RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!! (Vol. 1, No. 11)

At one point, I know y'all probably thought this series should be renamed "The WMATA Chronicles" because of my 31-years-and-counting obsession with D.C. Metro.  However, as much children's programming as I've been exposed to over the past two years, maybe I should consider rebranding this "Memoirs of a Pitiful Big Kid".  So remember my edition of "RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!!" when my crazy brain connected Ramone aka Mr. "I Do What I Can" from PBS Kids' Peg + Cat to Project Pat's "Out There Part 2" skit from his Mista Don't Play - Everythangs Workin album?  Welp, the ignorance has resurfaced once again.  One morning when I was getting ready for work, PBS Kids' "Where in the World Is Hooper?" came on in between shows.  After Hooper the Hamster gave all of his clues per the usual, asked the kids "can you guess where I am" and then said "you guessed it", you probably can deduce which popular "trap" song of the past two years came to mind..."B---h u guessed it...HWAH...u was right."  So it's official: I can't watch PBS Kids without thinking about Project Pat, OG Maco and other ratchet rap songs.  I mean, Hooper does moonlight as a fake-me-out DJ if that means anything at all regarding the connection in my mind between him and rap.  (BTW, saying the words "fake-me-out" gave me an idea for a future random thought, but I digress.)  Let's get on with the rest of this mess...

New Problem Tuesdays Special Edition: The Gifts of Prince, Part 1

In the days and weeks leading up to the news of the sudden passing of world-renowned singer, musician, producer, writer and overall kick-butt human being Prince, two things took place.  First, Mrs. Scribbler and I were having issues with our home Wi-Fi for over a year and an Xfinity technician finally came out about two weeks ago and fixed the problem: he gave us a brand new modem with two networks, which she named after two of her favorite Prince songs of all time.  Second, I was in a CVS Pharmacy a few days before and "Kiss" was playing overhead.  I stopped what I was doing and said to myself, "Now I've always loved this song, but for whatever reason, it's just jamming a little harder today than normal."  So when the word on the street was that he died, I immediately thought it was a hoax.  No way could we as 80s babies lose Michael Jackson in 2009 and Whitney Houston in 2012, only to turn around and bear the thought of losing another one of our childhood heroes.  Not to mention that in a four-month span of losing the likes of Natalie Cole, Maurice White and Phife Dawg, Prince just seemed like exceptionally cruel and unusual punishment.  However, when more and more news outlets confirmed the initial reports, I was deeply saddened as if I had lost my favorite uncle in the whole wide world as I continued to be in utter disbelief.  So instead of getting into conspiracy theories about his life or death as some have questionably done, I have dedicated this post to outlining what I believe to be some of Prince's most generous and memorable gifts to us as fans of his work and fellow artists...