Shout Outs Galore And Legendary Creatures

Polite society has a custom that "shout outs" be administered either in the middle or at the end of a particular event. I'm breaking social conventions by starting off this blogging week with a few shout outs:

I'd like to give a SHOUT OUT to my sister for braving the wilderness by engaging in Garden Manticore Assault Training, or GMAT for short. There's apparently a mounting manticore problem and my sister is responding to this threat by learning how to battle the beasts. All this time I had believed that manticores became extinct along with the dinosaurs and the Greeks -- no dice. Manticores are alive and well and tripping people on the streets. My sister plans to capitalize on this by engaging in GMAT and then going to graduate school to earn a Manticore Butcher's Award, or MBA for short. Go get 'em, sis!

A SHOUT OUT goes to Michael at The Daily Lorenzo for his successful return to blogging after some knee procedures. Those things seem to be popping up all over the place -- I mean knee procedures, not Daily Lorenzos. My father-in-law recently had his knee replaced, and my pseudo-manager at work just went in for a knee procedure, too. Even two of the geese who live in our pond have little fowl casts which, I would wager, are the result of some type of back-alley knee surgery. For those keeping score, that's three humans and two winged misfits and only one of them has the sense of humor and social responsibility to talk about old people falling in orange marmalade. That is funny, and tasty for the old people, too!

SHOUT OUTS to "Family Guy" for awesome pop culture references including, but not limited to: the Snorks, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High in yesterday's episode. If you have no idea what I'm talking about or what those references were, I suggest coming out from under your rock-roofed rock-house and walk down your rock-driveway and onto your non-rock-sidewalk. Careful, though, I hear that's where those damn manticores dwell.

--Wait a minute... Manticores, people getting tripped, a surge in knee procedures. It all makes sense now!

You're probably wondering what a manticore is.
That picture above is a manticore. Watch your step.

Today is "AAA" Day! Minor league baseball, batteries, or auto clubs -- your pick.