The prior OT is closed, so I thought I'd throw this up for fun. I also want to tell a story about a man and his parking spot.

Last Saturday afternoon, I was taking my dog out to do his business. While walking back to my apartment, I noticed a fellow resident taking out his garbage. After he threw out the garbage in the dumpster, he walked to his compact four door car, got in, started it up and backed out of his parking spot. This man immediately re-parked his car.

So far this is and will continue to be a pointless story, but this is where it becomes a pointless story I want to tell. When my neighbor re-parked his car, he took up two parking spots instead of one. Not only that, his car was perfectly bisected by the center of the three white lines that made up the two parking spots. A laser guided parking robot couldn't place this car any closer to the middle of the two spots than this man did.

After re-parking his car, my neighbor got out, closed the driver door, set the car alarm, and walked back into his apartment. I stuck around for a few minutes to see if he forgot something and was going to drive away. When he didn't come back, I went back inside with the dog.

Today, I salute my neighbor with a pointless story, hereby naming him Parking Master and Bringer of Joy.

Topics to discuss (?):

Minor League baseball is almost ready to return to the Portland area. I'm looking forward to having professional baseball a short drive away. Is anyone else excited - or as excited as one can be about short season Single A ball?

Fourth of July plans? I'll be keeping my skittish dog and autistic son sheltered from random loud noises. I hope the rest of you have fun exploding things.

Favorite summer beverages? I'm partial to ice water with a lemon slice for safe driving refreshment. I also must be getting old because I've started liking wine over the past few months. So far I've been sticking to Oregon wines. Last night we had an Eola Hills 2010 Oregon Pino Gris. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm not knowledgeable about wines, but I'd describe it as light, slightly sweet and fruity, and went great with sauteed summer squash and baked breaded chicken. It would be a good match for a lemon-herb-butter white fish or shellfish.

Seth MacFarlane (creater of Family Guy, etc.), just paid to have Carl Sagan's papers donated to the Library of Congress. I'm not a fan of his, and most interviews he comes off as a giant douche nozzle, but this is really cool. Thanks Seth! Are there any famous people you don't like, then they do something to change your view of them?

Thanks to all the current members of our military and to our veterans! I'll be hiding in the dark on the 4th, thinking of and appreciating all that you do.