As I've always said, I've never been a big fan of Hallmark holidays. My theory has always been that we should honor our parents every day, not just one day a year. Besides, doesn't Dad have enough ties already?

However, on this Father's Day -- a holiday I presume I shouldn't be celebrating -- I had lunch at Norman's Souper Salad. It's by far the worst Souper Salad I have ever visited. The service is subpar, although it was OK today. They don't chop their veggies right -- julienne instead of conventional.

Nevertheless, I lucked out and sat right next to a couple with a pair of well-behaved kids. The reason I say I lucked out is because I could hear their conversation, and what I soon discovered was that the man at the table was not the father of the two kiddos.

He was on a get-to-know-you date with the woman and what seemed to be her two kids. So, I'm not thinking a thing about it; to the contrary, I was overly impressed with the hoochie-mama outfit one of the waitresses had on. It was like going to Hooters but with healthful food.

I noticed our waiter, Brad, kept wishing every adult male "Happy Father's Day," as if every adult man there had created a child at some point in his life. In my darkest heart of hearts, I hoped he would go over and wish this man with the woman he barely knows but wants to know better, presumedly, and the two kids, Happy Father's Day.

Brad comes over to me to wish me the obligatory well wishes, and I matter of factly note that I don't have kids but that perhaps his greeting would be better spent on the guy whose conversation I have been eavesdropping all this time.

So, Brad walks over and tells the man HFD and notes what lovely children he has. I would agree; they were lovely because they were well behaved and not the evil spawn of the god of the underworld like 80 percent of kids.

I could sense this man's cringe, the awkwardness of the comment and felt good in having had a small part of this tense moment. He couldn't just say, "Oh, these aren't MY kids," with an inflection on the MY. The woman could retort, "Oh, you mean you don't like kids, or is it that you just don't like MY kids?"

This could have gone many places. My work was done.

Notes from the weekend:

* Have you ever worked out so hard that you literally passed out afterward? I went running today and then showered, watched The Soup, ate at Souper Salad and then came home only to be zonked in 10 minutes. I awakened to a massive headache, which was promptly cured by a venti cup of some organic Starbucks coffee. Caffeine headaches are a bitch.

* I made a large purchase on Saturday, which must be my last large purchase for like the next three years. It's a Sony Handycam, and the only reason I mention it is because I realized just how incompetent most sales people are.

Best Buy -- idiots working there. Target -- even worse.

No, not everybody there is an idiot, but none of the people who happened to work the camera aisle on Saturday knew thing one about video cameras.

But then I got to Sears and a young man nammed Jarrod. We discussed what I was looking for, which was a camera with better ambient sound. I told him I had no plans nor any urge to plug a mic into a video camera. Maybe one day I'll borrow a lavalier from work or something for the sake of experimentation.

Jarrod's suggestion: Have you read C-NET yet?

As a matter of fact, I had, not that any of the brands and models I had reviewed on that site matched with anything he had. However, his mention of C-NET, combined later with some mention of white balancing or some such, made me realize that I had a smart kid on my hands.

He sold me the camera, and I'll spend the next year learning how to use it. I did it because I really need to and want to learn more about video. Sometimes, I don't think people in my line of work realize how pervasive and important YouTube is in terms not only of pop culture but in terms of information dissemination.

I laughed and scoffed and Time's decision to make You (as in us, or as in the people who YouTube) its Man of the Year in 2006, but they were right on. Sure, I'm addicted to it; however, even in the early stages of the presidential race, we've seen its influence in the 1984 Hillary ad and the new "Crush on Obama" ad.

Not that the latter is really, really influential in terms of issues; however, it's been viewed more than a million times. It positions Obama accidentally, considering I doubt his people put this out, as hip and cool -- and, frankly, the chick singing is smokin' hot.

Last but not least, the damned song is catchy.

Bottom line: Those who know how to produce and edit video, I am convinced, have an edge on everybody -- and I mean everybody -- in the new digital age. So, that's my rationale for buying the camera.

Plus, maybe I can consider it a Happy Father's Day present to myself ... in advance.