editor's blog
Because of the late hours that I work, there aren't a whole lot of things that I look forward to setting an alarm in the morning for.
But Monday, I considered it an honor to wake to my alarm, because I knew the special nature of the occasion I was waking for.
It was Monday morning that we went to the high school and the middle school to honor the Teachers of the Year — a promotion we do each year and a small token of just how much we appreciate the teachers in our community.
Wait a minute.
That can't be true.
Riding a bicycle around town has the same laws as driving a car around town.
Are you saying that going down a one-way street the wrong way on a bike is in violation of the law?
Oh, boy, somebody is in trouble.
It's hard to believe, but bicycle laws parallel the laws that govern those for automobiles.
A bike is considered a vehicle when operating on a public thoroughfare and, thus, is subject to the same laws as any other moving vehicle.
You mean to tell me there's no riding a bike down the sidewalk?
Editor's Note: Sometimes, life knocks us down — literally. This week, the flu had me down for a day, putting me a bit behind schedule, and I was unable to write a column. Fortunately, I was browsing last year's columns, from when I was on the sports pages, and came across this column. It is one of my favorites I've written and one that led to the most "I can relate," comments. I hope you enjoy!
Over the course of the past week-and-a-half, I've been doing a lot of thinking about dandelions.
So what's the deal with tall people?
They think they're better than everyone just because they're a little bit closer to the sun and know when it's raining slightly before everyone else.
They're always hitting their heads off stuff, and they don't fit into anything.
If you happen to get into place behind one of these redwoods at a parade or sporting event, good luck seeing anything.
Admittedly, they're ideal for basketball, volleyball, high shelves and chicken fights in the swimming pool, but other than that, what are they good for?
It's dark. You've gotten up out of bed at 4 a.m. — or never went to bed to begin with — and all in the name of hunting a spring gobbler.
For the last 15 years or so, I've been out with my oldest son, Joe, in pursuit of the elusive spring gobbler.
I say elusive, because these turkeys have nothing to fear from me, since I've not successfully harvested one of the big birds in all of these years.
Not only have I not harvested a bird, but I've never even seen one up close enough to fire a shot.
One positive is that I save a lot of cash by not having to buy shotgun shells every year.
It is an exciting time to be a sports fan.
In fact, I would argue that every single day is an exciting time to be a sports fan — except for that one day in the middle of the summer right around the Major League Baseball All-Star Game where there are no games scheduled. That day stinks.
But still, at least 364 days out of the year, it's exciting to be a sports fan.
Today, though, I might argue, is perhaps one of the most exciting days of the year to be a sports fan, at least this year.
A laugh a day should be part of everyone's makeup, but sometimes, the serious stuff has to intervene to make life interesting.
Many times this column will go for the laugh — if only for the month — but even the mundane has to creep in sometimes. This is one of those times.
May is a great month for fun and frolic with Mother's Day and Memorial Day, but for Pennsylvanians, there comes a day for thought and serious consideration.
Yesterday, after giving one particular Internet browser a trial run on my newer laptop, I decided to switch back to the one that I've used since college because I realized I missed some of the components I'd grown accustomed to.
I downloaded the new browser, opened it up and was comfortable once again.
It felt good to be back in the safe, comfortable arms of the browser's latest version, Zakintosh 3.0 (as we'll call it not to show favoritism or start any geek wars about the proper browsers).
Well, I was sitting around minding my own business one day when my wife, whom I refer to as "Dr. Linda," scheduled a colonoscopy for me last fall after a blood test showed that I had a low blood count.
As you recall in this little saga I call my life, we had done the Disney vacation thing in Orlando, and my colonoscopy was scheduled after that. If you don't know what a colonoscopy is, I'll just say the good part is they knock you out for it.
Some things in our lives are so much a part of us that we forget to realize that they're actually happening around us.
For example, breathing is something that we do constantly, but we tend to forget that we are even doing it until something makes it harder to breathe.
Or, perhaps we could look at blinking. We blink multiple times a minute, and yet, we hardly even realize we're doing it.
Desensitization is a normal, necessary part of life, because if we were fully aware of every single thing that we did, we'd go crazy processing all of these things.
