I hope everyone has managed to stay healthy throughout this week. As we approach Easter, I wish you nothing but peace and good health. Let’s begin with the Thursday Rundown…

Gratitude – I wanted to start this Rundown off by just thanking my wife. Tomorrow marks four weeks since I left my family to head west and she has done such a superb job with Sloan and Beau while finishing up her teaching. I miss them so much and can’t wait to see them.

A couple of recent photos of my babies courtesy of my mother-in-law.

Out of Practice – I used to be a good Scrabble player. However, I wasn’t able to shake off the dust as seamlessly as I would have liked this past Sunday when my mom challenged me to a game. The two of us and my dad sat around the dining room table like old times to engage in a quarantine-approved friendly competition. Whether it was my time away from the game or the consistent practice my mom undertakes from her strict Words With Friends regimen, I found myself in second place, coming up about 70 points short.

A look at our Scrabble board from Sunday’s game.

Taffer on Restaurants – This morning I caught an interview with Jon Taffer. He was on Fox News to discuss not necessarily the current grim state of restaurants but what the industry will look like once they can finally open for full service again. Taffer says restaurant capacity will go down dramatically because they will have to account for social distancing mandates. Thus, a restaurant that usually serves 50 tables during lunch might only serve 25. This leads to not only a diminished revenue but also fewer employees. Another implication he mentioned is that customers will now dine at restaurants on how “safe” they perceive them to be. It will no longer be about “who has the best burger” but who is implementing social distancing measures the best. As a way to be transparent, Taffer said restaurants should consider putting online cameras in their kitchens just so potential customers can see that it is a safe and clean establishment.

I caught an interview with Jon Taffer his morning about the outlook for restaurants.

Free Cone Day Postponed – Ben & Jerry’s was supposed to hold its Free Cone Day this week but obviously it did not happen. I know it is not the same, but I thought I would mark the celebration by looking back five years ago to when I completely took advantage of the promotion. I waddled to four different Ben & Jerry’s stores in Myrtle Beach and snatched a free cone from each one. Yep, you better believe I was proud of myself.

Enjoying Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day in 2015 (one of four stops).

Twinkie Story – Earlier this week, I was notified that the Twinkie celebrated its 90th birthday. When I saw the notification come across, I was surprised to learn that the Twinkie was originally filled with banana cream. This led me to conduct my own history lesson on Wikipedia. It turns out that the treat transitioned to vanilla cream during World War II because of banana rationing. I don’t have any good personal Twinkie stories other than they are a big deal at University of Montana football games. Whenever the Griz score a touchdown, a dedicated group of season ticket holders in a certain section of Washington-Grizzly Stadium throw Twinkies to fans…it has become quite a tradition.

Timehop taught me that Twinkies were originally filled with banana cream.

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As we conclude this week and look toward the weekend, let’s remember the light that awaits us on Sunday. Happy Easter. Don’t Blink.