Friday Donuts

Dear Members and Constituents, Is it just me or is the media abusing the term "historic" these days? From the historic election of a blackberry-toting president to his historic inauguration ceremony to the issuing of a historic commemorative coin. You'd think they could share the wealth and find other suitable words to describe current events. Words like memorable, noteworthy, unique, unusual, innovative, once-in-a-lifetime, rare, newsworthy... spongeworthy! All presidential inaugurations are historic. And one might argue things can be historic for good or bad reasons. All I'm saying is they should ease off the term a bit. After all, historic is something that history will recall and, since history is a compilation of things that have happened in the past, that's not a very high threshold. I think Fezzik, the giant in Princess Bride said it best when he called Vizzini out on his over-use of the word inconceivable: "you keep using that word. I don't think

Dear Members and Constituents, Yesterday in a casual hallway conversation someone mentioned to me it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (to which my only response was "again"). It appears the Christmas weather has put an anonymous donut fan in the Christmas mood. As I arrived at my desk a couple of minutes ago, to my delight, there was a box with three dozen LaMar's donuts with a sticky note on it that read "Is it Tuesday? I think not - let's call it Friday", to which my only response is "amen". I invite the secret benefactor to let us know their identity. I also invite all of you to come on down and partake in an unexpected donut feast. Happy Fri... Tue... let's just say happy donut day!

Dear Members and Constituents, Is it just me, or are we simply surrounded by some truly delectable scenery? There's the whipped cream clouds with a hint of orange glaze on the southeast as the sun rises beneath them, creating a patch of tangerine sorbet fog towards the northwest. The spilled bags of peeled sunflower seed fields with pretzel stick trees raising out of them. And, who could forget, the vanilla wafer cookie walls of the big box housing developments neatly stacked and arranged in orderly rows. Later in the day we have a 30% chance of coconut ice cream snow so we can take it all in a-la-mode. Alright, perhaps if I'd had a bigger dinner last night, my choice of analogies might be different as I describe these sights I enjoyed on my drive into work. I don't know about you, but all this talk of food has suddenly made me hungry (and no, I'm not speaking metaphorically). Fortunately, Tucker Maroney (donut boy) has arrived with five dozen delicious donuts. So take

Dear Members and Constituents, For some reason, this week brought with it a series of vivid childhood memories. Perhaps the trigger was the splendid bald eagle flying past the window in conference room 32C-705 (I was going to be a biologist when I grew up) or it may have been the longing for a warmer climate (my first real winter was experienced at age 19). Whatever the reason, looking back on my childhood, I was surprised by the unexpected flood of memories and emotions I had not been aware I still carried with me. Like files on a rarely accessed network drive, these apparently forgotten moments hid there waiting to be summoned. As my mind's eye wandered through places and events, seemingly random linkages triggered adjacent memories, creating a domino effect which etched a smile on my face. You see, while not perfect, on balance, my childhood was happy. Key components of these pleasant memories were the places where I played. A sunny hillside where I would spend hours collecting

Dear Members and Constituents, Happy New Year! A year filled to the brim with hope and optimism. Where everything is new again and nothing seems impossible. The unmarked pages on the calendar speak of unspoiled potential and unbridled possibilities. Opportunity knocks and we are rested and ready to answer the call. But, why do we start the new year on January 1st? That was the deceivingly simple question Verónica, my teenage daughter, asked during the holiday lull. Why indeed. The closest cosmic event is the winter solstice, nearly two weeks earlier, so I speculated the Julian calendar had slowly fallen out of synch with the solar cycle (which is, of course, why the Gregorian calendar was instituted). Not content with mere speculation, and figuring there had to be a perfectly good explanation, I set-out to find an answer. My speculation proved to be way off the mark. It turns-out January 1st was instituted in 153 BC as the day the new year begins because that was the day the government