As if the Oklahoma Legislature didn't have enough to worry about...

I'm sitting in my hotel room in Tampa, Florida, and a special news item just aired on the Fox station. Apparently a state senator in Oklahoma has become offended by "Truck-Nuts", so he's trying to introduce legislation to ban the accessories. The Tampa affiliate said that passing the bill will be difficult since the Truck Nuts have a lot of fans and support! Too bad the news anchors didn't name the senator. Maybe he doesn't have the balls to identify himself? (rim shot, please!) Thank you, Thank you! I'll be here until tomorrow!

Kevis's First Trip to Washington, DC

Our nephew Kevis came up from Atlanta to visit us, his first trip to Washington, DC. So we took him to do the touristy things.

Sometimes, he's too cool for school. He CAN smile. On occasion.

But it usually takes bribery.

Don't quiz him on the what the monuments are, though.

Beagles are Numero "UNO"!

Congratulations to Uno, the first beagle to win Best of Show at the Westminster Dog Show. He's also the first hound to win since 1983! Uno showed the crowd that he had the attitude, the charisma and the precociousness to beat out the toy poodle with 108 previous 'best in shows'.

The announcement came less that 24 hours after my mother called to tell me that my parents had to put down their beagle, Molly, who developed a 'bleeding mass' in her spleen and liver, which causes the dog to bleed internally. It's the same affliction that took my sweet Sophie, a chow/shepherd mix with a labrador disposition, this past August 22 (the day hell came to earth).

Hail to the Beagles and to Uno, the best and noisiest in show!

You may not be Westminster's Best of Show but you were our Numero Uno! I'll miss you very much, as I miss Sophie. Play well with her because I know she's glad to see you.

Thirteenth Night by Alan Gordon

Alan Gordon's novel Thirteenth Night is a speculative fiction based on the characters of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. In December of 1200, some fifteen years after the events in the Bard's play, Feste learns that Duke Orsino of Illyria has died, unexpectedly and under mysterious circumstances.

He returns to Illyria in the disguise of a German merchant to find out what happened to the former duke and what will happen to the dukedom since the new duke is too young and a regent will have to be named.

Another member of the Guild, to which Feste belongs, shows up to help him discover the truth. I found Gordon's depiction of the Guild to be most interesting. According to the author, it was a group of fools trained in the arts of entertaining such as juggling, singing, telling stories, but they also acted behind the scenes spying and manipulating events as they felt necessary much like Frank Herbert's Bene Gesserit in his Dune series.

Feste realizes that much has changed since he left Illyria a decade and a half ago, especially the people any of which could be his chief suspect and old foe, Malvolio.

I am not familiar with Shakespeare's Twelfth Night enough to make connections between the play and the book, and that seemed to be a slight detriment to my enjoying this novel more. But even if one is no so well-versed on the Bard, this is still a very entertaining mystery with twists, turns and an ending to satisfy all fans of whodunits.

Gordon does a meticulous and excellent job of describing medieval Italian customers, settings and the political climates of the times. He incorporates the international events and governmental environments during that era that give the reader a brief history lesson in very early fourteenth century Italy.

Thirteenth Night is a great read, and although slow starting, soon becomes an exciting page turner to the last.

I Really Miss Janet Jackson!

There is an old joke about laws and sausages; both were ok if you didn't see how either one was made. The first three weeks of this year, I got a brief but behind-the-scenes glimpse of the NFL hiring practices and found it to be just as nauseating.

At least Corporate America is consistent: The bottom line. If you don't contribute to the earnings of the company, you're out and somebody who will is in.

But the NFL isn't like that: You contribute to your defense being top in the league, who cares? You're fired because we want someone else. You're good at your job, and one of the best defensive coaches but tough shit! We want someone else. Oh, we can't get anyone else? I guess you'll do.

This petty, childish bullshit was the reason that I didn't watch that football gigantic bowl thingy yesterday. The Knee-pads vs. Ellie Mae? Yawn. I think I heard somebody say that Ellie Mae won.

Let's make it exciting again and something worth watching. Everyone still talks about Janet Jackson's halftime performance from a few years ago. She should have performed again yesterday (nothing against Tom Petty cuz he's pretty cool, but I really don't want to see his breast).