Today is Sunday, June 10 and there are only 204 days until New Year’s Eve, so you might want to get over to NYC to stake out your spot for the big festivities.  Today we remember the birthdays of John Morgan, Frederick Loewe and F Lee Bailey.  On this day in 1752 Ben Franklin’s kite was struck by lightning, in 1776 the Continental Congress appointed a committee to write the Declaration of Independence and in 1902 HF Callahan received a patent for the window envelope.  In Portugal it is the Day of Portugal, in Azores it is Camoes Day, in Cape Verde it is National Day and in the US it is National Ballpoint Pen Day, National Black Cow Day and National Iced Tea Day.

I have a few of things to discuss this week.  None of them are particularly important, but I do feel that they warrant some attention.  One thing that managed to drive me crazy happened during our ride home from South Carolina recently.  I use a GPS device that helps me navigate the various roads I need to take to get where I am going.  The problem is that the device also gives me real-time traffic updates.  This is not a bad thing, but when it does it every two or three minutes, until I pass the alternate route cutoff, it can become a pain.  I keep hearing, “Traffic on your route has changed.  There is an alternate route that is five minutes faster.  Do you wish to take that route?”

I usually respond with a no and keep going on the planned route.  This past week, we were sitting in traffic in one of the usual bottleneck areas, around DC, and “Ethel”, as I call the device, offered me an alternate route that was 23 minutes faster.  I decided to take that route.  We followed the directions that “Ethel” gave us for a short time and then ran into more traffic.  At that point “Ethel” said, “Traffic on your route has changed and your arrival time is now delayed by 20 minutes (I won’t go into the profanity I directed at her).  There is an alternate route that is 15 minutes faster.  Do you wish to take that route?”  I responded with a disgusted yes and off we went on the alternate to our alternate.  We finally got home despite the traffic and “Ethel’s” alternate routes.

Another item I wish to discuss is the use of language lately.  One thing that makes me nuts is when people talk about getting something done right away.  They say it should be done “uhmediately” as if the word is spelled with an “a”.  Note that I said “an a” not a “a” … but I digress.  The word is immediately.  I know it is a small thing, but could we try to pronounce it correctly?  Another language issue that made me crazy the other night was when a news broadcast kept referring to “a bus accident on a highway that was packed with children.”  The highway was not “packed with children,” the bus was.  They could have said, “A bus full of children was involved in an accident on a highway…” and that would have made more sense.  If nothing else, I am sure Barbara would appreciate it if people would be more careful so that she did not have to listen to me go on and on about it.  I thank you, on her behalf.

The other day I made a trip to the grocery store.  When I got there I got a cart and noticed that there was a cup holder on the cart.  I thought that was nice until I thought about it a little more.  The holder is in the front right corner of the cart.  If you put your beverage in it, you cannot reach it while you are pushing the cart.  So, each time you want to take a sip of your drink, you have to stop the cart, walk to the front, take a drink and then go back to pushing.  In the meantime, you have managed to block the aisle you are in and annoyed the people around you.  Now, if there are some senior citizens or those people on those electric carts, they will just walk or drive into you, probably causing you to drop or spill … sorry digressing again.  Let me just say that I think this is one of those things where the person who created the cup holder idea goes home at night laughing about the confusion he or she has caused with their design.

As I was leaving the store, I watched as a car came down the aisle I was parked in, swerving and stopping, and I wondered if they were having a medical emergency.  It turns out that the woman was just putting on her seat belt.  I would think it would be simpler to buckle up before pulling out of the space.  This way you would not risk hitting people or cars in the process.  Most cars have an annoying beeping alert and a little red figure that shows on the dashboard to remind you to buckle up.  Why would you wait until you are driving to do it?  Just wondering.

This week our fact is another in the long list of laws that need some explanation as to why it was needed.  In Kentucky, it is illegal to carry an ice cream cone in your back pocket.  I may have mentioned this one before, but it strikes me as one of the more ridiculous laws and I cannot help but wonder why they felt it was necessary.  Personally, I think it would be a little crazy to carry an ice cream cone in any pocket.  I prefer to eat my ice cream cone.  If I have gotten one for someone else, it would be simpler to just carry it.  If it is in your back pocket, you might not notice that it was running and you would not have the opportunity to use the “I had to lick it to keep it from making a mess” excuse.