Popcorn Time Machine

Posted inColumns, Family, Food

The topic of older technology comes up in our house once in a while. That usually leads to my daughter laughing.

But one thing from a bygone era which does not result in chuckling is the many ways you can make popcorn.

One of our family traditions revolves around making popcorn when we settle in to watch a movie. These nights have increased in frequency lately as we have decided to introduce our tween to some classic films from the 1980s.

Usually, the snack preparation for movie night involved my daughter tossing a bag of popcorn into the microwave, filling up a few baskets, and then taking the one with the most popcorn for herself.

Things changed one night recently when I had other plans on movie night. For some reason, they decided to eschew modern popping technology and make popcorn on the stove. I guess the possibility of tastier popcorn overrode the desire to mock the past.

That led to a discussion about making popcorn when my wife and I were growing up. I said I didn’t really remember stovetop popcorn that much, but I did remember the magic of the air popper. Before I knew it, my wife went down to the basement and brought up the air popper she took to college.

Time for a Trip

Posted inColumns, Football, Sports, Travel, Vegas

I approached my wife with a little trepidation. I don’t know why.

I should have no worries asking her about the fun things I want to do. We understand that parts of our personality differ so we might each want to strike out on our own at times.

This works out for me both ways. I get to run off and have my fun, and I don’t have to go see “Les Miserables” and things like that.

But, this time, I had some concerns. So I just asked the question and hoped nothing bad would happen.

“Do you mind if I plan a trip to Vegas for myself to cash in my winning ticket?”

She looked at me funny for a second before saying something I never expected to hear.

“What winning ticket?”

Save Olympic Wrestling

Posted inAmerica, Columns, Olympics, Sports, Wrestling

I have had the good fortune to take some really cool trips in my life. When I think back over them, one stands out in particular.

In 1984, I went to Los Angeles with two of my brothers to see the Olympics. Back then, a 16-year-old had a chance to get pretty good Olympic tickets with his two older brothers without breaking the bank.

We found lodging with a sibling of a family friend, managed to get tickets to three of the six freestyle wrestling sessions in the ticket lottery and figured we would just wing it for the rest of our time at the Games.

I will never forget seeing Randy Lewis execute some wacky reach-back throw in his gold medal match or hearing the scream of the Turkish competitor as American Mark Schultz used what was later ruled an illegal hold to break the Turk’s arm. As a young wrestler, I thought I had found heaven even though the Russians and many other top wrestling nations boycotted the Games.

Now we have to wonder if future generations of wrestlers will get a chance to experience the same thing, either in person or on television. The executive board of the International Olympic Committee decided to drop wrestling as a “core sport” starting in 2020.

Oriole Memories

Posted inBaltimore, Baseball, Columns

Like with most things, I discovered the news from my friends online. I don’t know whether I first saw the announcement on Twitter or Facebook, but I learned Earl Weaver had died when I checked in to see if anyone had posted any funny pictures while I was busy.

I try not to get caught up in hero worship so I didn’t have an immediate visceral reaction to the news. Weaver was 82 years old. He lived a good, long life. I couldn’t get too sad over the death of someone I never met, but one other emotion did take over.

Nostalgia.

New Wheels Coming

Posted inColumns, Driving

Within the first week or so of buying my car, I had to fly to Ohio for a friend’s wedding. I drove to the Harrisburg airport for my departing flight, gripping my steering wheel as if my life depended on it as tractor-trailers moved by me in a pouring rain.

I wanted that car to last for ever. Not just because it cost me a bunch of money, but because I really liked it. I planned on taking care of it and making sure that it lasted for a long, long time.

That was almost six and a half years ago. I found out last week that some of the problems which I just considered a minor annoyance of having an older car had turned into serious issues that force me to do something I really dread.

I have to get a new car.

Wardrobe Malfunction

Posted inClothing, Columns, Sports, Wrestling

I knew the sound the moment I heard it. Unfortunately, I have experience in this area and started to think about the potential fallout.

The problem was, this all happened while I was in the midst of officiating a youth wrestling event, and I really had no chance to react or even fully assess the situation for a while. Finally, one of the young wrestlers watching the action from the sidelines alerted me to my plight.

“Hey, ref. You have a hole in your pants.”

From the mouths of babes. He was right. As I squatted down to start two little guys for one period, I heard the unmistakable sound of fabric ripping. I hoped I had not ripped too big a hole and pretty much put the problem out of my mind until the kid brought it to my attention.

Intelligence Test

Posted inColumns

Growing up. I had a conflicted vision of my own intelligence. I placed into the higher levels of classes in school, but felt really intimidated by my siblings’ academic accomplishments.

I guess that’s natural for the youngest in a big family. As I got older, I managed to feel comfortable with my smarts and realized I had a pretty good head on my shoulders.

One thing, however, continually makes me question that belief. Sudoku.

Hidden Presents

Posted inColumns, Family, Holidays

On Christmas morning, I tried to keep everything as normal as possible.

We get up, open presents and enjoy our annual treat of mini powdered donuts. But, at some point, I may have wanted to sneak off to each room in the house to see if I missed a special present.

My wife would never keep a present from me. But, as she knows all too well, I carry many scars from my younger days. One Christmas, my family tried to hide an awesome present from me.

Temp Check

Posted inColumns

Normally I don’t like to turn down a reason to spend a couple of days in my sweatpants watching television, but I could have done without the fever.

I needed to take a couple of days off from work recently when some virus knocked me down. The whole thing started as an annoying cough with sinus congestion. I never saw the fever and lethargy coming.

I hopped in the car to head for work one morning and realized I had made a tragic mistake about 15 minutes into my commute. Unfortunately, I had a project due that day and had no way of accessing the information from home.

Nobody like the person who comes into work when they should be resting at home, so I got in and out of the office as fast as I could. I really needed to just tie up a few loose ends, which made it possible for me to be home watching television in bed by noon.

Reading Comprehension

Posted inColumns

I deservedly earned a reputation for not paying attention to the little things early in life.

I hate to think of how much money my mother spent on winter gloves and hats to replace the ones I lost. I didn’t mean to lose them. I just didn’t always pay attention to what I did with them when I didn’t have them on my body.

She also had to continually remind me that when she asked me to look for something, I needed to actually move other things to find it. Standing and staring at a shelf didn’t cut it. I didn’t see anything wrong with that because if it was important, why would someone put it behind something else?

As I have grown up, I have managed to slightly improve in this area. Some of it I credit to my 10 years as a reporter. Working as a “trained observer” helped me notice things a little better. Well, when I felt like it.

I still have trouble noticing an additional item in a room, a new haircut or, in the case of a recent outing with my wife, the number above the door at the movies.