Happy Sunday!  Today is February 23 and there are only 56 days until Easter, but don’t worry, the cards and candy are already on the shelves (both should be stale in time for the holiday).  It is the birthday of George Frideric Handel, Peter Fonda and John Norum.  On this day in 1455 Johannes Gutenberg printed the first book, the Bible, in 1813 the first US raw cotton-to-cloth mill was founded in Waltham, MA and in 1940 Walt Disney’s animated movie “Pinocchio” was released. It is National Day in Brunei, Iwo Jima Day in the US and Brotherhood Day worldwide.

Last weekend, the lovely Elaine and I were able to get away to one of our favorite places – Rehoboth Beach, DE.  We like going there and take advantage of the opportunity whenever we get the chance.  The ride down was good, for the most part.  It got a little dicey on the turnpike when a truck decided that he wanted to be where my car was.  He apparently felt that, due to his size, he could just pull into my lane.  There were several problems with that.  One was that I was there, another was that there were cars in the lane next to me and I had nowhere to go and finally, he was apparently deaf because he did not hear the long blasts of my horn. 

 

He came over, I was able to slow down enough to change lanes and disaster was narrowly averted.  The bigger problem arose when my wife decided to curse him out for his dangerous driving, with the window closed fortunately.  She became even more incensed when, recognizing that she was angry, he flipped her off.  That was easy for him.  He didn’t have to ride the next few miles listening to her vent her anger at him, at me for allowing the whole thing to happen (I guess she thought I was driving the truck, too) and the state police for not being there to stop him and issue a ticket.

Other than that, it was a great trip.  The weather was great, although it was extremely windy and cold on the beach.  We did some shopping, ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant, found a great Italian place and enjoyed the renovations done at the place we always stay in.  It rained the last day we were there but it was over by the time we got up and had breakfast.  All in all, I would recommend Rehoboth Beach to you as a great place to visit, regardless of what my cousin Art says about it.

Last week I used the phrase “to die for” and said that I would address that and other phrases another time.  I have to say that I am tired of that phrase.  Everything has become so good that it is to die for – dinners, desserts, drinks, clothing and so on.  What is it about us that we hear a phrase and then use it to death.  Another phrase that has become tiresome is when we describe something as being “spot on.”  What does that really mean?  “His use of garlic in that savory ice cream was spot on.”  “That editorial about the governor and his tactics was spot on.”  “I think the use of ruffles on that camo bikini was spot on.”  “Oh look,” said Jane, “I see Spot on the couch.”  If you think someone did something that was really good, why not just say so?  “I think the use of fresh tomato on that pizza was a great choice.”  Same number of syllables, just as easy to say and it actually means something.

Some time ago I took a job managing three inbound sales teams in a large call center.  One of the first things I did when I took over was to bring together my three team leaders to give them an idea of my managing style.  The one thing I stressed more than anything was that I did not want to hear the phrase “on the same page” used.  If we agreed on something then say so.  If we disagreed, we did not say we were on different pages, so let’s drop that phrase from our lexicology.

A phrase I hear used often is “that is in my wheelhouse.”  When I first heard it I assumed it had something to do with a person’s area of expertise or a particular skill.  I wondered where it came from and looked it up.  It apparently originated in the 1950’s in baseball.  Wheelhouse described a pitch that came across the plate in a spot where a batter could make solid contact.  The interesting part of this is that no one really seems to know why it was called a wheelhouse.  Nowadays it has left the baseball field and become the term for everything.  It is generally used by people who try to build themselves up.  What sounds more impressive – yes I can do that or yes that is in my wheelhouse?  For sure “in my wheelhouse” sounds more pompous.

I think the time has come for us to get back to basics.  Call things what they are.  If the chocolate mousse was delicious and you want to rub it on your body, say so.  Saying it is to die for makes me think you are allergic to chocolate.  If you think that the use of coffee in brownies really enhances the flavor, say so.  Spot on makes me think I splattered the batter on my shirt.  If you know how to do something, say so.  Saying it is in your wheelhouse makes me think you are a tugboat captain.  I hope we are all on the same page with this.

Our fact this week tells us that the wingspan of a Boeing 747 is longer than the Wright brothers’ first flight.  I read somewhere that they did not even serve snacks on that flight because it was so short.

That’s it for this week.  Be sure to wish all your Bruneian friends a Happy National Day.

Another week has passed and we are back again.  It is Sunday, February 16.  There are only 312 days until Christmas, so start shopping now and avoid the rush.  Don’t say that I didn’t warn you!  Today we recognize the birthdays of Heinrich Barth, Johann Strauss and LeVar Burton.  Today, in 600, Pope Gregory the Great decreed that saying “God bless you” is the correct response to a sneeze, in 1741 Benjamin Franklin’s General Magazine began publishing and in 1968 the country’s first 911 phone system went into service in Haleyville, AL.  It is Independence Day in Lithuania and tomorrow is Presidents’ Day in the US.

There are a couple issues that I wish to address today.  The first one is about Presidents’ Day.  I have said this before and I will say it again.  Please stop with the commercials that have George Washington and Abraham Lincoln selling us cars, furniture, jewelry, food, etc., especially the cartoon versions of them.  That’s all – just stop!  The other thing is if Presidents’ Day was created to honor presidents and combine the days into one day off, specifically Washington and Lincoln, why do government offices also take off for Lincoln’s birthday?  Just wondering.

Next I would like to talk about why we say “God bless you” when someone sneezes.  We don’t say it when someone coughs, blows their nose or burps, so why when they sneeze?  The response was first said by Pope Gregory during a bubonic plague epidemic.  As I mentioned earlier, he made it official in the year 600.

The response originated from ancient superstitions. People believed that a sneeze caused the soul to escape the body through the nose.  Others believed that evil spirits used it as an opportunity to enter the body. Saying God bless you was a way of preventing either of those from happening.  There was also the misconception that the heart momentarily stopped during a sneeze and saying “God bless you” was a way of welcoming the person back to life.  In later years it was believed that a sneeze preceded illness and “God bless you” was to wish you good health and to ward off the illness.

We now know that sneezing is a reflex action and can be the sign of a cold or allergy.  It can also be provoked by being outside in the sunlight or from smelling a strong odor.  Still, we persist in the custom of saying “bless you” mainly out of habit and common courtesy.  There.  Now you know more than you probably wanted about the use of the phrase after a sneeze.

Moving along to another issue, let me just say that the big snow storm the other day was not my fault.  I am being blamed for all the snow we have had this season because I bought a new snow blower that could handle the larger piles of snow.  The lovely Elaine has said that it is my fault because I “had to have a new toy to play with.”  I know I have said this a number of times, but it still applies – put back the moon rocks!  That is what is causing all this precipitation, not my snow blower.  I will say; however, that I am glad I have it since we are getting all this snow.

Scientists claim that our weather problems are caused by global warming, but when the temperature is sitting at 20 I do not see a whole lot of warming going on.  The last storm had not even melted yet, which would indicate that, even with the sun being out, it was not that warm.  Now another one has piled on top of that.  Thank God for global warming or we would be stuck in the middle of the next ice age by now.

The other issue I have, and again I am repeating myself, is why they have to name the storms and, more importantly, why the names they are using?  This most recent storm was called Pax.  Really?  That was the best they could do?  Why can’t we just say that another storm has come?  I still have to go out and use my new snow blower whether it has a name or not.  The best part was when the Weather Channel announced that Pax had officially become a Nor’easter.  When that happens do we stop using the name?  I have a name that I use for each one – PITA.

Totally off the subject of snow, I would like to make an observation regarding couples and sex on TV.  If you watch the movies or the shows, you may have noticed something that I find puzzling.  A couple goes out to dinner.  They have a nice meal, some wine, a dessert that was “to die for” (I’ll discuss that phrase and others another time) and then they go home.  Based on their conversation during dinner, you know what is coming.  As soon as they get in the house, they are kissing and undressing and heading toward the bedroom.

Is that realistic?  When the lovely Elaine and I go out for dinner, the first thing I want to do when I get home is go to the bathroom.  We also want to just sit for a while and let dinner “settle.”  There are also the food-caused body emissions that are likely to occur that can spoil the mood in a rush.  As far as the kissing and undressing part is concerned, forget it.  One or both of us would probably fall down if we tried to do them at the same time.  Moving toward the bedroom too?  Forget it.  Our bedroom is on the second floor!  Our night would end up with at least one of us in the ER.

And then they get up the next morning, roll over, start kissing and off they go again.  I will say two words – morning breath!  Give me time to use the bathroom and rinse my mouth and, yeah, maybe, but not as soon as I wake up.  And frankly, I think we would both prefer coffee first.

This week our fact tells us that a “quidnunc” is a person who is eager to know the latest news and gossip.  I wonder if there is an app for that?  Oh right, it is called a newspaper.

One other thing and then we are done for this week – God bless you, regardless of the body function.

Welcome back!  Today is Sunday, February 9.  There are only five days until Valentine’s Day.  I hope you guys have gotten your shopping done.  Today we remember the birthdays of Amos Bull, Amy Lowell and Travis Tritt.  On this day in 1775 the English Parliament declared that the Massachusetts colony was in rebellion, in 1895 Volleyball was invented by W G Morgan, in Massachusetts and in 1964 it was the first appearance of the Beatles on the “Ed Sullivan Show” watched by 73.7 million viewers.  It seems that this day is a slow day for holidays, the only one being Boy Scouts Day worldwide.

So, another Valentine’s Day is coming up and we are starting to see the commercials that encourage guys to buy jewelry, cars, flowers, chocolate covered fruit and all sorts of other extravagances for their ladies.  Why?  If the guy has spent the whole year not telling his girl friend, fiancé or wife that he loves her and appreciates her, what makes him think that buying her something special this one day will make it all better?

Realistically, there are several ways you can go with this.  One way would be to not buy her anything and ignore the day just like you do on her birthday and anniversary.  Since you don’t pay any attention to those days it should not be a surprise to her that you did not get anything for her now.  You don’t want to make the mistake of buying her something now because all she will do is wonder why you ignored the other days and that will create a whole different problem.  Another way would be to buy her a nice box of candy and take her out for a special dinner.  The downside to this is that she will wonder why you are trying to make her fat.  You can ask her what she wants for Valentine’s Day and she will say, “Oh, you don’t have to buy me anything.”  That way when you don’t get her a gift, you have that to fall back on. 

What you really want to do is get her a nice card, not a funny one, a good one that expresses your feelings and will make her realize that you care.  Buy her a nice piece of jewelry, nothing too expensive, but something that shows you spent some time thinking about her.  Then ask her what she is making for dinner, change into your comfy clothes and fall asleep in front of the TV.   Nothing says I love you like a brief moment of caring before falling back into reality.

Am I the only one who is stunned by the fact that it was 50 years ago – 50 years ago – that the Beatles came to America?  I still remember the excitement, the frenzy that surrounded their arrival.  Crowds of people everywhere waiting to catch a glimpse of them when they arrived and when they went to the studio for their appearance on Ed Sullivan’s show.  This was a show that you watched to see things like a man spinning plates on sticks or to see Topo Gigio or Senor Wences.  Now, suddenly, he was presenting the Beatles.  I can still see the pictures of people lined up, young girls screaming and crying.  The emotion was incredible!

As you read earlier, 73.7 million people watched that first appearance.  Keep in mind that we are talking about 1964.  That many people watching one TV show was amazing!  It was exciting!  I don’t remember what I had for lunch yesterday, but I can remember the Beatles.  I remember when their movies came out.  I was working in our local theater for the munificent wage of $.50 per hour and each showing was packed.  By the way, have you noticed that keyboards no longer have the cent symbol on them?  It used to be that if it was under a dollar, you used the cent symbol.  I wonder why that was eliminated … but I digress.

You don’t see that kind of excitement for musical groups anymore.  The Beatles appealed to a wide range of people, from kids to adults, and everyone enjoyed their music.  We all knew the words to all the songs and sang along when we heard them on the radio.  They had their signature hair cut and they goofed around, but generally it was about the music.  They were not the “celebrities” we have today who feel that they have to be outrageous in the way they dress and act.  The Beatles came out and they entertained - with their music.  That was all they needed.

It says a lot for them that 50 years later, we are still as excited by their music as we were in 1964.  Not very many bands or individuals can say that.  There are some who can’t even brag about being around for 5 years, let alone 50.  If you get a chance, find some of their stuff and listen to it, enjoy it and revel in a sound that changed rock and roll and opened a new era in music.

This week our fact tells us that a cow produces 200 times more gas a day than a person.  That explains that unique odor that you notice whenever you go to a farm.  So now if you break wind and someone hears you, just tell them to be glad you are not a cow.

By the way, you may have noticed the ads on the side of the blog each week.  If you see something interesting, please be sure to click on it.  I make money when you do.  So far I have amassed a small fortune, a very small fortune; specifically $.53 (where is that cent symbol when you need it).  And please, if you enjoy my ramblings, spread the word to your friends.  If you think that this is a waste of time, tell people you don’t like about it and let them waste their time reading it.

Seriously, thank you for stopping by.  Let’s do this again next week.

Happy Groundhog Day!  It is Sunday, February 2 and there are only 299 days until Black Friday, so start staking out your spots now to be ready for the big rush.  Today we recognize the birthdays of Jacob van Campen, Jetty Weels and Brandee Dawn McCoskey.  On this day in 1633 M Rossi’s opera “Erminia sul Giordano” premiered in London, in 1893 the first movie close-up (of a sneeze) was filmed in Edison Studio, West Orange, NJ and in 1962 8 of 9 planets aligned for the first time in 400 years.  As mentioned earlier, it is Groundhog Day in the US and Hom Strom, the end of winter, in Switzerland.

I am sure that many of you are scratching your heads, wondering what Hom Strom is, so I will tell you.  This is one of the most anticlimactic celebrations I have ever heard of.  Hom Strom is held in the village of Scuol in Switzerland.  Older schoolchildren meet in the village square to build the Hom Strom, or man of straw.  Strands of rye are twisted together and then twined around a 24 foot long pole.  Legend requires that the work be completed by noon, at which time the bundle should have reached a diameter of around two meters.

The pole is placed in a specially prepared hole in a field outside the village.  In the evening when the tower clock strikes eight, the oldest boys throw balls of fire, rags drenched in petroleum, at the Hom Strom and set him aflame.  The children and adults sing the Hom Strom song.  Half an hour later, the spirit of winter is consumed and everyone goes home.  That’s it.  Yawn! 

We have things like that here, too.  As an example, today – Groundhog Day.  Every year we all get geared up to see if the groundhog sees his shadow.  Today was also my father’s birthday.  I used to call him every year to see if he saw his shadow.  Anyway, we get all excited about the day.  Will he see his shadow or not?  The big pronouncement is made as to whether he did or not and that is it.  If he sees his shadow, so the story goes, he is frightened back into his burrow and we have six more weeks of winter.  Realistically, we have what we have regardless of what he sees.  What makes it even less a prognostication of future weather is that there are a number of “celebrity” groundhogs and they do not always agree.  So do we average it out?  If half of them see their shadow and half do not does it mean we only have three more weeks of winter?

Now let’s spend some time discussing the hoopla surrounding the Super Bowl being held today.  The forecast does not call for the bone-chilling temperatures we have been having for the past couple weeks.  Too bad!  I was kind of looking forward to watching the game from the comfort of my living room while a stadium full of football crazies froze their collective tookus off.  I heard, back in the beginning of last week, that some 18,000 tickets were still available for the game, in part because of the weather.  In the past, scalpers would walk the parking lot trying to sell tickets, last-minute, to people who showed up hoping to get in.  I don’t see that happening this time.  First of all, who is going to pay $150 to get in to park, if they do not have a ticket?  Secondly, from what I have heard about the way things are controlled, NFL officials are the only ones who would be walking the parking lot selling tickets and they are all in New York at the Super Bowl.

One thing that bothers me is the way the NFL has almost completely ignored the state of New Jersey.  Most of the celebrations and parties are being held in New York.  The sports broadcasters, a couple weeks ago, were referring to the game in New York.  Terry Bradshaw was one of the big offenders for that.  Maybe that is why that girl Ella should be going to the game rather than Terry.  I’ll bet she could see that East Rutherford is in New Jersey, not New York.  

Last May, when all the hoopla started, everyone was excited by the event and cities and towns throughout the area were looking forward to having events that would increase tourism and generate sales for New Jersey businesses.  Oops!  No one bothered to explain to them that the super bowl was being held in New York and only the actual game is being played in the part of New York that is in New Jersey.  I suppose the NFL is confused by the fact that both football teams that play here still call themselves the New York Giants and Jets.  Maybe they should not have been so quick to remove geography from the school curriculum.  

Newark was planning a concert, but the NFL would not return calls when the city called trying to generate funding from sponsors and the concert had to be cancelled.  Montclair tried to set up an event and they were told they were not an authorized site.  What made it even better was the NFL wanted to set up a store in Montclair to sell their paraphernalia and they wanted the place for free.  Do they realize that they are dealing with New Jersey?  We don’t do free.  Especially when you have shown as much disdain for us as the NFL has.

I had also heard that the half time show was actually going to be held in Madison Square Garden and not being performed in the stadium. It turns out that was just a story and not true.  If it were true I think the reasons would be clear.  No one connected to the game knows where the stadium actually is and the band bus drivers do not want to pay the $150 fee to park.  And, because of the NFL, the drivers wouldn’t even be able to go to Medieval Times for dinner and the show.  Oh well, no sense getting too worked up.  I am fairly sure this event won’t be scheduled for New York (Jersey) again any time soon.

This week’s fact tells us that 1,525,000,000 miles of telephone wire are strung across the US.  Just think, all of that wire for about 150 senior citizens who refuse to get cell phones.