Living the high life

I met up with Windell Middlebrooks today. Otherwise known as the Miller High Life deliveryman ...

He swung into town for a tour of the city, stopping at various grocery stores and food locales ... My friend Liz and I caught him at a popular Italian delicatessen. It was one of those quirky, cool opportunities that -- when they come along -- you have to seize them. Sort of like waking up and deciding to go to a Hillary Clinton campaign stop.

In person, Middlebrooks is as cool and down to earth as he appears in the popular commercials. As the line snaked around the aisles of the store, I couldn't help but notice the lack of stereotypical beer drinkers and instead families and kids who came because they simply love the commercials ... Mr. Middlebrooks graciously stood with that big smile of his and reached out to shake the hand of every fan who stepped in front of him, before snapping pictures and signing autographs.

As he told my friend Liz in an interview earlier this week, "I'm just a country bumpkin asking, 'Where we goin' next?' "

For the record, here's my favorite Miller High Life commercial ...

(Also see: "The Common Sense Party," "27 Feet of Nonsense" and "11.50 for a hamburger.")

* * *

... It's Friday afternoon.

... There's a steady rain falling outside. A good pour actually. The grass is loving it just as much as I am, I'm sure.

... And for the first time in as long as I can remember, we have no plans for this weekend. Nowhere we have to be ... I can hardly contain my excitement.

... I just had a mini-vacation last weekend, and I only worked a four-day week. But with the highs and lows and dramatics of this week, I'm already wanting another one ... I started this morning with an arson and multiple stabbings. Ugh.

* * *

EW has a good read today on the legacy of John Hughes.

... I can't say I've seen a lot of his movies, and I consider myself more a child of the '90s than of the '80s -- especially when it comes to movies -- so the news of his death yesterday didn't have a marked impact on me when I heard it. Truthfully, it took Brian Williams naming some of the movies that held his nameplate for me to think, 'Oh yeah, that guy.'

... Still, I consider "Home Alone" one of my all-time favorite movies -- even though the above-mentioned tribute pushes it aside. And I appreciate the cool-ness of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," even though I do think it's slightly overrated ...

Kates on the other hand has seen -- and loved -- most of his movies. She's had "The Breakfast Club" on a special edition VHS tape for as long as I've known her, and she chides me all the time for never having watched the film ...

I keep telling myself one of these days I've got to sit down and watch it. Maybe this weekend ...