Welcome to my little space in the vast internet universe, thank you for reading at least up to this point…… If you’re still here, you’re probably bored out of your mind and possibly searching for a viable alternative from the mindless Facebook, Insta, Tiktok or endless news feed “doomscroll”. Hopefully I can provide an entertaining outlet for which you find yourself returning to over and over again. The purpose of this here blog is multifaceted, for me it’s a release – although obviously I’m decades late to the initial blogging dance party, I’ve always aspired to have my own website to share the bevy of oddball thoughts that run through my brain on a daily basis and also, at times, some unique experiences. Then somehow turn those random outlandish notions into a mock informative cornucopia of what I like to call “jackassery”. If you choose to return after this visit, you’ll see that I employ that term often for unfortunately, our world is rampant with it.

So yes, writing this blog’s a release for me and I hope the same will hold true for you as well. But my purpose in venturing down this proverbial rabbit hole is so much more than just a simple release for you and I. Collectively the goal for this space is to inspire, to inform, to challenge. Challenge all of us to be better humans together in a light hearted manner. Don’t get me wrong, there will be plenty of moments where mockery is present and fun will be made of at some folks respective expense however, let it be known that it’s all in jest and in good fun. We must never lose sight of the reality that is this: We are all just temporarily sharing space on this big ole’ rock we call Earth together, regardless of our differences of political opinions, beliefs, religions, sport team affiliations, etc etc. Unfortunately that mindset appears lost, at least it seems, on an increasingly large number of people nowadays. Fear not! All is not lost…. It seems apropos that in this moment I utilize one of the all time greatest inspirational quotes of the modern era from John “Bluto” Blutarsky “Was it over when the German’s bombed Pearl Harbor?? HELL NO and it ain’t over now….” So that being said, let’s light this candle….

Life Coach Frank blog rules are as follows: THIS IS NOT a political or religious platform. To me 90% of our world’s problems are caused by politics and religion and I’ll be damned if I allow that crap to cause a ruckus in this space. If anything, plan on me pointing out the jackassery (get used to that word now folks) that plagues our political and religious systems. NEXT: This is a safe space for all good humans which means, everyone is equal no matter their race, age, size, gender identification, religion, or whatever sports team they root for (YES, I know I already alluded to that statement, just want to drive that point home one more time before we move forward). Respect each other! Lastly, as a self-titled life coach, at times I will be casting bits of advice to those who dare ask for it. Depending on the nature of the topic, my responses will vary. Some may seek actual tangible advice, most others I’m certain will inquire about less serious matters such as “March Madness – should the first Thursday and Friday games of the tournament be taken as vacation days from work?”. In case you’re wondering, the answer is a resounding YES!

All that being said, those are the main rules and format parameters for now, let it be known that I can add more rules to this blog in the future as I see fit. If you don’t like it, too bad. My blog, my laws. Yes, you are correct this can be viewed as a form of dictatorship so get over it.

Moving on……

When I first came across the title “Life Coach” several years ago, I immediately thought of that being worthy of an SNL skit because, to me, that moniker could not be taken seriously. My visual of a life coach was some middle age out of shape gym teacher wearing overly tight golf shirts, 70’s style short-shorts and knee-high white socks and old school Puma sneakers. As I began my initial personal mockery campaign of the life coach vocation, I mentioned the notion to my wife that perhaps I should completely change careers paths and indeed become a Life Coach, providing ‘sound” advise to troubled souls desperately in search of guidance through this nonsensical world we find ourselves in. Her first response to what I thought was a fantastic idea wasn’t as supportive as I would have hoped. Verbatim, I was told very simply, “you’re an ass”. To the general public, being told “you’re an ass” is generally viewed upon in a negative manner. Not I. When my wife calls me an ass, or idiot….. moron, jackass, you get the picture…. it empowers me to become even MORE of an ass. A better ass, ASS 2.0 if you will.

So off I went, searching for new measures to aid myself into becoming a better, more informative ass. To truly become Dr Frank. Unfortunately, I never pursued developing the illuminative skills I possessed, instead I continued on my path down the normal workforce superhighway. In retrospect, I honestly was reluctant to “put myself out there”, the fear of failure fueled by procrastination and laziness. I chose complacency over challenging myself to be more than what I was. It’s not like I wasn’t happy with who I was as a person or the life I chose to live. Quite the contrary, I love my family dearly along with so many wonderful friends who I’ve shared the greatest of experiences with. All have shaped me into being the human I am today.

Segway to the present and why I am finally choosing to venture down this rabbit hole. It’s simple, really, for I have been “rewarded” with the luxury of time to ponder what my next chapter in life really is thanks to the wonderful world of unemployment. I was laid off about 7 months ago and have been desperately trying to gain employment back into the career field I have been a part of for over 30 years but thus far coming up empty. Who knows the reason why I’m unable to find a full-time job in an industry I have so much experience in. As aggravating and depressing as my situation is, remaining positive and continuing a forward-thinking mindset is critically important on multiple levels not only for myself and my psyche, but for my family as well. I’m not much of a positive role model for my wife and kids if I’m giving up hope. I’m sure I’ll touch upon this employment topic from time to time moving forward and rather not dwell here in this moment. All I’m basically saying is, while I continue my search for a job with a company that values my experiences, what better time than now to bust out the Dr Frank Life Coach blog? I think it’s a much more productive way to spend my abundance of free time, rather than stewing in resentment and despair. And booze, lots and lots of booze. Carpe Diem!

Seize the day. Words to live by for sure. Such a great mantra, powerful. Uplifting. Seemingly so simple in its direction and cause yet so difficult to embrace when one’s mindset is steered off path. For example, I’ve had many a day during this layoff home stand where I thought to myself: “Carpe Diem?? I can’t even muster the energy to seize having to empty the dishwasher let alone break out into the world and grabbing it by its proverbial balls. Unemployment is never easy but hardest on those who’ve never climbed the professional ladder beyond middle management. Generally speaking, hiring companies gravitate towards unemployed figures from senior director executives and up. At best, the rest of us barely receive an occasional HR screening interview over the phone. Crickets regarding the rest of our applications. Young, cheap labor is the direction most companies head towards. To them, experience means expensive and what cost saving company would want that when nowadays quality is no longer the highest priority. In my most recent interview, The age disparity between myself and the 3 people interviewing me was so much that I am pretty confident I could have been their father. Well, maybe wicked cool younger uncle. That sounds much more favorable.

Life Coach Frank thoughts of the day….

• First let’s start with a big ole man hug welcoming the return of spring. As a proud and well-paying member of the wonderful religion known as GOLF, the sight of grass returning to my yard after months of glaciated snow cover makes me giddier than a 12 year old girl at a Taylor Swift concert. I just can’t wait to scream ‘FORE’ immediately after my maiden tee shot of the season.
• The Connecticut Muckety-mucks are FINALLY talking about creating a law penalizing dumb-ass drivers who only know how to drive 55 in the passing lane on highways. This has been an epidemic in CT for decades, which is a large part why I have CT tied for 2^nd in my list of states with the worst drivers.
• Here’s my theory regarding drivers in the northeast. To some this theory may seem a bit outlandish and my preemptive reply to those who will eventually pose the question regarding the presence of actual physical data supporting my thesis, NO I do not have one. That’s why it’s called a THEORY and not a Thesis Statement for a doctorate degree. But I digress… several decades ago, historically shitty drivers from state rank #1 New Jersey (I call their drivers “New Jerksies”. There are other more derogatory nicknames out there but for the moment let’s keep it PG rated) folks engaged in rampant acts of coitus with Massachusetts folks (Mass is the other state tied at #2 and their drivers are commonly known as ‘Massholes’). Their collective love children resulting from those activities also procreated, thus eventually causing this shitty driver pandemic plaguing the Nutmeg state. By themselves, Jersey and Mass drivers are god awful, so you can only imagine how bad it is presently in CT.

I was on a business trip in Los Angeles not long ago and was talking to my uber driver who was driving me back to my hotel next to LAX. She declared that Californians were the absolute worst drivers in the country because they weave in and out of traffic like crazy on the highways. I immediately replied “NOPE, you folks have NOTHING on CT drivers. Yea, you all weave in and out on your 4-5 lane highways. That’s easy. We in CT pull that shit on 1-2 lane highways on the regular. If we had 5 lane highways, it’d be like the first green flag of the Daytona 500 every single day. You’d get your asses handed to you on the Merritt….”

In case you were wondering, New Yorkers and Pennsylvanians round out my top 5. Floridians are an “honorable mention”. One more thing you may be wondering about, yes CT has it’s own nickname. To our neighbors, CT is known as “New Yorkachusetts”..

• I’m going to do the ‘ole corporate “circle back” to a topic I briefly touched upon earlier: one of the greatest events of the calendar year – March Madness. Stand up and rejoice all ye office pool sinners and prepare yourselves for hundreds of hours of college basketball insanity. Bracket Pools, Survivor Pools, Number Squares Pools, straight up game betting. Casinos and on line betting sites alike collectively sing poetic hymns of joy in celebration for all the business they receive. The festival begins with Championship Week, where all the division 1 schools vie for their respective chances to make it to the big dance. Then, on what most certainly should be a national holiday, the festival of pool gambling debauchery begins in earnest on *** “Thirty Pack Thursday”, otherwise known as the first day of the NCAA Tournament.

*** that term was initially coined by good friends and former colleagues who threw a party whose premise was for each attendee to arrive with a thirty pack of beer prior to the first game and finish it by the end of the last game. Oddly enough, they never came up with a name for Friday’s games. I feel as if Friday needs a name too and I’m open to suggestions so that we the people, can convince the world that these indeed are true holidays. The reason why dare you ask? I’ll tell you why – Go out and find another day on the calendar where a lesser amount of productive work occurs at any business than the first 2 days of the tournament. I used to take those days off as vacation days and boy oh boy let me tell you how much my wife loved that! God she’s a saint…

That’s all for today, a good place to start moving forward is feeling free to chime in or hit me up for advice. Cheers!

Dr Frank

*** Next topic for discussion: Children and their fe