Packs

(Guest post by Laurel Peltier, free-lance writer, GreenLaurel.com blogger and mother of three.) Back-to-school means arranging carpools again and sitting through soccer practices, but also packing school lunches. To make this daily chore easier, a recent Coupons.com survey found that almost 70 percent of parents rely on store-bought, pre-packaged foods for their kid's lunch.  Convenient?  Yes, but there is a downside to pre-packaged lunch foods. First demerit: Juice boxes and individually wrapped 'grab and go' foods generate tons of lunch-time trash -- 67 pounds per child annually, according to a survey by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation.

Ravens fans placated by the NFL's decision to award the franchise with three prime-time games at M&T Bank Stadium may raise their hackles when they read an analysis piece on NFL.com. Gregg Rosenthal, the website's Around the League editor, has compiled a power rankings list of the 32 head coaches in the NFL. It's a tiered list trying to answer the question of which coach is better suited to lead and build a team right now. Rosenthal placed the Ravens' John Harbaugh in a category labeled “Middle of the pack,” joining the likes of the Atlanta Falcons' Mike Smith, the St. Louis Rams' Jeff Fisher, the Houston Texans' Gary Kubiak, the Chicago Bears' Lovie Smith, the Cincinnati Bengals' Marvin Lewis, the Seattle Seahawks' Pete Carroll and the Arizona Cardinals' Ken Whisenhunt.

Your editorial about Maryland's concealed carry gun law supports the state's policy of requiring "good and substantial reason" for issuing a permit ("Guns and safety," Aug. 5). While I agree that our civil rights may not be absolute (e.g. yelling "fire" in a crowded theater), no one should have to have a "good and substantial reason" for exercising them. I suspect that even your editorialist would object to needing a "good and substantial reason" in order to exercise his right to express an opinion.

What happens now - if it hasn't already - is that we adapt to another form of insanity. We add movie theaters to the list of places where random violence might erupt. Some of us look for online tutorials in how to survive a mass shooting at the cinema. Others, taking no chances, get guns and permits to carry them. "No place is safe," I heard a retired Marine say the other day. There are too many guns - almost one for every American by now - and too many people with untreated mental illness.

Remember salads? You hardly ever see a good salad place open up these days. But I had a good one at Nalley Fresh — shredded chicken on a bed of spinach, with chickpeas, tomatoes, celery, cucumbers and a giardiniera (pickled vegetables), some mozzarella and a basil Dijon vinaigrette. Nalley Fresh opened in March, and it's become a neighborhood favorite for the downtown office crowd, who line up to create their own rice bowls ($5.75), burrito wraps ($7.50) and salads ($8.30). Those prices include the addition of a basic protein, vegetables, homemade dressings and cheeses.

About 18 years ago, a group of guys began working out together every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Owings Mills Jewish Community Center. As the years have proceeded, the group has grown some and also lost some members, but the reasons its members meet remain constant: They do it to stay healthy, but also because The Rat Pack, as they're known, is about friendship and sharing life's good times and tough moments. Who they are: Bernie Cohen, whom other members say is the "CEO" of the group, is also the unofficial historian.

This weekend marks the beginning of summer vacation season for many Marylanders. From graduating students to young families, singles and seniors, the preferred place to be over Memorial Day weekend is generally Ocean City or the nearby Delaware beaches. With warm weather expected, experts are already forecasting higher traffic volumes, including more than 350,000 vehicles converging on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge headed to or from the Eastern Shore over the next several days.

Salisbury will meet SUNY-Cortland in Sunday's NCAA tournament final with an unblemished 22-0 record, a 29-game winning streak and a history that includes capturing nine national championships including last year's crown. Perhaps as a reward for their season, the Sea Gulls led all Division III programs by placing seven players on the All-American first team as published by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association ( via Inside Lacrosse). Senior Matt Cannone, who leads the country in assists (64)

Six months after the game's initial release, the whispers of the first expansion pack for Bethesda Softworks' "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" have finally been confirmed . The pack is titled "Dawnguard. " The name is, as far as we know, unique within the Elder Scrolls universe, and isn't referenced in any in-game literature (according to the very useful Elder Scrolls Wiki ). If you consider the "Dawn" part of the name, the location immediately seems to point to the northern Skyrim city of Dawnstar, which is near the edge of the current playable map. Of course, "Dawn" could point to time, not location.

A 33-year-old man sitting in the back of a bar packed with up to 80 patrons on Belair Road was shot several times in the head and body early Wednesday, one of seven people killed in the city in the past five days. Baltimore police said a gunman walked into La'Son's Bar and Grill a few minutes before 1 a.m., pushed his way to the back and opened fire on Derrick Deon Smith, who was sitting in a secluded area behind the bar. Smith, of the 3500 block of chesterfield Ave., was rushed to Johns Hopkins Hospital where he was pronounced dead early Wednesday.