Sit Down

Baltimore County residents in the know have been feasting on Gourmet Again's terrific chicken salad and shrimp salad sandwiches for years, often eating in their cars because there was no place to sit down in the store. Now, the family-owned grocery, bakery and deli has added a little sit-down cafe, so customers no longer have to worry about spilling their food on their steering wheels. Poor:]

"This kid was just as imaginative and is just as adventurous as Steve Jobs was at the age of 7," said the attorney for the boy suspended from school after he nibbled a gun-shaped Pop-Tart ("Appeal filed in 7-year-old's suspension over pastry," March 19). I really don't believe Steve Jobs ever bit a pastry into the shape of a gun and then pointed it at other students. What the boy's attorney, and more importantly, his parents should be doing is sitting down with the 7-year-old and asking him what was going through his mind when he made the shape of a gun and pointed it at his classmates as if it were a game.

Bibi and Yasser. Whoever would have thought?It is not as easy in Washington as it is in Baghdad and Tehran to distinguish good Kurds from bad Kurds.If four millionaires could sit down and determine who will be the next governor, they would have before now.Staples will acquire Office Depot and the power to close the American in-basket.Pub Date: 9/06/96

Cal Ripken Jr. stopped by The Baltimore Sun this morning as part of the promotional tour for his third children's novel, “Wild Pitch,” which came out today. The book - about a young pitcher who loses his confidence after beaning an opponent - was co-written by Sun columnist Kevin Cowherd. Before leaving on a book signing tour that will include stops in a number of spring training spots (including the Orioles' camp in Sarasota on Thursday), Ripken sat down for a quick Q&A touching on the O's, his color commentary, the late Earl Weaver and his son Ryan.

If Hillary won't do it, they could always run Julian Bond for mayor of Baltimore.Everyone who is surprised that Chinese Communists would spy on this country, take two steps back and sit down.Advisers recommend doubling the president's salary to $400,000 to attract top candidates like Kweisi.There's nothing wrong with the drive to OC that another Bay Bridge wouldn't fix.Pub Date: 5/31/99

FROM A question-and-answer session with Speaker Newt Gingrich at a National Newspaper Association meeting:Moderator: Did you tell a business group that if one disagrees with editorial policy, curtailing advertising could be an effective approach for change?Speaker Gingrich: Absolutely. Absolutely. What I said -- and I'll say it anywhere -- the news media is the fourth estate. It deserves to be just as carefully scrutinized, just as critically looked at. It should be held up to the same standard as politicians or judges or anybody else.

O's fan in bayouAs a nationally syndicated Pulitzer Prize winning-editorial cartoonist for the Times-Picayune in New Orleans, my daily life is filled with the giddy excitement of trouncing on the scoundrels who inhabit this soggy bayou. But as a Baltimore native, nothing has made me or my family happier this year than watching our beloved Orioles. Because we couldn't get the Orioles on TV here, we were constantly forced to endure the tedium of following the sports ticker that runs along the bottom of CNN's "Headline News."

MILWAUKEE -- Orioles players and owner Peter Angelos agree on at least one thing: The owners should not have withheld the $7.8 million All-Star Game payment to the players' pension fund, a move that caused the players to discuss pushing up the strike date to yesterday, before they decided to keep it at Aug. 12.They disagree on the intent of the move.Orioles player representatives Mike Mussina and Jim Poole were on a conference call with union officials and player representatives from other clubs yesterday.

"Everything's upside down," said Slats Grobnik.Then I don't think the barkeep should let you have another one."No, I mean in this election. We got Democrats acting like Republicans."You mean because they are now embracing middle-class, middle-American, middle-of-the-road values while keeping the radical groups under wraps?"More than that. They're acting like they planned their campaigns further ahead than breakfast. I mean, they're organized. That's the way the Republicans always did it. But now the Republicans are as goofed up as the Democrats used to be."

ORIOLES FANS are frequently described as passionless, Chablis-sippin', brie-sniffin', shop-talkin', cell-phonin' interlopers who go to Camden Yards to hobnob with clients, not root for the Birds. This has been rendered a cliche by now, largely because it's true, at least in certain sections of the park, where Washingtonians and corporate suits rule the roost, and where you're more likely to hear talk about an IPO than about an ERA. Did you catch the recent display ad in this newspaper for US Airways MetroJet commuter service?

Back in July, I wrote about Gov. Martin O'Malley becoming a staple of network and cable Sunday morning TV. Public affairs show hosts ranging from Bob Schieffer to Candy Crowley talked about the attributes Maryland's governor brings to the national conversation about the nation's civic life. This Sunday, he will do less familiar turn on Baltimore TV sitting down for an interview with Richard Sher on the former WJZ newsman's "Square Off" show. I am interested in hearing what O'Malley has to say when he's speaking to a local audience and isn't riding TV point for President Obama's re-election campaign.

Three months after top city officials rejected a contract to install a new municipal telephone system, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's chief information officer and Comptroller Joan M. Pratt met Thursday to talk about what to do next. The administration proposed a memorandum of understanding between the two feuding offices that would create a new commission to oversee the city's phone system, which has been the subject of heated debate. The memorandum proposes creating a 12-member "Communications Governance Committee" - with three members who report to Pratt and nine who work for the mayor - that would oversee the phone system, which city officials have been trying to convert to Voice over Internet Protocol technology.

Each morning, Monday through Friday, I'll hook you up with reading material to skim through as you slug down coffee and slack off at the start of your workday -- that way I'll have an excuse to do the same at the start of mine.   Running it back: Mitch Atkins, making his Orioles debut and his first big league start, allowed just one run in six innings on Tuesday night, but Jim Johnson couldn't lock it down in the 4-2 loss to the Rangers . ... After several months of trying to play through a torn labrum in his shoulder , Luke Scott finally shut things down with hopes he can return in a few weeks after rest and rehabilitation.

- The Orioles are expected to take the next step in their wooing of free-agent pitcher and Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman next week when international scouting director John Stockstill travels to Houston to meet with the pitcher's agents, Alan and Randy Hendricks . Stockstill and Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail also met with the Hendricks brothers Tuesday, the second day of the winter meetings....

WASHINGTON - Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. and Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson are a formidable pair. One is an Academy Award winner, while the other is the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award. And so, it is with some trepidation that you begin an interview with them at a fancy restaurant asking if they could scooch together a little more on a couch and try to lean forward and speak directly into an old Radio Shack microcassette recorder on a table in front of them.

The vice presidential candidate got hit with questions about national security, the tricky proposition of an Israeli strike against Iran, and Russia's provocative move against Georgia. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin offered answers, stumbled a bit, but handled herself adequately. More to the point, Americans now know where she stands on some of the critical issues facing the country. That's what's expected of candidates vying for the second-highest elected office in the land. And Governor Palin is no exception.

ONE MAN'S modest New Year resolutions:* For openers, I intend to lose 10 pounds and completely alter my eating habits. I will carefully trim the fat from my steaks. I'll peel the skin from my chicken and eat white meat instead of dark. In restaurants, I'll resist the nice hot loaf of French bread and order only from the side of the menu marked "For the Calorie Conscious."* No more desserts, either. Ever again.* Each morning I'll jump out of bed at 6, drop to the floor and -- off 100 push-ups and sit-ups.

I . . . well, I never DREAMED . . . I'd like to take a moment to thank the Academy for this wonderful award. I'm sorry. I said I wouldn't cry, but . . . Special thanks also to my producer Art Silverman and my agent Miriam LaRue and to my mom and dad and my fourth grade home ec teacher, Mrs. Mancini.That reminds me of a story, which may or may not be apocryphal, about the struggling actor -- and boy, can I relate to this one -- who . . .*Tell me something: What is it with these Oscar winners and their acceptance speeches?

College Park -- On Nov. 23, Bambale Osby missed Maryland's victory over Lehigh with a stomach ailment. Aided by antibiotics, Osby, who had been the starting center, was ready to play the next game. But he remained on the bench at the start as Braxton Dupree took his place in a win over Illinois. And that's the way it's been since: Dupree, a freshman from Calvert Hall, starting and Osby, a senior, getting significant playing time as a reserve in name only. If there are bruised feelings about the arrangement, no one is expressing them.

A local Catholic priest is using his talents in the kitchen to evangelize about families growing stronger by eating together. The Rev. Leo Patalinghug, 37, has many achievements on his resume, including earning awards in breakdancing and a black belt in tae kwon do. But it's his ability to whip up meals for groups that led to a cookbook and a cooking show called Grace Before Meals, now in production for the Public Broadcasting Service. He describes the book as offering recipes for family life.