Taste of Catonsville

The 12th Annual Taste of Catonsville will be held Monday night, April 21st, at Rolling Road Golf Club starting at 5:30 pm. Tickets are $30 in advance, $40 at the door. They can be purchased online at http://www.catonsville.org/. Sam's Bagels will be there!


Saw Allison and friends at the steel drum concert, it was a great show. Also nice to see former principal, Mr. Tomback, back at CHS. The kids at CHS are lucky to have a music teacher like Jim Wharton who creates opportunities for them to perform with guest artists and composers.

Here's a job you may never have thought about....Billy Sheeder, steel drum tuner. with Katelyn

Scott talked about his recent experience at Oriole Park. He had great seats, just 4 rows behind home plate, and the Orioles won. His only complaint was about the food. He had bought hotdogs outside of the park before the game, but by the 5th inning he was hungry. Scott said he asked his stomach, "Do you really need to eat?", thinking about the high cost of ballpark food. And his stomach answered, "Yes, I do". So he first went to buy nachos and cheese, but it turned out that the machine had not heated the cheese, and it was too cold. Then he went to buy a $5 soft pretzel, saying he would take any flavor as long as it was warm. The first pretzel was too hard, so Scott wound up with a buttered pretzel, but it was just OK. He plunked down $5 for a soda that was just right. Does anyone else notice the similarity? Don't you expect the next line to be "And the three bears came back to their seats and Scott ran out of the stadium"?

Hersheypark Visit

If you want more information about Andy Narell and to hear his music, check out his website at http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/narell_andy/artist.jhtml. Then you can hear him live in concert Thursday night at Catonsvile High School performing with the steel drum band.

Spent the first weekend in April at Hersheypark. Hershey sports a new arena called Giant Stadium, and the Milton Hershey School campus for disadvantaged students continues to grow. We also saw the St. Petersburg Ballet perform at the gorgeous Hershey Theater. If you go, be sure to visit Chocolate World and take the Trolley Tour of the town. Also, if you get a chance to try the new Hershey Meltaway Center Bliss chocolates, we loved them! Just wanted to share how much roller coasters have changed over the years.

Sarah (age 12) waits to blast off - 0 to 80 mph in seconds

Here's the original Comet wooden coaster - the only coaster at Hershey when I was 12

New Farhenheit coaster- the steepest vertical drop in the entire USA- opens the end of May

Sarah and Rosa with Peppermint Pattie

Pancake Breakfast with the Scouts

Sam's was well-represented at the Scouts' breakfast.

There will be a spaghetti dinner in the near future too if you missed the pancakes.

Don't forget, the Catonsville Steel Drum Band performs at the high school this Thursday night with Andy Narell, international composer and performer. Tickets are only $8!

Dana and Chef Jeff

The Foster Family

Sue, Jeff and Harold

Jack, Gladys and Tony

Glenn, Zack and Max

Popcorn and Bagels

Scott's daughter sells popcorn for her team.

Scott delivers Fisher's popcorn from OC. Yummy!

Doug uses Dima's sturdy bread knife on Don. Bystanders cheered!

Dima served samples of new whole wheat, multigrain, and blueberry bagels. They were delicious. Some were enjoyed with popcorn as a side.

Welcome new blog readers from around the world. And as Glenn says, can you believe all of these people have nothing better to do with their time?

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Manila, Phillipines; New Delhi, India; Islamabad, Pakistan; Istanbul, Turkey; Ionnina, Greece; the Netherlands; Zurich, Switzerland; Vienna, Austria; Berlin, Germany; Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; Athens, Greece; Sacramento, CA; Cambridge, MA; Boulder, CO; Norwood, MA; Cincinatti, OH; Dayton, OH; Minneapolis, MN; Chester, SC; Ft. Worth, TX; Albuquerque, NM; San Antonio, TX; Langhorne, PA; Nashville, TN; Fairbanks, AK; Bedminster, NJ; San Luis Opispo, CA; Gautier, MI; Jacksonville, FL; Astoria, NY; Alpharetta, GA; Fleetwood, PA; and Bowie, MD.

Top 35 Oxymorons

(Submitted by Pat R.)

OK, Doug, an oymoron is a combination of contradictory or incongruous words.

35. State worker
34. Legally drunk
33. Exact estimate
32. Act naturally
31. Found missing
30. Resident alien
29. Genuine imitation
28. Airline food
27. Good grief
26. Government organization
25. Sanitary landfill
24. Alone together
23. Small crowd
22. Business ethics
21. Soft rock
20. Butt Head
19. Military Intelligence
18. Sweet sorrow
17. Rural Metro (ambulance service)
16. "Now, then ..."
15. Passive aggression
14. Clearly misunderstood
13. Peace force
12. Extinct Life
11. Plastic glasses
10. Terribly pleased
9. Computer security
8. Political science
7. Tight slacks
6. Definite maybe
5. Pretty ugly
4. Rap music
3. Working vacation
2. Religious tolerance
1. Microsoft Works

Counter-clockwise

Happy Birthday to Patty! Patty celebrated her birthday yesterday by going to the horse races at Charlestown. This sparked a discussion on why horse races are always run counter-clockwise. Paul shared that once he bet on a horse that turned the wrong way out of the gate, ran clockwise and crossed the finish line first. Unfortunately, he didn't win since the horse was running in the wrong direction. This made Don and Bill T. wonder if horses run in the opposite direction in Australia because they had heard that toilets flow in the opposite direction below the equator. (I know, I didn't get the connection either).

This discussion made me wonder whether toilets really do flush in the opposite direction in Australia. I learned that the swirling effect (the Coriolis force) will be swamped out by the shape of the toilet or if the jets encourage a "contrary" swirl. Turns out Australian toilets have two different flush selections and that most send water down the sides of the toilet bowl simultaneously so no swirl direction can be observed. However, if you just take a big funnel with a small hole, fill it up with water, let the water go still, then unplug the hole and let it drain out, you will get the Coriolis force and it will be clockwise "down-under" Australia, counter-clockwise here in North America. See the video in the post below.

Back to the horse racing..... turns out races are run counter-clockwise only in the U.S. and Canada. In the UK, France, Hong Kong and Australia horseraces run clockwise. Auto races in the UK also do, but am not sure about races in other countries that also drive on the right side of the road (France) as in the U.S. The reason why baseball players run the bases counter clockwise along with NASCAR, INDY, horse racing, dogs, running counter clockwise etc., has a lot to do with the American Revolution. Early Americans hated the British so much they wanted to do almost eveything opposite to their rules. (Politics again!)

For NASCAR, it more likely due to the rotation of the earth. In the Northern hemisphere, racing counterclockwise pulls the front nose of the car down. In the Southern hemisphere, cars racing counterclockwise cannot reach the same speed as the car wants to lift.

So Happy Birthday, Patty! Aren't you sorry that you ever mentioned going to the races and started all this?

Australian Toilet Flushing - TRUTH EXPOSED!