The Corner Booth

Nothing like a hostage situation to spice up an already heated presidential campaign season. Today's news: Man walks into Hillary Clinton's campaign office in Rochester, NH and takes hostages, claiming to have explosives ducttaped to himself. She cancels an afternoon speech at an DNC event, and some other presidential candidates' nearby campaign offices are also evacuated. Turns out, it was a man claiming to have mental probs and needing help - no explosvies, just roadflares. Here's the CNN story . From the CNN photo, looks like a typical, not-so-crazy businessman in a shirt and tie. In a way, reminded me of the early 90's movie Falling Down , where Michael Douglass plays a working man who just melts down on his way home one day and beating and shooting his way through town. Never can tell. Says Hillary post-hostage situation (as reported by CNN): "He was someone who was not known to my campaign headquarters until he walked in the door today." Clinton sai...

Wait, it's tag - not goose! Wrong game. During a late-night/early-morning blog exploring session, I discovered a virtual game of tag going on between fellow bloggers. Politics, journalism, religion, and all meaty topics aside, here's me tagging myself and getting in on that. Those who turned me in on this were mostly from the Diabetes OC (Online Community), including Diabetes Mine , Scott , and Kerri at Six Until Me ... I'm sure there's more. Thanks for the heads up. As Scott said in his post, I'm sure you'll be asleep by the end of this posting (a place I should be well-acquainted with at 2:45-ish, but for some reason haven't gotten to yet....) Enjoy. My Random 7: 1.) I'm a newspaper man and am driven by deadline, but somehow I'm rarely on time. Work is one thing, but personal life is a complete role reversal. Can't manage time, always get distracted with too many projects within a project, or somehow find my way to time-wasting on a weekend wit...

We made it into town not for the holidays, but also my 10-year high school reunion the day following Turkey Day. Was in the hometown, where we stayed with my parents for the extended weekend visit. Haven't really kept in touch with many people from high school, except more recently with the advent of MySpace and a couple quick, inpersonal emails here and there. But didn't do it through college and after, and since leaving Michigan, our brief weekend visits from Indiana didn't permit that. So it was great seeing many once-familiar faces in person for the first time in a decade. Many stayed in the area, some left the Mitten State as we did. We caught up, traded 10 years worth of stories, shared some drinks and had good times. Some married, some pregnant, jobs, etc. One's teaching at the former high school we attended, and she's married to the man a class ahead of us who I credit for turning me onto Oakland University, where I met my wife.... As fate would have it, I g...

A week ago, I'd encountered a long pondered faith-related question in my readings of Lee Strobel's "The Case for Faith: A journalist investigates the toughest objections to Christianity." Check that MySpace blog posting here . Essentially, the point was whether the Bible, a main source of info for Christians, is really a trustworthy book. Unfortunately, my appetite for an answer wasn't completely satisfied. In the 15-pages on this question, it comes down to one scholar saying that "Like Christ, the Bible is totally human, yet without error." It talks about how the Bible wasn't dictated, it's a story told by people who witnessed and went through those times. Fine. But, you know, as we recount stories in our own lives and retell them, and again and again, sometimes we misconstrue or misinterpret something, or take it out of context. The explanations that all the Gospels and other Bible tales are so similar and therefore error-free, just don't j...

Life since Lakeview has been an adventure, one with a variety of turns that have been both expected and unexpected. College, newspapering, coffee and conversation kept those early years company and offered consistency. Linda's. Many napkins came from those years. Poetry flowed, ever evolving into more journalistic prose as the years went by. Enter the light of my life, who helped define the good my life could become and the man I could be. For years, I'd looked whimsically out the window and pondered what could be - eager to embrace the possibilities. But she introduced the chance to make those dreams a reality. We've since moved to embrace that consistent dream of mine in newspapering, enduring the rocky road to Indiana and first two years of marriage. Amazing ride, one worth living every day. Our 10-year reunion comes Nov. 23. The anniversary makes you really reflect on the past decade, wondering where you thought you'd be and the place you've ended up on the stil...

Once, there was a place where Coffee & Conversation came with the honor of a bottomless coffee pot. There in that Corner Booth, we sat and discussed anything we could for hours that seemed to stretch for endless hours into the night. Refills were always welcomed, and the cups and pot we saw periodically seemed to have no bottom. Outside that booth, in our own homes or in other sanctuaries we've sought to cherish some C&C, the bottoms are easier to find. We have to buy the coffee and the pots to brew it, and whatever else we may want to accompany the java. We refill our own cups, and the bottoms seem to come quickly. Too much effort to just keep making more. Never endless, it seems. In our home, we have three pots. One is a 12-cupper, though the auto delay doesn't work and there's a part that keeps it from working properly. The other is a cappucino/coffee combo that was a wedding gift; that one has a pot that's just too darned small. Doesn't hold much, and co...

Found this today while cleaning out an overstuffed Inbox. Thought it was worth sharing... Sent to me almost a year ago ... MHoskins, What noble cause does our press pursue now? My answer is the aiding and abetting of the suicide of the West and all it stands for. As a Marine officer, I've never trusted the press and never will. I counsel my Marines to do the same; especially when in Iraq. I will not dispute anything you say; it's all from your perspective after all. What your organizations report on are fact-based events but if your always looking for the elephants hind end then you'll have no trouble finding it; though we all know there's a lot more to the elephant than just the hind end.Now from where I stand, every experience I've had with media has been negative towards what I and my Marines are trying to accomplish. You may call it news and reporting; I call the end-product what it is: information operations or even propaganda at times.It is a sad state of affa...

Word's out: November is National Diabetes Month. Even better, Nov. 14 is the first-ever UN-sanctioned World Diabetes Day . Thanks for the heads up, fellow Diabetes Mine blogger. While the happenings of WDD happen in NY at the UN hq, there is a Hoosier connection to be aware of: Eli Lilly is playing its own little part in this day. American Idol-finalist Elliot Yamin is the official spokesperson for the Eli-Lilly-sponsored Inspired by Diabetes Contest , for creative diabetics sharing their stories around the world through art, essay, poetry, photography and music. As you know, Lilly's based here in Indy. Thought that was worth mentioning. Here's another link . So, that's the scoop. Tell a friend. Spread the word. Get everyone in the know that it's a month to discuss and pass on awareness about diabetes, and that World Diabetes Day is nearing this month.

It started on a Wednesday morning. Totally unannounced, unexpected, and incredibly unwelcome. I arose from bed, refreshed from my slumber and ready to tackle the day. Stepping down from bed, the pain hit. Felt like I'd run miles and miles, and the feet were crying out in tired pain. Walking was not easy. Later discovered that my shoes didn't cure the problem. So, I felt myself stumbling around like Old Man Hoskins all day long. That was about a month ago. At first, I feared the worst. Expected diabetes was the likely culprit. After all, I'd spent many younger years not managing adequately and have been suffering from initial stages of neuropathy for a couple years now. We thought this might be that dreaded progression.... The foot doc disagreed, about two weeks after the onset of this foot concern and stumbling routine. Turns out it's the most common, non diabetes-related foot disorder out there - plantar fasciitis, as it's officially dubbed. Translation: the...

Hoskins has returned. First blog in ages. Since early August, at least. Here's one from MySpace, hoping to start again another place to post poetry and prose about the world we live in. Napkins & Notes Buried in an office file cabinet, a beat up old black tri-folding folder keeps safe some of my written memories going back to high school. A decade old, the poetry and prose alike hits at the high and low moments I've had in life. From my grandmother's death, soured friendships, late night coffee and conversations, smoking, drinking, college and post college tales... even most recent as the first C&C with my wife (before we were married), and the move to Indiana in early 2004. All encompassing. Many old scraps of notepaper, and diner napkins with blue ink from that once-infamous Corner Booth at Linda's Place. Quotes, thoughts, poems, stray prose.... You name it. One napkin outlines a conversation Suzi and I had pre-marriage about the epic struggle between Coke and...