Taxes and Tikis...

So many words so little space and time. Desperately trying to make a Friday “to do”, but a rush of things makes me resort to the “have done/to do” approach…

Have Done..

Not much, but did attend a couple of lectures this week. The first was a “last lecture” by Prof. Dan Ingersoll from the college. He is retiring, and the college has instituted the “last lecture” policy which allows their staff to have a chance for a “I’ve always wanted to say this” or to reminisce on their career or whatever. Dr. Ingersoll was in the anthropology department and did a lot of research on Easter Island culture. He gave a very intriguing talk on why you don’t want to be rich or famous..very humorous. Other items like the old conundrum on hanging on to your ties, because wide is fashionable, then thin, then wide, etc..

Then, last night we again went down to the college and listened to Gwen Ifill, host of “Washington Week” a highly regarded news show from DC. She was here as part of the Benjamin Bradlee Lectures in Journalism series. Pay attention to those, they are worth attending. Tom Brokaw, Bob Woodward, and even Tony Kornheiser (who thought SMCM was on the eastern shore) have been previous speakers. Ms. Ifill was an engaging speaker who has a great sense of humor and is not full of herself. She spoke a lot about “journalism” as opposed to the onslaught of data now thrown at us through facebook, twitter, and Wikipedia. She was particularly critical of the latter (as was Dr. Ingersoll), although she said that it might provide a starting place, but it was the responsibility of the real journalist to verify, dig deeper. She said her premise was that people were smart enough to make up their own minds if presented with the facts. Questions were interesting. “Is the government broke?” Yes, sort of, with following remarks. It’s obvious why some people get to where they are.. It was heartening to see the audience was made up predominately of students. When I was in college, I wouldn’t have set down my beer to go hear a journalist.

A little diversion here, almost deserving of a rant, but not quite. Of course, Ms. Ifill is a regional if not national celebrity and so there were several photographers present. I always think that the more camera bodies and long gray lenses they have, the more prestigious the publication they are supporting. Anyway there was this one guy with three bodies and lenses dangling off him, one about the length of your forearm. And, he had this flash attachment that emitted enough light that would make a solar flare proud. After the lecture I also noticed that there was a stationary flash mounted in the back of the room. So, when he pressed the shutter it was like a nuclear flash occurred. They were extremely short duration, but it lit up the whole place. I think there wasn’t a minute of the whole lecture that he wasn’t shooting. Front right, back right, left back, front right, in close. All evening long! And once you start to notice….. “Good evening, I’m glad to be here on the campus of your beautiful school”. Pretty much did that the whole evening. Don’t these people have any sense of propriety? I’m sure their response would be “Just doin’ my job, buddy, what’s your problem?” And, although some of my best friends are photographers, I have never observe this rude behavior from them..

After we returned from the lecture we watched a TV show on MPT called Chesapeake Wine Country. It featured several of the “wine trails”, with the notable exception of St. Mary’s County with no mention of Port of Leonardtown nor Slack (or any other local winery). Since I’m getting more involved with beer these days, it was interesting to note that one of the “hosts” for the program was the owner of Clipper City Brewery, producer of Heavy Seas beers. Kind of odd...

To Do:

Today:
File your Taxes by midnight. Hey, the government needs our money.
Go to the Tiki bar opening
Enjoy activities at Earth Day in Leonardtown.
Attend a lecture on the discovery of an 18th century ship at the world trade center (La Plata campus of CSM; 7pm)
Attend a concert by the SMCM Jazz Band and combo (playing Elton John and Steely Dan) at 8pm in Auerbach Auditorium

Over the weekend:

Attend the Smithsonian Craft Show, Building Museum in DC, awesome stuff.
Saturday – SMCM world fair; Annual Fun and Run for Hospice;
Sunday - Grand Opening of the Leonardtown Art Center (sort of our version of the torpedo factory) 12:30 (more earth day stuff as well); Larry Vote will direct the Choir & Chamber Singers of St. Mary's College in the German Requiem by Johannes Brahms. Brian Ganz and Beverly Babcock will accompany. 5pm Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Lexington Park. no fee

Enough?

Okay, just one food note. Last night when we left the Ifill lecture, we decided to order CiCi pizza for pickup on the way home. (please, no comments, it’s cheap and convenient). So, I call on the cell phone. Hello, this is CiCi, can you hold. Yes. …………….. Okay, what would you like?
A large pizza, all pepperoni, half black olive and half mushrooms. Okay, so you want a pizza with half pepperoni, and half mushrooms and olives? No, I want pepperoni all over and then half mushrooms and half black olive. Got it pepperoni on the whole pizza and then mushrooms and olives on the other half? Well, almost, I want the mushrooms and olives on different halves. Oh! Mercifully when I got it, it was what I wanted. Did I miss something? Is this hard? Am I speaking the wrong language.. sigh.

Well, maybe two foodie notes. I always read the “Around Town” section of the Friday insert to see what restaurant is described. This week it’s a new restaurant in Port Tobacco called Crabby Dick’s. I believe that the old Copsey’s in Charlotte Hall is now Crabby Rick’s. Not to be confused. Anyway hard on the heels of last week’s (?) description of crab wrapped around chicken over mac and cheese finished with more cheese, Crabby Dick’s features one of those Crab Pretzel things. Why do people do that? It’s silly!!! Oh, it’s a signature dish. Sheesh.

DFD