Today is Sunday, July 31 and there are only 147 days until Christmas.  Time to dig out the fruit cake you got from Aunt Betty, dust it off and get it ready to be passed on to someone else.  Today we remember the birthdays of John Ericsson, Primo Levi and William Bennett.  On this day in 1777 Marquis de Lafayette, 19, was made major-general of the Continental Army, in 1813 the British invaded Plattsburgh, NY and in 1953 the Department of Health, Education and Welfare was created.  In Mexico it is the Day of National Mourning and in the US it is National Raspberry Cake Day.

I would like to start out by asking for information.  Each week, after I post, I look at the stats for the previous week to see how many people have read my ramblings.  While the number is usually nice, what I find very interesting is that a number of people outside the US have read this blog.  People in countries like France, Portugal and Russia.  What I would like to know is how did you come across the blog in the first place?  I hope some of you will take the opportunity to post comments telling me to help settle my curiosity.  Thanks.

I have mentioned a number of times that I am getting old.  I know, we all are, but then I  see that, as mentioned earlier, I am older than the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and I start to realize that not everything has been around forever.  It is interesting to find out some of the things that came about after I did.  Some of the stuff was invented while I was just a kid and I didn’t really know about it.  As I got older, it was there and I never thought about it.

So, I decided to do some research, sort of a masochistic journey back in time, just to see some of the many things that were created after I was.  As an example, the credit card.  This is something I never really thought much about.  It was a convenience that people used instead of carrying a lot of cash all the time.  But then I found out that my parents were carrying me before they carried a credit card.  Some of the other items I preceded were the hover craft, video recorder and tape, tape cassette, Mr Potato Head, Velcro, power steering, Doritos and Quaker Instant Oatmeal.  I could go on, but why bother?  So many things that I thought were always around are actually younger than me.  If you ever want to feel old, research things that were invented after you were born.

One of the benefits to getting older is the entertainment value of having your hearing diminish a little.  I have always used the excuse that my hearing was not great because I was a jet engine mechanic in the US Air Force.  That may have had some effect, but the truth is that it is also age-related.  If you aren’t sure that is so, spend some time with older people.  You will notice two things – one is that everyone says “What?” a lot and the other is that they all seem to talk loudly.  My father used to claim that he did not have a hearing problem, it was just that we all mumbled.  But I digress …

As I said earlier, there is a certain entertainment value.  TV commercials are a great source.  For example, the other evening I was watching TV and a car commercial came on.  Keep in mind that when commercials come on, I sort of zone out and don’t pay too much attention.  But this car commercial got me when they announced that they were having their annual Freakin’ sale.  I was disappointed when I looked at the screen and saw it was actually a Freedom sale.

Another commercial that got me was one that started out with a boy talking about a reaction to peanuts, except that I was on my way to the kitchen and thought he had reacted to a body part (you know what I mean).  I almost pulled a muscle getting back to the living room to find out what that was all about.  Disappointingly, it was an allergy medication and the boy had reacted to peanuts.  Another commercial was about carpet cleaning and someone who I thought was Russian, except the guy was saying meet Kyle not Mikhail.  The are many more examples I could give, but I am sure you get the idea.  At least now you have something to look forward to as you get older.

Speaking of commercials, there is one that has been on recently that I find interesting.  It features a guy pitching a phone network.  This guy used to work for a different phone network, but they stopped using the series he was doing.  We haven’t seen much of him until recently.  Now he is pushing this new network.  The best part is that he is an actor doing a script, but we are supposed to believe that the network is the best because he said so and he should know because he used to read the script for the other guy.  I wonder if it would be the same if he were selling hemorrhoid cream.  He would talk earnestly about how good it was and then look into the camera and say, “Can you sit down now?”

This week our fact tells us that the longest officially recognized place name is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu.  You would have to have an awfully big bumper to be able to put on a Visit … sticker.  Imagine the groan from the crowd at football games when the cheerleaders start, “Gimme a T …”