A Salty Salute

Props to my Ohio University Bobcats for making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1994. See, you have to make a big deal out of it when your school goes to the dance once a decade. (In fairness, OU did go twice in the '80s. Dynasty, eh?) I'm not too thrilled that they drew a hot Florida team in the first round, but we'll still pray for an upset.

Meanwhile, Louisville, my other favorite team, got hosed with its #4 seed. I'll never really understand what the selection committee is thinking. And, no one else will, either, as the whole thing is conducted in double-secret, and the members are never held accountable for their mistakes.

Not to sound like Andy Rooney or anything, but do you ever find yourself laughing at something that no one else does? Happens to me all the time. Half the time it makes feel like I'm mentally challenged; the other half, mentally superior. Anyway, I'm at the Damen and Milwaukee bus stop last night on my way home from work. I'm standing about seven feet behind the bench; on the bench are two young punk-rock poseurs: shaved heads, steel-toed boots, tattoos, etc. One of them (we'll call her Hipster #1) was drinking an iced coffee -- hell, it was only about 20 degrees with snow flurries, so why not cool down a little? -- so they'd obviously been to the Starbucks across from the bus stop.

I'm there for about 10 minutes, and then a Starbucks employee, talking into a cell phone, crosses the street. (I knew she worked there because she had on a uniform and an apron, but no jacket.) She walks up to the bus-stop bench and starts talking to the slackers. Now, I have my headphones on, so I can't hear any of the discussion, but after about 30 seconds, one of the hipsters -- we'll call him Hipster #2 -- sheepishly reaches into his pocket and pulls out a salt shaker. The Starbucks employee takes it and walks back across the street.

Me? I burst out laughing. Funniest thing I'd seen in a while. None of the other 12 or so people also freezing at the stop laughed. Either they didn't notice -- though I did see some of them following the action -- or it didn't strike them as amusing. I doubt I'll see anything as amusing on the way home today, but I suppose there's always hope.