Today is July 16 and there are only 118 days until my birthday.  I only mention it because I don’t want it to sneak up on you.  Today we remember the birthdays of Giuseppe Piazzi, Orville Redenbacher and Pinchas Zuckerman.  On this day in 1439 kissing was banned in England, in 1945 the first atomic bomb was detonated at Trinity Site, Alamogordo, New Mexico and in 1990 the Empire State Building caught fire, no fatalities.  In Bolivia it is La Paz Day, in Washington, DC it is District of Columbia Day and in the US it is National Corn Fritter Day and National Ice Cream Day.

I have noticed an interesting thing lately.  There is an intersection that I go through on a regular basis, sometimes going straight and sometimes turning left.  It is when I am going straight that I generally notice this and not just at this intersection.  When the left turn arrow turns green, the cars going straight (yes even I have done it) start to go and then realize they still have a red light, so they stop.  I guess it is some kind of reflex thing. Your eye sees green and you start to go.  What makes it interesting is that when they finally get the green light, they don’t go right away (no, I don’t do that).  I guess they are afraid that the light is trying to trick them again.  Usually you have to beep to get them going.  I have said this before, but when you are at a red light, your only responsibility is to wait for the green light and then go.  If you start to go on the arrow, okay, no big deal.  If you are so ready to go, why don’t you move when the light is actually green?  Just wondering.

Another thing that puzzles me is the appearance of fast food sandwiches.  I watch the commercials on TV and immediately want to run out and get a sandwich.  They look so good.  The meat is juicy, the lettuce and tomato look fresh and delicious, the buns look so fluffy and delicious, I really want to get one of those sandwiches.  Having been to those various restaurants, I still want to get one of the sandwiches they show in the commercials.  The real thing looks nothing like the ones on TV.  The lettuce and tomato look like leftovers from a local salad bar.  The meat does not look juicy and, in some cases, does not look especially edible.  The bun looks like they sat a brick on top of it before they wrapped it.  It doesn’t look particularly fresh, nor does it in any way resemble the advertisement.

I sometimes wonder if anyone with the store has ever seen the commercials or has any idea of what the food is supposed to look like.  I imagine the franchise owner is content to have his stuff go out however it goes.  His thought is that as long as people keep coming back, there’s no problem.  The company bigwigs know how stuff looks on the commercials and figure that must be the way it actually looks.  They don’t know for sure because they don’t actually eat the stuff they sell.  They usually go to Subway.

The other day I saw something that I thought was amusing.  I was running an errand and I drove past a flat bed tow truck with a car on it.  The guy I assume was the driver was walking around and I thought he was checking to make sure everything was in order before driving off.  About 30 minutes later, I was on my way home and looking ahead, I saw that the tow truck was still there.  As I got closer, I saw that there was a second tow truck hooking up to the first one.  I don’t know about anyone else, but I thought it was funny.  I guess you had to be there.

I recently took my two grandsons to one of those places where you get all padded up and then go into a special area and shoot at people with pellet guns.  I could hear the boys in the other room and they sounded like they were having a ball.  While I was sitting there waiting for them to finish, a group of young men came in and were preparing to go in for their turn.  One kid in particular was quite proud of himself.  He wore camouflage pants, an olive drab t-shirt and strutted around preening.  He was carrying his weapon and was going through a series of poses, I guess trying to impress the old guy (me) with how cool he was.  I let him go for a while and then I got up to “stretch my legs” and turned so that he could see that I was wearing one of my Vietnam Veteran shirts.  He spotted the shirt, turned and walked off and I didn’t see him again.  I hope he found someone to impress in a different room.

I know that when you go down the shore, things are more relaxed and generally everyone takes things easy.  I agree with that attitude, to a point.  Barbara’s two granddaughters are visiting us so we took them and my two grandsons to spend some time on the boardwalk, going on rides, eating huge slices of pizza and eating other stuff that isn’t good for us.  We were getting ready to go home and I thought it might be a good idea to use the men’ room.  As I was leaving the room, I saw a kid come in and he was barefoot.  Yes I said barefoot – in a public restroom on the boardwalk!  One look at the wet floor in there and I wished I had worn boots.  This kid was barefoot walking in who knows what (actually I think we have a good idea of what he was walking in) and was totally oblivious.  It must be great to be young and stupid.

This week our fact tells us that it is illegal in Georgia to use profanity in the presence of a corpse.  It can’t be because they are afraid to offend the corpse, so I am at a loss as to why.  What if you are cursing about the cost of the funeral and the deceased just happens to be in the room?  Some day I hope they publish something giving the explanation behind these bizarre laws.

In the meantime, go get some ice cream and celebrate the day