We all have our favorite and our least favorite memories of the year that just ended. But no one spins a year quite like Dave Barry, humorist, columnist, author, and baby boomer (born 1947). He also has some timely advice about the Super Bowl:

“When your Super Bowl guests arrive, they should find a mound of potato chips large enough to conceal a pony sitting in front of the television. For nutritional balance you should also put out a bowl of carrot sticks. If you have no carrot sticks, you can use pinecones or used electrical fuses, because no one will eat them anyway. This is no time for nutrition: This is the Super Bowl, for God’s sake.”

Some people find Dave Barry's humor hilarious and others call it outrageous. A book review in the New York Times once claimed, "Dave Barry is the funniest man in America and should be encouraged." His humor has been described as a combination of hyperbole and one-liners and something akin to humor in the back of the seventh grade classroom. But if the purpose of humor is to keep us laughing at things that might otherwise get us down, then his humor serves a purpose, and no one can dispute his offbeat way of looking at the world has stood the test of time.

Barry has had an unconventionally successful career, writing a column for the Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005. In 1988, he received a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for "his consistently effective use of humor as a device for presenting fresh insights into serious concerns.”

He also wrote a novel “Big Trouble” that was made into a movie of the same name, starring Renee Russo and Tim Allen -- and in 2005, he was awarded the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism So, he’s funny – but he’s not just funny.

In 2005, he stepped back from writing his column to spend more time with his family and continue some of his best-loved writing projects, including his annual year in review.

Here are some favorite partly-funny, partly-wise Dave Barry quotes:

“Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.”

“A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.”

“What women want is to be loved, to be listened to, to be desired, to be respected, to be needed, to be trusted and sometimes, just to be held. What men want: Tickets to the World Series.”

“The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion or ethnic background is that we all believe we are above-average drivers.”

“A sense of humor is the measurement of the extent to which we realize that we are trapped in a world almost totally devoid of reason. Laughter is how we express the anxiety we feel at this knowledge.”

“Skiing combines outdoor fun with knocking down trees with your face.”

Photo from Wikimedia Commons