Guides

In the late 1990s, Brett Rohrer decided he wanted to be onstage and headed off to an audition at a community theater. He got as far as a nearby parking space. "I just sat in my Jeep," he said. "I drove to auditions several times and never went in. But eventually, I did go in, and I got hired for a role in 'Oklahoma.' Now, the theater is my sanctuary. This keeps me even. If I didn't do this, I might go postal at my job. " Rohrer, a 30-something whose day job is with a printing company, did laugh as he said that, before heading back into rehearsal for "The Great American Trailer Park Musical," which opens Friday at Spotlighters Theatre . That company has roots stretching back to 1962.

By the time Eric Zwiebelman was 19, he says, he lost his edge for collecting baseball cards and wanted a new hobby. Today, with most of his basement filled with more than 600 die-cast models of NASCAR cars, he stands at the collector's crossroads again. When he was 11, his grandfather encouraged him to start a baseball card collection. Zwiebelman became enthralled with buying, selling and trading the cards. With his grandfather, he eventually opened Hit and Run Baseball Cards in downtown Aberdeen.

Sometimes men are the ones to take care of birth control through a surgical procedure. But when those men and their partners have a change of heart about children for any number of reasons, they seek to reverse their vasectomies. And that's usually possible, even long after the original procedure, says Dr. Brad Lerner, co-director of the Vasectomy Reversal Center of America a division of Chesapeake Urology. Lerner answers questions about getting and reversing a vasectomy. How common are vasectomies?

The first time I saw an espaliered peach tree spread-eagled against a brick wall, I was shocked. It was so unnatural. The branches had been pinioned in place and forced to adhere to an arbitrary growth habit that seemed vaguely akin to footbinding. But I was also fascinated. Flattening the tree into a two-dimensional shape was just so practical. The south-facing wall against which it was trained absorbed the sun's heat, thereby extending the growing season. The single-plane branching meant that all leaves and fruit are exposed to sunlight, which significantly increases per-square-foot production.

Just as drivers and pilots affectionately give female names to their sports cars or fighter jets, so has Josh Boyd christened the piece of machinery he operates daily. "Baby Girl" is the early-1920s vintage elevator he runs in the One East Lexington building. As long as the Atlantic Elevator Co. lift is maintained properly, he says, it runs better than modern ones. And it is more than just a conveyance. "It reminds people of yesterday," he says. "It reminds people of their youth." But these operator-run relics, like the telephone operators connecting calls with plugs at switchboards, are part of a bygone era. In 2002, at least nine remained in the metropolitan area.

This week"Give us any rough weather, but, please, no rain," George Barker of Joppatowne said the other day while sighting in his .50-caliber Lyman Great Plains front end loader in preparation for Saturday's opener of the Maryland muzzleloader season.The recent modern firearms season was marred by moderate weather, and primitive weapons buffs will settle for any conditions that won't interfere with efforts to keep their powder dry. Snow would be nice, ditto for freezing temperatures, but no rain, thank you."

now playing "Bridesmaids" (R). A bride to be (Maya Rudolph) worries that her upcoming wedding will be ruined by her increasingly jittery best friend and maid of honor (Kristen Wiig). This is an uneven comedy, but there are endearing performances and a few very funny scenes. Grade: B TownMall Cinemas (1:30, 4:30, 7:10, 10:05) "Fast Five" (PG-13). The latest "Fast and Furious" installment is, er, as fast and furious as ever. Its vaguely plotted story is really about muscles flexing and cars crashing in scenic Rio de Janeiro.

Runs through Tuesday at Baltimore's Inner Harbor, Fort McHenry, Martin State Airport and other locations . Inner Harbor activities Star-Spangled Sailabration Villages will feature live entertainment, traditional festival fare and hands-on fun for kids. Ships, docked throughout the harbor area, will be open for tours. Transportation Officials urge visitors to use public transportation, because parking will be limited. Options include the Water Taxi, MTA's MARC, the light rail and buses, Amtrak and the Charm City Circulator's free Banner Route, which travels from the Baltimore Visitor Center to Fort McHenry every 10 minutes.

Legend has it that the first bridal shower was held in Holland when a maiden fell in love with a poor miller -- and was denied a dowry by her father. So her friends "showered" her with gifts to help her set up a new home.Today, dowries are a thing of the past in most places, and the bridal shower is being redefined. No wonder: In the 1990s, a third of all marriages are remarriages, the average age of first-time brides is nearly 24, and many couples tying the knot are already sharing living quarters.