Seems our next-door neighbor, Nick, is the “Masterful Winner of Things, Stuff & Other Items.”

Some of you know Nick; he has commented on this site in the past. Nick and I don’t always agree on politics, but one thing on which we agree is this: Winning stuff is cool.

Nick recently participated in a contest for a local radio station — 95.7 on the local dial. Given that it was Nick who won, I think the station’s name is appropriate: “Fox”. And how did he win? I never did find out the details, but I think it had something to do with bribes….

No! I’m kidding, of course. I really don’t know the details of the contest; perhaps Nick will comment here and fill us in on how he came to win. I did hear, however, that it had something to do with his wanting to torture the neighbors. Okay…okay…. He apparently told the radio station that he would like to give his neighbors an opportunity to get to know one another better. Nick is a relatively new arrival here and we apparently forgot to tell him the rules before he went and got all fired up about this contest.

Speaking of fired up, the FFF (Folks From Fox) brought both a large and a small barbeque! Hamburgers and hotdogs with all the fixin’s were available for all the guests. Additionally, side dishes of potato salad, pasta salad, chips, dip and some terrific chili — apparently all from one of the best deli stores around (Trader Joe’s) — were also in abundance. And I believe Nick even got to keep the small barbeque as a memento.

Nick had invited 175 people; I’m not sure how many showed up, but there were quite a few. Our entire cul-de-sac was filled with cars, bikes and people.

And speaking of bikes, the local chapter of Hell’s Angels didn’t show up, but there were bikes galore nonetheless. Nick and his friends are into the noisy variety — or at least they were until I rolled mine out. You should have seen the envy! Then David brought his out and blew us all away!

In addition to the food, the fun and the friends (some of them new) there was also — what else! — another contest. Ninety-Five-Point-Seven, the Fox, brought t-shirts and other prizes. Cartoon, television and other theme songs were played and the first to correctly yell out the show’s name won. Nick, of course, won again, correctly picking out the “Barney Miller” theme. Several other people managed to walk away with prizes as well. No explanation will be given for how it happened that the winner who correctly identified the “Wonder Woman” theme was Ed’s son, while the prize for guessing the “A-Team” song went to a lady by the name of Trish. Bunny won for “Cheers” and I guessed wrong so many times I forgot which one I actually got right. (Bunny and I each won “drink-cuzzis” — rubberized drink holders to insulate your canned drink and appropriately adorned with the station logo.)

We were having such a great time that it didn’t occur to me to take any pictures until people started leaving! Nevertheless, I managed to snap a few before the place totally cleared out. Maybe Nick will give me copies of the pics he got to add to this album.

I’m sure the rest of the neighborhood will join in with me in shouting out a hearty, “Thanks, Nick!”