Good for you:  To start your day, a cup of steaming Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and a donut.  (The coffee, not the donut!)

FANS OF CAFFEINE AT DUNKIN’ & STARBUCKS
NO LONGER NEED TO FEEL GUILTY
ABOUT A STRONG CUP OF JAVA

Popularity of high-octane coffee
pushes pastry to back burner
at Dunkin’ Donuts shops

EXPANSION PROSPECTS FOR COFFEE-SERVING
FRANCHISES KEEP GETTING BETTER & BETTER
 
By David Maril
 
Doctors, nutritionists, dieticians and fitness trainers have made careers out of removing many favorite foods and drink from our menus.

For years, newly released results from medical research would often show one delectable food increases your chances of getting cancer and another dish you crave raises blood pressure and could cause diabetes.

It almost seemed we were heading down a path of being restricted to drinking bottled spring water and eating nothing but broccoli, and beans dipped in olive oil.

These days, however, the tide seems to be turning and we are getting a break.

More and more, dietary and medical research is discovering some of the food and drink once considered hazardous to your health may actually be beneficial.

For example, we are now told that red wine, in moderate amounts, lowers blood pressure and could help in the battle against high cholesterol. And for people who like eggs, there’s the encouraging news that the benefits often outweigh the negatives heart specialists used to warn about.

The best news from my standpoint, however, is the reversal of fortune with coffee.

For years working on deadlines in the newspaper business, coffee was a necessary part of everyday life. Even though you’d keep hearing about the brew being too acidic for your stomach and raising blood pressure, it was something many of us are unable to give up.

I would suspect that quitting coffee is as difficult as smokers walking away from nicotine. A day without coffee serves as an invitation for a headache.

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The familiar “Kars4Kids” jingle encouraging people to donate their old car “to positively impact a [needy] child’s life and education” can be heard in rock, bluegrass and reggae form, although the basic jingle remains the same.  (To see and hear the “classic” version of the jingle,  click here — just don’t play it too many times… or you’ll probably get a headache!)

Democrats, with too few candidates,
and Republicans, with too many,
offer voters minimal quality
for picking a president

‘KARS4KIDS’ JINGLE BECOMES
A NUISANCE (tinyurl.com/mkv3w4m)

A LAUNDRY LIST OF PET PEEVES
 
By David Maril
 
As the final vestiges of winter snow melt from our memories, it’s time to do some spring cleaning, clearing the deck and airing a laundry list of pet peeves.

It’s vital not to let these annoyances stay bottled up inside and get under your skin.

So in no particular order, here is a list of one person’s annoyances:

 DRIVERS

Drivers who swerve in from a far-left highway passing lane and cut you off, at the last second without even using a turn signal, to make a right turn onto an exit ramp.

Drivers, especially cops, who never use directional signals.

Drivers who go five miles per hour under the speed limit in middle and passing lanes. Besides backing up traffic, this encourages impatient motorists to pass in right lanes, creating additional safety risks.

Drivers who tailgate.

People who park sideways taking up two spaces in a lot to provide special protection for their car. Don’t they think this makes their vehicle a target for vandalism? And what would happen if everyone decided to occupy two spaces?

 POLITICIANS

Politicians who unfortunately make up the majority in both parties basing their campaigns and platforms on the theory that most voters are gullible and stupid.

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The new Apple Watch, just out, that techies are all drooling over, ranges in price from $349 to $17,000.  What effect
will it have, if any, on future smartphone use and texting?

ANOTHER STEP, FOLLOWING EMAIL,
TOWARD FURTHER REDUCTION
OF PERSONAL CONTACT

But at least it’s quiet and doesn’t disturb
everyone within earshot of the user

PATHETIC AND EMBARRASSING RINGTONES
 
By David Maril
 
I was recently talking to the director of an art gallery who is pretty much old-school when it comes to modern trends in the world of technology.

As someone who has lived without a television in his home for years, he is not a candidate for the purchase of the new wristwatch/iPhone Apple shills and groupies are drooling over.

But when the subject shifted to texting and smartphones, he surprised me.

“You know, I am actually glad people have switched to texting,’’ revealed one of the few people left in this country who has never sent a text message in his life.

It was hard to believe what he was saying.

When I asked what he could possibly find appealing about texting, he had a surprising answer that made sense.

“People used to come in to the gallery and their cellphones were going off all the time with distracting ringtones,” he explained. “And then, they’d get into loud conversations on their phones that would echo all over the place.

“At least with texting, it’s quiet and doesn’t disturb everyone else in the room,” he added. “That’s an improvement.”

He’s right, on the disturbance aspect. While texting is another step, following the growth of emailing, to reducing genuine personal contact with other people, it is less irritating to anyone within earshot of the messenger.

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Cast of Toby’s Dinner Theatre production of “The Addams Family” includes, from left: David James as Grandmama, MaryKate Broullet as Wednesday, Lawrence B. Munsey as Gomez, David Bosley-Reynolds as Lurch, Priscilla Cuellar as Morticia, Shawn Kettering as Uncle Fester, and Jace Franco as Pugsley.  (Photo/Jeri Tidwell)

GHOULISH BROADWAY MUSICAL
BASED ON 1960s HIT TV SHOW,
AT TOBY’S DINNER THEATRE
THROUGH MID-APRIL

Characters originated by
Cartoonist Charles Addams
in New Yorker magazine
come to life onstage
 
By Eddie Applefeld
 
It was a few seasons ago, as best I can recollect, I saw a production of “The Addams Family” at the Hippodrome. I recall enjoying it and thinking it was very funny.

So along come the folks at Toby’s Dinner Theatre in Columbia with their own production of this show.

The story got its start as a film in 1991 with Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston. In April of 2010 it became a Broadway musical with Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth as Gomez and Morticia, plus Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Fester, that enjoyed moderate success for not quite two years, closing at the end of December 2011.

The folks at Toby’s have mounted a very well-polished and smooth musical production of their own. That to me is no surprise since just about every show I’ve seen there has been excellent.

The theater and a number of its acting family have been recipients of Helen Hayes Awards. Kudos have to go out to the people who took care of the sets, costumes, songs, dancing and special effects.

I thought the costumes were particularly effective. After all, in some scenes it had to appear as if the actors were coming out of tombs.

The cast of characters you’d be familiar with if you watched the iconic TV show of the mid-1960s — or are old enough to remember the New Yorker cartoons by Charles Addams on which it was based — include: Morticia, Gomez, Uncle Fester, Pugsley, Lurch, Thing, Cousin Itt, Wednesday and Grandmama.

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The familiar Provident Savings Bank’s former headquarters at Howard and Saratoga Streets. More than half a century ago, when Howard Street was a thriving retail hub and Baltimore’s department store business was booming, the now long-shuttered Hutzler’s, which is located next-door to the former bank, wanted to tear down the iconic Provident building to expand its down- town store. Provident refused to sell however, and so Hutzler’s accomplished its expansion by building around and behind the bank, as can be seen in this recent photo. Except for the bank, all the buildings shown are Hutzler’s.

MERGERS AND AUTOMATION
HAVE CHANGED THE WAY
THE BANKS DO BUSINESS

Familiar branch managers and tellers
have all but disappeared from sight
 
By David Maril
 
A merger announcement in the Baltimore Sun, about Howard Bank purchasing Patapsco Bank caught my eye the other day. The story said the deal putting two banks together I have never heard of, would create one of the largest locally owned banks in the region.

This started me thinking about how much the banking industry has changed in the last several decades. So many familiar banks in regions have been bought up, absorbed by larger national establishments, and the names have disappeared forever.

A few old Baltimore names that come to mind include Equitable Trust, Maryland National Bank, Savings Bank of Baltimore, Mercantile Safe Deposit & Trust Co. and Baltimore Federal Savings & Loan.

Other, smaller, local institutions from bygone days that were once household words also include Loyola Federal Savings & Loan, Metropolitan Savings Bank, Colonial Savings Bank and Eutaw Savings Bank.

You used to be able to walk into your local branch and deal with the same teller or manager for years. They would know you by name and remember how many kids you had and what you did for a living.

Today, some branch managers seem to transfer around from state to state before they can even buy local license plates for their cars. Tellers have all but disappeared and you are encouraged to make transactions at ATM machines or on Internet websites.

It’s easier to be picked to participate in a network reality TV show than gain access to the local phone number of a neighborhood bank office.

After a while, the big national banks don’t seem so enormous any more.

It took years, but I have finally given in and no longer remain adamant about dealing with a small, local bank. You rationalize about the convenience of banking at the same institution in practically every state and not having to pay ATM fees when you use a money card.

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