This past Christmas, during a group outing to the mall to put Christmas money to good use, C's mom wound up buying "The Story So Far", a 2-CD "Best Of" compilation of Rod Stewart hits. My outward reaction to this purchase was cool, non-committal enthusiasm. Inwardly, however, my reaction was ...

I've always fancied myself an aficionado of the pop culture, particularly of any variety born or raised in the 80s or 90s. And while I'm not the encyclopedia of information that my friend Mitch is, I am, perhaps, something of an abridged coffee-table reference. Or maybe a pocket dictionary.

One way to relax after a Sunday afternoon herding leaves is to have a couple of beers and sit on the couch with your hand under your belt and watch some football and feel good and fine and strong--and downright brawny, damnit, like the guy on the paper towel rolls--for having worked hard and for having cuts on your hands and dirt under your nails and an easy sort of pain in your muscles.

If you ask me questions, I'll give you answers

And God said, "Yea, do not be proud or boastful about your good and plenty space. For verily I say unto thee ...

The weird part wasn't that Honey, you know ... spoke. It was that she spoke with an English accent. It wasn't exactly a proper, "Received English" kind of English, but it wasn't quite an East End of London, Cockney type of thing, either. It reminded me of the Beatles. She had a sort of nasal thing going on. Like John.

I'm going to take this off of my plate and put my energy into these other things for a while. But this isn't a retirement message or anything dramatic like that. I'll definitely be back.

The memes have been flying all over the place lately. And I got hit in the crossfire. Twice. One in each leg. So here we go, six plus seven, plus one. Random/Weird/Quirky.

Lately my taste for "short" has dwindled down to one-sentence powerhouses. They're short and sweet, but they really pack a punch. The great thing about these little text candies is they can be consumed in an instant, while you go about your daily routines. The other day, for instance, I was brushing my teeth and came across this little gem.

A time-tested method for getting your taxes done on time and in order. It might be too late to put these lessons into effect for your 2007 taxes, but it's the perfect time to start thinking about 2008!

I'm taking a brief, week-long hiatus from this blog and from (almost) everything digital.

I always hoped I'd be saying this under different circumstances, but ... I am completely in Your hands. And since we're still in the lingering twilight hours of Web 2.0, and user-generated content is apparently all the rage, why don't You leave a comment and at the same time satisfy my narcissistic curiosities by answering the same question I posed to Mat: Is there a difference between the "Blog Me" and the "Live and In Person Me?"