Mike O'Connell

Tomorrow the Queen of England turns 90 years old. (That’s Elizabeth the Second for those of you who haven’t been paying attention to world affairs the past six decades or so.) I don’t really have much to say about the queen except kudos for continuing to live and for sticking it out with your employers so long.

She is also the second leg of our 90^th birthday watch, and another answer to one of my favorite trivia questions of all time. Name four celebrities, all born in 1926 and all still going strong, that have been at their current jobs (more or less) waaaay longer than anyone ever thought they would ever be.

Answer number one: Hugh Hefner. Answer number two: Elizabeth II. Answers three and four? Hint: check this blog in August.

Then, realize the first leg of the Spring 2016 Trifecta has already occurred.

Things to add:

Kobe scoring 60 (in typical Kobe fashion) in his final game. Classic.

Bryce Harper’s 100th career home run… a grand slam, no doubt.

And, also locally… Caps win, Caps win.

Then, tonight:

Bumgarner-Kershaw for the second time already this season and Greinke-Shields in San Diego. Way to go, West Coast late games, way to go.

And in the heartland? A guy starting for the defending NL champions who’s about to turn 43 and looks more like a truck driver than an athlete?

Awesome.

This weekend I visited my hometown of Binghamton, New York. And yeah, it snowed the whole weekend.

Most people, I suppose, have love-hate relationships with their hometowns and I have a particularly strong one. I can handle it, though, for 36 hours a year, as long as I avoid everyone but the handful of people I really look forward to seeing.

Same time next year, Binghamton.

Residents: We are not amused. What a great headline. Seriously.

You may recall a couple months ago I told you about Loudoun County’s “Nighttime Economy Ad Hoc Committee.” That’s an ad hoc committee of the Loudoun Economic Development Advisory Commission. (What was the fake charity George Costanza invented on an episode of Seinfeld? The Human Fund? “Money for people.”) Well, that committee has, according to The Washiington Post, “been looking at ways of stimulating [sic] the nighttime economy to make Loudoun more attractive to business and the young workers they employ.”

The thing about socialism is that it requires too many evenings.

On Monday, March 14 (sorry… news travels slowly without a media committee), about 75 people who couldn’t find something real to do with their evening time “turned out to provide comments in small groups that corresponded to seven subcommittees that studied entertainment, public space and amenities, housing, transportation, public safety, compliance with government regulations and economic development.” Again, thanks, Washington Post. I don’t even have to come up with material anymore. I just reprint their news articles. What was it Will Rogers said? “I don’t make jokes, I just watch the government and report the facts.” Amen, brother.

Members of various Loudoun County committees and subcommittees presented plans and ideas bent on, you know, attracting some excitement to the richest county in America. Because…

“There’s nothing for me here.”

Ha! Classic Binghamton. Nothing to do here.

Terri Randolph of Leesburg says she often goes to the District for entertainment. She would like to see “more restaurants, more lounges, more places where you have live music, more places where it’s a little bit more diverse.”

O Government, Government, maketh me the entertainment!

And “places where it’s a little bit more diverse”? Seriously, what is that? Is that a grammar mistake or a hillbilly joke?

Todd Pearson, one of two co-chairmen of the Nighttime Economy Ad Hoc Committee, said the committee received almost 1,000 responses to an online survey to solicit public input on the matter. The committee “will revise (its) recommendations” (HA!), then present them to the Economic Development Advisory Commission in May, followed by a presentation to the Board of Supervisors’ finance committee in June.

I say more leprechauns, more unicorns, more magic beans, more bread and circuses!

And they say there’s nothing amusing in Loudoun County.

Due to circumstances I cannot explain, this will be the final post ever at mikeo… who am I kidding? I can’t even type it with a straight face. No April Fool’s jokes here: too many awesome things happening in the world.

Beginning with TV, sweet TV.

Did you watch last night’s premiere episode of CNN’s The Eighties? Brought to you by the same folks who brought us The Sixties and The Seventies (see a pattern?), The Eighties is perhaps even more enjoyable for me because it’s the first one of these decades I actually remember. Last night’s episode, as went the previous two series, focused on the impact of television, featuring a few shows and events I actually remember watching. It’s two hours of your time very well spent, and CNN will show it a thousand more times in case you missed it.

Ditto Archer on FX, the network which is fast becoming my favorite cable channel. Last night was the Season Seven (can you believe it?) premiere of the show that generally does everything right as far as what should happen on a cable spy program shown post-family hour. I realize Archer’s not for everybody, but if you can handle it do yourself a favor and please do so.

More reasons to keep on living.