T'd-Off About the Budget? Tee Off at RedGate

County Executive Isiah Leggett unveiled his $4.35 billion county operating budget proposal on Monday. Don't we all feel a lot better now that that's over with? No?

A moment of confusion (for this reporter, anyway) from Tuesday's budget presentation at the Executive Office Building in Town Center: Before opening the floor to questions from the assembled media, Leggett took time to acknowledge the presence of one particular attendee, who he called "a good friend and a person who's held his job for 12 years and a person who knows the difficulties that we are going through ... "

At least that's what it sounded like to this reporter. Upon further review (of the digital recorder), Leggett actually said "a good friend and a person who's held this job for 12 years ...," meaning the office of county executive. Which made a lot more sense when he then welcomed former County Executive Doug Duncan.

The longtime executive and former three-term Rockville mayor stood to a round of applause and all order was restored to the universe. But for a moment, he wasn't the person of whom I thought Leggett was referring.

Then again, in the midst of a season where county officials and school officials are butting heads over the Montgomery County Public Schools's piece of the budget pie, on the day that he officially announced that he was turning down MCPS's request for $82 million in additional county aid, why would Leggett chose to give retiring  such a public fond farewell?

And now, the wacky Wednesday edition of "The Rundown":

• Not feeling "I like Ike" this week? Why not sub it out for "I like 'The Pike'" and lend your voice to a hearing on  the future of Rockville's main commercial thoroughfare. The Rockville Planning Commission holds the second of two public hearings on the  at 7 tonight at .
• As quakes continue to shake Japan and a fire at a nuclear plant stokes fears of a meltdown, more than 100 Japanese students are visiting Rockville and practicing their English through Sakura Educational Exchange USA, a Rockville-based nonprofit. The 10th-grade students and five teachers from Yokohama Hayato High School will visit Rockville High School today to present a cultural fair and will join Rockville High students at Rockville Civic Center Park this afternoon to pick up trash and plant cherry blossom trees. . The fair features Japanese arts, games and customs, including an informal Japanese tea ceremony, a martial arts demonstration, dancing and a Japanese play.
• Capital News Service has video from Friday's same-sex marriage debate in the House of Delegates. In case you missed it, the House sent the bill back to committee, essentially killing it for this year. And in case you missed it, Sam Arora, a delegate from District 19—which includes part of unincorporated Rockville, drew some serious flack from Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart for his position on the bill.
• When I was a kid and the temperature of the air outside was beginning its slow climb toward summer—as it is this week—my mother would sometimes recite the following bit of poetry: "Spring has sprung, the grass has ris, I wonder where the birdies is." Looking back I've decided two things: 1) For being a teacher, my mom sure picked a dumb way to develop her son's language skills. 2) More recently, this poem says a lot about my golf game. (Q: What's my golf handicap? A: My short game. And my long game. Cue the rim shot.) If your game's good enough that you know "where the birdies is" then you've probably been itching to get back on the course. Well, now's the time. is open for the 2011 season. You've , now play it for yourself. The course is offering a number of discount programs and course improvements for 2011. You can see some of them by visiting RedGate on Facebook.
• Rockville Patch is also on Facebook. And we tweet. But still no birdies. Lots of double bogeys though.