Anything I might have planned to say has been trumped by the devastating earthquake in Japan. But as I can’t really add anything new, I’ll leave that to the journalists already on it. I will add that I was very, very moved while watching the “home” videos taken during the shaker. Too close to home. Too many scary memories of 1994 and 1971.
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Only the Good Die Young” by Billy Joel. Got stuck in my head on Monday and didn’t leave. All week. Funny song about a boy unsuccessfully trying seduce a Catholic girl.
The song was released in 1977 and banned by many radio stations. Of course, you can’t BUY that kind of publicity, and the song shot to the top of the charts.
“I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints… the sinners are much more fun.” Ahh.
Here’s a great live version.
Not pretty but just delicious!
RECIPE OF THE WEEK: Baked Macaroni and Cheese by Alton Brown. Yep, culinary god Alton knows how to cook comfort food, my friends. Big time. Don’t waste time reading all the comments, just make this dish and wolf it down and smile. Recipe is here.
PS – The only change I made was using dried onions (2 T) instead of the fresh chopped ones. I was lazy. Don’t forget to try frying the leftovers as Alton recommends. I couldn’t; we had no leftovers.
A RANT ABOUT SHOPPING CARTS: I drive my daughter about 4 miles to school every morning. As we get close to her high school, we enter into a neighborhood that is a little more socio-economically challenged. My daughter pointed out an abandoned shopping cart forlornly occupying a corner we passed. It caused us both to notice more carts along the way, until we’d counted eight or so on sidewalks, lawns and alleys. My daughter asked about them, and I explained that when people don’t have cars they walk to the grocery store. They push the carts all the way home, and then just leave them. Sometimes the carts are retrieved by a cart service, other times they are vandalized or stolen for personal use. She was surprised and a little troubled. “Can’t they just buy a cart for themselves?” I told her many of them probably could – they sell the kind you drag along behind you fairly cheap at the swap meet – but they choose to use the “free” ones instead. After she got out of the car, I counted eleven more across the street from the school.
Why is that? Is it just a sense of entitlement? Or a minor sort of rebellion? Surely it costs the supermarkets money in retrieval, damages and flat out loss of carts, which affects us all.
I’ll stop now before I start sounding like Michael Josephson (for whom I hold the deepest respect) on Character Counts.
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AND WHAT THE JUDGE SAID…
He said it to Lindsay Lohan, but he meant it for Mel Gibson and Charlie Sheen, too, and anyone else who seems to think their notoriety gets them some special privilege in this world: “You’re no different than anyone else. So please… don’t push your luck.” Hear, hear.
