I received several positive comments about last week's column regarding my disdain for long, unsupervised meetings. One of the best comments came in the form of a letter from a long ago acquaintance, Bruce Lewis, who grew up spending his youthful summers at Ocean Point (and working for my great aunt Mary Burnham at the O.P. General Store). Lewis, of Portland, also worked alongside Don Kenniston Jr. and Andy Marvin as a “dock boy” at Marine Service. There he learned a lot of Maine humor from the likes of customers Sonny Hodgdon, Eliot Winslow, Paul Luke and others. Like he said in his letter, “we would have worked there for nothing,” because of those types of customers.

Bruce, who admitted to sitting in on and/or running many meetings over the years, said he got a great tip about meetings from his mother. The tip: Do away with the chairs. Make everyone stand. He said people like to sit and get too comfortable (“chat”). He said the “stand-up” meetings he supervised or attended were shorter and more things got done. Thanks Bruce!

This week, we have replaced our Boggle game and the Cryptogram (a few weeks back) on our puzzle page and have replaced them with the popular Sudoku game and a weekly Thursday Horoscope. Let us know if you like the changes. I know that Henry Rowe has been after me for years to include the Sudoku game on our puzzle page...so that's one positive vote!

March -- Some like it because it means spring is coming. Others, like me, despise it — always have. It's the month where winter drags on, there are puddles and mud everywhere, the temperatures still require you to wear a coat (and most of the month I've worn a knit cap and gloves when walking the dog in the morning) and, once again, my NCAA basketball tournament bracket got busted pretty early. When I was in school, it was the month where you hardly got a day off. And it's 31 days long! But, it’s almost over. Come on April -- give us warm sunshine, dry ground and let me put those heavy coats and gloves away!