The Slice: Small steps versus giant leaps

You have to envy young people today, what with all the exciting new developments in phones, portable info screens and music players.

When I was a kid, we just had stuff like men walking on the moon.

Speaking of lunar adventure: Monday is the anniversary of the 1969 Apollo 11 launch. Seems like a good day to start something big.

Let me know if you tackle a project grander than cleaning out the garage or starting a diet.

Slice answer: “If I were in a car and the driver was texting, I would ask, ‘What are you writing … your obituary?’ ” – Carole Jones, Chewelah

Second-hand ticks: “I wish I could say I encountered a tick because I was outside enjoying nature,” wrote Sue Teague.

But that’s not how it happened. On two different occasions, after handling her husband’s dirty clothes and sleeping bag upon his return from an annual fishing trip, Teague has found a tick in residence on her person.

She said the experiences have lent new meaning to the expression “ticked off.”

Casserole with it: When Spokane’s Mike Wirt was on a road trip earlier this month, he read a list of rules posted at the Fargo, N.D., motel where he was staying. One read: “No crock pots, fryers or other electric cooking devices are to be used in guest rooms or public spaces.”

Originally from the upper Midwest himself, Wirt realized that, yes, he was back in the land of hot dish mania.

What equivalent rule do Inland Northwest innkeepers need to post?

Favorite breakfast cereal as a kid: “Mine was any Post cereal that had baseball cards on the back,” wrote Dave Neuenschwander.

Remember those? If you did a lousy job of cutting them out – which was almost a given, they tended to become spokes fodder.

Warm-up question: If you bought a copy of Playboy when you were 14, telling the clerk your dad had sent you to fetch it, did it ever occur to you that the clerk might actually believe it and think that was pretty cheesy of your father?

Today’s Slice question: How often do you hear from online correspondents that their email account has been hacked?