(Sunday Paper, Volume II, Issue 3)

You tolerated the Mets tweets and A Joke A Day In 2016.

By the time I told you about the new World Series matchups I think you started to wonder just how many silly mind games I play.

Well, there are more.

And today, it's the fourth installment of Silly Mind Games - we'll call it, The Snow Melt Game.

With the warm temperatures this week, I was thinking about the melting of the snow a lot earlier than I usually do.

But the game takes place in my mind in December anyway, so I might as well write about it here.

Ever since I've lived in Massachusetts, every year after the first snowfall that is significant enough to cover the grass out front I wonder if we'll see that grass again before April. And if the first snowstorm is huge, and then it's followed by more and more storms (think winter of 2015), I start tracking whether or not all of the snow will melt away before the Marathon.

I think there was snow that remained in 2015 until May.

Last week we had a big storm. More than six inches, which is usually the base covering for this game keeping the grass out of sight until March or April.

But as you can see in the picture above, the warm temperatures and rain that quickly followed the storm put us almost back to no coverage.

I have a feeling the snow that's on the ground will last until there's another snowstorm - there are always enough shady spots that prevent that last bit of snow from completely melting away.

But this year it's a lot earlier than I usually start thinking about when all of the snow will be melted away.

I'm not one to root for huge storm after huge storm, but I wouldn't mind a couple of more times soon where it snows and covers up the ground again.

It just feels more normal that way.

Writing

Finally getting back into a groove in the new year. Sent out some pitches and some essays this week....which always feels good because there's a better chance of getting published when you have work out in the world for people to consider than when you sit at your computer typing away and no one knows about you....but then there's the awful feeling of waiting and waiting for someone to get back to you about a submission and you have no idea whether or not they like it.

Comedy

Slow week in the comedy world. I went to a show in Worcester on Thursday - it's such a fun show. It's at George's Coney Island, a hot dog place, and it's just a fun game where comedians have a chance to showcase their material (or riff) in different ways than normal. It's a good time. Second Thursday of every month, run by Shaun Connolly, who I've told you about before.

I also was the guest on one of the podcasts done by local comedians that I really enjoy. I'll post about that next week. Otherwise I didn't get on stage. I'll get to a couple of open mics this week...and I'm at McGreevy's in Boston Monday night. That show is always great too. Then things pick up again towards the end of the month and in February.

What I've Been Enjoying

This is a long overdue plug, but I think about his work often so I want to tell you about it. Early on in my comedy ventures I decided I should get some headshots done. It may or may not have been presumptuous (some might argue I am still not at a stage in my career where I would need them), but I'm glad I have them because when someone asks for a headshot, I have one to send over to them. I'm not going to lie - I did not enjoy sitting and smiling for the length of the shoot. But the results are worth it - I have a great comedy headshot, a great profile pic that I use for my writing, and there are other great, funny pictures which I haven't even used yet which will come in handy at some point.

What made the whole process bearable, though, was the photographer - a friend of mine named Barry Alley. He had a plan, he made me feel comfortable even though I felt like an idiot, and he had incredible tools that resulted in the great pictures I have today. So if you're in the market for some pictures - headshots, family pictures, sports photos, whatever - I'd highly recommend him. Here's where you can find some of his work - http://barryalley.smugmug.com. Tell him I sent you. (But don't expect that to result in anything. You can just tell him I said hello I guess.)

Notes

*You may or may not know that Kathy's been traveling for work a lot more in the past year. You may or may not know that last February she went to Las Vegas. You probably don't know that when she went there I asked her to send me some info from the sports books - win/loss over/unders, odds on championships, that kind of thing. You probably don't know that I had her put down some money on the Kansas City Chiefs at 17-1 odds to win this year's Super Bowl. You may or may not know they play their first playoff game today. Think of me if they win.

*Why the Chiefs, you may wonder? I thought they underperformed in their playoff loss last year - and they still lost to the Patriots by only a touchdown. And they brought back pretty much the same team, with a great defense. If anyone can beat New England that's the recipe.

*In fairness, I should also mention that I put money on the Mets winning 90 games, and the World Series, and the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Jets to finish at least at .500. So I'm certainly no genius.

*That reminds me of a story Norm MacDonald told on this week's 'Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee'. I won't relate the story, but I will encourage you to watch that interview, because I like both Norm MacDonald and Jerry Seinfeld very much. And, this is pretty great, they had coffee at the Airline Diner (also known as Jackson Hole), about three blocks from where I grew up. Crazy. If I had been there and ran into those two guys....wow.

*Of course, we're also watching the Super Bowl matchups to make sure they're not a repeat. Best-case scenario, for a bunch of different rooting interests that I have at the moment, would be Chiefs-Cowboys.

*Just looked at an extended forecast. There is no snow in the foreseeable future...so we might be looking at a no-snow-on-the-ground situation by mid-January, which is really strange. With the rain forecasted, I suppose it's possible that the temperatures could dip colder and we'll end up with some snow...but if it stays rain all of the parking lot snow piles might even go away. Of course...I feel like a couple of years ago things didn't really get started until February and then it never stopped...but a happy little medium wouldn't be so bad. OK. There's your Sunday Paper weather update.