I apologized to a magazine.

Kelly Ripa was staring at me at the checkout.

If Kelly is downcast, then I am downcast.

She always starts my day with a smile.

She's effervescent and peculiarly positive.

She was miffed about what the producers of her program did to her. What's the show called?

I said a silent, "I'm sorry" to the magazine cover.

Walking past the newspapers, I saw a headline about the Olympics - doping, corruption and scandals.

Come on.

What's this whole world coming to?

Cheating at the Olympics? Never.

The Olympics are just about all that's left in a world gone mad.

The games are a Fort Knox of integrity and sanctity.

Countries come together every four years to remind us just how good we can be.

I wouldn't know what to think if the Olympics were tainted too.

Well. I guess there was that USA-Russia men's basketball game. Ben Johnson? A few boxing matches and gymnastics events that might have been misjudged.

Tommie Lee Smith and John Carlos.

I haven't forgotten - and I never will - the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

Actually, the Olympics have been messed up since Day One.

Athletes have refused their medals.

Judges have been banned for life.

A Brazilian runner was leading the men's marathon when a defrocked Irish priest attacked him and dragged him into the crowd.

Ask me why I don't watch the Olympics?

The 2016 Olympics should be a doozy.

I am crossing my fingers that everyone - athletes, coaches, fans - returns home in one piece.

Without harm or a mosquito-borne virus.

Great choice: Rio, Brazil.

The year is past its midpoint, and it looks like it's going to be exceptionally memorable from here on out.

It's an election year, isn't it?

You know what I am going to miss?

I am going to miss Michelle Obama.

I think she has been a great ambassador of the United States, and she is great ambassador of motherhood.

Not everyone agrees. Cartoonist Ben Garrison, for one.

Garrison's heinous "Make the First Lady Great Again" cartoon reminded me that drawing skills and stupidity are sometimes aligned.

The good news is. The good news is what? I take it wherever I can get it.

It's all over the place, it's just not headline news.

For example, someone thinks that I want to know exactly why Prince died. I don't.

If I were his brother, I would.

If I were in the opioids community - prescribers, users, abusers - I would.

Neither is true.

Wouldn't it be much nicer to be able to check out without having to look at Prince, or Kelly, or Johnny Depp?

I have written to the big chains. Their responses were cordial.

Do all of these negative insertions in our day wear on us?

Maybe for some they have the opposite effect, and reinforce an appreciation for the things around us that are uplifting, like being able to buy Red Vines in a five-pound lidded tub.

Red Vines are manufactured in Union City, California. Union City is about 30 miles from San Francisco.

I admit that I know when, where and why Hank Williams died. I took an interest because he was a fellow alcoholic. But he didn't get the help he needed. I have.

One of his songs fits my objection to checkout magazines..

"If you mind your own business, you won't be minding mine."

Craig Marshall Smith is an artist, educator and Highlands Ranch resident. He can be reached at craigmarshallsmith@comcast.net.