Snow Envy

The snow was flying down at the rate of two or three inches an hour for a while.  It was Central New York lake effect snow at full blast.  The focus of the storm was the City of Fulton.  By the time it stopped falling this morning some people were using most of a yardstick.  This is the kind of snow a lot of people have been waiting for this winter.

If you’ve lived here for any length of time you know the very nature of lake effect snow means some areas get hit hard and others get nearly nothing at all.  The question for CNY natives is this. Do you feel left out when someone is measuring snow in feet and others are measuring in inches?

I must admit a little snow envy.  I’m glad not to be driving in the deep stuff. I’m glad not to be shoveling it.  But, I do miss the excitement, the beauty and the neighborly bonding that takes place when the snow is so deep small children and pets nearly get lost by simply stepping outside.

This winter has been odd because of its warmth and all the green grass we’ve seen when it long ago should have disappeared.    I hope we get at least a good dumping or two in the coming weeks. After all the groundhog just might cut this season short later this week.

Hitting the F5 refresh button

At the end of a long day have you ever taken a deep breath and just wished you could hit a button and refresh? What a power that would be. With just one step you would get a whole new perspective. I had one of those moment on a micro level this week. It has turned into a revelation that has given me a whole new perspective.

Our overnight producer Chris Shepherd was telling a story the other night that included updating his computer screen over and over. He casually mentioned he repeatedly was hitting F5. He tried to continue his story when I had to stop and ask, "what happens when you hit F5?" At that very moment Chris let me on on this secret that had been kept from me until now.

F5 refreshes your internet browser. How liberating! I knew all those function keys were lined up across the top of my keyboard, but I never knew their enormous power. F5 means I no longer need to click the mouse on the circular green arrow to refresh a web page. I just hit F5. F5. F5.
Every since that day I've been F5'ing all the time. Day and night.

It has taught me the importance of not getting stuck in my ways and staying open to new ideas. How refreshing!

Coach Tim Green's plea for American Justice

The stadium lights framed the fall twilight as baby faced warriors banged shoulder pads, wiped sweat and roared down the field. Their head coach paced the sidelines with a clenched fist urging his football players to give more. The clock ticked into its final minutes with the outcome of the game hanging in the balance. It was a game Skaneateles High's football team nearly missed because the league's governing body had suspended it from play just over 24 hours before.

Tim Green's defensive encouragement stopped Utica Notre Dame short of narrowing the score. Moments later his players smiled from ear to ear as they ripped off their helmets and hugged each other. Their parents stood and cheered from the aluminum bleachers. The undefeated season would be put to its biggest on the field test in one week on the turf of Syracuse's Carrier Dome.

The former NFL linebacker, Syracuse University All-American and member of the College Football Hall of Fame Tim Green shook the hands of each opposing player and coach and then came to the 30 yard line where television cameras awaited. He was about to give as strong of a performance as he ever has on a football field.


I stood eye to eye as he still wore his blue knit cap with an S for Skaneateles on the front. The fall chill called for outdoor gear as if winter was almost here. I warmed up the coach with an easy question about the relief of winning the game. Then I asked him what this victory meant considering the battle he endured off the field in the days leading up to kick off.


One day earlier Green, the attorney, had stepped from a judge's chamber wearing a suit and tie. In a tone reserved for a courthouse he explained the restraining order handed down by the judge that allowed his team to temporarily overcome a suspension from the sports local governing body. That tone felt appropriate for the courthouse, just as the tone he was about to strike on the football field matched the intensity he has felt for this game since playing on the back fields of Liverpool Middle School in the 1970's.

Green's eyes locked in on mine as he talked about the mess of this investigation into the use of undue influence to attract out of town players to his small town team. Anger began pouring out as he defended his players, his coaches and himself for doing nothing wrong. He questioned the loss of a presumption of innocence and the burden of proving guilt in America. He praised the justice system for being able to overcome a decision that would have kept his players, including his son, from playing the game of their lives.

He stopped short of characterizing the decision to suspend his team, but instead vowed to use every legal tool available to make sure his team returned to the field in a week to play in his beloved Carrier Dome. A hearing on Tuesday will not be the end of legal action if a ruling from the judge does not favor the Skanaeateles team.


At one point Tim Green's defense of the American justice system coincided with the next game's warm up music blaring over the stadium's public address system giving the theatrical scene an impromptu film score. Just as all those emotions boiled over for a coach who has been holding them back I asked how proud he was of his players for fighting through the off the field interference and focusing enough to win this game. The football warrior turned into emotional father figure and fought back tears. He refocused and admitted he was proud enough to cry.

The same competitive nature that has made Tim Green a winner in so many avenues of life is now firing him up to fend off all comers who would attempt to take away from his team the opportunity to compete for an unheard of championship for this small well to do Finger Lakes community. He plans to use everything in his arsenal to first win off the field, so his players can win on the

NFL football experience

The 70,000 plus fans nervously stood on their toes waiting for their New England hero to deliver yet another victory. Quarterback Tom Brady trailed by three. It was his last shot at a touchdown before his coach would settle for a game tying field goal that would send the game into overtime. Brady calmly dropped back with 27 seconds remaining. He surveyed the field and rifled the pass through the defenders. The ball zipped into the waiting hands of tight end Aaron Hernandez in the back of the end zone. Gillette Stadium erupted.

Rock music blared from the speakers. Fans decked out in red, white and blue Brady number 12 jerseys bounced on their feet seeking out hands of strangers for celebratory high fives. The cheerleaders waved pom-poms. That hero quarterback pumped his fist and congratulated teammates on what now appeared a certain victory.

The thrilling victory over Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys was a cap to a memorable day of soaking in the NFL experience. We had arrived in the vast acreage of paved parking lot some five hours before kick off. My college buddies Andy Washburn and Larry Levine make this same journey from their Boston area backyards eight times a season. Kevin Hagy and I were the guests this week for yet another bonding experience between friends that reach back 25 years to our days at Ithaca College.

Andy’s pick up truck has a special attachment to hold the gas grill on the 45 minute ride to the stadium. That grill had a busy afternoon which included a menu of grilled asparagus, baked potatoes and marinated steak tips. That main meal started with shrimp cocktail, cheese and crackers and a Caesar salad. By the time we entered the stadium we didn’t even glance at the overpriced bags of popcorn.

The stadium lots were filled with NFL jersey wearing fans which live for this ritual. Some bring sandwiches, others grill burgers and dogs. Most drink beer. There are families mixed into the crowd, some women, but not many. It is clearly a guy’s day out.

Our white tailgate tent framed the afternoon. For a time it provided shade from the sun and kept glare off the flat screen television so we could watch the early afternoon matchup between the Buffalo Bills and New York Giants. This was not exactly roughing it.

Shortly before game time we reached the stadium by walking the length of four or five football fields with a stream of fans primed for the big contest. Security staff in orange jackets offered a phantom wave to keep contraband out. We settled into seats in the lower level near the end zone’s edge. It was prime real estate.

As the game began we had no way of knowing that we would be sitting right in front of that Tom Brady game winning touchdown. Yet, there we were slapping a high five on a terrific day.

Sifting through memories and stuff

The three large green garbage bags busted at the seems with odd sized uneven objects. They appeared to have taken a seat on a few chairs set in the middle of the finished off basement. The setting was perfect for the era wrapped in those bags. It was my parents house. Mom and Dad were trying to clean out the storage area in the crawl space. My connection with days of glory in high school and college were standing in their way.

The funny thing about the contents of the bags is I had forgotten what was in there. They are the same bags I had sorted through under a similar clean out order many years ago. Inside there were posters from Liverpool High School plays, concerts and musicals. There were birthday cards and notes. There were folders from Ithaca College that contained contents from the first television newscasts I produced. There were computer programs and assignments that now seemed written in Greek.



Some of the stuff was easy to toss. I wondered why I kept it all these years. Other items seemed harder to part with like the White House tour ticket in our bicentennial year or a ticket to a game during the last season of Syracuse University's Archbold Stadium. There were also a small bag filled with photos. The kind we used to take on film. There were song books from vocal lessons from days spent in Ithaca College's music building.

I found a well organized job search plan for the time immediately following college when I worked in Binghamton. Old resume's that included time cleaning bathrooms at Long Branch Park and taking movie tickets at Penn Can Mall. There was a hand written letter from my oldest brother John from the time he sent me his fake ID to use on spring break in California. There was a thank you not from my brother Tim and his wife Kristen on the occassion of their wedding.

You may have guessed that all of this did not go in the waste can. Some of the extraneous volume did. It is a remarkable human quality the emotions we connect to items we can hold and touch that otherwise would mean nothing. I appreciate my parents patience for housing the remaining lot for now. I've only been out of the house for close to 30 years. Who knows what inspiration might yet come from those pieces that connect us to our past.

Facebook changes, we will survive

Facebook is a worldwide uber-success because of its ease of use. Just a short time ago most of us had yet to hear of Facebook. Then we signed up and started using it without any instruction manual. We clicked and poked. We asked friends how to do this and that. Before you knew it we were one of the tens and then hundreds of millions using Facebook. I remind you of the beginnings of Facebook in the wake of the screaming complaints coming from users about a fresh wave of changes to the social media king.




Facebook has borrowed a bit from its smaller competitors in an attempt to keep users from making any wholesale switch to Google + or stray to Twitter. Mark Zuckerberg's bunch has mixed a fresh algorithm to determine which FB friends you interact with the most. They then are putting those posts front and center on your newsfeed. They have also created a Twitter like box where all the posts of your friends scroll by with an opportunity for you to hover and click to find out more.



The changes shocked regular users as they made their daily sign on this morning. By the end of the day many of them were more concerned about the incessant complaining about the changes than the changes themselves. There have been multiple updates of the Facebook user interface. It typically takes a day or two of usage to figure out and reorient the mind. Then we typically struggle to remember what it used to be like.



I don't foresee Facebook changing even though you can bet they are listening and measuring the feedback. They typically get it right. How else do you become the most popular form of communication in the world.

Coffee lids, hot brew and which one tastes best?

Our caffeine overloaded late night news crew could barely hold back its raging opinions about what’s right and what’s wrong with the lids that top our take out coffee cups. Starbucks drips too much from the hole in the top. Tim Horton’s melts your hand with coffee heated by the molten lava from the center of the earth. And when is Dunkin’ Donuts going to create a plastic topper for the small coffee that matched the drinkability of the exquisitely designed medium lid?

The rapid fire conversation burst kicked off with producer/reporter Caitlin Nuclo declaring she had way too much coffee today. She made the admission as she sipped on a DD latte. Michael Benny had a small regular from DD. I had a Dunkin’medium hazelnut with cream and sugar in my hand.

The coffees that served to cap off what amounts to a lunch break in the evening suddenly turned into the focus of in depth analysis which revealed what Caitlin had already admitted. We are drinking too much of this stuff.

I admitted my adventure with Tim Horton’s this weekend. I had skipped the drive through and went inside. I paid for the coffee. The clerk handed it to me. I immediately had to set it down. It was too %**## to handle. I glanced around for one of those cardboard sleeves. They didn’t have any. Instead I wrapped napkins around the cup to just avoid checking in to the Upstate burn unit as a modest trade off for the caffeine infusion.


My next complaint: the local shops like Freedom of Espresso where they brew great roast, but don’t leave enough room for a reasonable amount of cream or milk. Even when you ask to please leave room for cream they offer barely enough room for a droplet or two. Michael chimed in with an Amen in strong enough voice so the people serving downtown at Freedom of Espresso must have heard him exclaim, “Don’t they realize us fat slobs who don’t care about calories, want more room for cream?” (note: this quote was cleaned up for purposes of the blog).


Starbucks did not escape our rant. I made a rare Starbucks purchase last week at Barnes and Noble. They too barely left room for cream. They did offer the coffee sleeve. But, the coffee was boiling hot and undrinkable until I had left the store and was in my car. By then coffee was spilling out the hole in the lid. I had to pick it up to awkwardly sip some off the type to avoid further leakage.


Which brings us to the pinnacle of this in-house coffee clatch: When is Dunkin’ Donuts going to make a small version of the wildly popular medium sized lid? Michael Benny vividly recalls the day the new and improve medium lid arrived. It’s a two piece model. The plastic cover for the drinking hole can be pealed back and safely secured. The same cannot be said for the small coffee lid.


Michael, Caitlin and I unanimously agreed that small coffee lid has to go. Caitlin’s latte was a small size with a lid in the mold of the medium. Michael pointed out the small coffee lid looks like something from the Cold War era. He was right. It reminded me of former President Ronald Reagan when he said in that famous speech about Berlin, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall.”

My Reaganesque challenge to Dunkin: “Dunkin’ Donuts. Toss out that small coffee lid.” It’s time to move into the post Cold War era. It’s time for coffee drinkers to unite.

New model for building school turf fields

They wore green tie dyed t-shirts that said "We did it!" as they walked on to the brand new turf field at Fayetteville-Manlius High School. The people in the t-shirts weren't just students or athletes they were the parents and boosters who raised enough money to install the new field after years of trying. What made the effort remarkable is this group got the job done despite the general public twice rejecting the idea of building a new stadium with taxpayer money.



The F-M district is known for being one of the wealthiest and successful in our region. It is strong academically and athletically. Going back a decade or better it missed out on the trend of area high schools installing state of the art field turf for athletics. Some of the bigger districts like North Syracuse used money from soda vending agreements to get projects going. Other schools including some in Syracuse utilized local and state tax dollars to get projects done. F-M came to the party a little bit late.

By the time it had a proposal in place taxpayers had started to question whether too much had spent throughout the area on an item that appeared to be a luxury that did not directly connect with academics. Then later some concerns arose in reports, that were later dismissed, questioned whether some of the plastics in the field materials could bring long term health consequences. The public said no two times in highly publicized referendums. Then the parents and boosters went to work.


They pulled together more than $1 million. The private donations took the place of what would have been public tax dollars. Utilizing this private model allowed for donors to make their own decision about whether to support such a project. It kept already high tax rates from going up. The F-M community is fortunate it could pull together this kind of money. Most districts cannot, so it is not likely this private funding effort will be duplicated in other public school districts. So congratulations to the parents and boosters who knew if they stayed committed to a solution they would be able to say "We did it!"

Surviving Charity golf: in any weather

Two gloves, a hat and all weather pants and a jacket were part of the on course uniform as we smacked our tee shots into the fairway at the Lakeshore Golf and Country Club. That year we were in a charity outing that was raising money for educational programs in the Liverpool Schools. Snow covered the course. It was the wet slushy kind, but still unmistakably white.
It was Columbus Day weekend in October many years ago. The snow flakes on the green helped us track the line of our putts. The unique early season snowfall made the day memorable. We couldn't help but smile and laugh at the challenges it presented.


Last year in mid-September it was the Ronald McDonald House of CNY tournament at the Turning Stone Resort that got drenched by rain over the coure of a long afternoon. It started to come down heavily just before tee time. It didn't stop until we were safely inside for the cocktail hour.


That was a day of umbrella management. We struggled to keep golf gloves dry. I had picked up some rain pants at the Herb Phillipson's store in Oneida on the way to the course. At least they kept part of me dry as I sat over and over on a soaked golf cart seat.

Some groups couldn't stand the rain and called it quits after nine holes. They were dry and rested and waiting for the rest of us who felt obligated to make the most of what was supposed to be an off day from work enjoying one of the prettier courses in the region. Yes, we were a little crazy to continue, but a year later I still remember the whole affair.

I'm playing in that same tournament again tomorrow. Guess what the forecast is... chilly and rainy?

Healthy Pet Clinic: Helping pets, helping people

I stepped out from the dimly lit gym at Syracuse's St. Lucy's church into the fresh sunshine of a perfect late summer day in Central New York. Volunteers wearing red t-shirts and carrying clipboards chatted with owners of all kinds of cats and dogs. People were lined up ten deep waiting for their turn to go inside, make their ten dollar donation and get their pet examined and vaccinated. One woman approached. She knew me from the news and for being one of the event organizers. She thanked me for making this first of its kind Healthy Pet Clinic. Her appreciation for our volunteer effort meant more at that moment than any paycheck could.

Catrina Dodrill had lost her job not too long ago. Her pit bull named Magenta needed shots so she could get properly licensed. After she made it through the line her smile stretched from cheek to cheek. "Sometimes when you lose your job you can't afford the regular vet. This really helped," said Catrina. "We got parvo, rabies we can go to City Hall and get our license again. We're happy. Thank you so much!"

The CNY Animal Welfare Coalition and the Shamrock Animal Fund organized the clinic. On Sunday afternoon we helped more than 60 animals from 40 families with the aid of more than 30 volunteers. The volunteers included veterinarians from across the Syracuse area and from Cornell's University's Hospital for Animals. My wife Jamie Pomilio-Mulcahy deserves much of the credit for the perseverance and organizational skills to make the clinic happen.

Our team of volunteers did amazing work. The rush of adrenalin from a first time event had our many hands making for easy work when it came to setting up tables, distributing supplies and later cleaning up. This was a get your hands dirty effort. We all interacted directly with the pet owners and the animals. The warmth of the dogs and cats and the smiles on the faces of children were part of the reward. Young Anyla McMahon held her four month old puppy named Princess and said, "I love her I wouldn't give her up for the world. I love her so much." Another young girl named Gwen Matthews said about her cat named Remy, "she's loveable she's nice and she don't scratch nobody."

This was an opportunity to send home happier and healthier animals while taking a financial burden off the shoulders of these households in need. We'll return again to St. Lucy's in October and November to serve neighbors in that Syracuse community. We all look forward to another pay day of gratitude and appreciation for lending a hand.