Never Too Soon

2011 for someone like me is like 2012 for everyone else.  2011 means the start of the 2012 presidential nominating season.  I’m usually burnt out on the entire enterprise by the June preceding Election Day.  I am well aware that few of my friends remember the short-lived campaigns of Tommy Thompson, Jim Gilmore, or Duncan Hunter for the Republican nomination in 2008.  For me, I will never forget the quixotic campaign of Mike Gravel or the toe-in-the-water attempt at the Democratic nomination by Tom Vilsack in 2008 (he dropped out before the first debate in 2007!).  In my world, the time has come to begin sizing up the potential contenders for the opportunity to challenge Obama for the Presidency.  Pundits are predicting a later start on candidate announcements compared to the 2008 campaign, but I can’t wait any longer. 

 

Here’s what you have to look forward to:

Mike Huckabee:  The GOP loves to nominate their losers from the previous cycle, and Huckabee was the last man standing before McCain clinched the nomination 4 years ago.  Marra and I heard him deliver his living room stump speech in an eco-friendly New Hampshire farmhouse, and he can be very engaging, very witty.  His Fox News exposure should help his name recognition this go-round.  His belief that Earth is only 6,000 years old might discourage independents, and people who can think.  He put forth the fair tax as a key proposal in 2008.  I am interested to see if he tries to ride the tax issue all the way to the nomination.

Ron Paul:  Half Republican, half Libertarian, half cocked.  A man who votes strictly according to his philosophies is admirable.  A man who doesn’t vote according to reality is unelectable.  I like him in the mix, though, because he does challenge conventional wisdom, something that is sometimes sorely lacking in GOP candidate “debates”.

Haley Barbour:  Current Governor of Alabama and former head of Republican National Committee, poised to run as an outsider because he has a Southern accent.  The vision of a white, heavyset male Southerner with a thick drawl running against a thin, black male from Chicago is too much for me to bear.  The media would eat it up, and our fantasy of a post-racial world would disappear faster than Gore votes in a Palm County recount.

Tim Pawlenty:  He was on the short list for VP in 2008 (you have to wonder how short that list was…).  His book tour begins January 11^th.  Let’s see how that goes first.  He is also known for taking principled positions, like refusing federal funds that could help the citizens of his state.  So what if his constituents suffer for his political posturing?  He’s a leader, but then again, so was the Pied Piper.

Sarah Palin:  Don’t worry, I’m kidding.  According to the recent polling data, only defenseless caribou want her to run.

Rick Santorum:  This season’s Sam Brownback – looks good on TV, but then he starts talking.  When I think of Santorum, the first thing that pops into my head are his views on bestiality, and that can’t be a good sign for his chances.

Mitt Romney:  Just because his hair doesn’t move when the wind blows doesn’t mean he is the heir apparent to Reagan.  He has a major dilemma, since he signed an individual mandate for health insurance into law in Massachusetts, and that issue is sure to be a candidate litmus test in 2012.  Perhaps he was for it before he was against it.  He can afford to stick around, and hope the other candidates do something dumb, and given this group of names, that could be a winning strategy.

Chris Christie:  He was President of the Student Council my senior year of college at Delaware.  Anyone I went to college with cannot be President. 

 

Jeb Bush:  Don’t discount this guy making an appearance.  Two term governor of a key electoral state (Florida); instant name recognition; access to a large group of well-heeled donors; good connections within Latino community; smarter than George.  Given the fact that he would be surrounded by reality TV show characters, he’d look like the one adult in the room.

Newt Gingrich:  His professorial tone will sink him, since the average voter wants to elect someone they could have a beer with.  More voters would prefer to dump a beer over his head.  His ex-wives will be offered a daytime show to compete with The View, and Newt will return to throwing stones from a comfortable distance.  It is also easy to misspell his last name as Gingrinch, and that won’t help.

John Thune:  He has a chance, simply because no one knows who he is, and he lives near Iowa, a critical state for anyone with a real interest in the Presidency.  He’s tall, too.  That’s important.  Just ask Dennis Kucinich.

Mitch Daniels:  The first time I saw this name, I thought it was a gag.  Mitch Daniels sounded like the name of the Godfather in Old School (part played by Luke Wilson).  After some exhaustive research, I discovered that the character’s name was Mitch Martin, not Daniels, but you get my point.  Daniels, Indiana governor, combines the positive qualities of other candidates, like Thune (unknown), Bush (governor of key state), and Santorum (not ugly).  Beyond that, he feels to me like the Evan Bayh of the GOP – good on paper, but that’s about it.  VP option, and maybe that’s why his name is being floated.

I have left out lots of other possibilities – Pataki, Trump, Jindal, Pence, Giuliani, Condi and a yet unknown Tea Bagger-to-be-named-later.  The only guarantee is that “Unopposed” will not appear on the ballot after Obama’s name in November 2012.  We’ll take it slowly.  After all, the Iowa Caucus is still one year away, and time NEVER flies.   Besides, the first scheduled debate isn’t until THIS SPRING at the Reagan Library. 

 

I wonder who will be the first candidate to recommend privatizing the library.  Sarah is even money right now.

New Year’s Revolutions

Revolution (noun): major change: a dramatic change in ideas or practice; or complete circular turn: one complete circular movement made by something round or cylindrical, e.g. a planet around the sun.

One more trip around the sun is nearly complete, so time to take stock and set our sights on the 2011 journey.  Many of you are planning your resolutions for the coming year.  Perhaps these sound familiar:

1.       Lose weight.

2.       Exercise more.

There is nothing wrong with these vague ambitions, but let’s face it.  These 2 have been done to death, and have a shelf life of 4-6 weeks before being added to the scrap heap of good intentions.  Resolution #3 is often “Stop procrastinating, you lazy bum”.  We might be more successful with our goal attainment if that became Resolution #1.

I take the New Year’s resolution business seriously.  I carry my New Year’s resolutions in my wallet, and I do look at them from time to time throughout the year.  I’ve made some progress over time, and on some pretty large goals.  It’s important not to allow perfect to be the enemy of good, I like to say, so I celebrate the progress and vow to work harder at the shortcomings.

  

I am not into sharing my goals for 2011 with the virtual sea of humanity that’s flooded the Internet, except for this one public declaration:

I will grow grass.

No, not that kind.  Not that I couldn’t use the extra income, but I am somewhat risk averse in my middle years.  I mean the regular “kids running and playing on” kind.  Simple, right?  Now, let’s make this more specific:

Grow a thick, even, lush, weed-free lawn in the backyard by June 30, 2011.

I will watch You Tube videos demonstrating the proper care and feeding for the lawn.  I will read newspaper columns on the topic.  I will listen to friends and neighbors drone on about their lawns, and this year, I’ll pay attention.   I will not cheat by installing Astroturf.  For some of you, this goal doesn’t demonstrate much ambition on my part.  Let me tell you, though, it is a challenge for me.  I don’t have a green thumb.  In the yard, I am all thumbs, and none of them are even shaded green.  The ambitious part for me is overcoming my fear of failure.  If anyone can kill a lawn, it’s me.  I am the oo7 of lawn care, baby - licensed to kill.  A man’s got to know his limitations, and yard work is one of mine.  Accepting and embracing my problem is the first step towards recovery. 

     

Our backyard experiences both heavy shade in spots and full sun in spots, and it is built on rock solid Virginia red clay.  There are bare spots.  There are spots that collect water during heavy rains.  There are heavy traffic areas.  It can be done, however, with perseverance, dirty hands, and dumb-luck.  I begin 2011 with confidence, the confidence of the ignorant.  It is also the confidence that comes from knowing I won’t have to face the reality of this goal until it gets warmer.  Growing a beautiful lawn in my backyard won’t change the world; just my little corner of it.  I think globally and act locally, and how much more local can I get than the backyard?

I will do this.  It says so in my wallet. 

 

“Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.”

-          Sydney J. Harris

Happy New Year.  I hope to see you or hear from you during the 2011 revolution.

Debrief

I remember that my father asked for very little each Christmas from his children – socks, underwear, and to be left alone for 5 minutes once in awhile.  I realize now that all three items could be easily hidden from public view, unlike a Charlie Brown tie, or a pom-pom knit cap, or a night out at a Disney double feature.  He aspired to the simple, quiet life, but he did have twice as many kids as I do.  Simple was not an option for his every day, but at least he could try to simplify his own Christmas experience.  Now that I have attained a similar age, I ask for the same things he once did.  Ah, the Holy Grail of Simplicity, where are you?  This year, I am happy to report 66% success on my three main requests – I took a nap and got new underwear.  I’ll have to buy my own socks.  Here’s a summary of some other notable Christmas 2010 gifts:

6 New Pairs of Underwear:  Yes, this is what Christmas has become for me – the predictable joy of annually replacing aging pairs of underwear that are a few threads beyond their expiration date.  My new assortment of 6 pairs gives me permission to dispose of 4 pairs.  I cannot bring myself to do a one-for one swap, because I never want to get caught ‘short’.  Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

Tin of Altoids:  The longer one is married, the more important minty fresh breath becomes.  The tin also fits comfortably into the toe of the Christmas stocking, and this benefit cannot be underestimated.  On top of that, they are “curiously refreshing”.

University of Delaware Hooded Sweatshirt:  This gift is 30 years too late, but I can finally cross it off my Bucket List.  This blue and gold masterpiece garnered me the best compliment of the season, from my 6 year old daughter:  “Daddy, you look young in that sweatshirt.”  Kids never lie.

Starbucks Gift Card:  $10 value, good for 2 grande lattes.  So unfair, but so appreciated.

The Dad's Book: For the Dad Who's Best at Everything:  Thomas is at that in-between age, where I can’t tell if the book is meant as an innocent compliment (“You’re the best Dad ever”), or a self-help instruction guide (“Dad, you have some work to do, so read this to see where you are failing to meet my expectations of a father.”)  I’ll assume the former, and would appreciate not being corrected if it is the latter.

Nestles Crunch (Mini-Size):  It makes no difference to me that Lucy has saved this for me since Halloween (hopefully Halloween 2010, but you can never be sure).  It also makes no difference to me that Lucy has given me this same candy treat on several other occasions, including each day leading up to Christmas.  In her mind, this is the first time, and she knows that Nestles Crunch is my favorite candy of all-time.  It isn’t – I’d have to go with Reese’s (preferably frozen).  It was the joy and enthusiasm with which she presented the gift and insisted that I eat it that made the gift special.  No gift receipt with this present – she wanted to see it chewed up, swallowed, and savored.  The real gift was watching her face as I ate the candy.  Sweet. 

 

Toby’s Favorites:  When all the gift cards are spent, the underwear replaced, and the candy consumed, and I am left with only fading memories, this gift will most likely stand out.  As regular readers know, Marra  and I enjoy spirited musical battles over the car radio stations (see Station Break).  Marra’s gift is her attempt to bridge the generational divide, and it is inspired.

The title of the gift, Toby’s Favorites, comes from the name of the HOT 99.5 FM DJ who commented on one of my blogs a few months ago.  For the gift, Marra printed out the lyrics and acoustic chords to some of her favorite songs that I admitted that I could stomach.  Thanks to her compilation, I can now play Lady Gaga’s Poker Face on the guitar; Rihanna’s Only Girl in the World; Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind; and other popular club hits.  My versions lack the pulsating beat of the studio tracks, but I make up for that with my soulful strumming...or not.

If you are lucky, you will never hear me play and sing Poker Face, but in the quiet of my basement cave, I can now rock out to Lady Gaga.  My teenager is trying to meet me half way, and that doesn’t happen every day.  In fact, who knows when it will happen again?

 

Christmas is really about the giving, not the getting, so what did I give as the big Sherrier family gift this year?

Justin Bieber:  At ages 14, 12 and 6, my children are ready to take on more responsibility in their lives, so I broke down and bought a pet.  I wanted to start small, something that if we failed, we could flush.  That ruled out dogs and most cats.  Thinking ‘simplicity’, I opted for a betta fish – small, low maintenance, quiet.  As an added bonus, I am not required to carry the fish’s feces around the neighborhood in a plastic baggie.  Based on the fish’s flowing mane, youthful enthusiasm, and uncanny ability to carry a tune, we named him Justin Bieber.   He lasted through Christmas Day, before I had to provide an unceremonious “burial at sea” the next morning with a flick of the handle.  Rest in peace, Justin Bieber.  Your 15 minutes of fame in our house is over, but the memories live on in the bowl of tepid water you once called home.

Now it’s time to straighten up the house, and prepare ourselves for the January blues and the onset of seasonal affective disorder (otherwise known to my children as “back to school after winter break” disorder).  As I look back on the holiday, I believe I will hold the underwear gift closest throughout the year as a daily reminder of Christmas 2010, and with luck, it will reciprocate and hold me close (for about 20 more years).

TMI.

Best Blogs Not Written 2010

Time to clean up and clean out to be ready for the New Year.  I like to start January 1^st with a clean slate, a fresh outlook.  This exercise is both physical and mental.  Clean closets, clean mind.  As part of my annual housecleaning, here is a summary of several topics I have wanted to blog about this year, but never found sufficient inspiration to finish.  I need these out of my mental in box so I can focus on 2011:

Peek-A-Boo:  A New York University professor had a digital camera implanted into the back of his head to capture a still image once each minute for a full year.  This was part of an avant-garde art project.  This could have been a posting about how parents and some perceptive elementary school teachers already have this capability without the fuss and muss of implant surgery, or an interesting discussion on what constitutes art.  We’ll never know.

Can You Hear Me Now?:  The 111^th Congress, to my knowledge, was not accused of Constitutional overreach when it passed the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, “forbidding TV advertisers from abruptly raising the volume to startling levels during commercial breaks.”  I do look forward to some activist judges legislating from the bench working legal definitions of ‘abruptly’, ‘startling’, and measurements of sound ‘volume’ that cross the legal threshold, since legislators conveniently left these concepts vague.  The marketplace, it seems, could not root out the loud advertisers and punish them with fewer customers, so the government had to step in.  Bipartisanship works, at least when TV watching is involved.  Pass the Bud Light, please.

In the Hole:  According to Bloomberg.com, Americans have cut over $1 trillion in consumer debt since the 3^rd quarter of 2008.  This is good news/bad news.  Less consumer debt means a more secure future for our country, but it also means less spending at historic levels today, and the 2010 economy takes the hit.  Had Americans continued to spend frivolously, our short-term economic conditions would look better.  Apparently, smart personal money management is destroying the Democratic Party.  Once the GOP guts financial reform, maybe we’ll get those confusing credit card deals back again, and get America moving!

Lame Stream Media?:  The 2^nd largest stockholder in News Corp., owner of Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, is Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.  He owns $2.3 billion of News Corp. stock.  Keith Olbermann is suspended for a few days for giving less than $7,000 total to 3 different Democratic candidates.  I wonder if anyone who leans on Fox for information could spin this Saudi ownership fact so that it fits smartly into the slogan “Fair and Balanced.”  I dare say $2.3 billion has more impact on election night than $7,000.

The War on Learning:  According to the Associated Press, due to budget shortfalls, more than 120 school districts across the country hold classes just 4 days per week.  The USA ranks 18^th in college and high school graduation rates.  Compared to other nations, we are 25^th in math, 21^st in science, 15^th in reading literacy.  76% of Americans nevertheless report that they are completely to somewhat satisfied with their children’s public schools.  Hard to address a problem that no one thinks is a problem.

The time for a revolution is our educational system is long overdue.  It is not just a tax revenue issue, it is not just a budgeting issue, it is not just a union issue.  Until it becomes a national security issue, we’ll continue to run our public educational system like it is 1960.  What will be the next great innovation in education?  (…and I don’t mean a new computer software package, either.)

The Right to Choose:  The makers of Aquafresh and Colgate toothpaste are in the middle of a pitched legal battle for the trademark rights to the “nurdle”.  As we all know, a “nurdle” is the perfectly swirled tri-colored curl of toothpaste on the outside of the package.  Aquafresh has used this nurdle for over 20 years, and claims Colgate is trying to trick oral hygiene shopping enthusiasts to buy its brand instead.  This is silly, but important, since the lawyers quote studies that demonstrate that consumers spend between 1/20^th and 1/100^th of a second identifying their preferred product on the shelf.  For men, I’d say that’s a generous estimate.

Monkey See, Monkey Do:  Humans share approximately 98.5% of their DNA code with chimpanzees.  It would be misleading, however, to say that humans are 98.5% chimp.  I thought of this whenever I saw campaign signs that said “______ Voted with Pelosi 97% of the Time”.  The associated quote in the article in The Week read, “What makes each kind of biological organism unique is determined by their small genetic differences, not their numerically greater similarities.”  Keep this in mind when watching the GOP 2012 Presidential candidate debates, which begin this April, by the way.  The small differences matter when deciding who is a Neanderthal and who is presidential timber. 

I feel more free already.

Rational Rationing

This is the night the adults take over Christmas.  Parents all over America will put the kids to bed, break out all the hidden presents for all their little kiddies, ask tough questions and make some tough choices.  Are the piles even?  Did we spend equally on each child?  Did we hit enough marks on their Santa lists to meet expectations?  Are the stocking stuffers adequate to fill the entire stocking?  Should we shift some generic, non-gender specific items from one recipient to another?  It’s the last day to make adjustments! 

 

This is the dark underbelly of the decision-making in Santa’s workshop.  The children won’t want to know about the messy process of separating the booty based on criteria other than the omnipotent “naughty/nice” list, but it is what happens.  We don’t think of this ritual as the “rationing” of the presents, particularly in this country where it is more likely that we’ll just buy more to even the gift distribution.  We are a people of wealth, abundance, boundless credit, and dare I say, gluttony.  We don’t like to think about limits, especially during the holidays.  But on this night 2 days before Christmas, limits are on the table.  Rationing is as American as apple pie on this eve of Christmas Eve.

This rationing of children’s presents is not as painful or inconvenient as some of the events traditionally associated with rationing in history.  Noah only had room for two of each, and choices had to be made.  George Bailey enforced strict rationing in Bedford Falls during WWII.  I personally waited in long lines on even numbered calendar days for overpriced $0.75 per gallon gasoline in the 70s (outrageous!).  Noah, George Bailey and I recognized that, however inconvenient shared sacrifice was, it was required for the benefit of all.  We could have cheated.  Noah could have slipped an extra kangaroo onto the ark in its mother’s pouch.  I could have switched my license plates to ‘odd’ on odd days, ‘even’ on even days (kids, ask your parents what I am talking about…or google “1970s odd-even rationing”).  We didn’t.  Rationing, however painful, helped save the animal kingdom, win the Second World War, and insure enough gas was available for emergency needs in the late 1970s.

The concept of rationing, however, has been dragged through the mud over the past year or so.  Critics of health care reform freely tossed the word “rationing” into every debate on the topic, hoping that it would ignite a firestorm of revolt.  For the most part, it did.  Discussions of rationing centered around dictatorial, shadowy committees who sole purpose was to disrupt the natural purifying force of the Invisible Hand.  Darwin was heresy and should not be taught in school, they said, but his concepts were spot on when it came to the health care markets.  No one dared mention that it was the beloved Noah who was at the head of history’s first “Death Panel”.

I read a piece in The Week recently that drove home the health care rationing dilemma in stark terms.  There is a new drug called Provenge, a treatment for advanced prostate cancer.  Studies have shown that it can extend the life of a patient on average 4 months.  A decision is pending on whether this treatment will be covered by Medicare and Medicaid.  If that’s your life, those 4 months are pretty darn important.  The cost of the treatment, however, is $90,000.  So for 30,000 patients in a year, that’s almost $2.7 billion, and this is just one drug for one condition.  The numbers can add up quickly for a nation concerned about its balance sheet.

So there are 3 choices – cover the costs, and the budget be damned; don’t cover the costs, and some lives end sooner; cover some of the costs, and allow those with enough private money to live while others of less means do not.  If we don’t cover the costs, or only cover part of the costs, we are “rationing” between rich and poor.  If we cover all of the costs, we are on a fast track to bankruptcy, and acting more like the socialist regimes our far right loves to compare us to.  This is before we begin to include the availability of competent health care in the rationing debate.  When resources are scarce, rationing occurs, whether it is managed or allowed to just ‘happen’.  The argument should not be whether or not to ration health care; we already do.  It should be about the best way to ration.

On Saturday morning, the children may scream and cry that they didn’t get enough presents, or presents of equal or greater value than their siblings.  The left and right will scream and cry that everything is covered by Medicare, or nothing is covered by Medicare.  Tough choices require tough decisions, and these decisions need to be made by adults, in an adult manner.  We need grown-ups to make choices that children cannot or will not.  We could throw all the presents into a big pile under the tree, and let the strongest kid enjoy the spoils while the youngest and weakest cry in the corner, plotting retribution.  That may not be the best solution for anyone involved, so the adults step up.

The truth is that we ration limited resources every day, and sometimes it even stings a little.  When we make our daily decisions and difficult choices out to be evil and un-American, it demeans us all, and drives adults away from the necessary conversation.  It’s Christmas time.  We can act better than that.

So here’s an eggnog toast to the adults who have to decide.  Let’s hope all the kids are happy when they see what limited resources Santa has wrapped under the tree. 

 

“It is logical.  The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few…or the one.” – Spock, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  And remember, he was a Vulcan.  You can’t get more adult than that.

The Audacity of Hope

It is such a blessing to still have one at home who believes in Santa Claus with all her heart.  Her innocence brightens the entire Christmas season for all of us.

I vividly remember when the Santa bubble burst for our oldest daughter.  We were on vacation in Florida one April (I think it was 2001), and she and I were alone discussing how the Easter Bunny would schedule his annual home invasion around our availability.  I must have fumbled the explanation somehow, perhaps a momentary hesitation or an involuntary twitch.  My facial expression might have changed ever so slightly, a tell sign that I was freelancing my answer.  Kids can be very perceptive that way, and Marra was no exception.

There was a pause in the conversation, as she considered my apparently nonsensical answer to her reasonable question.  The wheels were turning inside her head, and I could hear the roar of all her childhood assumptions and constructs crashing down around her.  She stared me down and furrowed her brow.

“Are you the Easter Bunny?”  It was equal parts question and statement, since she obviously knew the answer.

I felt so small.  “Yes, yes,” I confessed, “I am the Easter Bunny.”  No sooner had the words hit the ground when the next domino fell.

“Are you the Tooth Fairy?”

I could see where this was headed, so after my second confession in less than a minute, I paused the interrogation to gather a witness for the defense.  “Cherie!  You’d better get in here!”  If my daughter’s childhood was going to end right then and there, we’d both needed to be present to pick up the broken pieces – not of Marra’s shattered dreams, each others’.  Our little girl was growing up, and we were growing old.

We welcomed her with a hug to the There Is No Santa Ever Long Club (TINSEL, for short), and made her swear the oath of secrecy.  “Tell your brother and the real Santa will deliver real coal to your stocking this year, understand?”  She kept our secret, but I imagine it was not out of loyalty to her promise made.  I think she more enjoyed watching her baby brother buy into some phony-baloney story mom and dad made up, and hoped for the day when his belief would be dashed on the rocky shores of real world, just like happened to her one warm Floridian morning.

 

My own recollection of the end of believing was not a singular moment, like Marra’s.  My hopes in Ol’ St. Nick’s existence suffered a long, slow demise, a few years of tears before the flame was finally extinguished with the certainty of logic.  There were several years of fleeting doubts, even though the clues were everywhere, especially the clues hidden amongst the cache of unwrapped gifts on the floor of my mother’s closet (I was just playing in there, honest!).  But each Christmas morning, I’d wake up and run down the stairs to find half eaten sugar cookies, an empty glass of cocoa, and a few carrot nubs.  On top of this obvious proof that a kindly old elf had come down the chimney, eaten our food, and fed his flying reindeer, there was always one gift whose source was shrouded in mystery, and that was enough to keep the flame alive one more year.  Never mind that we had no chimney and the front door was securely locked (remember, this was Jersey).  I was pretty sure for awhile that Santa was an invention, but for years, at least that faint flicker of belief gave me an excuse to stay up late and spy the brightly lit artificial tree from the top of the staircase, looking for evidence that never came.

The revelation to my kids that the Santa story is fairy tale represents the first loss of innocence for them, but I know that many more will follow, and subsequently sharpen their defenses against the real world.   There’s the first season of sports when they don’t get a trophy. There’s the first rejection by a member of the opposite sex.  The first loss of relative.  The first time they realize that their parents are flawed human beings (OK, that one might not happen to my kids, but I hear that it does happen in other families).  I know they need the immunities from these hurts that only life experience can build, but it’s OK to wish for a few weeks every winter that these hurts get postponed somehow.

Today, I realize that I do believe in Santa, in the spirit of the season that the big bearded lug represents.  The warmer, friendlier people around the holidays can overwhelm the line cutters and the parking space stealers.  The lights and the songs drown out the darkness and the silence.  Every once in awhile, a pleasant surprise happens, whether it’s as simple as a funny Christmas card, or a re-gift that suits you perfectly.  That’s the Santa spirit that I can teach the kids about.  He may not eat the cookies and drink the cocoa, but he can be as real as you can be.

Lucy still believes, and so do I, at least a little bit.  I mean, somebody drank that cocoa, right?

Pass the Ginkgo Biloba

At the annual neighborhood Christmas party, I have been elected Quiz Master for several years running.  We've done matching 80s music lyrics to song titles, matching 80s movie lines to movie titles, holiday trivia, anagrams, the Price is Right, and a few others games I might have forgotten.  Forgotten.  That led me to the idea for this year's challenge at the party.  Let's see how much we remember from just this year - 2010.  How hard could it be???  Here we go - test your knowledge, don't cheat, and the answers are at the end of the post, so scroll slowly:

Busy year.  As we age gracefully, however, the memory tends to go first (for some of us, maybe memory goes second).  How much about 2010 do you remember?  Let’s find out.

1.         Who won the World Cup this year?

2.         Who won the Stanley Cup this year?

3.         Who won the Kentucky Derby?

4.         Who was the World Series MVP this year?

5.         How many points did the Saints score in their Super Bowl victory?

6.         In January, who will be the new House Majority Leader?

7.         Who was the most recent Supreme Court Justice to retire?

8.         Sarah Palin has a new book out.  What’s the title?

9.         How many seats did the GOP gain in the House in the 2010 mid-terms?

10.       Who is the Mayor-elect in DC?

11.       In what month was the Gulf oil leak finally capped?

12.       In what month was the earthquake in Haiti?

13.       How many days were the Chilean miners trapped underground?

14.       This year’s Big Blizzard Season set a new snow record.  It beat out the snowy season of 1995-96.  How many inches fell at Dulles during the 19995-96 season? (within 5”)

15.       Who is the Prime Minister of Great Britain?

16.       Who is Taylor Swift dating today?

17.       What was Miley Cyrus doing in a controversial You Tube video this month?

18.       Who is the actress that plays Sue Sylvester?

19.       Name at least 2 movies that starred Angelina Jolie and were released this year.

20.       What was Lady Gaga’s dress made of at the VMAs?

21.       What is the top grossing movie in 2010?

22.       According to iTunes, what was the year’s best selling song?

23.       What movie won Best Picture in March?

24.       What was the first year that Grey’s Anatomy appeared on the air?

25.       What season number of SNL began in September?

26.       For how many months was Conan off the air?

27.       What is the name of Jim and Pam’s baby?

28.       What caused Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg to walk off the set of The View in October?      

29.       What was the Chantilly HS varsity football team’s record this season?

30.       According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, how many Americans were unemployed in November? (within 1 million)

The answers:

1. Spain - only the most watched event of the summer.
2. Chicago Blackhawks - of course, I assume everyone knows this.
3. Super Saver - I do remember a time in my youth when this question would have been easy every year.  Not any more!
4. Edgar Renteria - I admit, I had to look this one up.  I probably should have asked if anyone at the party knew the teams in the WS this year.
5. 31 - Tough one, but equally tough for some was "who did they beat?" (Indy)
6. Eric Cantor - Trick question for people, even before a few beers.  Boehner will be Speaker of the House - Virginia's own Cantor moves to Majority Leader.  I figured since we live near DC we should know that.  I was wrong.
7. John Paul Stevens - I went with this question instead of asking them to pull Kagan and Sotomayor from their memories.  Apparently SC Justices was not a strong suit of party attendees.
8. America By Heart - I thought everyone followed Sarah on her book tour. 
9. 63 - Surprisingly, most people were within one of this number.
10. Vincent Gray - DC is right down the street, so no excuse not to get this one.
11. July - The Feds declared the well "dead" in September, so I allowed much wiggle room on this answer.
12. January
13. 69 (1^st got out after 68 days)
14. 61.9” - A completely unfair question.  I have a mean streak.
15. David Cameron - Only one person knew this.  The crowd couldn't get past Tony Blair.
16. Jake Gyllenhaal - Most of the women got this one - shocker.
17. Smoking from a water pipe - We seem to know more about Hannah Montana than Justice John Paul Stevens.
18. Jane Lynch
19. Salt; The Tourist; Beyond Borders - I knew Jolie was famous, but I couldn't name any of the movies without the Internet.
    
20. Meat - many thought that without adding "raw" to the word meat, I should not accept the answer.
21. Toy Story 3 - No, it was not Avatar.
22. Train’s “Hey, Soul Sister” - This even stumped my 14 year old.
    
23. The Hurt Locker - I am not certain that anyone at the party saw the movie.
    
24. 2005 - Again, the women got this one.
25. 36 - I assumed this was common knowledge, but I go to parties with folks that no longer stay up for SNL.
26. 9 months - I wonder if they would have known what team Coco was?
27. Cecelia - Or Cece, also acceptable.
28. He said Muslims were responsible for 9/11 - Everyone just shouted out "Bill O'Reilly", and received full credit.
29. 10 wins, 3 losses - Local trivia for the parents of Chantilly High kids.
30. 15.1 million - Kind of a bummer final question, I know.

I plan to give the exact same quiz next year, and see how everyone does.  High team score this year was 16 out of 30.  I predict 17 will take the title next year.  How did you do?