Happy Birthday, R.E.M.
Something remarkable happened in a very unremarkable fashion 30 years ago tonight. A young woman named Kathleen O'Brien threw herself a birthday party. From all reports, she wanted it to…
The Circle of Life
When we suffer a tragic loss, the best way to move on is to find meaningful something to fill the void. I can’t wait for that part if the grieving process.
With the nice weather a week or so ago, I decided we needed to cook out on the grill. After all, we could run around outside all day. What good is that without the smell of meat wafting through the air?
So I picked up some chicken from the store and got the fire started. These days, that takes a little work because the igniter in my gas grill – which is at least a decade old – doesn’t really work anymore.
I have to turn on the gas and slide one of those long, thin lighter things into the hole by where the propane is released. Naturally, I lean back as far as I can to make sure I don’t lose any valuable hair.
The fire started, and I threw the chicken on the grill. After a little while, I noticed something strange. The fire didn’t seem to spread naturally and was coming up above the grill rack and heating things up a little more than I wanted.
After a minute or two of investigation, I realized the little metal thingy (I think that is the technical term) which spread the flame evenly had come dislodged so that the flame came up one side completely unfettered.
We looked closer and noticed that not only had it shifted, but rust had seemed to take over part of it. For a moment, I got sad because I didn’t want anything bad to happen to the grill. Then I realized the wonderful silver lining.
I could go grill shopping.
Missing the Shore
We all lost a national treasure recently. Some of you may not have noticed, but you can trust me when I say many of us feel terrible about what happened.
“Jersey Shore” finished its short season on MTV.
I can’t believe we only got to know The Situation, Snookie and the gang a couple of months ago. They already seem like old friends. I don’t know how much fun I will have with them gone.
Good Luck Finding ‘Groundhog Day’ Today
Pennsylvania has a very special celebration today. With Groundhog Day, we not only find out when spring is coming, we also get a chance to have a little party. Well, at least in places like Punxsutawney.
Not all of us can get up to Gobbler’s Knob and see the world’s most famous groundhog weatherman – you know, Phil – give us his prediction so we have to find other ways to mark the occasion.
We like to take some time today to watch “Groundhog Day,” one of our favorite movies. Sounds like a natural thing to do on this day, right?
Apparently someone has forgotten to tell that to the television networks.
I don’t think anyone will broadcast the Bill Murray comedy today. I have a couple of hundred channels. One network showed it last weekend. Another will show it next weekend. But no one will actually show it on Groundhog Day. That’s just plain wrong.
Serve It Up
My wife pretty much only follows one sport - tennis. That means the current action at the Australian Open is one of the few times she gets truly engaged in…
Shuffle Up and Deal
A wonderful thing happened last week. Magical, almost. The Pennsylvania General Assembly passed a law which will allow casinos in the state to offer table games such as craps, roulette,…
Creative Punishments
By now, everyone has probably heard about the Salahis, the couple which went to a state dinner at The White House without an invitation.
If you haven’t, count yourself lucky. This couple joins the ever-growing ranks of people intent on doing whatever it takes to become famous for no real reason at all.
They wanted to get on the latest incarnation of the “Real Housewives” franchise – something that is neither real nor features housewives, but that’s a whole different topic – and like to put themselves in the spotlight.
Which is how they ended up pushing and pushing for an invitation to the state dinner until some Secret Service agents basically decided they weren’t worth dealing with and let them in.
So what do we do now? There has been a lot of talk about punishing White House staff and the Secret Service guys who let them through. That’s all well and good. My first suggestion is that when someone shows up and isn’t on the guest list, but insists they belong, the first question should be “Have you ever been on or aspired to be on a reality show?”
We Have A ‘Situation’
I don't fall in love very easily. So that should make my undying devotion to the cast of "Jersey Shore" that much more impressive. I didn't plan on loving them…
Time Zone Troubles
Most of the time, I enjoy change. I like experiencing new things and seeing what I may have previously missed.
But there are kinds of change I don’t like. I recently discovered one of them when I had to travel for business. I hate changing time zones.
I’m not talking about heading to Illinois for a few days and having to remember that everything is one hour off. I went to Vancouver on the west coast and had to suffer through that three-hour swing.
Yes, I said suffer because not only did my body not know what time it was, all the TV stations were different, it rained the whole time, and I couldn’t access web sites like Hulu to entertain me in my hotel room. That’s just cruel.