22 MAY 06: SUDDENLY IT'S SUMMER

So how did you like the first weekend of summer? If you think that's a trick question, you're right - because some people would tell you it was really the third.

When does summer begin - really? The calendar and the meteorologists would tell you it's not for another month, falling on June 21. But for many of us, it actually begins weeks earlier -- which may prove Sunny 100 FM didn't really start this bad trend, by playing Xmas music in mid-November.

Most Muscogee County school children probably would tell you summer started Friday afternoon. They're now on an 11-week vacation - which means the competition for public access computers at libraries will increase about 30 percent.

But if you play high school baseball in our area, summer vacation really hasn't started yet. Several teams still could play three more rounds of state playoffs. Please forgive some of the players if they have stained uniforms - they had to hurry to the game after working at Bruster's Ice Cream.

For many drivers, summer will start this coming weekend. They'll take Memorial Day weekend trips. They'll take them more by car pool than in past years, but they'll still take trips....

But in other walks of life, summer actually began more than two weeks ago. "Mission Impossible III" was considered the first big movie of the "summer season" - and it came out May 5. I wonder if Carmike employees jumped around like Tom Cruise, when it did well at the box office.

A sportscaster over the weekend referred to the Triple Crown of horse racing as occurring "every summer." He apparently believed NBC's hype that the Kentucky Derby on May 6 was the "first big sporting event of the summer." I guess what happened to Barbaro made the Preakness the first cancellation....

For years, I defined the start of summer as the night the National Hockey League crowned a Stanley Cup champion. I'm old enough to remember when that happened on May 15 - as opposed to this year, when it could happen around June 15.

But last year the National Hockey League had a lockout which canceled the season - and that threw my schedule way off. After all, the Columbus Cottonmouths won their championship on the first weekend of April. You can't have summer while you're still doing spring cleaning....

So who's right in this debate about when summer begins? It appears in Columbus, the school children are right - because the temperature jumped in a hurry Friday, just in time for their last day of class. Hopefully all the low-income students are receiving bottles of sunscreen, to get by....

With high temperatures expected to hover around 90 F. all week, the test of wills is on. How long can I hold out with floor fans, before another sign of summer occurs - and I turn on the air conditioner for the first time? It's me versus Georgia Power, and we'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, let's check other thoughts from a very warm Sunday:

+ The tenth annual "Arts in the Park" event was held at Lakebottom Park. Organizers say they'd like to see Columbus parks become centers for artists on weekends. And while they're at it, maybe the artists can trim trees and bushes for the laid-off parks department employees.

(Do we really want to see artists filling Columbus parks on weekends? Can't we restrict them and their donation buckets to bus stops, between Monday and Friday?)

+ Several Columbus church services focused on "The DaVinci Code" movie - and to me, this seems strange. So many pastors urge worshipers to read their Bibles. So why didn't they focus on "The DaVinci Code" when the book came out? Do they doubt worshipers can read other things?

(After all this debate and fuss, I've made up my mind. I'm not looking at any more artwork by Leonardo DaVinci, until this movie is out of theatres....)

+ A new federal report showed Georgia has the second-highest incarceration rate of any state. More than one percent of Georgia's population is behind bars. [True/NPR] Maybe we're missing the point in Columbus - and we should hire more jail guards first, then the police officers.

(There's one sure way for Georgia to pass Louisiana, and lead the country in incarcerations - and if all the illegal immigrants would turn themselves in today, it would make things a lot easier.)

+ Alabama linebacker Juwan Simpson was arrested on several charges, including "receipt of stolen property." Please don't tell me they're punishing teams this way, for laterals after interceptions.

+ Instant Message to WLGA-TV 66: Please turn off the captioning! I didn't want to read what Halle Berry was saying to Byron Allen Sunday night. In fact, I don't care what she says to Byron Allen. This single guy just wants to see Halle Berry....

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