Ever wonder where habits come from? For many, it’s early programming that stemmed from learned behavior experienced years ago. One of those habits for me is the reluctance to throw any edible food away. I can’t even allow a server to take a plate back if there is...

When I was aged 10 in the 5th grade, I attended a Catholic School. My mom actually was my teacher. (That is a topic for another story.) This school was an “Academy.” I’m not sure if by adding the word Academy to the end of the school’s name it meant a higher level of...

George McBride was the owner of Sir George's Smorgasbord, a southern California restaurant chain. I was working as a busboy at 16 at the San Bernardino restaurant. George seemed very old to me at the time. He was likely in his 60's...maybe younger than I am today! He...

Our car stalled in somewhere off of 3rd street in San Bernardino. Not the nicest part of town. I had just driven the nearly 1100 miles from Shallowater, Texas. I actually had been stopped by the Highway Patrol at about 11 at night because I was falling asleep near...

Everything in life has an element of danger. Walking across the street can be dangerous in the right circumstances. In the list of dangerous pursuits, walking across the street might be considered a "1". Swimming through shark infested water a '10'. Whitewater rafting...

When I was young, I owned a small sailboat. It was small and fun. I learned the basics of sailing and how to harness the wind to power the boat. I had no motor on this sailboat. Larger boats usually do. It was always fascinating to me that, as long as there was wind,...

 I was in my early thirties and taken a new job out of state. It meant we had to move our family. Things are rarely what they appear to be when you join a new company. I quickly learned that we were losing money and that my job was being created to help turn things...

I think I was in the 7th grade. Like most boys that age I was growing fast. Money was tight and we’d typically get new clothes at the beginning of the school year and that would be it for the entire year. Maybe we’d get something at Christmas but who wanted clothes?...