* I posted a list a few days ago of my 10 favorite things about living in Kingston. I knew I’d leave something out, and I did: Mickey’s Igloo II, the ice cream shop on Hurley Avenue, just up the road from the Freeman office. Every town needs a good soft ice cream joint, and Mickey’s is it in Kingston. (And the place has gotten even better in recent years by adding a full-blown fast-food menu and no longer shutting down for the winter.) So I guess it’s a Top 11 list now.
* I mentioned in my June 18 post that I got stuck in a backup of about 30 cars on Washington Avenue in Kingston, waiting to go through the traffic light at the corner or Hurley Avenue. Did anyone notice that traffic moved through that intersection much more quickly a few weeks ago, when the light was on the fritz and the city had to put up four temporary stop signs? The same thing happened in the spring of 2004, when the traffic light at the nearby corner of Washington Avenue and North Front Street got clobbered by a tractor-trailer. Maybe stop signs are more efficient traffic-control tools than signal lights. They’re certainly cheaper.
* I got my annual AAA membership renewal bill in the mail yesterday. It seems that a single page plus a return envelope would have been sufficient. But no. This mailing contained no less than 10 separate items: the bill, the return envelope (without prepaid postage, of course), an FAQ sheet, a proxy card designating someone to cast votes on my behalf at the AAA’s annual meeting, two separate fliers urging me to sign up for an AAA-sponsored Visa card, a Hertz car rental coupon, a solicitation for a donation to a traffic safety foundation, a pamphlet about the AAA Travel program and an AAA sticker to place on my car. Ten items. No wonder the annual membership costs so much.
* Speaking of bills, why is my Time Warner Cable account number 16 digits long? I mean, for goodness sake, there are only 300 million people in the United States. Even if every one of us is a Time Warner customer (which, of course, is not the case), none of our account numbers should have to exceed nine digits.
* Nice to see Slammin’ Sammy Sosa hit his 600th career home run on Wednesday. That, of course, makes him the career home runs leader among all active players who are not being investigated for steroid use. (Glad to see Ken Griffey Jr. closing in on 600, as well. One can only guess how astronomical Junior’s home run total would be if not for all the playing time he’s missed due to injuries. He easily could have been approaching 800.)
* I see the weekday newsstand price of The New York Times is going up 25 cents, to $1.25. Even $1 was preposterous; $1.25 is downright criminal … though easily outdone by the whopping $5 newsstand price of the Sunday Times. For that much money, the Times’ editor should deliver the paper to my house in person – and bring me breakfast.
* Lastly, congrats to all the local high school seniors who are graduating this weekend. Great job, one and all! Best wishes for future success, and please, celebrate responsibly.