Cameras are everywhere and everyone has a camera! One of the secrets of capturing a great photo (or “snapshot”) is having one’s phone camera at the every ready for that special unexpected, once in a lifetime, photo opportunity. On the other hand, don’t you dare give into the impulse to cross the line and do something questionable in a special une …
On October 3rd 1951 New York Giant baseball player Bobby Thomson hit a Home Run which is called “The Shot Heard ‘Round The World” to win the National League pennant against the Giants bitter rival Brooklyn Dodgers. Giant radio announcer Russ Hodges described The Shot in what is considered one of the best, if not the best, calls in sports history a …
At my stage in life my aim is to maintain my quality of life, ie, keep on keeping on. So it seems, for me, there can only be one New Year’s resolution... How about you?
When I was young Edward R. Murrow was at the crest of his fame as a CBS broadcast journalist which started with his “This is London calling” reports during the Nazi Blitz in early World War II. During the late 1940s and early 1950s our democracy was plagued by a “Red Scare”, based on the alleged growing influence of Communism. Senator Joseph McC …
Maybe, which is defined as Perhaps or Possibly, is not a word I like to hear in response to a proposal. It puts off the eventual answer and frustrates me. In the words of The Chantels: Maybe, if I hold your handYou will understandAnd maybe, if I kissed your lips I’ll be at your commandOh, maybe. Buddy Holly had it even better when he sang:Maybe ba …
Power is the ability to direct or influence the behavior of others. Over the course of my life I’ve observed and absorbed instances of others, big or small, wielding power over me. By small I mean ordinary every day people and by big I mean influential, rich or important people. Possibly the most interesting and telling observations involve ordinar …
We have a friend who lost her husband in the last year. She was a very good wife. She is a wonderful woman, mother and friend who has impressed me with her reaction to widowhood. After her initial period of loss and sadness she has picked herself up and reinvented herself in a unique way. She is good friends with Joanne and has taken to sharing ne …
Have you ever thrown a Surprise Party? Was it a success? Was the Secret kept? Was the recipient surprised?Well on Tuesday night Gotham held it’s annual Holiday Party and we did it all as surprises abounded!By my count there were at least 7 surprises and it was just great, as it’s always better to surprise than be surprised. The first surprises …
I was surprised by a comment on last week’s “50 Years” blog (which the commenter describe as “beautiful”), saying “I have learned so much from you.” When I responded “You’re too nice” the commenter said “No I’m honest. You have an amazing way of speaking the truth that is raw and real (not always what someone wants to hear but something I value).” …
I was a fledgling 27 year old when I started with my firm. I had just left the National Labor Relations Board on a Friday and reported to work the following Monday. My boss was Martin C. Seham a larger than life Harvard Law School graduate who plucked me from obscurity and set me on an amazing miraculous career path. One of the first things he urg …
Once upon a time we scored back stage passes for a Rolling Stones concert. As we wandered about in the promised land we came upon Keith Richards and I seized the moment and asked him to stop and pose for a picture with me. He was readily willing, but said he was about to go on stage. I hurriedly handed the camera to Joanne who was not familiar wi …
Last weekend we went for lunch in Huntington and when the check came the server explain that the Internet was down and asked me to write my phone number and credit card info on the check. I did so and in all the unusual hurly-burly I forgot to take back my credit card. This is one of the most annoying things I do. It is a failure of concentration w …
28,333 days into my life span I have been experiencing some turbulence. I suppose it’s my silver hair, eg, suddenly people regularly offer me their subway seats. Then last week I was walking to my car after a Gotham breakfast meeting and I saw two gardners making a deafening racket with leaf blowers. As I got closer, I thought someone had cried ou …
I have been a Yankee fan since before MicKEY MANtle was a rookie. Watching Yankee games with my father on early black and white TV was one of my earliest and most favorite childhood memories. I can still hear him bellow “He (Mickey) swings and he misses!” As time passed his failing eye sight caused him to ask me to read him the daily newspaper ga …
There was the most amazing story in the news last week which did my heart so dog loving good!It seems that a fox terrier puppy, Dutchess, disappeared 12 years ago from her Florida home and was recently discovered over 1000 miles away, just barely alive, in Pittsburgh. She was hungry, shivering and in need of a nail trim and when Dutchess was broug …
Fridays With Fred
A perfect way to send you into your weekend