I will miss Andy

I was sad to learn over the weekend of the death of CBS "60 Minutes" commentator Andy Rooney. I can't say i was surprised, since newspapers have been running "Classic" Rooney columns for weeks. He was 92.

Rooney is most known for his "60 Minutes" commentary, I think. I will remember him as a fellow news hound.

Rooney started his media career as a copy boy. He was a WWII veteran -- a combat reporter for the military's "Stars and Stripes."

Over the years his comments have resulted in applause, and anger. Sometimes people didn't agree with his point of view. But as a WWII veteran, he earned the right to express his opinion.

I will miss reading his columns, especially ones about the mundane and ordinary things of life. One of my favorites was commentary on how the inventor of the bathtub did it backwards. Everyone, he said, has stood trying to rinse out a tub, and struggled to get everything from the back of the tub down to the drain. It would be much easier, he said, if the faucets were at one end and the drain at the other. I thought about it, and had to agree.

Not long ago, he wrote about all the things in his office he'd accumulated, and how he probably should throw some of it away. He wrote about books, and how it's not possible to have too many.

In one of the tributes recently, I read that Andy Rooney never wanted to quit working, so he kept on. I can understand his sentiment. It seems to me that I've always been writing, and I can't imagine ever stopping.

Perhaps in tribute to Mr. Rooney, I'll try to write a column about some mundane, ordinary thing. I wonder . . . Can I come up with 800 words about pocket lint?