The Slice: The art of not being a hubba hubba guy

So here’s a question for Slice readers who enjoy looking at women.

Does the arrival of warm weather and the appearance of fetching females in summery apparel challenge your right to think of yourself as a gentleman?

I trust I do not need to spell this out. Let’s just say this pertains to Staring vs. Not Staring. The key, of course, is to avoid making women uncomfortable. Unless, that is, you think the key is impure thoughts and going to hell.

Can you be trusted to be a guy who will take a look, get a general sense of things, and then calmly shepherd his gaze elsewhere?

Something I said: “One of my favorite programs is ‘Fixer Upper’ and I constantly wonder why everyone in Waco, Texas, entertains so much,” wrote Sheryl McPherson of Post Falls.

She said she is glad to know she isn’t the only one to have been puzzled about why seemingly all the families appearing on HGTV shows make it sound as if they entertain nonstop.

It’s because they are lying, Sheryl.

On the grill: “I don’t know if it’s personality difference or lifestyle difference but the reason I use a small gas grill is that I am a single, self-employed mother,” wrote Robin Jelinek. “If my daughter and I want to barbecue and eat before midnight, it better be on gas.”

The eight people for whom I was the first: LinkedIn recently shared with me a list of those for whom I was their first online networking connection.

That’s almost embarrassing. I mean, though surely enthusiastic, I probably wasn’t all that good at it back then. And well, let’s just move on.

Speaking of making connections: My friend Pat O’Doherty said she thinks of herself as having coffee with me every morning, even though I’m not actually there in person.

Which is probably just as well. She wouldn’t want to see how I’m dressed first thing in the morning. But enough about me. So how are you dressed when you first roll out of bed?

Today’s Slice questions: When you do an evening outdoors video chat with friends or relatives in the eastern half of the Lower 48, are they astonished that it is still light out here? When you do an after-dark video chat with someone in Alaska, are you amazed it’s still light there?

Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. If you were excitedly talking about your summer plans and someone called you Mungo Jerry, would you get the reference?