Random Thoughts on a Tuesday

A few miscellaneous and totally random thoughts...

First item: Rocktober continues, with the amazing run by the Colorado Rockies baseball club. A month ago, this team was in fourth place in the National League. Since then, they have won 21 out of 22 games. They beat the Padres in a Wildcard Playoff, swept the Phillies in the NLDS, swept the Diamondbacks in the NLCS to win the league championship, and are now headed to the World Series. This has to be the most incredible run I have ever seen in sports. The national media talks about it being a team of no-names that nobody knows. Well, they are about to hear more from Helton, Torrealba, Holliday, Tulowitski, and the rest!

Second item: Once again, the cultural literacy between people of different generations struck home to me. At work, someone told one of the new twenty-something employees that someone called him "Eddie Haskell". His reply? "Who is Eddie Haskell?" Leave it to Beaver is such a part of the collective memory that it amazed me that here is a coworker who was totally clueless about this bit of information. Granted, he was born a couple of decades after the show left the air, but it IS on Nick at Nite, for goodness sakes. Even though I was not born until 1953, I know who the Andrews Sisters were, and that it was FDR who said, "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself". I know of, and appreciate, the music of Benny Goodman. I know the story of John Dillinger and Al Capone. I know about how President Herbert Hoover was blamed for the Great Depression in the wake of the 1929 stock market collapse. I know how Neville Chamberlain tried to appease Adolph Hitler to achieve "peace in our time", and how Winston Churchhill rallied the Brits over the radio during the bombardment of London by Nazi bombs.

This isn't the first time this has happened either. I had coworkers ten years ago who had no idea who said, "Ich bin eine Berliner". By the way, you look lovely today, Mrs. Cleaver! Is that a new dress?

Third item: The weekend storm has put the white snowcaps on the peaks of the Colorado Front Range. From Mount Evans to Long's Peak, the original Colorado Rockies are looking good with their snowy tops looking down on the prairie. Maybe I'll get a chance to take a picture of them soon!