Islands in the Stream.

What’s with the places that call themselves something island and they're not an island? Is that legal? I don’t think King’s Island is an island. Rhode Island is not an island, is it? Coney Island is on an island but it’s not an island itself. Confusing, isn’t it? How many people don’t visit these places because they don’t think they’re accessible by car? When’s the last time you went to Rhode Island?

Rock Island Illinois is not an island; but it’s named after an island. Wait. What’? If you have enough influence and power to name a city, and you want to name it after an island, maybe you should just move to the island instead of naming an innocent midwest city something island, causing people to plan vacations there and bring their boats and bathing suits and stuff. .

Just move to the island. If it’s really an island…

Initial Thoughts

We’ve only had a few presidents who are known by their initials. I think of FDR, LBJ and JFK. Maybe TDR. But was Teddy known as TDR when he was alive? JFK and LBJ were consecutive. That of course ended with Nixon, who was never known as RMN. A lot of people think Obama’s middle initial was “O” but the “O” is actually part of his last name. And we now have RFK Jr hanging around the Whitehouse, but he’s not president.

The sitting favorite to be our next president is JD Vance. If elected, will he be known as JDV? I mean, he already uses the two of the three initials, so he’s two thirds of the way there. Come to think of it, why can’t a vice president be an initial guy?

JDV looks like a roman numeral, but it’s not. It would be really cool if a president’s initials were the roman numeral of the number president he was. For instance, someone with the initals LVI could be US president #56. I bet that happens in our lifetime…  

Playing all the Hit(ler)s

I keep hearing these ads on Sirius radio for its Elvis station. The ads promote something called “Elvis week at Graceland”. Curious. What do they call the other 51 weeks? Have they turned the memory of Elvis into a groundhog-like figure who only comes out once a year and if he sees his shadow maybe he sings or moves his hips or something?

Elvis typically gets celebrated on the anniversary of his death. How would you like that day to be your birthday? Nobody would celebrate ‘cause they’re all mourning Elvis. Bakery scene: “Sorry, we don’t have any regular cakes today. Do you want an Elvis cake?”

Hitler died on what became my birthday but fortunately nobody celebrates the anniversary of his death. He doesn’t even have his own Sirius radio station.  

Gluten Free?

I saw a sign along the road in a wooded area on our recent trip. The sign read “Gluten Free Food Truck”. There was no indication on the sign what kind of food the truck was selling other than the fact that the food was gluten free. No indication if it was burgers, vegetarian, ribs, etc. The truck was back in the woods and you had to drive down a lane to get to it. But there appeared to be quite a few cars around it.

So, is gluten free that much of a “thing”, that people would go there without knowing if it’s pork or beef or chicken? Was I seeing the future?

Maybe there had been a branch hanging over the sign covering the word “Gluten” prior to my driving by it. I bet that was it. It was kinda breezy that day…

Jack and Jill in the John

When you have the side by side sinks in your bathroom at home they're called "Jack & Jill" sinks, right? If you only have one sink, which one is it, a Jack or a Jill? And why the names Jack and Jill? If I go to Lowe's and ask for a Jack, they're gonna direct me to the automotive section.  Why not Dick and Jane? Ozzie and Harriet? Donald and Melania?  And if we give our bathrooms names, they're always John. We use the term "Powder Room" sometimes, but, to my knowledge, we never give it an actual female name.

In this age of equality, how has this not been addressed? Since we have Jane Doe and John Doe I think the name Jane would be appropriate. 

I'm torn between "Jane" and the former actress Jill St. John. I bet she took a lot of kidding back in the day.