Rick is a 62-year-old man who was diagnosed with ALS in January 2007. Currently a resident of Southwest Florida, he has lived in four other metropolitan areas, but greater Chicagoland will always be “home.” Rick is a degreed engineer, spending his career in the medical device industry. He’s had the good fortune of extensive travel throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. He writes, in part, to be an ALS advocate. Additionally, it is his hope that his output will help dispel the myth that technical folk and digestible prose aren’t mutually exclusive.
“There’s an old joke, um … two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of ’em says, ‘Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.’ The other one says, ‘Yeah, I know — and such small portions.’ Well, that’s essentially how I feel about…
“Ride a painted pony, Let the spinnin’ wheel spin.” Recently, I had a flashback to those lyrics by David Clayton-Thomas and recorded by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears. They speak to me on many levels. The…
The 1987 song “Elvis Is Everywhere” by Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper asserts the omnipresence of Elvis Presley. Despite the first-glance outlandishness of the song’s premise — fittingly, the single is found on the album titled “Bo-Day-Shus!!!” — I am…
If the sky above you, Grows dark and full of clouds, And that old north wind begins to blow, Keep your head together, And call my name out loud, Soon you’ll hear me knocking at your door. ……
“Oh yes, I am wise, but it’s wisdom born of pain. — “I Am Woman,” Helen Reddy “Gain from pain” is not a new concept. The notion can be traced back several millennia to “The Ethics of the…
“Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name.” — Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, “Sympathy for the Devil” Last week, I experienced an abysmal customer service episode. Lasting the better part of a full workday, the bitter crescendo left…
“There’s nothing but twigs and seeds, twigs and seeds, And they sure don’t deliver the punch that this ole head needs.” Jesse Winchester is lamenting his discovery that all that remains in his “medicinal” stash are the…
“All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts …” – William Shakespeare Some months back, I…
“Well I don’t know how to tell the weight of the sun, … How the home computer has me on the run, … Of all the Nobel prizes that I’ve never won, … Please be upstanding for the Mayor of…
“I am a rock, I am an island, And a rock feels no pain.” In 2020, there have been none of Paul Simon’s “rocks” to be found in the social circles that I inhabit. Everyone that I…
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