Happy Sunday!  Today is April 21 and there are only 14 days until the lovely Elaine and I celebrate our 40^th anniversary and only 204 days until my birthday.  Feel free to contact me regarding gift lists.  Today is the birthday of Vincenzo Pallotti, Iggy Pop and Jesse Orosco.  On this day in 1789 John Adams was sworn in as Vice President (9 days before Washington was sworn in), in 1913 Gideon Sundback of Sweden patented the zipper and in 1956 Elvis Presley’s first hit record, “Heartbreak Hotel” became #1.  It is Kartini Day in Indonesia, Tomb Sweeping Day in Taiwan and San Jacinto Day in Texas.

I was watching the news the other night and saw something that I found interesting.  Not the news itself but the location of the reporter.  Let me first point out that my watching the news is, in itself, a rarity.  I find it difficult to watch the news and see all these earnest people telling me what is going on in the world, as if they really knew.  If it does not show up on the teleprompter, they have no idea what they are talking about.  That becomes obvious when they try to engage in small talk with the people on the scene.  I wait until it is in the paper the next day.  That way I get a better idea of what happened and they do not try to cram it all into a 30 second sound bite.  But I digress …

The talking head was discussing an accident that occurred earlier in the day.  Several people were injured, one person was killed and a car smashed into a building.  “We go now to Tony Baloney, live at the scene.”  When they say that, I am expecting to see Tony standing there with emergency vehicles in the background, police and EMT’s rushing around and just general chaos all over.  What I see is Tony standing in the dark with yellow accident tape flapping in the wind behind him.

As he describes the accident, it becomes apparent that it occurred earlier in the day.  Taped footage shows the activity that I expected to see, but it is going on in the daylight.  Why, then, is Tony standing out there now?  There is nothing to see, no bodies strewn across the pavement, no pools of blood, just Tony … in the dark. 

I find that they are doing this more and more and I cannot help but wonder why.  A policeman is injured in the line of duty during a raid in the morning.  The story comes on the news at 11 PM and there is a reporter coming to us live from the hospital.  There is nothing going on, there is nothing to see except for the reporter standing outside the hospital coming to us live.  What is the purpose?  Have we really become so shallow that someone talking to us in the dark about something that happened 6 hours earlier is exciting?  OMG!

Imagine what it will be like in the near future.  I call my wife on the phone at 9 PM and, using Face Time, say to her “I am calling you live from the grocery store to let you know that I went shopping this afternoon.  The limes are still 5 for $1.99 and I picked up the sour cream that you wanted.  I got the other items on the list, but could not get the peach pie for your mother.  This is me live from the store.  I will see you shortly.”  With that I hang up and go home.  Is this really necessary?  Do we really need to have them report to us from the scene if nothing is going on?

That is like when there is a hurricane coming and the Weather Channel has people out in the field reporting.  “This is a very dangerous storm.  Stay inside and stay safe.”  The reporter is being blown away by the force of the wind, the rain is pounding down and they tell us that it is not safe to be out there.  Then why are they out there?  How am I supposed to take that person seriously when they are outside doing the exact thing they are telling us not to do?  Duh!!

Just wanted to give everyone an update on my mother-in-law.  She has moved into an assisted living facility and seems to be adjusting very nicely.  She has made some friends and seems to be getting along.  The only thing I should warn you about is if you go to one of these facilities to visit, do not go around dinner time.  We went the other day and went down to the dining room with her just before dinner.  All the people who ate at that sitting were gathering in the area outside the room.  When it was time to go in, all these people started moving their walkers toward to the two doors going in.  It was like Senior Citizen Roller Derby.  God help you if you got in the way.  The funny part is that they always sit at the same place, with the same people.  It isn’t like they have to scramble for a table or to sit with the popular people. Ah well, I guess it’s good for them to get worked up just to keep them active.

That’s it for this week.  Enjoy the flowers that are popping up and go see the cherry blossoms if you get a chance.  If you are not in the area, let me know.  I will get some pictures and send them to you.  Yes, Randy, I will be sending them soon.