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The View From Here

Laugh And The Whole World Laughs With You – Or At You!

The columnist never fails to give us a little giggle.

"What may seem depressing or even tragic to one person may seem like an absolute scream to another person, especially if he has had between four and seven beers." ~ Dave Barry  Life is! That may seem like a rather mundane statement, but as humdrum as it may appear to be, the statement is true nonetheless.  Life is! Life is funny. Life is sad. Life is beautiful. Life is ugly. But no matter your situation, irrespective of your current point of view; regardless of your present state of mind; life is! Life exists. Yes, life changes; it’s capricious. But it is.  I'm a big proponent of laughter. It keeps me from crying! And there are certainly plenty of things for us to cry about. As I said, life is sad. But whatever we can say about life; the …

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Bob Havey

8:03 am on Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Thanks, Nancy. Glad you got a laugh! @Friend Uvyurs - No, you can't make this stuff up. Life is full of laughable moments. It's all a matter of perspective. Thanks for reading and thanks for laughing. Glad you enjoyed it. As an epilogue to the insurance - Sue emailed me again and apologized for spelling my name incorrectly. That's really going the extra mile! Great customer service! As I said, …   more ›

The View From Here

The Devil You Know - The Devil You Don’t Know

The columnist shares a reflective moment.

“In the name of the best within you, do not sacrifice this world to those who are its worst. In the name of the values that keep you alive, do not let your vision of man be distorted by the ugly, the cowardly, the mindless in those who have never achieved his title. Do not lose your knowledge that man's proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads. Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can …

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Bob Havey

10:50 am on Friday, February 17, 2012

Jasmine - Thanks! Now get that kicked-butt of yours down to the school of your choice and register! :-)   more ›

The View From Here

A Morning Without Coffee Is Like Sleep

The columnist confesses to a blatant caffeine addiction and a propensity for being a bit snippy in the early morning hours.

If it weren't for the coffee, I'd have no identifiable personality whatsoever.” ~ David Letterman  I’m not a morning person; never have been; probably never will be. The only good thing about the morning is coffee; lots and lots of coffee. Other than that - mornings stink!  My animosity toward the morning hours isn’t grounded in an explicit aversion for getting out of bed. I’m up fairly early every day, even on the weekends I’m up between 5:45 and 6:00. If I happen to sleep until 6:30 on Saturday or Sunday, I consider that sleeping-in.  No, I don’t mind getting out of bed. But I do mind being incoherent for two to three hours after I get up, even after slugging down 32 ounces of coffee.  I don’t get it! Why do I have so much trouble …

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Bob Havey

1:21 pm on Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Thanks for the advice, Emily. No sleep disorder here, though. I'm just not a morning person. Thanks for reading - I appreciate it!   more ›

The View From Here

On The Edge And Hanging On For Dear Life!

The columnist seems to be in a bit of a jam this week. Let’s see what it’s all about.

  "One of the dangers of Facebook--really, the entire Internet--is that it enables people to post quotes and falsely attribute them to the wrong people." -- Abraham Lincoln  I don’t remember where I found this quote or misquote, as the case may be, but I do remember I laughed out loud when I read it. I’m laughing right now. Oh, and just so you’ll know; this bogus quote has absolutely nothing to do with what I’m writing about today – at least I don’t think it does.  Confused? Me too, but let’s not let a little confusion on my part, or yours, put the brakes on the creative process, which I’m hoping will kick in at any moment.  So now I have a dilemma, though in my estimation dilemmas are highly overrated. They’re no big deal. Everyone has …

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The View From Here

Battling Through The Snowy Morning Commute

The columnist had to fight through the recent snow storm to get to his office. Let's see if he made it!

A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water. ~ Carl Reiner It’s 7 a.m. on Friday as I write this and there seems to be some sort of strange white powdery stuff on the ground this morning. I’m not quite sure what it is, although it does look vaguely familiar. Sure is pretty though!  I got up at 5:45 this morning, went downstairs, grabbed my coffee, flipped on the TV and tuned in to The Dennis and Callahan Show on NESN. For those who aren’t familiar with this show, it’s a NESN simulcast of the D & C sports talk show on WEEI radio. Good, mindless banter that fits in well with my depleted mental faculties in the early morning hours.  I am not now, nor have I ever been, nor will I ever be a morning person! To me…

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Bob Havey

11:39 am on Thursday, January 26, 2012

I agree, Sinclair. I lived in California and Arizona for 13 years and moved back to New England because I missed the seasons. Believe it or not, nice weather year round gets boring. I'm thankful that I no longer have to do the nasty commute on icy roads with some of the inconsiderate motoristss who drive like they think it's July. Thanks so much for your comment. I appreciate it.   more ›

The View From Here

Another Page Torn Unceremoniously From The Book

The passing of an old friend creates some consternation for our columnist.

  Each has his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by heart and his friends can only read the title. ~ Virginia Woolf  We are the sum total of all that we’ve experienced to date; the things we’ve done; the things we’ve failed to do; the people with whom we’ve interacted; the places we’ve been; everything in our lives is a cohesive building block in the marvelous creation that is us.  Granted, some of us are more marvelous than others, and then there are always those who think they’re more marvelous than others but truly are not, but all in all we’re all spectacular creations, each one of us in his or her unique way.  As someone once said, albeit in very poor English - God don’t make no junk!  Now, I understand that …

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The View From Here

Art Linkletter Was Right!

The columnist shares the importance of encouraging our children to exercise their creative imaginations by becoming participants with them in that process.

  “Children live in a world of dreams and imagination, a world of aliveness… There is a voice of wonder and amazement inside all of us; but we grow to realize we can no longer hear it, and we live in silence…….” ~ Mike Yaconelli  Between the years 1952 to 1970, Art Linkletter’s House Party was one of the most popular programs on television. Each show ended with a rip-roaringly funny segment entitled, Kids Say The Darndest Things. And believe me – they did!  One of the questions Art asked the kids on a fairly regular basis was, “What did your mommy or daddy tell you not to say on the show today?” As you can imagine, many of the kids’ responses to this query were hilarious – and oftentimes rather embarrassing to the parents of these little …

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What’s All This Fuss About Endangered Feces?

The columnist has mixed up a New Year’s cocktail of frivolity, sarcasm and skepticism blended carefully with just a hint of old time wisdom. Cheers!

“Laughing at ourselves is possible when we are able to see humanity as it is - a little lower than the angels and at times only slightly higher than the apes” ~ Tom Mullen  I borrowed the above title from a Saturday Night Live ‘Weekend Update’ segment; more specifically from ‘Update’ correspondent Emily Litella [Gilda Radner] Emily opens this particular skit with the following rant.   “What's all this fuss I keep hearing about endangered feces? Now, that's outrageous!! Why are feces endangered? How can you possibly run out of such a thing? Why, just look around you, you can see it all over the place! Besides, who wants to save that anyway? My goodness, where would we keep it?! It's dangerous, especially in the summer!! Then it could really…

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The View From Here

Is It Dead Yet?

The columnist gives us his take on what he sees as the insidious deterioration of our language skills – and a few other things.

Every American child should grow up knowing a second language, preferably English.  ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960  I have one endearing trait that I’m extremely proud of. I have an innate ability to write about things that other people think, but are afraid to say for fear of retribution. I hold to the philosophy of, Retribution be damned! Full speed ahead!  But as proud as I am to be an up-front kind of guy; this attribute has caused me my share of problems in the past. When I lived in Arizona back in the mid to late seventies, my brother-in-law and I were frequent visitors at the Wander Inn, a fine-dining establishment just outside of Phoenix. Okay, it was more of a sleazy bar than a fine-dining spot; a redneck bar to…

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Bob Havey

8:36 am on Wednesday, December 28, 2011

:-) That's not what really happend, but it made for a much funnier story - I hope! [poetic license] Thanks Friend Uvyurs - glad you liked it.   more ›