Cliffs Riffs - Stuph n Nonsense

Originally published in 2002 in The View (helped me win an award!) Who Is Selling Those Cookies? “Greg – you don’t look like a Girl Scout.”   Does anyone you work with have daughters in the Girl Scouts?   Do you tire of said parents selling you cookies?   Before you former Scouts practice the hatchet toss at my back, let me apply this to parents of band members, drama class divas, track team, yoga squad, or what ever kids group needs to raise cash. Let me further state that 87.9% of the time if an ACTUAL KID asks me to buy his or her candy bar, bumper sticker, box of cookies, pot holder or whatever, then I am a buyer.   The 12.1% who get a “no” tried to sell me something beyond the pale or caught me without any cash.   I DO love buying from kids. I DO NOT appreciate parents doing the job for them.   What are they teaching their children?   “You just stay here in front of the warm monitor honey and daddy will find someone to buy your cook...

One of my all time favorite musicians is Todd Rundgren - been a fan for decades. (I say thanks to Todd in this blog post .) Todd went up a few more notches in my book a little while back when he started the Spirit of Harmony Foundation . The SOH has this mission in mind: " OUR UNIQUE VISION: A nimble foundation, working in partnership with established programs, to recognize and respond to specific problems or needs with innovative solutions, yielding clearly measurable results." Basically they are preaching the gospel of the importance of music and music education on young people and working to supplement existing programs that are trying to accomplish the same.   I am proud to be a wee cog in the wheel. The SOH recently launched a blog attached to their website. I have volunteered my efforts to putting stories on the blog.   Just in the past few days two of my stories have been put up. The first is about a young cello player from my f...

So there I was in the check out at the grocery store this morning. Lady in front of me had a sleeping bambino in her cart right in my line of vision. Just before she finished with the cashier, she asked her to take back a giant package of toilet paper. I overheard her saying, "I seem to have lost a $10 bill." and I noticed she was paying with cash. "Okay", I think to myself. "Here is an opportunity to grease my wheel of karma. To get some reciprocity points in my PLUS column. To Pay It Forward." Julie and I have been the recipients lately of some very nice time and effort from someone, so here is my turn to do a good deed and go into the day with a happy feeling. Plus, it isn't like she was trying to buy vodka or lottery tickets - toilet paper comes in handy pert near every day! So, I quietly ask the cashier to start my bill with the package of toilet paper and give it to the lady. I had a moment or two of hesitation - will I insult the young mom i...