ADDING A FEW THINGS TO THE MURTAUGH LIST

You know you’ve written a suspect headline in this business when you feel compelled to start explaining it in the first line of the column.

Detective Roger Murtaugh, played by Danny Glover, is one of the protagonists in the “Lethal Weapon” franchise, and his catchphrase is “I’m too old for this,” well, stuff.

More recently, Neal Patrick Harris’ character in “How I Met Your Mother” coined the “Murtaugh List” which refers to things he’s too old to do.

It’s a term I’m using often as I enter middle age, and after a recent trip to Las Vegas, I’ve made some additions. The latest addition? Red eye flights.

We got on the plane to come home at about 11 p.m. Pacific and landed at RDU at about 6 a.m. local. Now, on an Emirates flight where everyone has their own bed, this might be OK. But spending the night on a Frontier jet with people who snore loudly, listen to movies on their phone without headphones or do both at the same time is not something I plan to do again.

I haven’t put the whole city on the list just yet, but I’m getting close. I like to place a wager on a sporting event every now and then, and North Carolina is considering a bill to make that sort of thing legal.

When that happens, I might go ahead and pencil Las Vegas on the list, too.

Volume 7, Number 5