Friday Donuts

Dear Members and Constituents, The holiday weekend is half-a-day away. We all know what's coming... Weenies are hiding in a dark corner of your fridge hoping they can avoid being grilled. Fire crackers are sure to loose their temper and blow-up over starry skies. Life is sweet! You can almost feel that drop of condensed water falling off your ice-cold brew and rolling onto your cheek as you wipe your brow and contemplate the possibilities. Life is sweeter!! And, donuts are here. Life is sweetest!!! You'd think it would be impossible to improve on that good feeling. You'd be wrong. There is one sure way to add to that feeling of overall goodness and that is to do something good for someone else. You might, for instance, sponsor Dee Jones' 157 mile bike ride to raise funds for the Children's Hospital. She's dedicating her ride on the 2009 Courage Classic to 3 1/2 year old Cullen McReynolds (pictured). Less than a month ago Cullen was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma,...

Dear members and constituents, We all engage in it. That hallway exchange meant to show a friendly gesture, good will and acknowledge some form of social interaction is warranted between you and the person you're greeting. It goes something like this: "Good morning, how are you today?" and the reply can range the gamut but is generally conveyed in positive terms, something like "good and you?". With the fast pace of modern life, you only have time for one more volley before you're out of ear shot (or have to stop and make a real conversation). While the positive response sandwiched in the middle of that short chatter is usually nothing more than a formality, I believe creating a meaningful scale that uses these common responses in a hierarchical manner might help us to convey more useful information in what has otherwise become a rather ritualistic formality. I propose the following scale Never better (this has to be at the top, if there were something bette...