THIS may sound like petty carping but, what the heck, let's get it out on the table anyway on a long July Fourth weekend.

Does it strike anyone else that the mail delivery habits of some of our dedicated U.S. Postal Service employees leave something to be desired?

On more occasions than this reporter can recall with precise accuracy, the sight of mail carriers driving (and endlessly stopping and restarting) their little vehicles almost from house-to-house in local burgs has been vivid and somewhat off-putting.

This occurs regularly along streets and byways without handy curbside mailboxes where it would be tough to justify this less-than-economical spectacle.

Is the mail really that heavy? Is junk mail the culprit? Hasn't the computer's handy e-mail capability cut down on traditional mail? Is the new breed of mail carrier unable to carry a mailbag? How much gasoline is being wasted by this persistent Peninsula practice?

These are cosmic questions that continue to baffle. Anybody out there got some answers, or some excuses, for this behavior? Thanks in advance. And have a nice day. See you at the gas pump.

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GUT STUFFER — Delivering the mail isn't the only thing that has changed over time in these suburban parts. How about the price for a hamburger?

Fast-food burgers, a staple of life around here (bring back Kibby's, King's and Hal's, by the way)

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in these parts, have risen in cost right along with everything else.

That hits home rather starkly when you take a look at In-N-Out's modest menu when the chain opened its first outlet way back in 1948.

At that time, the restaurant offered hamburgers for 25 cents each. A packet of fries set you back 15 cents and a soft drink another thin dime.

So, you could stuff your gut for half a buck. Then again, petrol wasn't much more than a quarter per gallon back then.

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NANCY LINDSTROM — Very sorry to learn of the death of Nancy Lindstrom of Burlingame. She died last month at the age of 60.

A lifelong Peninsulan, she was active in a wide variety of Burlingame community affairs and a former member of the town's Planning Commission.

She is survived by her husband, Don; a son, Todd; a daughter, Carrie Fornesi; a sister, Sara Knollin; and two grandchildren.

A memorial service was held last week at Trinity Lutheran Church in Burlingame. She is greatly missed by all who knew her.

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GENEROUS DONATION — John Arrillaga has come to the rescue again. This time, the longtime Stanford University benefactor has donated $8 million toward the construction of a new version of Burgess Gym in Menlo Park.

The old facility, a favorite haunt of Peninsula athletes for generations, has outlived its usefulness and is due to be replaced. Arrillaga's generous offer will help to make that happen.

According to the Almanac, a weekly newspaper in the South County, Arrillaga, a local real estate tycoon and former Stanford basketball player, has even agreed to fund cost over-runs on the project.

Visit John Horgan's blog, Read It and Rant, at www.sanmateocountytimes.com.