Rain, rain, go away… etc.  Surely, just about everyone knows this kids’ rhyme…  and in parts of the US it’s chanted pretty much year round.  Meanwhile, here in SoCal, it gets put to bed about this time of year, not to re-appear until November or so.

I just spent some time in Texas, and saw more rain in 72 hours than I normally see in a month… or two.. or three.  That really got me thinking to how various parts of the country view rain, because it’s very, very different.

On the surface, it seems kind of strange… parts of our country get rain year round, while SoCal gets rain no more than six months a year… and quite often less.  By May, it’s pretty much done until Thanksgiving.  If you’re a baseball fan, that’s pretty cool – you don’t see Dodgers, Angels, or Padres games get rained out very often.

Another difference brought on by rain (or lack thereof):  In many parts of the country, if you buy a house and ask where the sprinkler valve or the sprinkler controller is at, they look at you funny. The hardware store hardly even stocks sprinkler parts, not for built-in systems anyway.  That just seems strange to me, because in SoCal, if you don’t have sprinklers to use in the summer, you don’t have a lawn – at least, not for long.

That kind of makes me wonder – one of the treats of summer when I was a little kid was to run through the sprinklers when they were on.  Do kids growing up in the southeast not get to do that?  How sad!

Still, some people in SoCal amaze me.  The state goes through droughts on a semi-regular basis, and if it lasts more than a year we get the fun of water rationing… but when the drought finally breaks and we have a rainy winter (in what passes for winter in SoCal), the sun worshippers whine and complain that there’s too much rain and they want the sun to come out. It makes the rest of us want to ask, “Hey!  Did you miss the memo?  We NEED the rain!”

I guess our lack of the wet stuff is behind one other cultural phenomenon that is seemingly unique to our locale:  people in SoCal absolutely cannot drive in the rain.  One drop, and they lose all memory of how to drive like sane, rational people.  Some slow down to a speed a snail would laugh at, while others decide it’s time to take advantage of the slowpokes and drive like it’s NASCAR season on the freeway.  And we’re not talking a downpour here, like I just saw in Texas.  This stuff happens as soon as it starts to sprinkle.

The weird part of that phenomenon is, many people living in SoCal used to live in Chicago, or New York, or Dallas – places where they get plenty of rain – and snow, too.  So why is it they move to LA, Orange County, or San Diego… and suddenly have no clue how to drive when it sprinkles?

I don’t know… it must be something in the water.

Mother’s Day, the once a year day to honor a very important person in your life… your mom.  So, how are you going to do that this year?  Flowers?  Candy?  Brunch?  A day at the spa?

As long as I can remember, Mother’s Day has been around…  from my younger days when my dad would buy my mom a card and a gift and tell her it was from me, to now, when I let my wife take care of those little details on my behalf – since I have to take care of them for myself, you know, to give to her. (Guy clue #453:  never ask you wife to get her own Mother’s Day card)

Anyway, all this thinking got me wondering about where the tradition started, and who celebrates it besides us in the US.  So, I went to that trusty handy-dandy on-line reference, Wikipedia… and boy, was I shocked.

Contrary to cynical opinion that Mother’s Day is nothing more than a holiday invented by Hallmark so they could to sell more cards, it seems people all over the world are into celebrating Mom. Not all on the same day, mind you… according to Wikipedia, there are 30 days scattered throughout the year that are referred to as Mother’s Day.  (If you’re a mom who likes to travel around the world, you could really cash in here…)

A bit of history:  in the US, the first attempt at creating a Mother’s Day was made by Julia Ward Howe back in 1870.  Her Mother’s Day wasn’t to honor motherhood per se, but was a call for mothers to band together and demand disarmament – because so many mothers had lost sons during the American Civil War.

Mother’s Day as we think of it now was created by Anna Jarvis in 1908.  She thought mothers deserved a little recognition – she was right, but it took awhile to catch on.  She eventually enlisted the aid of John Wannamaker, a retailer from Philadelphia… note the potential for retail sales here…  and eventually, between the two they got President Woodrow Wilson to declare it a national holiday in 1914…  and soon thereafter, heartfelt sentiment aside, it became one of the most commercialized holidays on the calendar.

In fact, it became so commercialized that Anna Jarvis, the mother of Mother’s Day, started referring to it as a “Hallmark Holiday”, i.e. one that existed almost solely to serve a commercial purpose.  She spent the last years of her life opposed to the whole idea.

BTW, Hallmark reports that Mother’s Day is actually the third highest card-sending holiday in the US, with 133million cards sold each year… and believe it or not, this year they’re offering over 1000 different cards.  Think about that for a second… that’s got to be hard to do.  After all, how many different ways can you say “Thanks, Mom. Happy Mother’s Day!”?  (They also report that each consumer who enters a Hallmark store for a Mother’s Day card buys 2.8 of them.  OK, I get the two… but point eight?  How do you buy point eight of a card?)

Seriously, though, and all kidding and Hallmark references aside, Mother’s Day is a great chance for everyone to say Thank You to the most important woman in their life – their mom.  (OK, now I’ve got wives all over America mad at me)  And while a card and flowers are a very nice way to do that, I suspect a phone call or a visit would be even more appreciated and remembered.

Better yet, do both.  Your mom and the economy will thank you.

All things in moderation.  I forget who said it, but it’s become my mantra for eating “right”.

OK, I admit it.  I like red meat, and lots of it.  I grew up in a German-American household, and meat and potatoes ruled the day, or rather, the dinner table.  There was also a lot of bread – and to this day, I love bread.  It’s amazing how the eating patterns of your youth stick with you for the rest of your life.

Oh, but I also strayed off the reservation of my heritage.  There I was, an innocent child, when my parents introduced me to the great food love of my life – Mexican food.  Over time, this love affair grew, and like all good love affairs, the spicier it was, the better.  (Technically, the spicier and cheesier, the better… but that makes for a lousy metaphor)

Is anyone seeing a pattern here?  Tons of protein, beaucoup carbs… but thanks to a typical kid’s (and then a typical teenager’s) metabolism, I got away with it.  In fact, at 18, I set the family record for homemade taco devouring… eleven in one sitting… and I didn’t gain an ounce.

Alas, those days are gone.  I couldn’t eat that much if I tried… nor could my waistline or cholesterol levels afford it.  Both were bad enough as it was, despite my decreased capability to upload mass quantities of food.  In fact, both reached the point where I became annoyed – and that annoyance morphed into motivation.

So, in a nod to age, better health, and getting back to a waist size I’m not embarrassed to talk about, I made a conscious effort to eat better.  For starters, I eat less.  I no longer automatically take seconds, even though my older relatives often get their feelings hurt at family gatherings, and ask if I’m sick or something.

Also, when dining out, I’ve learned how to successfully fight off the “clean your plate” impulses leftover from childhood.  Since lack of a clean plate no longer means having to stay at the table while my brother gets to go out and play… now I ask for a doggy bag when I’m full, and end up with two meals for the price of one.

And as they say on infomercials, “But wait… there’s more!”  Besides eating less, I now mix up what I eat.  It’s no longer a steady diet of meat and potatoes one day, Mex the next.  Now there’s quite a bit of chicken, and days where dinner consists of a salad.

I don’t know if this approach  would work for everybody, but I ended up losing weight and feeling better.   What’s really surprised me is, as dedicated as I am to eating the foods I love, I haven’t felt cheated or like I’m missing out on anything.

The thing is, I knew I would never stick to traditional diets, or to a regimen that banned red meat (or worse, cheese).  But, by mixing up what I eat and exercising portion control, I get the best of both worlds.  I still get to eat the foods I love… and I’m discovering new foods as well.  I’m OK with the fact that there’s no more mondo taco pig-outs, because there’s also no diet of bean sprouts and water cress, either.  Eating a little less and eating a little more varied allows me to avoid the kind of diet I would abhor.

As someone once said, all things in moderation.  For me, it’s working.

Golf.

Anyone who has ever played it knows that it has to be the single most frustrating sport in the world.

It can make you say words that you’d never say in front of your mother.  It can make some people throw things, like their clubs.  It even exposes some people’s problems with basic math skills… five strokes plus two penalty strokes equals a six on the scorecard, right?  (OK, maybe that’s an honesty problem)

Yet despite all this, people all over the country play golf every single day, getting up at the crack of dawn to call the course a week ahead of time to make a reservation – and there are those living in cold weather states who bemoan winter because it’s keeping them off the course, almost as loudly as they bemoan the score they shot in their last round last fall.

One thing that golf has going for it, is there are some really beautiful courses out there, and playing a round on them is much like walking in a nice park.  However, this only partially mitigates what the sport can do to your mood, as evidenced by Mark Twain.  Among other things, he is famous for saying, “Golf is a beautiful walk ruined.”  (Let me tell you, I’ve played many a round where I know exactly where Mark was coming from.)

On the other hand, Winnie the Pooh author A.A. Milne said, “Golf is so popular simply because it is the best game in the world at which to be bad.”  And therein lies a great truth.  As much as we weekend hackers complain about the game, and as mad as it makes us – it is still a great game, and worse – it’s an addicting one.  Why else would we keep going back?

I have a friend who has a theory – he says there is a group of golf gods who look down upon every round of golf played, and affect the outcome as they see fit.  They torment you with shots that trickle off the green into the water, or land in an un-raked divot in a sand trap.  They’ll make a putt going at a speed a snail could pass roll ten feet past the cup.  And then, when they have you ready to quit the game and take up something less frustrating, like figuring out the US tax code?  That’s when they’ll allow you to make some miraculous shot, a shot so awe inspiring that you immediately start thinking, yes, I CAN play this game, and yes, I CAN break 90.  Of course, as soon as you start feeling good, or possibly even a little cocky, that’s when the golf gods reward your silly optimism with a quadruple bogey.

Despite all this, golf is often viewed as a fun game – and in can be, if you don’t take yourself too seriously.  That same friend has another theory…  he says his best rounds are the ones where he doesn’t care what he scores; where he’s just out there to enjoy a day in the sun, hanging out with friends, and getting a little exercise.  I’ve tried it, and it works.  It’s hard to do, especially if you’re like me and have a competitive nature… but it does work.

Golf might best be summed up lie this:  Players both love and hate the game, often at the same time.  And while they may hate loving it and love hating it… they keep on playing it.  As they say, it is what it is… and what it is, is a great contradiction.  If it wasn’t, why would people describe something bad as being sub par – while in golf, sub par means you did great?

Did you know that April is National Volunteer Month?  I didn’t either.

So just what is National Volunteer Month?  A month to honor all those who volunteer their time and effort to a good cause?  Well, that’s not a bad idea, and I’m sure it could be worked in there somehow… but that’s not really what it’s all about.

National Volunteer Month is about encouraging people to donate a little time to help out others in a meaningful way… and you’d be surprised how little effort it takes to make a big difference.

For example, last year the Harley Owners Group chapter that I belong to volunteered to help pack food baskets for elderly folks who need a little assistance to get by.  About two dozen riders and passengers went, and we packed box after box with things like soup, crackers, mac & cheese… basic food staples which, btw , were all donated by various stores and manufacturers.

All in all we were there about an hour and a half before we ran out of boxes to load up – and when it wrapped up, we were shocked to learn that we had packed over 650 of these care packages.  Doing the math, that’s 650 seniors who were going to get a much appreciated helping hand, and it took two dozen people well under two hours to help make that happen.

So, what kind of things can you do? Here are some ideas:

Volunteer at a food bank – basically, the scenario described in the previous paragraph.  Helping out at a food bank provides a very real and much needed service…  all the donated food in the world doesn’t help anyone if it’s not packed up for delivery to those who need it.

Give blood – I admit it, I’m a wuss when it comes to needles so this one’s not for me.  But, if you don’t have that problem, hospitals and the Red Cross are always in need of fresh blood donations… and they even give you cookies when you’re done.  How cool is that – you help someone out AND satisfy your sweet tooth at the same time!

Participate in retirement home visitations – many groups do things like putting on variety shows for seniors living in retirement homes, or conducting visitations with small pets for the seniors to cuddle with.  Trust me, a lot of the people living in these facilities are starving for attention and interaction with others… and a few hours of your time can go a long way in brightening their day.

Help out at a pet shelter – if you love animals, believe me, many shelters are terribly under funded.  Their staffs are overworked, and they appreciate any help they could get.  The residents they’re caring for appreciate it even more, and will reward you with a loving purr or a woof to say thank you (and who knows, you might even find a furry friend to take home with you!)

If none of these float your boat, there are numerous other volunteer programs out there that might – reading to kids at the library, helping out at a shelter, offering your knowledge and expertise in a seminar for people starting up a new business.  The opportunities are all over the map, and if you’re having trouble finding one that fits you, I’m sure Google will “volunteer” to help you find the right one for you.

C’mon, Y’all – give it a try.  You’d be surprised how easy it is, how little time it takes… and how good it makes you feel at the end of the day!

Go for it!!

As of this week, baseball is back.  And, whether it be Little League, high school, college ball, or the pros… I humbly submit, no other sport’s Opening Day has quite the same impact on the American soul as this one.

Over the years, many people have pronounced baseball dead. They say kids have lost interest; that baseball is too slow and too boring in the instant gratification age.  Others point to the labor strike that wiped out a World Series, the rising salaries, declining TV ratings, and steroids.

But baseball is bigger than any of that.  Baseball is a Weeble, and as much as the naysayers wish it otherwise, it won’t fall down… Baseball is a lot of things, but at its basic level, it’s a sport that ties America together in both memories and the promise of the future.  (if this wasn’t true, there would be no Cub fans).

As a kid, there is nothing quite like the excitement of getting your first glove, and having a catch with your dad.  Or the first time you really connect on one of the hundreds of pitches he throws you – not realizing until years later that he was doing everything he could to hit your bat, just so you would get that big hit.

Look around the country.  Every year, the snows melt, the cold weather goes away, and along with the flowers, baseball goes to full bloom.  In the farmland, pickup games are played on open fields.  In the suburbs, they’re played on school playgrounds.  In the cities, it’s played right there on the street.  In all three, it’s tradition… to the chagrin of parents, the gloves of the batting team are used for bases.

It doesn’t matter one bit where the game is played, it’s the same.  The pitchers stare down the hitter, sure of the upcoming out.  The hitters stare right back, sure of the big hit they’re about to get.  Beat up balls that would make a Major League umpire cry are smacked, kids run around, and close plays at the plate will be argued about for days – at least until the next pickup game, anyway.

The love of the game is built right there, in the backyards and country fields, in the school grounds and on city streets.  It doesn’t matter where they’re playing, those kids dream of being in the World Series, and spend countless hours perfecting their imitation of their favorite player’s batting stance.

This bond with the game of baseball runs deep, and once started, it’s lifelong. Don’t believe me? There are at least three nation-wide organizations that allow adults of any age to continue to play the game they love in organized leagues.  There are over 50,000 players in the Men’s Senior Baseball League alone – and every spring and summer weekend they’re out there, sharing the dugout camaraderie, getting dirty, running the bases, pulling muscles – and loving every minute of it.  I know… I’m one of them.

Baseball is… baseball.  There’s no other way to explain it.  It’s a part of us, and a part of what makes our country what it is.  It’s all about hope, about dreams, about perseverance.  In the movie Field Of Dreams, the character played by James Earl Jones gives a little speech that sums it all up rather nicely:

“The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again…”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Play Ball!

They call it March Madness.  I agree with the name, but only because the NCAA Basketball Tournament tends to drive me nuts.

Why?  Well…

Unlike a lot of people, I’m just not a big basketball fan –  and I’m even less of a college basketball fan.

The tournament pre-empts one of my favorite TV shows, Big Bang Theory, for several weeks.  I think that show is hilarious, and I like my weekly ration of laughs.

The tournament is about all they’ll talk about on ESPN for a solid month – while I, a huge baseball fan, would much rather hear about Spring Training.

OK, enough about why I dislike March Madness.  I have to admit, there are some aspects to it that I like.

“Like what,” you ask?

I like that every year, several g ames are decided by a crazy, last second shot that has no prayer of going in, but does anyway.

I like it when a 15th seed like Lehigh bumps off a 2nd seed like Duke… Correction: I love it when that happens.

I like it when the talking heads on TV get proven wrong again and again and again.  They get so serious and so self important with their “expert” prognostications*, and so upset when those prognostications* go wrong.  *like that word?  It’ll win you some serious points in Scrabble!

Despite my annoyance at the whole thing, year in and year out, in lemming-like fashion, I too join the hordes that fill out a bracket sheet.  I tend to smile a lot when my picks come out right, because unlike those who make a science out of it, I spend about five minutes filling out my bracket – and I always seem to pick one or two huge upsets that come true.

Speaking of, I have to admit that I used to get annoyed when a former boss of mine always won the office pool where I worked.  She had absolutely zero clue about any of it, picking teams because she liked the name or the mascot.  Her sole goal in participating was to build office unity and teamwork.   Alas, that goal always got wiped out when she took our money.

OK, OK, OK… enough of all that.  I know a lot of you are serious college hoops fans and “bracketologists”.  I also know some are merely casual fans, while a few are probably more like me.  I also know some of you are like my former boss (grrr…)   Regardless, it seems most everyone gives in and fills out a bracket… so here’s the challenge: post who you picked to win it all this year… and tell us how you arrived at your prognostication.  Whatever the method, let’s see if any CrispRooter gets it right this year!  (and I’m serious, folks… that word will win you most any Scrabble game you play in!!)

It’s mid-March, which means spring is just around the corner.  Much like the flowers that are about to bloom, random thoughts of the year’s second season are blossoming in my head… in just about the same riot of color and variety as those flowers.

Since much of the country had a far milder than normal winter, I have to wonder if spring will be as eagerly anticipated as it normally is.  How can people in Chicago appreciate ditching their parkas when they were out jogging in lightweight clothes back in January?

A former teammate of mine once told me he loved playing baseball in March.  He said where he was from originally (Cleveland), it usually wasn’t possible.  In fact, he said the weather stayed cold so late up there, he and his neighbors never had to think about mowing the lawn until Memorial Day – it took that long for the grass to wake up.  I wonder if they’ll be so lucky this year?

Speaking of baseball, Opening Day of the 2012 Season is just around the corner.  I don’t know about you, but that has long been one of my favorite parts of spring’s arrival.  The crack of the bat, the smell and look of a freshly mowed ball field… yup, that’s one nice little pick-me-up. (for me, anyway!)

Another favorite part of spring for me is Daylight Savings Time.  I love it when the sun doesn’t go down until after 7:00… or 7:30… or 8:00.  It means more time to do things that require daylight, and more time to enjoy some outdoor leisure after you do those things.  Better yet, on the days when you have none of those things that need to be done, you get a chance to pull up a chair on the patio and enjoy a good sunset… without having to bundle up like Santa Claus.

In re-reading that last paragraph, I have to admit that the benefits of Daylight Savings Time far outweigh the pain of losing an hour’s sleep when time changes.  (Not that you could have convinced me of that this last Sunday morning, however!)

BTW, with spring arrives a concurrent season…  Picnic and BBQ season!  It’s now warm enough, or soon will be, to start eating outdoors.  That qualifies for a big “WOOHOO”, don’t you think?  Hmm…  now that I think about it, I could go for a nice charbroiled burger, some tangy CrispRoot Sea Salt chips, and a refreshing chilled beverage or two; enjoyed on the aforementioned patio at the aforementioned sunset.

In fact, that sounds really good… so I think I’ll wander off and take my own suggestion.  First, though, I’ll have to spend a few minutes in the garage – winter’s been around for awhile, so I have to remember where I stored the charcoal!

And while I’m doing that, I’ll leave it to you to finish this week’s blog by sharing your favorite thoughts of spring.  Just don’t take too long – I think your BBQ’s calling you!!!

Snack Attack! 

We’ve all had them.  When we were kids, they’d cause our mothers to yell things like, “No, you can’t have a snack, you’ll spoil your dinner!”  As adults, thankfully, we’re a bit freer to indulge ourselves… and since Americans love our freedoms, indulge ourselves we do!

This started a conversation the other day – what are some of America’s favorite snacks, and how long have they been around?   Well, first we had to agree on what a snack was, because the definition can vary widely.  For example, to a teenage boy, that pound and a half of leftover pot roast sitting in the ‘fridge is a perfectly good snack.

So, we agreed that “snacks” meant things intended to be a snack…not leftovers that weren’t nailed down securely enough to prevent a teenager from inhaling them.  After a little research (during which a lot of snacks were eaten), here’s what we came up with:

1.)  Cookies. For brevity’s sake, let’s limit it to one kind… Oreos.  Invented in 1912, they were brought to market with the unappealing name of Oreo Biscuits.  (The inventor must have been British – for some reason, Brits call cookies “biscuits”… which has always made me wonder what a Brit pictures when an American orders biscuits and gravy for breakfast.)  Anyway, the first of many variations to the classic Oreo came out in the 1920’s, when a lemon flavored center was offered.  The unfortunate original name didn’t seem to hold Oreos back – over 500 billion have been produced.

2.)  CrackerJack. Yes, it singular.  “Jack”, not “Jacks”.  Where’d the name come from?  It seems someone tasted the unnamed snack made of caramel-covered popcorn and peanuts at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893.  Using a quaint expression of the time, he declared them “crackerjack!” (a.k.a. “really good!”).   In possibly the first example of adding a kicker to get kids to bug their moms to buy something, CrackerJack added the toy surprise inside every box circa 1912.

3.)  Jello. Yes, that jiggly stuff that helped make Bill Cosby a very rich man.  (You don’t think he made all those commercials for free, did you?)  In 1893, a guy added cough syrup flavoring to gelatin, and bingo, Jello Brand Gelatin was born.  It hit the market with that one flavor, strawberry – which, incidentally, is still #1 to this day.  For variety, cherry was added a decade later, eventually followed by coffee and cola flavors.  Somewhat understandably, those last two didn’t stay on the market very long.

4.)  Cake. But since this is about snacks and not birthdays, lets talk about the ever-popular, indestructible Twinkie, OK?  You ever hear necessity is the mother of invention?  Well, that pretty much sums up how Twinkies came to be.  A guy who made strawberry shortcakes back in the 30’s was annoyed that he only had product to sell during the relatively short fresh strawberry season.  The rest of the year, nada.  So, he came up with the idea of a cream-filled shortcake… and hence the Twinkie was born.  The filling was originally banana, but a banana shortage (really?) in WWII caused the flavor to be changed to vanilla, which it remains to this day.

5.)  Chips.  (particularly, Lays Potato Chips… read on to see why)  A guy named Lay started Lays Potato Chips in 1932.  A guy named  Dolin bought a recipe for corn chips the same year, and took it to market under the name Fritos.  The two merged companies in 1961, and Frito-Lay was born under the slogan, “Betcha’ can’t eat just one”.  Guess they were on to something – today, Frito-Lay products make up 60% of the snack chip market. (The other 40%?  CrispRoot!  Well, not quite yet – but we can dream, can’t we?)

And that’s our take on what America has been munching on for the past 100-plus years.  What’s yours?  Post up your answers – and somebody, please say CrispRoot Cassava Chips… it’ll make our marketing department’s day!

It’s raining, it’s pouring… well, not quite pouring, but it is raining and it is cold out – so rather than run the errands I had assigned myself, I find myself sitting in my nice warm office thinking deep (and not so deep) thoughts.

This has forced me into a conclusion (besides acknowledging that I am being a weather wimp):  It’s amazing the places the human mind will wander when you’re not using it for other, more productive purposes…  places like:

The “What’s Up With That?” Department:

• You ever notice that the people who complain when it rains, are the same ones who complain when the government imposes water restrictions because it didn’t rain enough?

• Do people think they are cutting back on light pollution by not using their turn signals?

• There are some bicyclists who like to ride in traffic lanes… I wonder how they’d feel if cars drove in bike lanes?

• Why do people slow down on the freeway when they see a cop writing somebody a ticket?

• Does anyone out there know anyone who lives with a bunch of other people on a desert island, participating in various contests of skill and endurance while developing alliances and/or stabbing each other in the back?  Or, how about knowing someone who travels the world while being asked to navigate through often-times bizarre situations, all the time searching for clues that will tell them the next place they have to go?  I don’t either… so why do you suppose they call things like Survivor or The Amazing Race “reality shows”?

Or, how about some plain, old fashioned Random Thoughts:

• Am I the only one who thought it ironic to see one of those “Caution: Baby On Board” signs in the back window of a car whose driver was talking on a cell phone?

• We’re within days of hearing those lovely words that all baseball fans can’t wait to hear every year: “pitchers and catchers report”. (YES!!!)

• Speaking of baseball… Vin Scully, the announcer for the Los Angeles Dodgers, is about to start his 63^rd year of announcing Dodger games.  To put that into perspective, that means there are people who are retiring this year, who were born the year he called his first game for the team.

• More Vin Scully – he is such an icon in LA that many Dodger fans listen to his calls of a game while actually sitting in the stadium watching it… and have been known not to cheer or boo an umpire’s call until Scully announced what that call was.

• There are so many awards show on TV these days: the Academy Awards, The Emmy’s, the Grammys, the Tony’s, the People’s Choice Awards, the Academy of Country Music Awards, the MTV Awards, the ESPYs, … and on and on and on.  So, how long do you think it will be before we have an awards show honoring awards shows?

You know, it’s times like this that I wonder if this is how the late, great comedian George Carlin came up with such classic lines as, “Why do we drive on a parkway, but park on a driveway?”

Well, since it’s still raining and blustery out, I think I’ll go nibble on some of our CrispRoot Cassava Chips, and ponder about that for awhile.