Hey Mister, that's my name up there on the marquee

Last night at Karyn's birthday party, one of the attendees came up to me and stated "Howie, I love your blog! I am obsessed with it and I just really want to be in it". So then as I sat down today to do a mental checklist of my thoughts I concentrated on that fundamental excitement about seeing your own name in print. Of course there are some good times to see your name in print and some bad times.

How many of us sat through high school and college graduations to rifle through a program just to see the Mann, Howard K. Or maybe you were quoted in a local newspaper or were featured in a tv news spot? I was once quoted in 8 words in a USA Today article and also once in the Allentown PA Morning Call. Karyn was interviewed by Chicago News at O'Hare Airport but in the caption they used the wrong name (Andrea Reynolds - one of my pet names for Karyn - fyi, the next person interviewed was quoted as Kryns Pincus, pretty funny!).

I do also know we have seen our names printed in bad situations as well. That speeding ticket that I once got on Rockville Pike and was stupid enough to think my mom wouldn't find out about. Then my mom called Geico to question an increase in her rate and the operator noted "Um, a driver on your plan named Howard Mann got a speeding ticket a month and a half ago and the rate reflects that infraction". Whoops on that one.

But the point is this - everyone loves seeing there name - either as a reference, a quote, a honor given or dare I say a building named after you at a local college?

So here are my top places I would like to see my name in the future:

• A Metro station: Farragut North/Howard Mann's work I mean I spend so much time there it should have my name included
• Airport terminal: Washington Mann International Airport - sure John Foster Dulles was a secretary of state but he corrupted numerous Latin countries in the name of big business in the U.S. and as I am learning he was incredibly anti-semitic. But I still love the airport so it should be named after me - and while I am alive so I can enjoy it.
• The Howard K. Mann Center of Frequent Notations of Random Trivia in the World at the University of Pittsburgh (better start to actually contribute to the university before that happens).

So I wind down my weekend thoughts, I am pretty excited about moving forward in my goals to get one of the above 3 a reality....

But first, let me give written appreciation to the reason this post is here on this blog:

Marcia Paige Allison, the shining star of the Show-Me State, thanks for being an avid reader of my blog!

Side bar: If you want to see pictures of Karyn's Birthday celebration, click here.