PSoTD

Anyone my age probably has some fond memories of the drive-in movie theater. Cheap movies, family nights, later on it could be date nights, and make out nights, and whatever else nights. For me, first and foremost, I remember it as the cool place we went as a family when I was little to see Disney movies - Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, that kind of stuff. They came with various kinds of kids recreation - usually playgrounds - and the infamous snack bar which they constantly promoted during intermission.

Sunday night we took our kids to their first night at the Drive-In at Haars in Dillsburg.

It's the only drive-in near here anymore, as drive-ins have been in demise for decades. It's not the business model - it's the value of land as property bought in the 1950s for purposes of the drive-in eventually become surrounded with development, and the push and the offers for either commercial or residential development of the drive-in finally overwhelms the opportunity afforded with the business model. Drive-ins are sheer Americana, the confluence of America's love affairs with cars and with Hollywood, but our economy does not appreciate highly nor value heavily sheer Americana. Please don't try to tell me it does and use examples of antiques or collectibles or old houses, because the economic value isn't based on Americana but on 1) supply and demand, and 2) speculation.

My kids' generation may be the last to really know the drive-in theater. There are somewhere around 500+ left of them in this country (probably less, this list appears old).

Going to Haar's on Sunday night brought back the whole family and child value of the drive-in, and we'll go back in the near future. I want my kids to know the drive-in before it disappears from sight. Then they can tell THEIR kids about this fabulous place of fun that once entertained their generation.

Yep, the Al Gore movie.

It plays in Harrisburg June 30th at the Midtown Cinema.

How many of these beers have you had?

And congratulations to Tröegs! Harrisburg's own has the 41st beer on the list!

at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Camp Hill...

And once again it was delicious. I love the gyros, plain and simple. Both our kids ate skewered Chicken Souvlaki, and my wife went for the Spanakopita. She found it more of an appetizer, though, and went for a gyro afterwards, while I chowed down on Saganaki (fried cheese). Then we shared Kourambiedes, Galaktobouriko and Diples for dessert. We left stuffed and looking forward to next year.

Well, at least one stops by this place on the Carlisle Pike almost daily for coffee...

(that would be William Lehr, Jr., James M. Mead, Elizabeth F. Carson, Joyce S. Freeman, George S. Glen, Robert L. Gronlund, Leonardo Herrada, James R. McLaughlin, Clinton J. Najarian, Velma A. Redmond, Glenn A. Schaeffer, Kathryn P. Taylor, R. Terry Meiser)

I'm wondering what your thoughts are on the Anita Smith commercials for Capital Blue Cross. In particular, the commercial that seems to be in heavy rotation in the Harrisburg area currently in which Smith, President and CEO of Capital Blue Cross, is heavily featured in a generic promotion of education. It can easily be summed up as "education is good" because it is that generic. It's not that I think education isn't important. It's that I think this commercial doesn't make one bit of difference towards education, and I can't see how this commercial helps Capital Blue Cross in business, and furthermore, I don't see how it helps CBC provide better service or lower cost service or any tangible benefit to me, as a customer. I don't see how it gets more customers for CBC, I don't see it adding good will for CBC, I can only think of one thing it does: It promotes the face and name of Anita Smith.

So if any of you know, please let me know. Because I've been seeing the "Anita Smith" ads for over a year, and I just don't understand what Capital Blue Cross is getting out of it.

When I was 9 years old, my Dad took me to my first major league baseball game, with the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field. He took me to an old hot dog/sausage place in Cincy first, then we went to the ballpark and watched the players throw the ball around. We yelled to Lee May, then the Reds first baseman, and he smiled and waved back to our section.

I don't even remember who the Reds played, or if they won or lost. I just remember how big that ballpark was, the crowd excitement during the game, the finely mowed field, how close the players seemed to me, and my Dad in his extreme joy of showing me the ins-and-outs of a day at the ballpark.

Last Sunday I was The Dad. I took our 9 year old daughter to her first Major League Baseball game, Mariners versus the Orioles at Camden Yards. It was one of those delicious, not-ever-forgotten "parent" moments. She loved it - the crowd, how cool the park looked, the cheers, the home runs, the silly stuff run on the Jumbotron or whatever they call it, the Oriole mascot, the swag we bought, the food we bought, everything. And I got to watch her and sometimes see myself, and remember the joy as the child and simultaneously feel what my Dad must have felt, and these moments just happened over and over and over again. Keep my glove on in case there's a foul ball... The thrill of having a Foam Finger! Hey, let's go sit in the sun in the outfield and watch an inning! C'mon, you can boo louder than that. CHARGE! Why are they playing Jeopardy music?

It didn't hurt that Camden Yards is a beautiful place to watch a baseball game, and that we had good tickets, and that the people around us were energetic but courteous - no drunken cussing, no loud complaints.

After the game, we grabbed dinner at the Uno Restaurant in Inner Harbor (I do not recommend that) and drove home. She slept a bit. We stopped at the Maple Donut shop outside of Harrisburg for a quick doughnut snack, which I promised in lieu of buying dessert at Uno. Love their Maple Donuts. We got home, and she quickly burst into an excited description of the whole day for both mom and brother. Her brother's only 5, but I could tell, he liked what he heard. I'll get another day of the introductory joy at the ballpark someday again.