Three Ring Circus

Hello World, Well, so far April seems to be going completely in the wrong direction in terms of weather, and is not only getting chillier every day from the day before, but has probably been colder than the whole month of March, thanks not. I said to Bill, it's amazing how fast you can get used to sunny 70-degree weather in March, which is about as unheard of in New York as a 25-foot monster gorilla climbing on the Empire State Building. (Oh, wait a minute ..... ) Anyway, when the temperatures became more normal for the season in April - in the 50's and low 60's - it felt like we had been plunged into a deep freeze around here, and dazed folks in their tank tops and flip flops didn't know what to do with themselves, by golly. I must say that it hasn't slowed down the explosion of flowers in every corner of our yard, including a rainbow of colorful azaleas in every hue, and cascades of lavender wisteria, whose heavenly fragrance is the olfactory equivalent of the nectar of the gods, believe me. In fact, much as I like to think of myself as Wonder Woman, if there's no wisteria at the legendary Hall of the Gods in Valhalla, I can tell you right now that I'm not going, and you can quote me on that, by Odin. In other local news, the hometown faithful breathed a collective sigh of relief when their spunky Rangers made it out of the first round of the playoffs by narrowly escaping elimination in Game 6, and just barely squeezing out a win in the deciding game, or better known as a heart attack on a stick. Normally, the outcome wouldn't seem that much in doubt, since the surprising Rangers entered the playoffs as the number one seed, winning 51 games for a total of 109 points, for only the fourth time over 100 points in franchise history since 1926. They were matched up in the first round with Ottawa, playing the part of the plucky underdogs this time around, when usually they're the evil overlords that strike fear into the hearts of mere mortals. Ordinarily, the first round pits the strongest teams in each division against the woeful stragglers who just barely made it into a playoff spot to start with, and often find themselves summarily swept out of the picture in a mere four games. But I can tell you that the Rangers had their hands full with the Senators, who did not give up without a fight, and the opening series turned into a hard-fought, knock-down-drag-out battle of wills that went the full seven games, with five of them being decided by a single goal. We didn't realize until later, just how lucky the Rangers were to survive the fearsome Senators, and advance to the next round of the playoffs. History may well look back on this as the Year of the Upset in NHL playoffs, and the casualties were ghastly. The defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins, the #2 seed in the East, were eliminated by the 7th-seeded Capitals, while the best in the West, Vancouver was knocked out by the 8th place LA Kings in a scant five games. Meanwhile, the perennially unbeatable Detroit proved all too beatable for the lowly Predators, and the odds-makers' choice of the mighty Penguins were no match for their cross-state rivals in Philadelphia. So the second round is shaping up to be an interesting mix of favorites and also-rans, with the Rangers taking on the Caps, and hoping for better luck against them than the pride of Beantown, where the anguished fans can be heard wailing and gnashing their teeth for miles in every direction. (In fact, that outcome was so unexpected that when I checked Yahoo Sports after the Rangers won, I was informed that their upcoming opponent in the next round would be Boston - which may not be on a par with "Dewey Defeats Truman" as a headlining blunder, but I still thought it was pretty funny.) If the first round is any indication, I would say that this year's playoffs are not for the faint-hearted, not by any means, and in every hockey town, they'd better have a full stock of psychiatrists and anti-depressants, because they're going to need them. Of course, Wednesday was Secretary's Day all over the business world, a time to recognize the contributions of the unsung heroes and heroines of offices everywhere, and shower the administrative professionals in their midst with the glory and rewards they so richly deserve. Not so fast! At the employer of last resort where I work, I had heard nothing at all about any plans for the occasion, such as attending the Chamber of Commerce luncheon at a local country club, as they often do. I figured that with the economic climate the way it was, this would be just another victim of financial austerity, and there would be no lunch in the offing, no matter how well-deserved it might be. So I went ahead and made my own plans to take the afternoon off and enjoy myself, and my dear husband, ever the gentleman, offered to take me out to lunch in the place of my actual (rotten) employer, and he promised to not even boss me around while he was at it, which was even better. So I was all set for a special treat, and was starting to feel sorry for all of the other people who had nothing to look forward to. Once again, not so fast! Suddenly at the eleventh hour (literally) I got a call from an Executive Secretary, asking me if I was going to the luncheon. I replied: "There is no luncheon." Au contraire, she assured me. (That's French for, "What am I, chopped liver?") Apparently the usual luncheon had long since been arranged, and all the invitations had gone out, and all the RSVP's had been returned, and seemingly, every single everybody who was anybody in all four facilities had found out about it, except little old lonesome me, and I don't mind saying, oh thanks ever so very much not. At that point, I knew it was much too late for me to just show up there uninvited anyway, because they have to tell the country club way ahead of time how many people are going, so they have the right amount of meals and goodie bags for each person. But at the time, I was so annoyed that I said to Bill that I certainly didn't want to go anywhere that I wasn't wanted, and would much rather have a pleasant lunch with him instead, since he asked me and they didn't. We went to a cute little Mexican place downtown, and had a wonderful meal, followed by hot fudge sundaes at Carvel, which as Secretary's Day goes, was plenty special enough for me. And while I may not have gotten any goodie bags or raffle prizes from the Chamber of Commerce, I also didn't have to listen to a parade of boring speeches either, by golly. Last week, Bill and I went to the movies, which is unusual for us, and saw the new Three Stooges film, that may not suit every taste, but we enjoyed it a lot. In fact, it got very good reviews, and while it helps to like the original Stooges brand of comedy, I think the new movie would appeal to more than just their hard-core fans. My favorite part was when they were being hijacked by the bad guys, in a car full of 8 people and 2 guns, when suddenly the car swerved off the road and plunged head-first into a lake. As the car was sinking, and filling with water, and there was a mad scramble for the guns, you could plainly hear the calm voice of the GPS lady saying, "When possible, make a legal U-turn." Ya gotta love it! Also, for anyone who hasn't been to the movies in a while, there always seems to be something new at the theater - for instance, you can buy your tickets online, and they have a scanner to verify the QR code on your smart phone when you get there, and how cool is that. At the concession stand, they now offer a variety of flavored seasonings to enhance their popcorn, as well as more robust options such as mozzarella sticks, onion rings, fiesta poppers, and even hot dogs and French fries, of all things. We even discovered a self-serve candy dispenser where you can use your debit or movie gift card to buy your own gum balls, jelly beans, Skittles, Life Savers, SweeTarts, M&Ms, Junior Mints and the like. Even better, we love to see trailers for all of the new movies coming out for the summer season - not that we usually go see any of them - but they're always so entertaining, often more so than the actual movie itself. This year, we're looking forward to seeing "The Avengers," including that yummy Chris Hemsworth, once again as Thor, plus "Men in Black 3" since we liked the first two so much. Does this seem to be shaping up as a busy summer of blockbusters for us? In the immortal words of Curly Howard: "Soitainly!" Elle