Dear Katie Couric ...

cc to Senator John Hickenlooper - To begin, Katie Couric, I don’t know you and you don’t know me. We’ve crossed paths, if you could say it that way, because I became a subscriber to your Wake-Up Call newsletter which I get in my email box. Likewise with you, Senator, I don’t know you and you don’t know me, and I’m assuming you got my email address from a voter list. I repeat, there’s no personal connection between me and you, Ms. Couric, or with the Senator. So when I get an email from you, Katie Couric, telling me that I haven’t “opened” your Wake-Up Call and get an email from the Senator saying that I haven’t “opened [my] emails lately,” I bridle. Like now I’ve got the email police monitoring my email reading habits! And I’m not alone. Privacy is not part of the subscription nor is it part of my voter registration. Truth to tell, Katie Couric, Senator Hickenlooper, this is all more than I subscribed or registered to vote for. Or can bear.

At least Netflix, Hulu, Disney charge a monthly fee for their intrusions in letting me know that I haven’t finished watching some film or tv show. While it can be annoying, at least they’re, as some might say, looking out for me, so that I get the value of what I’m paying for. No matter, it is annoying to be reminded regularly that I’ve left half a dozen films half- watched. Netflix could have skipped reminding me to finish watching “Woman in the Window.” I read the book. Didn’t love it but watched the film, left it halfway, until Netflix reminded me that I hadn’t finished. Lesson learned. Pay Netflix, pick my watch, move on and keep scrolling when the Continue Watching screen shows up. Facebook, chat rooms, Instagrams can be a pain but at least you know or choose to know those folks in a more personal way. You can unfriend them, ignore them, block them. But you, Katie, and you, Senator, I hardly know ye. In fact, I don’t know you at all, and vice versa. So, if you’re going to keep monitoring my email activity, we’ll have to part ways. I don’t know about either of you, but at least now that COVID’s on its way out, I’m happy to get away from the computer screen and those never-ending emails. And we may never meet again, or for the first time if I never open your emails.

Bad time/good time - Bad placement of the high-end Omega Watch ad at the bus stop on 91st and Third. Omega had a full screen ad at the bus stop kiosk. Very attractive watch displayed. But the digital timer in the upper left hand corner of the ad went rogue. Showed time as 8:15 when it was 2:30. The timer, which shows the number of minutes before arrival, was correct. Bus arrived in 17 minutes like it said. In other local clock news, the iconic clock on Third between 84th and 85th in front of McDonald’s, now gives the right time of day. Wasn’t that way for years.

Milano’s in the doghouse? - Despite the STORE FOR RENT sign in handwritten big bold letters prominently displayed in front of Milano’s Gourmet Market on 89th and Third, they’re not going anywhere. Walk up close to the sign, and you’ll see a note, in red sharpie, with an arrow pointing to the Dog Spa storefront on 89th St. which is for rent. Milano’s, I think, owns the building where the two businesses are located so no loud barking over the snafu is expected.