Ebby’s Cafe Alfresco, Seaside Park NJ

Posted on July 6, 2009 by slip60

I love this place! Something about Ebby’s made me feel that way from the moment I walked in.

I turned forty nine years old this last Wednesday and my parents and their close friends asked my wife and I to join them for dinner at a place they thought I would really enjoy. I am not one for fancy restaurants so this one looked promising at first glance.

Ebby’s is a little delicatessen/ restaurant set back on a main road through a beach town here in New Jersey. You would never know from looking at the outside that such great food is being served on the inside. Walking in the front door you have to pass by the deli to get to the dining area but once inside the dining room you quickly forget that there is a deli attached to it. The dining room is dressed in crisp linen table clothes and comfortable lighting. I say comfortable because at forty nine its tough to read menus in most places these days. Ebby’s also dining al Fresco under the tent along side the building on the patio.

Ebby’s menu is filled with the usual items that one would find in a continental restaurant, but the taste is not so usual at all. We started with an order of fried calamari and an order of something that I haven’t seen before and quite frankly do not know the name of. It is a clam, spinach and  white bean appetizer that I believe is their version of steamed little necks. Whatever it is, it is fantastic. The broth is made for dipping your crusty bread into. The only problem was that there were too many of us for just that one dish. This is a must have if you visit Ebby’s.

Ebby’s menu has enough items to make you have to choose albeit agonizingly, between so many interesting twists on some regular expected dishes. And if that’s not difficult enough, Ebby’s serves up specials too. I had a very tough time deciding between the Pork Milanese and the Cowboy Steak. Both sounded great but I eventually opted for the Steak, being that it was a Rib-eye which happens to be a favorite of mine.

My choice turned out to be a good one as the Steak was done perfectly and accompanied with Broccoli Rabe and Roasted Potatoes, which set it off nicely. Every one’s meals must have been exceptional as our table got very quiet while dinner was being eaten. That’s not an easy thing to accomplish with our group.

I can’t tell you how much the dinner was but I can tell you that the pricing was very reasonable. Our server, Christi was knowledgable and very attentive. She did a great job with all our questions too, especially from me when I asked three times about the specials! I wasn’t allowed to partake in the paying of the bill because it was my birthday but I will tell you that I plan on returning to Ebby’s real soon. By the way, bring your own bottle. Another great reason to visit Ebby’s.

Regular Guy rating  * * * *

Ebby’s Cafe Alfresco

2013 Central Ave, Seaside Park

Toms River NJ

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Pick a car, any car….

Posted on June 19, 2009 by slip60

Since I was a young boy I liked cars. I have some very vivid memories of my life that are tied to cars. This isn’t so uncommon among Regular Guys and I know this because I have witnessed many men in my life who adored cars.

I understand the love affair we have with cars. There is something that draws us to them. They become an extension of our personality. I don’t know too many people, men and women alike, who don’t believe that a car is a status symbol.

Most men can’t wait to get behind the wheel of a car. How many of us had our fathers put us in the drivers seat in an empty parking lot to show us how to operate the gas and brake. Was that one of the best experiences I ever shared with my father? You know damn well it was.It’s like an unwritten code among fathers that they have to pass their love for cars onto their sons. I can recall asking my father how he drives the car. I watched for years until that day when I could finally see out the windshield with out propping up on the dash pad. That was the day I would sit behind the wheel and give it a go. Turns out, driving that car was  just as easy as he made it look.

I don’t have a son, but I did my best to pass that moment on to my daughter. And it made her day!  She couldn’t stop talking about how she rolled the car and hit the brake so hard we all jerked forward. It took her a few times but she finally figured out that the brakes are very sensitive. Probably a memory, not so unlike mine, that she will remember forever.

Most of today’s cars just don’t impress me much. Growing up right after the Muscle Car days spoiled me. Seeing all that Detroit steel rolling down the street, cruising the boulevard, made me appreciate all the different body styles and models from the big three cars companies. Even though I favored Chevy’s, I still admired some of the classic lines that separated each car company from the other. All that chrome and power, was hard not to like.

If someone five years ago asked me to pick any car I wanted, I would have had a hard time doing so. Everything looked and sounded the same. All that old Detroit metal was now Japanese molded plastic. Honda’s, Nissan’s, and Toyota’s were everywhere and Detroit’s finest were no longer a reliable option. All that chrome that was once the envy of every foreign car company was now just a piece of history. America’s cars were now just also ran’s in an industry where they were once leaders. So I couldn’t pick a car that stood out in my mind as one that would be a part of my personality. Heck I still haven’t gotten the Muscle Car thing out of my blood so how can I drive a plastic shoebox.

Today there is a glimmer of hope for all of us Regular Guys. The big three have pulled up their pants, put on their thinking caps and came up with some old fashioned Detroit muscle. Don’t kid yourself, its the same guys who wanted or owned these cars back in the sixties and seventies that are buying them today. Just check out the Challenger, Mustang and now the new Camaro.  For years my friends and I would say that Detroit should take the old body styles and use todays technologies to build some exciting cars. All those old body styles that went by the wayside when we had to become more aerodynamic. I hated those stupid wind tunnel commercials because I knew the great looking body styles were going to disappear. Bringing back the old body style idea wasn’t so far off after all. And now, they’re back baby and even better than before. Just as fast and three times as safe and comfortable.

So today if someone asks me to pick a car, any car….I would have a tough time deciding. Not like five years ago, but now, because I have some really great cars to pick from.

The Regular Guy

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Where have all the young men gone?

Posted on June 12, 2009 by slip60

Running a business today is much harder than it was 20 years ago. Although I know more now than I did then, and experience saves me a lot of time and money, there are just too many changes that have taken place since I began my venture.

Probably the biggest difference that stands out most today is the lack of a labor pool, especially that of the young man. Times today have created a void for us in finding a young male between 16-21 who wants to work and learn a trade for his future. Too many young boys and teens grow up in a home where they need absolutely nothing. They are given things now that you and I didn’t have until we worked and earned the money to buy them. For instance, our first cars. I paid $700 for my first car in 1978, a 1969 Chevelle Malibu, with 49,000 miles. I thought I hit the jackpot when I found that car.  Today, if you told your son he would have to drive a car that cost less than $1000.00 he would laugh at you. Today, as he would have it, he would be driving a leased Honda or Nissan worth some $25,000.00.

The point is, that teenage boys do not have the need nor the sense of urgency to go out and work as we did when we were the same age. Teenage boys today ride $300 bicycles, wear $100 sneakers and listen to music on their $400 I-Touch phones. The only way a teenage boy gets these things is from his parents. So with all the toys you already possess, what gives you the reason to work?

I hear a lot of people complain that the Mexicans have stolen away all our jobs. I hear that the Indians and the Asians are taking over all the local businesses. I hear all this but what I see is that there aren’t any young American males even applying for these so called stolen jobs. Americans have become lazy. Most Americans today think everything is owed to them. That’s why no one wants that landscaping job, that dishwasher job or that line cook job. No young male wants to paint a home, wash a car or dig a hole. Oh yeah, he will come in for a job and demand a salary that was once reserved for a seasoned, experienced worker even without the training or knowledge of the work he will need to perform.

I have been running our business since I was 23 years old. Okay, I am one of the lucky ones in so much that my dad put up the money to open the business. But I am also the one who sacrificed my twenties and thirties to build this successful business. I have tried in vein for the last 15 years to find someone to take over this business. I have looked for a young man with the desire and passion I had at 23 years old to teach my trade to. I always believed that I would someday pass the torch to the next generation baker to carry on my work. That dream for me died a slow death. I no longer believe in the young American male with a passion for anything. If he is out there, he is a hidden gem among a bevy of stones.

It is sad to think that my generation has given so much to their children that they took away the thing that made us who we are. Was it that we felt we needed to give our kids more than we had growing up? How do you now tell your kid he has to get a job for minimum wage and earn the money for that phone? I think parents are more concerned with pacifying their kids than parenting them. It is rare today to see a parent reprimand their child, tell them “no” and mean it. “No” today means “not now but in five minutes or so.”  No used to mean no, and then it was followed by a back hand if you didn’t listen.

What used to be taught to kids was if you wanted something you had to work for it. Nothing was supposed to come easy to us. That was the American way. You worked hard, earned what you got and no one could take that away from you. Today, everything is to easy to attain.

Where have all the young men gone? They are home playing video games……..

Just one man’s opinion

The Regular Guy

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I am now my dad

Posted on June 6, 2009 by slip60

Middle age has a way of creeping up on you. One day you’re this young guy and the next day your not. The crazy thing about it is I realize it every morning when I look into the bathroom mirror that the man I used to be is no more.

When we are young, we tend to think that everyone else is old. For instance, when I was a boy in fifth grade, I had this crush on my teacher, who I thought was so old. Not old in a grandma sense, but older, like my parents. Looking back on it now, she probably was my parents age, which would put her around twenty-five. When I was twenty five, I thought my dad was so old. He was only forty-nine then, which is of course what I will be in less than a months time.

So how does it happen that one day we wake up, look in the mirror and we see our dad? When he was forty-nine, I thought he was old, but now that I am the same age, I don’t feel like I am old. It truly is a crazy thing. I don’t feel any older now than I did when I was twenty-five, but when I see my reflection, I have to believe that I am forty-eight. Looking in that mirror every morning I see a guy I think is some one else. I see a guy with a gray hair, love handles (that used to go away at least once in a while), hair in places that I never had it and missing from places I did. Maybe the most convincing thing about aging is how our bodies don’t just respond so fast anymore. Getting out of bed each morning takes a series of steps to insure that I don’t twist something the wrong way and wind up out of work for a week with a bad back. What used to be a jump out of bed is now a deep breathe and push up on my elbow to take the stress off my lower back.

I watched my dad age but never heard him speak about it until he was in his fifties. Him and his friends would joke about things like getting out of bed every night two or three times to pee. I just thought he was being funny or something and never payed much attention to it, but now its my friends who are saying the same things. With all the talk about prostate problems, its something our generation needs to pay attention to, and could probably learn a lot about from our dads.

People, especially young girls, treat you differently at this age too. Most young girls stop noticing men at about age forty. You can go to a club now and twenty- somethings walk by you like you are invisible. Waitress’s call you “sir” which at first makes you look around like she must be talking to someone else.  This is not really good for your ego. I hear women get really pissed when people call them “ma’am”.

Although aging is a tough pill to swallow, it’s really not such a bad time for the Regular guy. A lot of good things happen to you when you reach this age. You find that there are more things in life to laugh about, even if it’s something that drives you crazy. Your relationship with a woman is easier because you both have done most of the stupid stuff already and hopefully won’t repeat the earlier mistakes. Your kids are probably grown and now you have time for yourself again to enjoy the things that you couldn’t do for years. Your friends are different too. They are around more now then they were when you were younger and they are better now too. There is a sense of oneness with each other that is unlike when you were younger. I think its a feeling that we all came so far in our lives and that it’s good to have friends to share those experiences with. When you were young it was every guy for himself, but now it’s more like a “band of brothers”.

In my mind I am still twenty-five. I say twenty-five because that is the age that I think we become men.You leave the boy behind and people notice that. You start to get the respect that you have earned from your family, friends and co-workers. You are probably in the early stages of your career and feeling good about how far you have come. Your starting to aquire things like your own place and a cool car. You are responsible for yourself now and thats okay with you. I liked being twenty-five. It’s just the right age. Not too young and definitely not old. Your whole life is out there waiting for you.

You know the only problem with being young?  It is that you don’t realize that you are and how fast time will go by. I don’t have many regrets in my life and probably wouldn’t change a too much, because if I did, I would not have met my wife. When I was young I didn’t do too much except work. Building a business will do that to you. Luckily when I turned thirty-six,  I woke up and realized I needed to balance my life better. Since then, I have made up for most of the lost years I had while building a successful business. Today I can say that the balance is pretty damn good.

We learn a lot as we age and hopefully with all that we learn, we can make aging a positive thing. People say that men age gracefully so that’s a positive thing to look forward to. And I hear ARPP isn’t such a bad thing either. They make a five minute hair dye for men that is probably one of the reasons a man can age gracefully. If this is middle age we still have a lot of time left, so get busy! Don’t let the second half of your life slip by like the first half might have.

Being my dad is not so bad after all.

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The Captains Inn, Forked River NJ

Posted on June 3, 2009 by slip60

I haven’t been to The Captains Inn since sometime around 1987 or so. and I didn’t like it too much back then. I haven’t been back there until last night when the skies promised rain but gave us sunshine in our eyes while we sat on the outdoor deck that overlooks the back bay across the street from the main restaurant.

Most Tuesday evenings I ride my motorcycle along with my friends and we always wind up at a new spot to eat and have a few beers. Tonight was different as it was supposed to thunderstorm all evening, so we decided to take four wheels instead of two to be on the safe side.

The suggestion for us to meet at The Captains Inn brought along some anxiety for me as my last memory of this place wasn’t a good one. Not to say that the food was terrible, but it was just so so and the atmosphere was old and seashore smelly. But this night would be a first for me as I had never visited their outdoor bar and grill.

Upon arriving, the place looked pretty inviting with the music playing and the sun sitting low on the bay reflecting what was left of a great day. The place is set up nicely and very spacious with a lot of seating both open air and covered.

The five of us are greeted by a young girl who takes our drink order and leaves us menu’s. Not expecting too much I figure this place to be a burger and fries or sandwich spot, so I peruse the menu in search of something chicken. I order up a chicken panini which is dressed in field greens, bleu cheese, olives and tomatoes. I opt out on the bleu cheese as I am not a big fan of this molded variety.

Drinks and sandwiches arrive promptly and we continue to order a couple more rounds, being that we aren’t riding the bikes tonight. All in all the food was pretty good and the service, although not extremely friendly, was okay. Here’s the thing I just don’t understand about young waitress’s serving a group of guys. Where’s the smile, the flirting, and the over the top attention? Don’t these girls know that the tip is going to be based on them playing it up a bit?  I just can’t figure out why a girl wouldn’t go all out to be over friendly in hopes of getting a bigger tip. It really couldn’t hurt. Someone should start a service that trains a wait staff on how to serve customers based on the clientele. You have to treat a guest differently based on who they are. When I waited tables in college I would always lay it on extra thick when I had a table with all women. They loved the extra attention and it almost always netted me a bigger tip. One other thing that really ticks me off is a waitress/waiter that doesn’t have answers to my questions. This one waitress didn’t know that a pint was the same as 16 ounces so we didn’t expect too much from her.

So what’s the deal lately with keeping drink prices off the menu? How about the shock when the bill comes and the price of the drink is ridiculous? Too late now to send it back. We happened to order three Mojito’s that were served in a 7-8 ounce plastic cup with not so fresh mint. The drinks were weak and very sweet and not what a good Mojito should be, but until the check arrived it was forgiving. The Mojito’s, as it turns out are $8.50 a piece. Whoaaaa! I have had Mojito’s in 4 star restaurants that cost that much and they are perfect too. Bad move on the drink pricing Captain.

So what can you expect to pay for four sandwiches, an order of fried clam strips, a side of onion rings, 12 beers( only two in bottles, the rest are draft in 12 ounce cups), and three Mojito’s? Does $125.00 sound right to you? We probably wouldn’t have ordered the Mojito’s if we knew the cost of each up front. Being that the food cost us roughly $50.00 the bar bill was pretty high.

With the tip, we were set back $30.00 a piece. Man I could have had a really nice dinner and a glass of wine somewhere for that much. Live and learn, as they say. Too bad because the food and atmosphere were pretty good and I probably would have paid a return visit.

Regular guy rating   * * 1/2 ( don’t sucker punch me with the drink prices!)

The Captains Inn

Lacey Road

Forked River NJ

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Mid Life Crisis…It’s just a Cosmo thing

Posted on May 26, 2009 by slip60

Mid life crisis in men does not exist. That’s right, and I am not afraid to shout it out. The so called “mid life crisis” was made up by some pissed off woman who probably worked or wrote for Cosmopolitan magazine. So for those of you Regular guys who don’t know what the term pertains to here is a quick synopsis.

As we age, probably somewhere between 40 and 55, (hence the “mid life”),we “supposedly” go through a depressed state in our lives where we begin to search our selves in hopes of regaining a portion of our youth (remember this part because it will come up again later). In that search we almost always find a younger woman, a sports car or motorcycle, and some times one or more tattoos . Yes, we all know someone like this. The “crisis” part of this happens when we find the younger woman. The “crisis”, as I see it, is a result of an affair with this younger woman or an ensuing divorce that is the result of the affair with this younger woman. Okay, so that’s the short and to the point, quick overview.

My take on this is very different. Yes I do agree that we begin to search ourselves somewhere at this age level, but that is where my agreeing ends. It is my belief, that most men have basically the same wants, urges, desires, and needs that we somehow all acquire at a very young age. This “thing” that we are born with is why women tend to think of us as boys, dirty old men, pigs, immature, and maybe even a little selfish. This isn’t something we ask for but is inherently passed along from generation to generation.

This unexplainable gene that none of us know how or why it’s there, keeps us searching from our youth, for the same things in life. It is the thing that makes us want or desire things like women, big screen televisions, fast cars, sports,etc. It’s partly those desires that we are taught to control from our earliest days and all through life, because as we are told, we will never get a good woman to marry us if we don’t. In our childhood we fight the good fight to be who we are but usually in the end we give in and conform to what women think we should be. We give up the things that make us who we are to marry, support a wife, help raise the children, put them through college, and see them off into their own lives. But all along as we do what we are supposed to do, we continue to fight the urges to be who we are.

Thinking back, we all wanted or for some of us, owned, a car that defined who we thought we were. Maybe it was a 1970 Chevelle Super Sport or one of those “screaming chicken on the hood” Trans Ams from the seventies, but now we have to drive a mini van or if we get lucky we get an SUV. But down deep we all look at those two door BMW’s or that new Corvette and dream about what we would feel like if we were driving that car instead. We remember how those cars made us feel when we were young and miss those days past. Or the better example I like to give is the one I like to call my “convertible wife”. Think back to when you would pick up your girl friend for a date and have the top down or the t-tops off, windows open and cassette tape blasting and she would jump into the car singing and laughing and ready for the night of her life. Now lets take a ride in our time machine and fast forward to today. You and your wife have a Saturday afternoon to yourself and you just finished washing and waxing that new convertible that you finally, after all these years, found a way to make your own.You make plans with her to go to a friends house for a beer and some laughs. You hop in the car and turn up the tunes and anxiously await her arrival. She approaches the car and screams for you to “lower the damn radio will ya’ ” and proceeds to get in. Upon take off, she reminds you to put the top up because she “just did her hair” and the “wind will be too much”.  POP!!! HISSSSSS!!! That is the sound of a feel good moment being sucked away from a middle aged  Regular guy. The excitement that once was is now gone because we can not be who we really are.

The thing is, middle age shouldn’t be a “crisis” for men, but should be a celebration. Middle age is an opportunity for us to get back the things in our past life that made us who we are today. By middle age hopefully our kids have grown and so has our disposable income. It is our chance to return to our youth and celebrate what was so good in our lives when it was just that, OUR life. This does not imply that we do not appreciate all the good that has come from our marriage and family but that at this point in our life we can have a little of our own space back. This is one reason why classic cars from the sixties and seventies are so popular today. It is guys like you and me, in mid life, who are trying to get back a piece of our youth that we cherished so much. It reminds us of how simple things were then. When we didn’t have so much responsibility and everything was about what made US happy.

Hooking up with that younger woman isn’t really so much about her age as it is about her attitude. Go back to the story about the “convertible wife” That same woman was probably  that young girl at one time in her life, carefree then, but since changed. Women will argue with me about this all the time. They try to use the excuse that they “grew up” and so should we.

I say is that  “grow up” or “grow old”? There is an old saying that I once heard that makes me understand more and more why relationships sometimes don’t work out. It goes like this. “Men marry women hoping they won’t change, and women marry men hoping they will”. This is probably truer than any other single thing in a marriage between a man and a woman. This is especially true when a child is brought into the fold. Something about a woman changes almost overnight when she gives birth and becomes a mom. It is almost like a woman has two different personalities during her life. Somehow motherhood robs them of the carefree approach to life that they had before giving birth.

I ride a motorcycle with a great group of guys I call my friends. There are five of us that ride once a week, every week.  We spend one night a week together and sometimes the subject of  relationships come up.  The one thing that remains constant through all the talk, jokes and sarcasm, is that we love our wives. The other common thread we share is that our wives don’t understand or appreciate who we are. Especially when it pertains to sex but mostly when it comes to just listening to what we want from our relationships and our life. The story of the “convertible wife” always rings true to the group of men I am part of. They all agree that women change more than men do. They all feel that one of the main reasons a man would cheat is because his wife stopped being who she was when they met. That “younger girl” who they are looking for, should really be their wife. They still want to experience that carefree attitude they shared when they first met and they want to share it with the person they love. Married life has become too complicated and we all just want to make it simple again. You know,  just get up and go!

To say that men are experience a “mid life crisis” is totally absurd. We are just looking to get back a part of our life that we gave up to be the responsible husbands and /or fathers that we are today. It’s just men trying to be who we really are. Trying to express ourselves in a way that seems stupid or irresponsible to women but just ordinary to us. This isn’t a “crisis” that we are experiencing just a rebirth of a part of the person we used to be. There isn’t anything wrong with this other than some women not accepting that we are who we are and we will never change. This should be embraced by women because those of you who married us, fell in love with us back when we were who we were. Maybe it’s time to try to understand why we are this way, rather than try to change us into something that we don’t want to be. We are different and there is nothing wrong with that. We can not be like women and it’s really not a bad thing. After all, you have enough girlfriends already…..

Just one mans opinion..

The Regular Guy

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Hey sports fan here!!!!

Posted on May 8, 2009 by slip60

I am a fan. I am not nor have I ever been an athlete. I was not blessed with soft hands or big hands for that matter, so I was never really cut out for organized sports. Not that I would have wanted it any other way but I wonder if I would have followed some sort of dream had I had some basic skills to play ball.So I am just …the Regular Guy.

So here I am …a fan. Not a fan-atic (fan being short for fanatic), but these days, just a fan. I have to say, my days of living and dying over my teams wins and losses, have long since passed. I began to realize about 10 years ago that I, as a fan, seemed to care more about my teams losing than my teams players did.  I remember crying as a child when Cleon Jnym1ones struck out and the Mets lost a game. I remember how sick I felt when the Mets were down to two outs, and two strikes in game six of the 1986 World Series. And then how my heart raced and my mood became elated, when the game suddenly became a win for the Mets and they were once again alive to possibly win the Series in seven. Not since those days have I cared so much about sports and my teams.

Growing up, before free agency, if your team was good, it was always good, But,if they were bad, they stayed bad. My team just happened to be bad. Make that very bad. The Mets were lovable losers. Never picked to win anything, I did, as luck would have it, enjoy  my teams  first three World Series at an age that I can still recall all of them vividly. My Mets had the great Tom Seaver. I still remember the first time I heard his name and he is the reason I became a Met fan. He was and probably still is, the single greatest Met to ever wear our uniform. It was, as any Met fan knows well, the worst day in our lives when they traded him to the Reds. You see times were different then, and Tom Seaver belonged to us. He wasn’t supposed to go anywhere. After all, not many guys moved around much back then especially a star like Tom Terrific. Who was  I going to root for now on my team. This was my first scar as a fan.

I don’t watch all the major sports but I do like to watch football. I didn’t do to well picking a football team either, w

min1hen I chose the Minnesota Vikings. In retrospect, my choice of the Vikings didn’t look so bad back in 1970. It was my grand parents anniversary and I was in Momma Leone’s in Manhattan with my family celebrating the event. This would be my first experience with the Super Bowl. Thinking back on it now, I used to think it was weird that they would choose the day of the Super Bowl to celebrate, but back then the Bowl was fairly new and it didn’t garner the attention it does today.

Being that as it may, the Purple People Eaters were playing and I just had to make them my team. What kid wouldn’t pick the Purple People Eaters for their favorite football team. The Vikings had a tremendous defense which is why they went to four Super Bowls in eight years. Unfortunately other teams had better defenses when they met the Vikings in Super Bowls. Four visits, four losses. Not a good record and to date they have never gotten back there. Yeah we had some good teams but we couldn’t get over the hump.This would be scar number two.

Being a fan, epecially for some 40 years, the scars never heal. This is where it becomes hard to be a fan. Although years pass and players change our need to heal the scars never wanes. Being a fan of a losing team only makes it harder because it never seems that we can get that win that makes us forgive and forget the past wounds. This is why it is harder on fans then it is on the players they root for. The players don’t have years and years  invested in the team they play on, but we do. While those players were in diapers we were rooting for our team. When those same players retire, we will still be rooting for our team.

I woke up. I woke up one day and decided that my teams wins and losses were no longer important in my life. I don’t watch  much baseball anymore because for one thing I am sick of the drugs, the high priced players who never stick around, and the fact that I have to pay to watch them now. I don’t stay home on Sundays anymore to watch football, because when the weather is nice its hard for me to waste a day indoors watching television…any television. Life has too much to offer me other that watching sports and I am sure that on my dying bed I won’t be thinking I should have watched more sports.

I am a fan. I am still a fan. I am a fan but now I know my limits and because of that I can appreciate sports as entertainment and nothing more. My memories of the Mets and the Vikings are still intact and the scars never do heal, but life is so much bigger than sports, and I am spending my spare time…. trying to grab a piece of it.

The Regular Guy

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What is keeping you off Ebay???

Posted on May 4, 2009 by slip60

Did you ever hear the saying “one mans junk is another mans treasure”? Never has that saying been truer than it is today. Just take a visit to Ebay and you will quickly understand how so many things one man doesn’t want becomes treasured by another. If you are a Regular Guy you should be using Ebay “all the time”. If you aren’t using Ebay then you eitherlogoebay_x45 have a boatload of junk in your closets or a garage that doesn’t fit a car but houses memories from years gone by.

I myself, used to collect comics and Batman memorabilia. I myself, now do not want to collect comics and Batman memorabilia. I found Ebay some 10 years ago and I was hooked faster than you can hit the send button on a closing auction.Things that I never figured someone would want not only sold but commanded big money. There is no other way that I know of that you can reach millions of potential buyers with so little effort. The hardest thing about posting items is taking the pictures and organizing them for use on your listing. Once you become knowledgeable with how things work, you just have to keep a folder on your desktop with all your Ebay items needed to start your new money making machine.

Funny thing about Ebay is that so many people are intimidated by the whole process. I have friends that are just so afraid that their identities are going to be stolen away and never returned. I try to explain to them that there isn’t much more risk by using Ebay than just surfing the web. Not only are they missing out on selling things that would lighten there load, but they also miss out on all the great deals on things they use everyday around the house. Take for instance electric razors, electric toothbrushes and cameras. Computer parts and old muscle cars parts are floating around the world wide web just waiting to be plucked from your screen to your mailbox at savings that sometimes are more than 50% off regular price. Not to mention the savings when shipping is included.

For all you Regular Guys who haven’t given Ebay a try, get off your ass and start making and saving greenbacks now. Don’t let this great venue pass you by because you are wasting dollars by spending them in retail stores. Maybe the best part of all about buying online is that you can do it 24/7 right from your easy chair. No trips to all the electronic stores to shop for the best price, just do your research first and click and pay later.

In closing I would offer you this example of one of my findings and dealings on Ebay. I needed new tires for

check out my rims!!!

my motorcycle, and also wanted to swap out my spoke rims for solid mag wheels. I found a set of solid Fat Boy rims with tires on Ebay and purchased them for $500. I then proceeded to list my tires, spoke rims and also the tires from the Fat Boy rims I purchased. I bought new tires online at a savings of 35% off my local Harley dealers prices for the same tires. I sold my items on Ebay for close to $600. So for about $100,which is roughly the cost of one new tire, I swapped the rims for ones I wanted and had new tires that I needed installed on the bike. If I were to buy the tires and rims at Harley Davidson, it would have cost me close to $1700 installed. If I didn’t use Ebay I wouldn’t have had the best opportunity to sell my used tires and spoke rims to recoup the money. That, my fellow Regular Guys, is proof enough why you should be using Ebay. Happy hunting!!!

Just one mans opinion…

The Regular Guy

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Something borrowed, something blue…this wedding thing is not for you

Posted on April 30, 2009 by slip60
Wedding Couple from Hell

Wedding Couple from Hell

I dread weddings. It always seems like an inconvenience to have to go to a wedding. All the planning and waiting for the day and then you go and the wedding is like a clone of the last one you went to. Can someone be original already?

Okay for me its always about wearing the jacket and tie thing. I really like the weddings where its “smart casual”. Yup, “smart casual”, that’s what I said. Where the hell did that come from? I probably would have to shake that persons hand because at least I have options on just how uncomfortable I will be that night. Women always make a big deal about what they are going to wear to a wedding. It’s real important that they get it just right because one of their friends is going to comment on their “outfit” and it better be a kind word. It always happens. Just pay a little attention to it and you will definitely hear one girlfriend to another, talk about someones “outfit’. And you know damn well it better not be one that was worn before because they remember each others “outfits” from the last event.

How about the Regular Guy? What is he wearing? Probably the same thing he wore to the last wedding, or funeral or class reunion. It doesn’t matter to us at all. Yeah maybe we change the shirt from black to blue, but the jacket remains the same. Okay we have a few ties for when we really want to be wild and go out on a limb. Come on, who really gives a crap what we wear. Did you ever once hear a guy comment on another guys suit at a wedding? “Wow what a great suit and it makes your eyes really pop!” ” Oh thanks and I got it off the rack for $$$$ , can you believe it?”

That’s another thing that makes me laugh. Did you ever notice when two women are talking about anything they recently purchased, they have to tell you what they paid for it. Especially if it was a bargain! ” Hey I love those shoes Sue!”. “Thanks Candy, and I only paid $15.00 for them, can you believe it!!!???” I catch my wife all the time doing it. I used to think it was just her but then I listened to other women and just about all of them do it.  They can’t resist it. It’;s something that’s part of their makeup. As a Regular Guy, we are lucky another guy even notices that were dressed let alone what we have on. Try it one time. See if you can remember what your friend was wearing when you saw him last. Unless he has some freaky thing on its just not going to happen, because its just to damn trivial to us.

So back to weddings. You get all dressed up and it’s gotta be the hottest day of the year and you are in a suit. Now you go to the ceremony and find out its outside on a beach and the couple, as brain dead as two potatoes,  didn’t have the common sense to think it might be pretty hot and sunny in August, on a beach! Do they set up a tent at least? No! How about having some cold water available for the hour long ceremony? No! Maybe there is a reason to use a wedding planner after all. Okay so lets see, I’m in a suit, sweaty, thirsty and baked, just where I want to be. I love weddings!!! Now we go inside and I don’t know about you but unless you are family or a close friend, you don’t know anyone there. Worse even still, they put you at the freak table. Yeah you know, its the one where all the single losers, nerdy co-workers and relative no one likes get to sit. Oh yeah, they do need a place for you and you don’t know anyone so they put you there. Wow the day is just getting better and better. I am thirsty. Lets see, where is that bar? Oh, I see it, just beyond the line that extends around half the room. And look, they have two bartenders for the 150 guests who attended this festive event. Well maybe I’ll just wait a while and have some appetizers that they are passing around. Lets see, here comes the girl now……oh look, there’s a piece of chicken on a stick, or maybe I’ll have that pig in a blanket.  So the appetizers are something they serve in the aisles at Costco while you shop for real food. Boy this is bound to become a fond memory to me. I understand now why so many people get wasted at weddings. The more you drink the less you eat, only you still have to fight to get to one of the bartenders. This could be a sitcom episode.

If you know me, then you also know that I am in the food business so I am very critical about events such as weddings. So lets check out the buffet because I think I already know the there is gong to be sausage and peppers somewhere between the chicken francaise and penne vodka. Yes, there it is, the Trifecta! So dinner ends and the bride cuts the cake. Yippeeee we all get a piece with our coffee. Hopefully, because in my experience, the coffee very rarely served at the same time as the dessert, which really makes me pissy.

Ready. So here comes the best part of a wedding for men. The dance floor. Come on guys you know that all of you dread weddings because your woman is going to want to dance with you to “Its Raining Men or Celebration”. And there is ALWAYS one woman who drags out some guy by the hand and forces him to do the “White man shuffle” while she dances around him like Jennifer Beal in Flash dance. Oh I really love that scene. Poor guy.

Okay, I know I sound cynical about the whole tradition, but can I help but sound this way? So maybe the food isn’t why we all go to weddings. After all we really do want to see that someone special sent off to marital bliss. I do know that sometimes you get lucky and find yourself at a wedding that is good, maybe even great. When a couple really thinks about everything to make their guests go “Wow”. The shrimp are huge and endless, the drinks flow faster than you can ask for them, the food makes you think your at a four star restaurant and the music is just so right on that you wanna dance, or at least tap your feet. Yes this does happen every once in a while

The funny thing about weddings, is that the couple, no matter how bad you think it was, had a great time. I have never heard a couple say that their wedding was bad. They all have a blast and that’s the way it should be. It’s their day and it has to be the most memorable one of their lives, and its our duty to make them feel that way. We are there because they want to be surrounded by the people they care most about and because we have made them the people they are today. So much of their happiness on this day depends on us being a part of it all. So, all you Regular Guys out there, suck it up, put on your best “outfit” and go have a good time. Dance with your wife to all that crazy old disco music and try to find the humor in it all. After all, that happy couple up there at the head table, is counting on you being there, to share the single most important day of their life together.

Just one man’s opinion…

The Regular Guy

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Chasing my tail or how the list never ends

Posted on April 28, 2009 by slip60

Everyone has one. Everyone I know at sometime in their life creates one. Everyone who works and has some kind of responsible position should have one. Every mom has one. I have one. Make that more than one.

Yeah, I have a list. I think my list began right after college. I think my list will probably be buried beside me when I die. I just hope that my list isn’t the cause of my untimely demise.

Some years back I asked my dad if you ever get caught up in life.  Not surprisingly, but some how sadly, he said “no”. At that point I realized that life was nothing more than a list of what the next day has in store for us.

I spend the better part of my days at work using a list that reminds me of a crab. A crab, as someone once told me, takes one step forward and two steps back. I don’t know if this is true because I think they move sideways more than backwards. Anyway, my list seems to get longer each day instead of shorter and it never ends. Someone always throws another item on the list when I am not looking.

Although I hate lists they are a necessary evil that I probably couldn’t do without. As I age, my memory isn’t as good as it was in my younger days.  On second thought, maybe its not that it has gotten bad, but that there are just too many things I need to remember now. I think that our brains are like computer hard drives. There is only so much room in the short term memory to fit it all. So like I do when I use my flash drive on my computer,  I add a list to expand my brains hard drive space.

But what is it with all the things we need to do everyday. Even on my days off I can’t just sit and do nothing cause my list is always on my counter reminding me that I have stuff that needs attending to. The shame of it all is that I spend so much time doing almost nothing even though it appears that my list thinks its important. For example, going through the mail each day. How much shit do you have to receive each day to get the stuff you really need. There is so much time wasted going through all the junk mail and pulling off my personal info just to shred it. Are we really at the point in life that we need to, at some point, shred everything we acquire with our name, address and personal info on it.  Are there really that many people trying to get my info so they can scam me or are we just so fearful that this is now something we need to do each day.

And the list contains food we need to purchase, chores around the house, the Home Depot list, the gifts for the Communion we need to attend, the insurance company we need to call to ask about the mistake we find in our coverage, the cable company we call because our internet isn’t working, the sprinkler guy who turns it on and off twice a year and so on and so on…… You know the things I am talking about.

It sucks being a responsible adult. I can see why people can’t wait for retirement.  Maybe then you can sit back and relax a little. At least you can take work off the list!!!

So how do I end this madness? I can’t find the answer no matter how hard I try, but I think I know that I have to slow it down some. Life goes by so fast and even more so when your list is never ending. When you crowd so many things into a day it makes the day go by faster than it should.  Not to get to far ahead of myself but how many of the things we need to do are for or because of someone else. This is a topic in itself and one I will surely write about another time.

Just one mans opinion…….

The Regular Guy

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