What Does It Mean?

As you can see from the above graph, the blog has had a steady amount of readers. But yesterday, the number of readers quadrupled. Why the sudden spike, I wondered? I went back and reviewed yesterday's content and can only conclude that I need to show more pictures of men embracing men, or just more pictures of photogenic Scott.

Don't Forget! Everyone is welcome to join us for breakfast at the Grove Cafe (on the grounds of Spring Grove Hospital) this Saturday, Feb. 23, at 8 am.

Where in the World?

Chicago, Illinois (Hi, Katelyn!)

Naples, Florida (Note Everglades Highway)

Seattle, Washington

Toronto, Canada

Isle of Mann, UK

Bremen, Germany

Ok, you have to admit this is cool. Double-click on the map to make it larger, and you will see the little red balloon at the top of the bridge on the lower right. That was the location where someone in Paris on the Pont du Saint Michel over the River Seine at Notre Dame Point ........was looking at our blog. You can even see the sight-seeing boats on the river.

Thanks to Google Earth (which has new advanced features now like 3-D views and space photos), I could see this photo of Notre Dame Cathedral taken from the same location on the Saint Michel bridge. I know what you are thinking..... Ah , Paris. There's Notre Dame, one of the most photographed buildings in the world. There's a sightseeing cruise on the River Seine. C'est magnifique! Mais non, I'd rather sit here and look at the Sam's Bagels Blog. There is no accounting for taste. After all, the French did give a lifetime achievement award to Jerry Lewis.

Sad Tidings on a Snowy Day

Lois and Gene Barry's brother-in-law, Robert Burrows, passed away yesterday. Robert was married to Gene's sister, Lynn. The viewing will be held this Sunday, February 24, at Hubbard's Funeral Home from 2 - 4 pm and from 7 - 9 pm. All of us at Sam's would like to express our sympathy to the family.

Love is All Around

Ronnie, Dana, Doug, Chuck, Scott, John

Andrea with her niece, Cailyn

Scott and John


Chuck and Scott


Don and Doug - no comment

• Just adding a few more locations to our blog map! Internationally, we have Toronto, Canada ; Paris, France; and Bremen, Germany. C'est la vie!



• In the United States, we've added : Naples, Florida; Forest Hill, Pennsylvania; Mausten, Wisconsin; Woodbridge, Virginia; Chicago, Illinois; and New Orleans, Louisiana.

Baltimore Memories

(Submitted by Pat R.)


You must have grown up in Baltimore if you remember that:

You could only buy a Volvo from Michaelson Motors on Reisterstown Rd, the best place to become a Chevrolet ownah was at York and Bellona, Charlie Irish's Cheverlet, Johnnys on Harford Rd was the "Walking Mans Friend", Granny Packer was on Blair Road in Oberlee, and "Hey, Hey Fox Chevrolet" was just as annoying then as the car ads these days.

You rode on street cars and busses operated by BTC (Baltimore Transit Company,and remember when their color schemes went from yellow to green to blue.

You can sing the phone number for Hampden Moving and Storage.

You remember Royal Parker yelling at kids jumping on furniture that was notcovered in plastic ..... "what're ya trying to ruin it?"

You think being called "hon" by waitresses, cashiers, bank tellers, and completestrangers is perfectly normal.

You watched local TV shows: Duckpins for Dollars, The Collegians, Pinbusters,Buddy Deane Show, Romper Room, and Hutzler's Theatre.

You also saw Stu Kerr star as Bozo the Clown and Professor Cool for the kids,then host "Dialing for Dollars" for the stay-at-home moms, and later fill-in asthe weather man (complete with cloud and sun magnets) on the 6 o'clock news.

We had milk home-delivered by Green Springs, Sealtest, and Cloverland.....but somehow Cloverland was the only who claimed to be "the dairy with cows". Oh yeah, you can probably sing their jingle "If you don't own a cow call Cloverland now, It's (NOrth 9-2222)

Going for a Sunday drive to get ice cream at Murrays, Sanders (The Dam Place ),or at Cloverland Dairy Farm on Dulaney Valley Rd. If you didn't have a car,there was always a walk to Arundel or High's. Or you could just stay home and wait for the bells of the Good Humor Man --------- Wait a minute!

When somebody gave their phone number prefix (such as MULberry- 6 or ATwater-4, you knew right where they were from.

You've been on Sunday drives through "Droodle" park, and watched the submarineraces at Loch Raven or Lake Montebello.

How about Baltimore 's own Ronnie Dove?

We had a functioning light rail system. The city and adjoining countieswere linked by street cars, which plied the tracks for 104 years before the busses ultimately won on November 3, 1963.
Car drivers, bicycle riders, and pedestrians had to avoid street car tracks longafter the street cars were out of business. It took years to dig up the tracks, and some are still evident on paved-over cobblestone streets. Now we are spending a gazillion dollars trying to re-create the original version of light rail.

You can remember what the harbor looked like before it was THE Inner Harbor .

You remember when there was home delivery of the Morning Sun, The Evening Sun, The Sunday Sun, The News-Post, and The Sunday American. The last two were later the News-American.... and all long before the City Paper made its debut.

You looked forward to Earl Weaver antics over a bad call ...... okay, over any call.

You remember laughing at bawdy jokes and political comments scrawled in whiteshoe polish on the front window of Turkey Joe's Bar in Fells Point.

Eating at Pollack Johnnie's, Lexington Market, Attman's, Bel-Loc Diner, Ciminos,Little Tavern (buy'em by the bag!), White Castle, AJ's Dog House, Horn & Horn,Oriole Cafeteria, White Coffee Pot, Hot Shoppes, Ameche's, Gino's, Read's, Hooper's, Silber's Bakery . . .

You've seen the governor (and other dignitaries) standing in line, in the rain, outside of Haussners, because they never took reservations.

You remember Friendship Airport (then BWI, now Thurgood Marshall International) and Harbor Field (now Dundalk MarineTerminal).

You remember late night "Mister Ray's Hair Weave" commercials.

You found yourself cheering for the guys who added "hon" to the Welcome toBaltimore sign on the BW Parkway , especially after the Mayor got upset and staked out the sign to catch them.

You remember driving over the old Kent Narrows Draw-Bridge that snarled weekendtraffic coming home from the Ocean. You remember 17-mile traffic backups coming back from Ocean City on holiday weekends.

You had plenty of friends who worked at Sparrows Point, and each had an ugly old "point car" to drive to work.

Everybody else (it seemed) worked for GM on Broening Hywy, Western Electric, or National Brewery.

You remember going to see the fabulous Fire Department Christmas Train Garden at the Fire House.

You remember when Fort Holabird was alive and thriving.

You love to see the Domino Sugar sign reflecting across the harbor.

You remember when Social Security moved out of the Candler Building to their newcomplex in Woodlawn.

You remember seeing the Four Seasons perform at Painters Mill or at Club Venus. You saw the Beatles, The Beach Boys, Dave Clark Five, The Rolling Stones, The Monkees, and Peter, Paul & Mary at the Civic Center . You saw Emerson, Lake , and Palmer at the Lyric. You saw Otis Reading, the Four Tops, and the Temptations at Calvert Hall. You didn't save a single program!

More Parks sausages Mom, Please!

You remember the rotating restaurant on top of the Holiday Inn on Light Street .

You've had the monster "Powerhouse" burger at one of four Ameche's Drive-ins.... and long before there was a McDonald's in sight. You could "Meetcha atAmeche's!" at Loch Raven & Taylor, 5800 Reisterstown Rd , 7700 Wise Ave , orRitchie Hywy & 5th in Glen Burnie . All gone!

A few years later you could also have a 15-cent burger at Gino Marchetti's, ordrive through the Circle for a Cheesy-Q. They're gone too!

You know B&O is not body odor.

You remember when the Baltimore Civic Center was home to The Baltimore Bullets,The Baltimore Blast, The Baltimore Clippers, rock concerts, car shows, horse shows, civil-service exams, circuses, ice shows, and graduations.

Every kitchen had a can of Old Bay and every Frigidaire a case of Natty Boh.

You remember when Baltimore rated a "Playboy Club", and no, it wasn't on the block.

You and your Mom shopped at Braeger-Gutman's, Hutzler's, Stewart's, HochschildKohn, Robert Hall, The May Company, Hecht's, Peck & Peck, Hamburgers, Epstein's,Woolworth's, SS Kresge, McCrorys, Ben Franklin, Dacks 5 &10, EJ Korvettes, TwoGuys, Cooks, Kaldor, Hechingers, and of course . . . Shocketts on Broadway or Eastern Avenue.

Shopping on The Avenue meant Eastern Avenue in Highlandtown, unless of course you were from the other side of town, then it was 36th St. Shopping on The Boulevard meant Washington Boulevard in Pigtown.

You've cruised Ameche's, the Circle, Champs, and Topps Lot on a week-end evening to see the muscle cars.

You know that an Arabber is really a guy who sells fruit and vegetables from a horse drawn cart.

You remember when the city po-leece cars went from black and white, to blue and white, then to all white with red and blue stripes.

You know live crabs are at their very meanest right before steaming, and that ifone gets you ..... he WILL NOT let go!

You always knew where to find Blaze Starr.

You know where ' Downey Ocean ' is, and remember where the "Irish House" was.

You remember a very green, but not very Irish, Hyman Pressman marching in the St Patrick's Day parades, and Louis L Goldstien with his immortal "God bless youall real good" blessing.

You've remember special deli shopping trips to Stone's Bakery, Jack's CornedBeef, Weiss Deli, and Attman's Deli on Lombard St, right in the heart of the high rise projects.

You remember the Gwynn Oak, Carlin's, and Bay Shore Amusement Parks.

You know where to park for the Preakness.

You don't think that Assawoman Bay is a strange name.

You are an expert crab picker that always volunteers to teach visitors the only
(and best) way to pick a steamed crab. Of course everyone else around you will
interrupt the lesson to show your new student their best way, and confusion will
reign. This will never change!

You had to be ready to yell out your order at Captain Harveys, or risk hearing jeers from all the longshoremen in line.

You had to pull out the BS sign when Robert Irsay declared that he had to move (steal) the Colts from Baltimore .... because the city would not support a team. We didn't get to be the world's largest outdoor insane asylum for nothing. The names of Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry, Bill Pellington, Art Donovan, Tom Matte,Alan Ameche, Gino Marchetti, Jim Mutscheler, Lenny Moore, John Mackey, BigDaddy, Jimmy Orr, Bert Jones, Lydell Mitchell, John Dutton, Mike Barnes, JoeEhrman, Fred Cook, and many others are held in reverence to this day! Won't support a team ....... hmmm!!!!

Everybody knows what a 'zink' and 'payment' are, and just how important it is to "warsh them marble stoops."

You yell out "O" during the Star Spangled Banner.

And no matter where you are, you can only laugh when you see signs saying "Maryland Crab Cakes!"

You say ' Blare Road ' for Belair Road .

There was Kirby Scott, Johnny Dark, Jack Edwards on WCAO, Jay Grason and Galen
Fromm on WBAL, Lee Case on WCBM, Mike March, Johnny Walker, and The Flying
Dutchman on WFBR, and Joe Buccheri on a variety of Classic Rock stations ....to
name but a few.

You were confused for a few years after they swapped one-way directions on
Lombard and Pratt Streets.

How about laughing to the Johnny Walker morning show on WFBR, and his risqué
shows at the Barge?

You miss the RCA dog.

You know which bridge they're talking about when someone says, 'The bridge
traffic is backed up.'

You actually admire someone named "Boog"

AND:
You understand most of these, and pass them along to other Balti-morons to enjoy.

More Blog Statistics

Bear with me, but I am just fascinated with how much information I have gathered. (Useful? I'm not sure, but it amazes me just that I CAN gather it). I have learned that the most successful sites have a high percentage of returning visitors. While the blog only has a relatively small number of readers, you are a loyal bunch! As you can see from that above chart, nearly 75% of Sam's readers come back.... and more than 36% of you have visited ten times or more, you gluttons for punishment. I know that 58.40% of you have your computer screens set to a resolution of 1024 x 768, that 83% of you use Windows XP, and that 66% of you found the blog using Google's Blog search engine. One of the most curious facts is that one person found this blog by searching for the topic of......ironing!

We have new international readers in Dublin, Ireland; Berlin, Germany; and the Isle of Mann, United Kingdom. In the United States, the list includes:

Number /City/State

131 Baltimore , Maryland

20 Accokeek, Virginia

15 Gaithersburg, Maryland

12 Salisbury ,Maryland

10 Catonsville, Maryland

8 Annapolis, Maryland

8 Potomac, Maryland

6 Arlington , Virginia

4 Columbia , Maryland

4 Champaign , Illinois

4 Sheboygan Wisconsin

4 Mountain View, California

3 Williamsport, Pennsylvania

3 Lafayette, Louisiana

2 Jacksonville , Florida

2 Durango , Colorado

2 Dallas, Texas

2 Janesville ,Wisconsin

1 Tucson , Arizona

1 Ellicott City, Maryland

1 Scottsdale, Arizona

1 Las Vegas, Nevada

1 Florissant ,Colorado

1 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

1 Forest Hill, Pennsylvania

1 Irving Texas

1 Melvin, Michigan

1 New York, New York

Greetings From Florida!

Hi Folks, Greetings from sunny Florida! I really don't know any of you but I do have to say, "WHAT A BLOG"! You guys look like you are having such a great time.....!! Actually, I do know Sam's ....My good friend, Pat Richardson, had my husband and I meet her for coffee and bagels before we headed for our college reunion. Of course, since all of you know Pat so well.,you will understand that this was not just any "college reunion". Actually, it was one where we were planning sort of a friendly "sit in/protest" regarding the change of the college's name from Western Maryland College to McDaniel College. So, in order to do this with some FUN and FLAIR, we had to "look the part". This was easy for "our dissident college group of friends"....We all wore special Tee Shirts...Be sure to ask Pat about the details. So, as I said, I really don't know any of you, but on the other hand since I know Pat so well.....Yes, I do know you! Enjoy every day!
Glenda
P.S. The bagels were great!

Brocolini Search

(Submitted by Pat R)

Last Saturday I went to a lacrosse game at the Navy Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis. Navy scored 10 points, VMI scored 2. After the game, I had dinner at a restaurant in the Market Place area. I can't remember the name, but Don and Carl stopped there one time after a bike ride. To make a short story longer, I ordered pork with spiced apples. When the plate arrived it also had some green stuff piled on it. It sort of looked like broccoli, but it wasn't. It was very good ,and I asked the waitress what the green stuff was. She said it was called brocolini. Broccoli and asparagus were cross bred and that was the result. I tried to find it this week in the stores but was not successful. Does anybody know where brocolini can be found? I think it has a better taste than either broccoli or asparagus.

"Field Trip" Next Saturday, February 23

Hi everyone. You are welcome to join us on our "field trip" to the Grove Cafe next Saturday morning at 8 am. We are meeting Dr. Mike there once a month to save him the bike ride. See you there!

Harold celebrated his birthday yesterday. We had a delectable dinner at La Travola in Little Italy with friends, Doug and Marcia. He got a special gift, a new Hewlett-Packard computer with a 22" flat screen. When he sets it up, I will be tempted to view the blog on the big screen. Happy Birthday!

Bill White drove his prize 1994 Jaguar up to Sam's this morning. Bill is the consummate collector and appreciates many of the finer things in life. See this fabulous car below.

I noticed that I was seated at a table at Sam's that had a McCain bumper sticker. There are so many opportunities in our society to debate politics and so few chances to enjoy a hearty laugh with good friends. .....I have decided to keep the blog apolitical and not publish any political cartoons or opinions. It's good to be the blog administrator!

Both Don and Bill T. were sporting striped shirts today and discussed how it is rare to find men's shirts with vertical stripes that might make one look taller and thinner. Can add stripes now to the discussion of manly kilts, underwear, outerwear, swimwear, ironing jeans and overwear. The women were discussing HD television and Blue Ray technology, and I realized the women discuss clothing much less often than the men at Sam's.

Be My Valentine

Jeff and Scott - BFF

Happy belated Valentines Day

The Rosette Nebula (aka NGC 2237) is a cosmic cloud about 50 light years in diameter. Its long stem is composed of hydrogen gas. Its petals are "stellar nurseries" whose lovely, contours are sculpted by winds and radiation emitted by a central cluster of hot young stars.

Another Blog Map

Oooh, this is Big Brother-like. Found out that I can view the blog map as a satellite photo and keep zooming in until the specific building is highlighted on the map. (See the red balloon above?) The buildings house Internet services like Verizon, Comcast, and AOL in geographic areas, not the location of everyone's home computer. Still amazing technology, isn't it? Just think, if I can find out who is looking at the blog for how many minutes and how often for free, what do you think websites know about us when they pay for a professional tracking service? They know which pages of a website are our favorites and whether we return for more visits. They know what time we visited and how long we visited. They know whether we prefer porn or recipes. A bit creepy....

Happy Valentine's Day!

Well, Harold took me out for Valentine's dinner and we had a very nice time. We ran into that other romantic big spender, Doug. He had 30 minutes to wine and dine Carol before he was off to referee some basketball games. I will leave the name of the restaurant up to your imaginations....... How did you spend your Valentine's Day? On second thought, if it involved diamonds or Tio Pepe's, maybe it's best if you don't share.

You may recall that a while back we discovered that some of the older generation have cell phones but don't turn them on, they are for "emergency " use ony. Jeff stopped by and reported that his mother rarely turns her phone on. However, she turns it on to call Jeff's cell phone. For whatever reason, she won't use her landline phone to call his cell. This discussion prompted Pat R. (who kept her cell phone off) to research a bit about cell phone use. Her newfound knowledge follows:


5 THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOUR CELL PHONE COULD DO: There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it:

• FIRST The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile, network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you. Interestingly, this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out. Sue's Note: "Type 112 in your phone's address book now so you can remember it in a panic. Mine's under "Help"."
• SECOND Have you locked your keys in the car? Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other "remote" for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk). Editor's Note: "It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a cell phone!" Sue's Note: "This won't work if I have locked my purse and cell phone in the car with the keys. I imagine."
• THIRD Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370# Your cell will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time. Sue's Note: Store this code in your cell's address book under "Battery".
• FOURTH How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone? To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 #, a 15 digit code appears on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones. Sue's Note: "This tip is of no help to me if I file the code in the mythical "safe place". That is where my family's Valentine cards are currently hiding."
• FIFTH Free Directory Service for Cells . Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don't have to. Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial: (800) FREE 411, or (800) 373-3411 without incurring any charge at all. Sue's Note: Program this into your cell phone now under "Info".

So Pat, is your cell phone on right now, or are you saving the batteries???? Thanks for the info.

More interesting news about the generations. Some of the same folks who didn't turn their cell phones had never heard the expression, "Does a bear sh** in the woods?" They had also never heard the philosophical question, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, does it make a sound?" Thank goodness we were all aware of this debate: "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

Spoke with a young salesman at the computer store. He told me his dad has been selling old floppy disks and floppy disk drives on e-Bay for good money. See, the key is to collect something expendable that most of of throw out. This explains why floppies may be worth more than Beanie Babies some day. Any thought on which things we are currently disposing of that may become valuable? I'm thinking I'll hold on to all those old cell phones and batteries!

Happy Valentine's Day, and good night.

Post-Primary Musings

Submitted by Pat Richardson

After being bombarded with the longest primary campaign in history, I turned off the TV to retrieve my sanity. I remembered that our American Humorist, Will Rodgers, had a lot to say about politics and the happenings of his day. I retrieved some of his quotes to share with the bloggers. Not much has changed. He was born in 1879 and died in 1935. I hope you enjoy.

• "There is no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you."
  
• "The country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer."
  
• "The more you read and observe about this Politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other. The one that is out always looks the best."
  
• "I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts."
  
• "Communism is like prohibition, it's a good idea, but it won't work.
  
• "Ancient Rome declined because it has a Senate, now what is going to happen to us with both?"
  
• "Be thankful we are not getting all the government we are paying for."
  
• "Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggie' until you can find a rock."
  
• "I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat."
  
• "Our Constitution protects aliens, drunks & U.S. Senators."
  
• "On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government for four years, no matter what it does."
  
• "Take diplomacy out of war and the thing would fall flat in a week."
  "There ought to be one day--just one day--when there is open season on senators."

Ice, Ice Baby

Schools closed today due to the ice storm. Hope everyone stays safe and sound.

VALENTINE'S DAY DON'TS

Warning: Gentler readers may be offended.

Operation Welcome Home

(Submitted by Glenn)
E-mail: operationwelcomehome@comcast.net
Web: www.owhmd.org

Just a quick reminder on our upcoming events and a new event we just added. Each event has a different team captain so please correspond with them directly. When joining us, please consider bringing prepackaged snacks (outlined below), but DO NOT bring bottled water or drinks at this time. Wal-Mart made a very generous donation of bottled water (thanks to the hard work of Tom Colgan, one of our volunteers). We need everything else but water at this time. Thank you. We hope to see you at one of these events!

REMINDER...we have an event this Friday, February 15th at 5:00pm. Bill and Debby Poteet will be the team captains for the Friday event. Please let them know if you will be attending by e-mailing them at dpoteet525@yahoo.com or calling them on their cell at 410-428-9097. They will let you know about any last-minute scheduling changes (should there be any). Please RSVP directly with Bill and Debby, provide them with your cell phone number, and do not reply to this e-mail.

NEW EVENT...we have a new event for this Saturday, February 16th at 9:30am. John Flynn will be the team captain for the Saturday event. Please let him know if you will be attending by replying to this e-mail (operationwelcomehome@comcast.net) or calling him on his cell at 410-271-4428. He will let you know about any last-minute changes (should there be any). When confirming your attendance, please provide your cell phone number (or land line phone number).

LAST EVENT OF FEBRUARY...then our last event (scheduled for this month) will be on Wednesday, February 20th at 2:15pm. Ken and Lisa Funk will be the team captains for the event on the 20th. Please let them know if you will be attending by e-mailing them at klfunk@comcast.net or calling them on their cell at 410-382-8472. They will let you know about any last-minute scheduling changes (should there be any). Please RSVP directly with Ken and Lisa, provide them with your cell number, and do not reply to this e-mail.

Katelyn in Chicago now understands why "bagel holes" have never caught on as a tasty treat.

MAKING LOVE, BEST VALENTINES EVER !

Slim and Sexy Valentine's Day Workout