What's the protocol...

Today is, or I should say would have been my parents' fiftieth wedding anniversary. Question: is it appropriate to send anniversary greetings to a widow (or in my case, widower)?

I fired off a note to my brother reminding him of the anniversary, "in case it should come up" and asking to send along my greetings. As it turns out, it has. He and Pop had dinner tonight partially to mark the occasion. I've been working serious overtime, so I'll call in a day or so.

Is that how you handle it? Damned if I know. It just seemed inappropriate to send a card.

Where the hell is Miss Manners on this one?

Why Johnny Carson was one of my heroes

My all-time favorite Johnny Carson moment happened not on the "Tonight Show," but on "Sixty Minutes" back in (at least I think it was) the mid-seventies:

Mike Wallace: "How much money do you make?"

Carson: "None of your damn business."

R.I.P.

Ya Learn Somethin' New Every Day Dept.

Damn it's cold.

OK, it was worse a week ago. And we got up to forty at least once this week. And we're getting above zero tomorrow.

But tonight it's two below with one hell of a wind chill.

I went out earlier to plug the car in. (Here in the upper Midwest, we have "block heaters" in our cars. When it gets below zero, you're supposed to plug in said heaters; this keeps the oil warm and makes it easier to turn over the car when you start it up.) Only I couldn't plug it in because the little cap that covers the plug that sticks out from under my hood is frozen over.

After futzing with the plug for a few minutes I went in the house to thaw out. My girlfriend told me to forget about the plug and not to sweat it - as long as it's above zero when I re-start the car, I should be OK.

Now she tells me.