SAT'R'DAY

 To those of you who expressed concern about my eye surgery yesterday, rest assured that I am, indeed, alive and well after the grueling episode.

Actually I exaggerate.

It wasn't grueling at all except for a few seconds when the fancy, dancy laser beam was repairing one end of my retinal tear and came close to a nerve.

But the rest of the roughly 10 minute procedure was a breeze.

I don't think my vision is quite as good as indicated by this piece of office decor at the clinic where my "work" was done but then I've used it (my vision)  for many, many years.

Now, on another note, I knew the "Alice Kramden" reference in one of yesterday's cartoons would go over the heads of any young readers I might have but I had forgotten that it might also evade the understanding of my visitors from outside of the United States.

So let me explain.

Back in the early days of television here in the United States, there was a comedy show called "The Honeymooners", which starred Jackie Gleason.

Gleason played a bus driver in Brooklyn named Ralph Kramden who had a volatile but comic temper.

On many episodes he would blow up during arguments with his wife Alice, played by Audrey Meadows, and making a fist he would mime a punch and bellow at her something like "One of these days, Alice, POW! Right in the kisser!"

One of his favorite lines was "To the moon, Alice, to the moon!", implying that he would hit her hard enough to send her to the moon.

She was never alarmed by these threats and would usually respond with "Aw, shaddup," i.e. "shut up".

Anyway that's how, in the cartoon yesterday, Alice Kramden beat the U.S. astronauts to the moon.

Sorry for the confusion, Gentle Readers.

Oh, and if you're so inclined, you can find a short video clip of Ralph and Alice by Googling: "to the moon, Alice".