This NYT story looks at Washington Post media writer Howard Kurtz -- who reports, columnizes, blogs, writes books and hosts Reliable Sources for CNN.

How does a guy with his fingers in so many pies keep his ethical ducks in a row?

Because of the Santa Claus parade along Bloor Street Sunday afternoon, the streets were jammed with fun-seeking families, which meant the subways were too.

I was astonished at how much gear some people packed with them. I've gone camping with less stuff than these yutzes took to watch a parade for a few hours.

Anyways, at Bloor station, the crowd was backed up right outside.

The first set of stairs going down to the mezzanine (home of the coffee and bake shops, along with the news stand) was a real choke point for human traffic.

Imagine my amazement when a woman of considerable girth has her arm stretched out to the right to hold the hand of a carry-on-sized boy. The poor lad appears to be suffering from vertigo as he navigates the steps.

"That's it, Matthew, you're doing really good!" she said in her best self-esteem-building voice.

Two suggestions:

1. Have Matthew walk in front of you as you hold both his arms up. That way, you won't block off most of the stairs.

2. Carry Matthew down the stairs, even at the risk of setting back his physical development by an hour or so.

But really, lady, do you think the two of you walking down the stairs, side by side, at 0.1 kilometres per hour while there's literally hundreds of people stuck behind you is such a good idea?

Sheesh.

Overheard on the Bloor Line subway Sunday afternoon:

Lady 1 (returning from the Santa Claus parade): There's a lot of people on the subway. But there's the Argos and Raptors today too.

Lady 2: The Argos?

Lady 1: The football team!

Lady 2: Soccer?

Since this is a football-related post, allow me to modestly acknowledge that the Edmonton Eskimos are advancing to the Grey Cup for the 1,543,283rd time.

At some future point, you may find yourself in your local supermarket wondering what kind of chickpeas to buy.

You may cast a glance on Mr. Gouda's Garlito Chick Peas.

Be advised they are not so gooda.

On College Street, a cabbie, already double-parked, uses the imminent approach of a streetcar as an excuse to pull a u-turn, thus momentarily leaving him parked across the tracks.

The streetcar is forced to a halt. The cabbie, who had a wary but victorious gleam in his eye, then completed his u-turn and sped eastward.

"Wow, you were pretty calm," I told the operator when I got off at my stop. "Most operators curse when cabbies pull stuff like that."

He laughed and said: "I was cursing in my mind!"