Images of Virginia

I spent the last week of June studying the Civil War at the University of Virginia. I'm sure I'll write about it at some point but for now I'm going to post some pictures. These ones cover the battle field at Bull Run, Appomattox Court House, Monticello and various sites around Charlottesville. A full tour of UVA will be posted later. Enjoy

Bull Run


Stonewall Jackson


Bull Run II


Appomattox Court House


The Road to Appomattox


Path (Monticello)


Garden (Monticello)


Monticello (Check the Back of Your Nickel)


Confederate Cemetery (UVA)

60 Seconds

The 91st minute.

If you don't know anything about soccer, I should inform you that soccer matches are technically 90 minutes long. However there is something called "extra time" or "injury time" in which the referee adds additional time due to stoppages in play or injuries. Sometimes a minute can seem like an inconsequential blip in life; something that passes without you even knowing. Other times a minute is a lifetime or all that you need to survive. Today in South Africa, a minute was huge.

Watching the US/Algeria match brought me back to London in June of 2002. My buddy Kevin and I were at the beginning of our month long tour of Europe and I dragged him down to an Irish pub at 7 in the morning to watch Ireland/Germany in the World Cup. Germany, the heavy favorite, struck early and held a 1-0 until that pesky injury time. A long ball in, headed down by Niall Quinn to the foot of Robbie Keane and into the back of the net. Just like that the game was tied. Usually explosions involving Irishmen in London pubs are a bad thing but on that day it was great. Everything changed in a minute.

Many Americans can't understand why people like soccer but games like today and back in 2002 make me love the game. Working and working and working for 90 minutes just waiting for that chance. Sometimes you get it and it's pushed wide or the goalie gets a finger on it to deflect it away. Other times, the bounce goes your way, the ball ends up in the net and madness ensues. The U.S., much like Ireland in 2002, got what they deserved. Ireland busted it that day and got a draw which helped them advance. The US worked hard and got the goal that moved them into the last 16 and even won them their group. They boys in red, white and blue were on the verge of going home but now they're going on. Everything changed in a minute.

The U.S. got a miracle today. Now all that stands between us and the semi-finals is Ghana and Uruguay or South Korea none of which are soccer powerhouses. I don't know what's going to happen but it's anywhere near as good as today I can't wait.

Do yourself a favor and watch the game on Saturday afternoon but don't miss the extra time because sometimes a minute is all you need.

a boy and his beard

A few months into our first semester at Fordham, my buddy Mike and I decided we would grow goatees. After all, we were now grown up college MEN, not the "kids" that we had been just a short time before. We started to grow and as Mike's goatee began to fill in nicely, I came to a realization: I could grow a mean neck beard. Yeah, apparently normal facial hair wasn't in the cards for an 18 year old Frank McCaughey. At different times over the next 10 years I would grow my facial hair in but could never commit to it, probably because I was thinking back to my failed attempt years before.

After my wedding last August, I decided that I would take a break from shaving for the remainder of the summer and let the beard grow in. As the beginning of the school year closed in I had a decision to make: keep it or shave. While this may sound like a relatively simple decision, there is nothing simple about your appearance when you teach 150 6th and 7th graders (when I cut my hair short last year it caused quite a reaction from the students). If I were to keep it, it involved a 10 month commitment. After much debate I decided I would stick with it. School started, students commented (with my favorite being called "Sasquatch" by a former student)and overall I was well received....as far as I know.

Well sometimes life calls for change and after one of the worst/turbulent/maddening/saddening/every other emotion in the world weeks of my life I decided to shave my beard. Kate seems to be happy with it, saying that she "missed my face." I think she's just happy that she doesn't have to deal with my neurotic weekly beard trimmings in which I was convinced that I had messed it up. Either way, I'm happy that I kept it for the year and I'm sure 18 year old Frank is too.

Hi, my name is Ulysses, and I'm an alcoholic?

For the past week I've been caught in a shit storm at work for two incidents that are not my fault. Wait, isn't that what the guilty guy always says? Well maybe in movies but I swear, I'm an innocent man.

As I sort my way through this mess I'm brought back to a lesson I taught just today. The topic was Ulysses S. Grant and his life before and during the Civil War. Popular history paints Grant as a drunk who resigned his position from the Army in 1854 because of his drinking problem. After reading a biography of Grant, I learned that while he indeed drink from time to time, he was no drunk. His worst drinking came as a result of a difficult commanding officer who made his life a living hell and a longing for his wife and child in Galena, Illinois over 2,000 miles away from his post in the Oregon Territory. Grant resigned, moved to St. Louis where failed in business before returning to Galena to work at his father's tannery. When the South seceded, Grant returned to the Army, first as a desk worker then as the Commander of the 21st Illinois and later the savior of a fledgling Union army. Even so, Grant is still remembered in many accounts as a drunk.

Is drinking when life gets shitty a bad thing? At the end of the day Grant drank too much because his boss was an asshole and he missed his wife and kids, including a son whose birth he missed. Can't we all kind of relate to family issues and an asshole boss? I guess like everything else in life, it's all relative.

Benny the Barber

One of my favorite parts of growing up in a small town was the mom and pop businesses that helped make the community. In Stewart Manor we have a great little deli, card store, bagel store, hardware store and of course, a barber. Any guys around my age in the greater Stewart Manor area go to (or went to) Benny and Mike's Barber shop. I started going there as a kid and was there just last week getting my monthly hair cut. As a kid, Benny and Mike's was made up of three older gentleman straight off the boat from Italy. I always went to Benny. He was my barber when my mom would come to the shop with me, he fixed the mess I made of my hair with manicure scissors before our family vacation to California in '88 (yes I cut my hair with manicure scissors. What can I say? 8 year old boys are curious) and he cut my hair before my communion, confirmation and graduations from grammar school to college. I figured that Benny would cut my hair before my wedding but when the time came, Benny wasn't there. Since he often went home to Italy during the summer I figured that we just missed each other and that I would catch him for my "first day of school" hair cut.

When I went back in September, I learned that Benny had died. He had been sick with cancer and he went quickly over the summer. When I learned of this, I was both shocked and saddened. Benny was a genuinely nice man and although we weren't exactly friends we did have a relationship that covered 20+ years. He would often remind me that he had cut my hair "since I was this big" while holding his hand a few feet off the floor. My mom always told me that any time she passed the shop when walking down the avenue Benny would give her a wave. Time passed, the two other men retired but Benny kept working with his sons and grandson joining him in the shop.

A few months back, Benny's grandson was cutting my hair and we started talking about soccer, specifically the Champions League. His grandson was a fan of defending champion Barcelona who would be playing Inter Milan of Italy in the semi-finals. Since I had just watched Inter defeat English powerhouse Chelsea, I told him that I thought Inter was the team to beat. It was at that point that his grandson told me that Inter was Benny's favorite team. Although they hadn't won the European Championship since 1965, the combination of a great coach, a good team and Benny confirmed for me that Inter would indeed raise the cup in Madrid.

Yesterday was the final between Inter and Bayern Munich of Germany. Behind the plan of coach Jose Mourinho and two wonderful goals from Diego Milito, Inter Milan won the Champions League. Throw in winning Serie A (the Italian league) and the Italian cup and Inter did something that only 5 other European clubs have done by winning all three titles or the "treble" as it's known in world of soccer. After the match I couldn't help but think of Benny. Although he was no longer cutting hair on Covert Avenue, I'm sure he was somewhere celebrating the victory.

LCD Soundsystem @ Terminal 5

Most of the time, music can be easily defined. You can have your traditional four piece rock band, a DJ with an MC on the mic or even 5 pretty white boys singing and dancing in unison with the McDonald's drive thru microphones wrapped around their finally gelled hair. Music that is not easily definable? Well that's a horse of a different color! (did I really make a Wizard of Oz reference?) Finding this rare breed is not a common occurrence, but last night I found it and it was fantastic.

LCD Soundsystem played Terminal 5 last night (sold out shows through Sunday)and the show that I saw left me slightly confused, a little bit drunk and overall ecstatic at the performance. I was confused because my ears told me one thing but my eyes told me another. Upon listening to LCD Soundsystem you would immediately classify them (or more accurately HE, James Murphy who is LCD Soundsystem by himself in the studio but brings a band on the road) as dance music, which it absolutely is. But after seeing them up close I realized that they are much, much more. On stage you have Mr. Murphy and all the makings of a traditional "band" including guitar, drums, bass, keyboard and synthesizer. However when you hear the music they make (looping beats, heavy percussion, and synthesizer) your mind is drawn to dance music; then, it gets really weird. If you listen closely and move past the beats that are making you dance (awkwardly in my case) you realize that they're playing real SONGS complete with verses, refrains and stories about life and love. A rare combination that places LCD squarely in that area of "undefinable" which is a beautiful thing in both music and life.

This really was one of the best shows that I've been to in a while. In addition to the great music, we were perched up in the balcony which enabled us to look down at the crowd simultaneously moving to the beat. I've always found the idea of a large number of people (in this case 3,000) focused and committed to the same thing at the same time to be, in a way, quite inspiring. It's the beauty of music, bringing together the hipsters of Brooklyn and the social studies teachers of Queens.

LCD closed with an acapella version of "Empire State of Mind" complete with hundreds of balloons falling from the ceiling. A surreal end for a surreal show that made me appreciate live music that much more.

Hello Again

I haven't written anything in a month so I figured I'd write a quick blurb about baseball as I watch the Mets game.

Basic rule of baseball: If you don't take advantage of your opportunities you will not win games. It sounds simple but the Mets have become masters of this over the past four (miserable) years.

Although the game isn't over the Mets are currently losing 4-2. The big free agent acquisition Jason Bay has come up 2 times with a chance to drive men in and hasn't come through. After the Mets didn't come through, the Reds hit two home runs to take the aforementioned 4-2 lead.

As I'm typing this, David Wright hit a home run to make it 4-3 which just goes to show that I pretend like I know things when in fact, I'm just a boob.

Haven't posted in a while since work and life in general have been a bit busy but I plan on getting back into it.

Thanks for reading.

(I'm pretty sure I just said that to myself since no one reads this shite)