May Your Bald Year Be Effective

I had me some days off of work to hang out with the mom, who came into town with her latest man. I swear to Christ that woman goes through men faster than bears eat honey. Not really, of course, but once in a while I gotta make sure she's still an avid reader. Hell, she might be my only reader.

Anyway, we all had ourselves a lovely Christmas holiday, and took in pretty decent hauls. I'm looking forward to going blind using my new video iPod.

Now I'm back at work again, and the world is minus one James Brown and one Gerald Ford. We can go back and forth and on and on about who had a bigger influence on America and Americans, but the one thing we can all agree on, I suspect, is that never has there been a death-pairing of two more-alike public figures.

Please allow me, dear B&E readers, to take this moment to wish you the happiest of all 2007s. OK, maybe not the happiest, since I'd like to keep the happiest one for myself, but there should be plenty of happy in the world for all of you to have a little happy of your own.

And how about some peace in the Middle East? Anyone? Hello? Is this thing on?