As a child, this frequent exchange with my dad while traveling in the car drove me to tears and sometimes clenched fists. It’s not fair!

The internet is both a blessing, and a curse. A blessing because I can Google whatever I want and have any and all information in a matter of seconds. I can pay bills online, order groceries and meals for delivery from my favorite restaurants, make appointments for just about everything and more. And I enjoy social media – I’ll admit it: I’m a Facebook junkie.

There is a line in the “Top Gun” movies that applies not only to fighter pilots, but anyone with a heartbeat – and that is: “I feel the need … the need for speed!”

My sophomore high school English teacher was an evil man – or at least, I thought so at the time. Only the devil himself would make a bunch of 15-year-olds spend every waking moment outside of school reading a big, thick old-people book every ten days or so and then demand a book report about it. It was criminal! How were we supposed to have any kind of fun at all?

It’s almost impossible to turn on the TV and not see a news program or talk show (both comedy and serious) reporting on or telling jokes about the recent shenanigans of our elected leaders in Congress.

When I was in grade school, my classes participated in Valentine’s Day card swaps. My classmates and I decorated small paper bags (or boxes) with red hearts, cupids with arrows and more festive symbols of the holiday. We placed the open bag or box at the end of our desks, and on Valentine’s Day, the students walked around the room dropping their special little cards into each decorative container.

Now that the holidays are over, cabin fever is likely starting to set in. Some people choose to spend the winter days catching up on their reading, going to see the latest movies or participating in other fun indoor activities. Others choose to take to the hills for the thrill of skiing and snowboarding.

After our parents had both passed away, my sisters took on the task of going through our mother and dad’s Arizona home, deciding what to do with their furniture, housewares, clothing and prized possessions. I was grateful to them for doing this since I couldn’t, and I knew they would divide things fairly.

Some old friends who relocated from Michigan to Florida a few years ago recently posted on Facebook that they know when fall has arrived in the Sunshine State – not because the leaves change colors, but because the license plates do. I have only been to Florida once and even though it is beautiful, I would never want to live there. Can you say hurricane? Yes, we have an occasional tornado, but it is not the same.

Most people have seen “Independence Day,” a 1996 film about an alien invasion. If you haven’t, here’s a spoiler alert:

In my July column, I mentioned that when I was a kid, I saw Creedence Clearwater Revival at a campground bandshell, long before anyone ever heard of them. That was just one of my early musical experiences.

Over the past couple of years, I have made a conscious effort to not sound like my parents when talking to my sons and others in the Gen Z and Millennial age groups. Mainly because I disliked the “when I was your age” conversations when I was young. As nice as my childhood was, it really wasn’t all great.