Fifty Shades of Gun Control

I probably came to this idea a little too late, but since it’s always fun to have a blog post get a lot of hits I decided that I would begin each new post with “Fifty Shades“. I figure that anyone who’s searching for the book might see my post pop up (sorry, no double meaning there) and click their way over here. I have no idea how long I’ll keep it up (sorry, no double meaning there), but probably until the next popular meme arrives.

I really don’t have a lot to say other than, “Did you have a nice New Year” seems to be the phrase of the day. Personally, I don’t understand why New Year’s Day is a national holiday. It seems a little odd to me that we get a day off to sober up from celebrating the beginning of a new year by watching college football and TV sitcom marathons, but we can’t have Election Day, the day 315+ million of us gather to elect the (by some opinions) most important people in our country and “The Leader of the Free World” named a national holiday. Sure, the states have their own rules around taking time off to vote, but I’m not talking about a couple of hours, I’m talking about a national holiday.

Anyway…

For better or worse we seem to have ridden the waves of holiday joy and fiscal cliff fear past the Sandy Hook massacre. I hope this doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten the tragedy, but just that the newshounds and pundits and people who know what news stories are good for us are reenergizing for their next media assault. This editorial I’m about to link you to – written by a retired FBI agent who worked the Red Lake High School shooting in Minnesota back in 2005 – was published in the local StarTribune newspaper this past weekend and it was the best piece I’ve read on the issue. Without taking sides, without lecturing, without fear mongering, sermonizing or grandiloquence, the writer, John Patrick Egelhof, managed to paint what I felt was a clear picture of the situation, its cause and what we need to do to avoid an inevitable repeat. The piece is long but I think it’s well worth the time. If you want to read it all you have to do is click right HERE.

So, did you have a nice New Year? Did you make any resolutions?

I bought some tzatziki sauce at the grocery store this weekend. I didn’t even know they sold it at the store and I thought it was just something you could get at Greek restaurants so imagine my surprise! If you don’t know what tzatziki sauce is it’s a sauce made from yogurt, garlic, cucumbers and dill and it’s very good. Scratch that, it’s Very Good. I’ve had it served with gyros but now that I have some at home I’m going to try it on everything. It was great on a baked potato last night and I’m thinking it would also make a great salad dressing or topping for cooked diced carrots or cold cooked pasta and my bet is that it’ll be fantastic spread over the top of a veggie burger.