18 bands big is quite a state

The kids in uniform kept coming up the steps and passing our seats at the Carrier Dome last Saturday. Many kids in many different uniforms, up the steps they went to seats far up in th section. It was obvious that something was going on at halftime. The guys behind us joked half-heartedly about how…

Catch a ride on the Zamboni

Players need clean ice. So Zamboni drivers do their job between periods. It’s an important relationship at ice hockey rinks around the world. Yet I had a feeling last Saturday night that there was a more important bond for the guy guiding one of the two big machines at the Onondaga County War Memorial, where…

This isn’t exactly New York City

When my dear wife Karen and I were walking up from our favorite reasonable-rate parking lot down the big hill Saturday on our way to see the Syracuse Orange battle No. 1 Clemson in football in the Carrier Dome, I noticed another newly refurbished building finished about two-thirds of the way along our journey. It’s…

They’re No. 1, they’re No. 1

The No. 1 college football team prevailed Saturday in the Carrier Dome. But the Syracuse Orange gave the Clemson Tigers a hard time. The final score was 37-27, and the game was wilder than that. Clemson went back to South Carolina undefeated, still hopeful of winning the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game, reaching the four-team…

In Syracuse, we think of Paris

The night before, the tower in downtown Syracuse was lighted up all blue, the choice this month to signal the fight against diabetes. Saturday night crowds walking out of two adjacent buildings looked up at a different tribute. Some 6,000 people from the Syracuse Crunch hockey game and another 2,000 from the concert hall were…

Working in America at almost 58

I called up my account online, and it was in there. I grabbed the stack of bills from the folder in my dresser, and, old school guy that I am, wrote out checks one by one to send out in the mail. No transfers were made from savings. That felt good. The first two-week paycheck…

Are you ready to become resolute for 2016?

If there’s one thing my freelance work for Central New York Magazine — The Good Life has taught me, it’s that it’s never too early to look ahead. I’ve already researched and written my story for the January edition. Hover over any gallery photo for a description. Click on the bottom right photo in any…