All is calm and bright in my little corner of the world. Yesterday, we watched “A Christmas Story.” For me, it’s the perfect seasonal classic film, yet it often gets dismissed as another gimmicky holiday movie running in those 24-hour TNT marathons. There are so many reasons it’s been my favorite for nearly 40 years, and not just because it’s absurdly funny and makes me laugh every time I see it. “A Christmas Story” makes sense to the kid in me: corner bullies, broken eyeglasses, big dreams and lasting friendships. “I swear, you know all those silly lines,” Rebecca says. Yes, I do, thank you very much. “Some men are…
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Christmas peeve
Now I’m no Ebenezer Scrooge, but I’ll admit I’m not happy about Christmas. It was supposed to be different this year. All of us back together again. Like a reunited band. Even the Spice Girls managed to do that. Sadly, to mangle an infamous quote from John Belushi’s character Jake in the 1980 movie, “The Blues Brothers”: “We’re not getting the band back together.” As of today, we’re staying home alone with our brand new 6.5-foot, pre-lit slim tree sporting its spectacular flickering starburst light topper. There are a few presents under this artificial awesomeness. And a stuffed gnome we named Homey. Unlike past years, we have put up fewer holiday decorations,…
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Potpourri
It’s the first Saturday in December. I’ve been remiss in keeping up with my blog posts. No excuses. So, in the interest of valuable time and word economy, here are things I’ve thought of blogging about but didn’t because the world has changed so much in the last 18 months that most of these topics now seem quite insignificant. Which they are. That said, and with all due respect, as we used to say in our interminable weekly PR staff meetings, here goes nothing: Everyone wanted: Even though the U.S. unemployment rate in November was 4.2% — and flirting with pre-pandemic lows — just about every local business is having trouble…
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Word up
Interestingly, at least I think so, lexicographers at Oxford English Dictionary have chosen their 2021 Word of the Year. It’s “vax.” Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, variations on words related to vaccines have spiked in frequency this year, with double-vaxxed, unvaxxed and anti-vaxxer all seeing a surge. Vax was the obvious choice, since it has made “the most striking impact,” said Fiona McPherson, senior editor of OED, the definitive record of the English language, in a recent BBC interview. “It goes back at least to the 1980s, but according to our corpus, it was rarely used until this year,” she added. I love how those sneaky-smart Britons slip a Latin word such as “corpus” into an everyday sentence…
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You learn
“I recommend biting off more than you can chew to anyone I certainly do I recommend sticking your foot in your mouth at any time Feel free … Swallow it down (what a jagged little pill) It feels so good (swimming in your stomach) Wait until the dust settles. You live, you learn You love, you learn You lose, you learn.” – “You Learn” by Alanis Morissette from her 1995 album “Jagged Little Pill” Lyrics like these from Canadian rocker Alanis Morissette prove that valuable lessons are often learned from poor decisions. Live and learn, as my folks always said. Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think, (sorry, couldn’t help myself) that…
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Reserve
Just outside Brimley in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula along Lake Superior on Whitefish Bay, our dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree. “Reserve fuel warning. Find a gas station now. You idiot.” All true, except for that last part. My words for me. We were below a quarter tank of fuel, which triggers something in the engine system and causes the reserve warning light to appear. Driving north to the UP, as it’s known by locals (“Yoopers”) and down staters (“Trolls”) like us, who live all points south of the Mackinac Bridge, we had spent the last six hours on the road. Until now, it was a happily uneventful Monday. We…
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Where were you?
Hard to believe it’s been 20 years since that fateful morning in September. Not a cloud in the sky. A crisp fall chill in the air. A perfect day. Where were you? Driving to work. Making your bed. Walking the dog. For me, it was the final week of my medical leave before going back to work after open-heart surgery that summer. I was 41, tanned, rested and ready to rejoin the rat race. Until I wasn’t. I wouldn’t know this until six months later when my doctor diagnosed me with a form of PTSD and prescribed Zoloft, which helped and got me through the worst of my post-op anxiety.…
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No leaks
So, last week driving Mustang Sal on Main Street through Royal Oak, this middle-aged guy on a Yamaha motorcycle pulled up next to me at a red light. “Nice car,” he said. I was flattered and rather pleased that he hadn’t called me ma’am. Or sir, for that matter. For the record, it’s happened. At Kroger, Costco, McDonald’s drive-thrus. Whatever. Darn N-95 masks. Plus, I had just gotten a haircut and was wearing a black baseball cap with a silver pony embroidered above “MUSTANG” in red letters. Looking like a brother from another mother, I turned my head, smiled and asked if he owned a classic car. He said that he…
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Perk-ulated?
The COVID-19 hits just keep on coming. Now a shot in the arm may not only get you a million bucks, but also a seat at the movies. Or a table inside a restaurant. Even a workout among other so-called elites who have the sense to be fully vaccinated. Rather than resort to mandates, which apparently violate the right to remain healthy, this new idea is to incentivize the unvaccinated with perks to get them inoculated. Money, food, fitness. That sort of thing. I’m OK with that. As I told an anti-vaxxer the other day: “If you aren’t vaccinated, you can’t hug me. There’s a consequence.” Not that it would matter to some.…
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Dog and pony show
Madison and Max are two dogs of very different breeds and backgrounds. Although they’ve never met, the lucky canines have one thing in common: They both attended classic car shows this past weekend. It’s not uncommon to see dogs walking their humans at these outdoor events. In fact, at one car show over the weekend, I actually heard a spectator say it was “like being at a dog show with some cars on display.” Funny. And that’s where we were Saturday – at the Fifth Annual Main Street Memories “Wheels on the Waterfront” in beautiful downtown Port Huron, Michigan. Billed as “the fastest-growing car show in the area,” the popular event…
