Today is Sunday, April 22 and there are only 203 days until my birthday.  Remember it is never too early to start shopping.  Feel  free to contact me for suggestions.  Today we remember the birthdays of Henry Clay, Vladimir Nabokov and Ryan Stiles.  On this day in 687 BC the Chinese recorded a meteor shower in Lyra, in 1823 RJ Tyers patented roller skates and in 1969 the first human eye transplant was performed.  In Brazil it is Discovery Day, in Oklahoma it is Oklahoma Day, in Spain it is Queen Isabella Day and in the US it is National Girl Scout Leader’s Day and National Jelly Bean Day.

The big news is that Barbara and I got married this past week in a small, quiet ceremony in Newport, Rhode Island.  Initially we had not intended to go that route, but after much discussion we realized we would not be able to put something together that would allow us to include both our families and friends in one place.  We decided that it would be simpler to “elope” and then just have parties to celebrate.

We left New Jersey on Monday in a blowing rain storm.  It was coming down so hard that every time we crossed a bridge I looked to see if Noah was on his way out to sea.  We got there and took care of getting the marriage license set up.  The day of the event started out nicely.  There was some sun and clouds, but it was good.  We spent some time touring one of the mansions, did some shopping and then went to the Newport Winery.  While at the winery, we did a tasting.  An interesting sidelight was that our friend Janet and Barbara did some matchmaking.  There was a nice young lady next to us who appeared to be interested in the guy pouring the wines.  Janet and Barbara convinced the girl to leave her name and phone number and then gave it to the guy and encouraged him to call.  Who knows?  Maybe they will get married in Newport!  

As we got closer to the time for the ceremony, it got cloudier and windier and colder.  The ceremony took place in a nice park down on the harbor.  We had planned on wearing jeans and our Tommy Bahama shirts.  We ultimately did, but you couldn’t really see the shirts because we kept our jackets on.  It was a nice ceremony and the person performing it did not waste a lot of time.  He was as cold as we were.  We went out for a nice dinner and then back to our hotel.  I am sure everyone was thinking that we were having an evening of marital bliss.  In reality, we were sitting stretched out in chairs, watching TV, letting dinner settle and trying not to make body noises.

On another front, I have been noticing a new trend that I am curious about.  What is it with guys not shaving?  Almost every celebrity looks like he has about three or four days growth on his face.  It is not a beard, yet, just a scruffy look that seems to be a requirement for males lately.  I generally shave every day.  Sometimes I let it go for a day or two, at the most, but then I need to shave.  Scruffy beards are a lot like Velcro.  Things stick to them.  When you are eating and use a napkin, parts of it stay in your beard.  The same thing happens when you use a tissue.  You always want to be careful that you don’t have little bits of paper stuck to your face.

Then you have the guys who go overboard and grow long beards that could really stand a trim or a combing occasionally.  Do we really need to see what you had for your last couple meals in your facial hair?  Why is it that people do not worry about grooming anymore?  A guy gets up in the morning, rubs his head and then goes out without ever thinking about running a comb through his hair.  Maybe it is my upbringing or the time I spent in the service, but I make sure my hair is neat just to go out to pick up the newspaper in the driveway.  In some cases, men spend a great deal of time and money getting their hair to look like they just got up and didn’t care how they looked when they went out.  These trends are like so many others.  It is cool when a few people do it, but then everybody gets into the act and after a while they all start to look the same.  You know the trend is almost over when you start to see guys in their 60’s doing it.

That seems to happen a lot.  Young people start a trend and then they carry it with them as they get older.  Older people start to pick up on it and before you know it, everyone is doing it.  You see it often with guys in their 50’s wearing baseball caps backwards.  I have always wondered about why you would want to do that in the first place.  The purpose of the bill on the cap is to shade your eyes, not protect your neck from the sun.  Another trend you see more of lately is guys with their pants half way down their butts.  I have seen older guys doing that, but usually someone is chasing after them saying, “Grandpa, you forgot your belt again.  Pull your pants up before you fall.”

This week our fact tells us that, according to studies, men change their minds two to three times more than women.  Sure they do!  They are just trying to guess at what the woman wants them to think!