I’ll call them cutlets.

March 7, 2011

Dan Shaughnessy is a sports columnist for the Boston Globe. He regularly writes a wrap-up, bouillabaisse of an article that he titles Pieces of My Mind. Instead of stealing his title (a great one, by the way), I figured I’d call my little brain snippets Cutlets.

Here you go…

Are cats really wily or extra dumb. I cannot train one of my cats to stay off the table or to stop scratching the couch. While I’m tempted to just leave the cat locked in a room while I work at home, I want to give the creature the benefit of the doubt. Got any ideas?

Why is it that people in other cars get so righteous about traffic laws when they see them broken? Do they understand that in the grand scheme of things missing one traffic light or being one car-length back on the highway amounts to nothing?

What’s the rule for dogs that crap in the street? If they’re with a person, that human should clean up the poo. But if the dog is alone, should they get off scot free?

I saw a toddler toss litter out the back window of a hybrid the other day. Made me wonder how much that kid was going to spend on therapy later in life.

Our town is evaluating candidates for the position of police chief. I think I’d like to have a chief who is a bad politician and a good cop in that job. When it comes down to business, I’d err on the side of safety before hiring a good public speaker. Hope the town agrees.

Is it really necessary to close the container tightly on items like dried fruit, flour and M&Ms? These things are not going bad too quickly.

I wish there was clearer evidence that paying more for your shoes improved your life proportionally. Right now I still look for $8 pants and $40 shoes. Is a $100 pair that much better for my soles and my soul?

What’s the urgency to rake our lawns and pick up all the sticks. For that matter, what’s the urgency in having a lush, green lawn? I surmise that the first people to settle this country weren’t too focused on Scotts Turf Builder Plus and a lawn you could play Croquet on.

I have a survey that requires me to fill it out using a #2 pencil. I had to look at a calendar to confirm it’s not 1983. For that matter, one of my clients asked me to fax them some materials the other day. I had to look on Craigslist to see if anyone was selling one. Last time I used a fax was in 1999.

I wish the cable companies would finally figure out that viewers would like to buy channels ala carte. I don’t need 18 history channels or 21 cartoon offerings or even five types of ESPN. Let me pick SciFi, USA, TNT, Bravo, Food Network, ESPN and the majors and I’ll be all set. I’d also like to pay less than $80 for these dozen stations. OK? Thanks.

That’s all I have on the grill that is my mind today. What’s cooking in your world?