25 things that make me happy

(1) Getting the mail
(2) Sitting down in my seat right before the start of a hockey game
(3) John Coltrane playing "My Favorite Things"
(4) Terry's laugh
(5) Thickly sliced Swiss cheese
(6) A clean car
(7) A clean kitchen
(8) A clean bathroom
(9) Pretty much a clean anything
(10) A Saturday with no appointments, kids activities or obligations
(11) Dennis Miller doing stand-up (before he got all political all the time)
(12) The sound of my kids' voices
(13) A well-played cello
(14) Any memory of Mapledale Elementary School, circa 1978
(15) Game shows
(16) Running
(17) World War I books
(18) Really, really dark chocolate
(19) Any given episode of "The Jeffersons"
(20) Libraries
(21) Spotting planets in the sky (not the stars so much, just the planets)
(22) Landing on Boardwalk AND Park Place early in the game, ensuring that eventually I will crush you
(23) The Guinness Book of World Records
(24) Virtually any comedy produced in the early 80s
(25) Maps

An announcement, plus four random thoughts

I've very much enjoyed doing this whole blog thing over the past 3 1/2 weeks. I hadn't maintained a blog in years, and I forgot how much fun it could be interacting with readers.

But here's the thing: Time management is an issue here. In order to maintain an updated-every-24-hours sort of blog, I have to purposely carve out time in my daily schedule to write, and that's not something I think I can do long term...or maybe I'm just not willing to do it.

In any case, the effect is the same. But I want to keep the blog going. So I think the best compromise will be to post once a week. That I can handle. Is everyone cool with that? I still have it set up so that new entries will be automatically posted on Facebook and Twitter, so if you're interested in reading, the links will be there. Or, as always, you're welcome to visit www.theystillcallmedaddy.com whenever you'd like to check for new posts and/or browse old ones.

OK? OK.

Four things that may be of interest only to me:

1. I like jazz music. Love listening to Coltrane, Miles Davis, Branford Marsalis, Louis Armstrong, etc. But apparently being a jazz lover means having to adopt the jazz language. Talking to jazz devotees entails referring to other guys as "cats," and to any particular piece of music you like as "a gas." I read Downbeat magazine -- the unofficial jazz Bible for decades -- and suddenly I feel like Fred Flintstone in that episode where he became "HiFi," the hipster.
2. Toilet paper should be hung so the paper goes over the top, rather than coming out from underneath the roll. Why are we even debating this in the 21st century?
3. Why must some people with whom I grew up here in Cleveland and who later moved away to warmer climates feel so smug and self-righteous when the snow arrives in Northeast Ohio? Like they figured out some incredible secret ("Wait, what if I move to Florida? Then I don't have to deal with the cold weather. I'm a genius!")  while the rest of us are sitting here winter after winter wondering how we could possibly escape. News flash: I like living here. I choose to live here. The fact that you're a snow wuss in no way reflects on me. I should note that this only applies to a small/select group of annoying people, not to the likes of Kevin Buchheit and most of my other desert and tropical friends.
4. The other day I installed a new battery in my car AND went out and bought and installed a new fuse that was needed for it. I'm still walking around like I'm Mr. Goodwrench.