What's Doin' Today?

September 24, 2022

I have eaten Cherries Jubilee many decades ago. I would prefer it with chocolate ice cream.

When I was a teenager in the 1970s, I fished much in the canal (Willetts Creek) a few feet from my house in West Islip, Long Island, New York; in the nearby Great South Bay; and in the nearby Atlantic Ocean. My dad intially had a small boat with an inboard-outboard engine, which he sold. Later in the 1970s, he had a 30-foot-long fishing boat. I had a small boat with a small outboard engine, which we sold. I then had a longer boat (17 feet long) with a larger engine (9-1/2-horsepower outboard), so I fished often from the dock a few feet from our house, and in the bay and in the ocean. Also in the 1970s, I had a tub of a sailboat which was fun to maneuver in the bay. (I have never been hunting.)

Today (September 24, 2022) is National Punctuation Day.

I would like to take this opportunity to address one of my punctuation pet peeves and also to tell you a somewhat obscure punctuation rule that many people do not know.

PET PEEVE: Please do NOT place a comma between the subject and the verb in a sentence, even if the subject is lengthy. For example, do NOT place a comma in the following sentence:

"The boy who lives down the street in the two-story house is coming to our apartment for dinner."

If you place a comma between the word "house" and the word "is," it is incorrect and is tantamount to writing this sentence: "I, am."

RULE: When making a word ending in "ss" possessive, the method is based on the first letter of the next word. For example:

the boss's chair

the boss' salary

the princess's castle

the princess' secret

Basically, you can have an "s" three times in a row, but not four times in a row. Did you know this rule?

Today's (September 24, 2022) is National Singles Day. I was without female companionship from age 20 to age 40, and not by choice, so I have been intimate with the (good and bad) aspects of single life. Please, no pity. I was finally able to get married on February 4, 2006, which was 22 days before my 45th birthday. (This is my first and only marriage.)

I must say that it certainly was worth the long, difficult wait. My wife Aileen (Debbie) is absolutely terrific, and I am definitely blessed to have had her in my life for so many years. I think that being alone for such a long time has made me appreciate her even more. In a couple of months on November 10, 2022, we will celebrate the 22nd anniversary of our first date.