13T15:21:00.003-04:00

For an "alter kacher" like me, which is to say, a guy over 50, the persistent problem I have to have to deal with is my man boobs and something I like to call "bahnz ah nahnz".....translated literally from the Neopolitan dialect as "stomach in front".

Oh how to get rid of it.......not an easy task! Maybe it's just easier to live with what I've already accomplished and own the fact that, in these 2 areas, genetics work against me.

Nah......too easy an out!

So, to that end, diet plays an important role. Outside of my one "cheat day", which was yesterday at Beach Haven on the Jersey Shore (which I'll tell you about in a little bit).....I've been sticking to the following regimen:

Muscle Milk protein shake after my morning workout (consisting of blueberries, a banana, some nonfat yogurt, and skim milk.

The rest of the shake at 11 AM.

Lunch is whatever my wife made the night before....broken up into 2 meals.....one at 1:30, and the other at 4.....and then dinner at 8. We keep the simple carbs like bread and sugar out, and add as side dishes vegetables like asparagus, broccoli, and spinach. Occasionally I'll have a glass of red wine with dinner. As of this morning, my weight is at 182.

Now for the Beach Haven part of the show.

Outside of the dangerous undertow at the shore yesterday....we had a blast! A couple of margaritas at the tiki bar...and a stop at a place called Show Time for ice cream made it a fine day. I had the "Music Man" sundae.......fudge, walnuts, whipped cream, lots of vanilla ice cream, and peanut butter to boot! What makes this place a trip is not just the sundae, but what you have to do once you've ordered it and start schiaffing it down! You have to sing about it at the waiter's prodding. We had a kid named Walter be our server. He dimed me out and had me sing a parody of "Macho Man" by the Village People, with the lyrics, ".....music, music, music man....I gotta have my music man."

There is an incriminating video that'll verify this.....when my sister sends it to me, I'll post it.

I will say this......even if you have "performance anxiety", you can turn into a Pavarotti just by having one of these sundaes. Well worth the trip!

Note to Diane:

Sounds to me like you've worked out a very manageable plan for yourself. Here's what's going to set you back....and it's a problem we all have to a degree........eating late! I try not to eat past 8PM but my hour are such that most nights we go to 8:30 or 9. I'm not happy with that, but it is what it is! What I try and do is supplement with some fruit later on to pick on, instead of cookies or ice cream. That's where you'll see a difference...at least I think so.

Note to Brian,

Thanks for the kind offer......we'll hook up this coming Friday and see how it all goes.

Note to the chervinators:

Both of you have always been most encouraging.....I really do appreciate all the kind words and suggestions you've given me. It's because of guys like you that I write this, and make every attempt to stay true to it.

The numbers don't lie.....

2008-07-09T10:02:00.003-04:00

....and the numbers are (as of 7/9/08)

weight: 185
body fat: 22 per cent

The goal for the next 3 months is to get the weight down to 175 and the body fat percentage to roughly 15 to 16 percent.

To accomplish this by October 9th, here's my plan:

Workout 5 to 6 days a week, a different muscle group every day, and cardio for 30 minutes every other day. For instance, Monday I boxed with Chris at Elite for approximately a half hour; then did chest and back. Yesterday I did abs and arms with Brian at LA Boxing....no cardio. Today back at Elite with Chris for shoulders and some abs, plus 30 minutes on the elliptical. I also had him take the measurements you see above, and gave him what I thought would be a reasonable timeframe to accomplish the goals.

The other part of it, and it's not easy by a longshot, is diet.

Mornings consist of a cup of black coffee before the workout....and a protein shake after the workout. Midmorning I'll finish off what's left of the shake.
Lunch usually consists of whatever we had the night before...minus the carbs. For instance, the other night we had stuffed peppers....so I'll have some before airtime, and eat the rest at around 4 or so. My wife makes them with some chopped meat, a little sauce and some rice.

And since today is Wednesday, right after the show we'll go ballroom dancing for an hour, after which we'll have dinner. I think now would be a good time to order the fruit platter.

As I've mentioned before, we'll see how it goes. So far I've seen a bit more definition....and my libido certainly hasn't suffered. Trust me.......if there's one great side benefit to all of this, it's the libido aspect.

Let me know how it all goes on your end, and feel free to post your suggestions.

this is the starting point.......

2008-07-07T09:43:00.002-04:00

So now we begin the march to "diesel by December". Seeing is how I'm at the advanced age of 56, it's not gonna be easy, not by any stretch. But since I have a little bit of a jump....hopefully it won't be as difficult as I'm making it out to be. And the fact that you'll be along for the ride pumps me up to stay true to my goal.

The first step is to try and shed 10 pounds of flab. (You can probably see it around my middle....it's always been a problem.) Next step is to try and bring down my cholestoral numbers....which at the moment are at around a 250. I'm trying to accomplish both with a diet rich in protein.......a shake in the morning after my workout.....then another at around 11 when I'm on my way to work. Lunch will consist of whatever we ate the night before.....usually chicken or pork. For instance, tonight we'll be having my favorite...stuffed peppers....so that'll be lunch for tomorrow as well. Thrown in some fruit after dinner, and that pretty much rounds out the diet for the week. Weekends are another story. I'll get into that in the next blog.

Here's what I did the past week with my workout:

I started on Sunday the 29th of June with a lower body workout consisting of:

dumbell squats, kettle lunges, lower back hyperextensions, side hyperextensions, pike ups, hangman, medicine ball rotations, and "good morning" with a 45 lb kettlebell.

Monday the 30th I worked with Chris LaRocca from Elite in Manalapan and we worked our shoulders and arms. Tuesday I worked with Brian Wecker at LA Boxing in Marlboro and we worked primarily legs and abs. Wednesday back to Elite to do chest and back. Thursday I took the day off. Friday back at Elite to do some abs and back.

Saturday I took off again. Sunday at Elite for cardio (20 minutes on the Eliptical), squats on the smith machine, barbell deadlifts, some planks, and oblique crunches.

Then this morning at Elite with Chris for 20 minutes of boxing, plus chest and back.

Like I said at the top, this is the starting point.....we'll see how it goes. Just the fact that I'm blogging means I have to keep it up. You're watching!

Ray
7/7/08