Scribbles from a Scribe

Sleep well, Whitney.......

2012-02-12T17:29:00.000-08:00

For many who came of age in the '80s and early '90s, Whitney Houston was the quintessential pop star. Her voice ranks among the most beautiful, the most powerful, of any singer in any era.

When your rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner lifts that venerable song into the Top 10, you're in rarefied air.

I didn't see Whitney sing the national anthem before the game. I was assisting with retreat weekend that wrapped up on Super Bowl Sunday, and I didn't get to a friend's party 'til after the game started...and I slept through most of that.

The next day people weren't just talking about the amazing ending....they were talking about the national anthem. How odd, I thought.

When I finally heard it a few years later, I could understand why it was so moving. To this day, it's the most powerful version I've ever heard.

My favorite Whitney song has to be "I Will Always Love You," though. In much the same way great movies can draw you in no matter how many times you've seen them, I find myself listening to that song all the way through no matter where or when I hear it.

Call me a sucker for love...or romance....or devotion.......but Whitney took Dolly Parton's chart-climbing country song and redefined it. Took it to places Dolly didn't approach - maybe didn't even imagine.

That's a rare gift.

And now that gift has been taken from us all too soon.

Rest well, Whitney. Your fans will always love you.

"Deliver Me"

2012-02-06T19:53:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite songs from that angelic voice that is Sarah Brightman........

And the winner of the Super Bowl will be......

2012-02-05T14:33:00.000-08:00

.......the team that scores the most points.

Seriously, I picked New England and Green Bay to be playing in this game. I got one of those right.

I think New England will win this game, even though New York has all the tools to whip the Patriots.

Simply put, Tom Brady doesn't lose revenge games. And he'll want revenge for the Giants derailing New England's perfect season four years ago.

Oh, I know: New England's defense - particularly its secondary - is not terribly strong. And the Giants have the defensive line to pressure Brady ---- which was a key component to the victory four years ago.

Frankly, my pick is based on nothing more than a gut feeling. Well, and the fact that Brady just doesn't play two bad games in a row...and he was quite human in the AFC Championship Game.

To be honest, the Patriots are here more because Baltimore choked than anything else.

Still, they're here. And I expect them to win.

Mind you, I'll be rooting for the Giants. It's more rooting against the Pats than anything else, though.

Homer Simpson explains social media

2012-02-05T09:02:00.000-08:00

What the Dickens? Today's children can't handle author's works

2012-02-05T08:39:00.000-08:00

An English biographer says children today have attention spans too short to read and appreciate the works of Charles Dickens. I suspect he's not the only author who would fall into that category.

It would be a massive undertaking to see how the pervasive presence of ADD is changing today's world - for its betterment, for its detriment - but it's hard not to see it as a significant step backward for mankind.

Operation Foil succeeds

2012-01-30T19:38:00.000-08:00

Faithful readers of this blog (and I seem to have one or two) will recall my post about the grease tray for my George Foreman grill that fell afoul of a dishwasher's heating coil a few weeks ago.

A long, narrow hole was melted into the side of the tray, rendering it seemingly unusable. I searched for replacement trays online, only to discover the company apparently no longer manufactures trays for grills that will soon be old enough to vote.

Being stubborn -- I refuse to say cheap :-) I'd simply prefer to spend that money elsewhere -- I decided to try something in an effort to salvage the tray. I took some aluminum foil and wrapped it over the hole in the tray.

It worked like a charm. The grease stayed in the tray, didn't leak beneath the foil, and all is fine in Formanville.

Score one for a bit of ingenuity.

Are you honest?

2012-01-30T19:27:00.000-08:00

Legendary basketball coach John Wooden has a simple test to provide the answer.

"Honest people don't lie to others, to themselves, or to God."

So....are you honest?