Go Ask Daddy About Girl Presidents, Bustling Bakeries and Trucker Talk

photo credit: Surf ! via photopin (license)

It’s quite an age we live in.

True, I can’t take my kids to the airport to watch planes take off anymore. Sept. 11 took care of that.

But they’ve seen some great things in their lifetimes.

Even though their parents vote Republican, the significance of our first minority president isn’t lost on the girls. Gay marriage is on the table, and reality in some places. Hardly anyone gets chickenpox anymore. And my girls have even lived in the age of southern NHL teams winning the Stanley Cup, for Rod Brind’Amour’s sake.

And they can’t believe there’s never been a “girl president.”

Isn’t that cool?

Can you believe it?

Here’s what else they’ve asked lately.

1. There’s never been a girl president?

Can you believe it?

Costa Rica (Laura Chinchilla), Denmark (Helle Thorning-Schmidt) and Liberia (Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf) have female presidents. Victoria Woodhull ran for the U.S. presidency in 1872, although there’s no official tally for her votes.

Michele Bachmann and Hillary Clinton have had designs on the White House.

Women can definitely lead and manage. You don’t have to look any further than your mom for proof. But if a woman president tidied up the American way … what would they talk about on CNN?

2. Have you ever been arrested?

I am the Hispanic-American anomaly – 41 years young, and never been handcuffed.

I passed the sobriety test, had my car searched, everything.

That’s kind of piggish of me to say, although I have been pulled over many times, while doing the speed limit. I hate to play the race card, but it’s been suggested I was probably guilty of DWH – driving while Hispanic.

I passed the sobriety test, had my car searched, everything. Two cops pulled me over coming out of the newspaper office late at night, and when I told them I was one of the only two sportswriters in town, one said, “never heard of ya.”

So a dude – no matter what color he is – just sorta holds his breath and waits for either his license and registration back. And hopes against a ticket or the billy club.

3. At Carlo’s, do they just make regular cakes until they get a special order?

They do, if the boss says so!

Carlo’s Bakery, the Hoboken hotspot in Cake Boss, is a victim of its own success. Yelp.com is loaded with tales of 3.5-hour waits, mixed reviews of the actual baked goods, and hefty price tags ($20 for a 1 lb. bag of cookies). Sounds like more spectacle than sweet spot.

I’d give $5 for a cannoli and to hear him give his crew the red-ass for burning cookies or something.

4. What does 10-4 mean?

It’s how policemen and truck drivers say “A-OK.”

10-4 is code in what’s known as ten signals, and means “affirmative.” As in, “Marie, did you get extra vanilla wafers for dad?” and you’d say, “10-4, papa.” 10-4 is better than 10-0, which means “death.”

So does 10-7. 10-2 means ok for now, and I think 10-363 means “extra cheese,” but I can’t confirm that.

The fellas who drive forklifts in membership warehouses use the term to acknowledge visual confirmation of new stock, customer requests, and pretty girls in shorts.

5. How old is Larry Allen’s daughter?

She’s in college, at Pepperdine University.

Jayla Allen wrote the Hall of Fame speech for her father, Larry Allen, who played lineman for the Dallas Cowboys for 12 years. She helped her father, a private, soft-spoken man, express his gratitude to teammates and family for helping him in his journey.

Your daddy’s not going to Cooperstown or Canton or anywhere to be enshrined, but do you think he feels the same way about his family?

Commanding and driven on the field, Allen needed sunglasses to mask the tears he shed during his Hall of Fame induction. Not bad for a kid from Compton, Calif., who’d been stabbed at age 11 – protecting his little brother.

Your daddy‘s not going to Cooperstown or Canton or anywhere to be enshrined, but do you think he feels the same way about his family?

10-4, girls. 10-4.