And it’s a happy birthday to my dad, who is (in case you were wondering) recovering quite nicely from his surgery last month. He’s already ditched the walker and he’s even started driving again.

I hope I’m that resilient when I’m his age. Come to think of it, I wish I were even that resilient at my age.

In case you care, you can read an interview with me on Yahoo! Picks Profiles today. It’s a followup to when this site was a Pick of the Week back in 2001.

Thirty years ago today, a tacky, bloated drug addict of questionable talent died, and for the life of me, I’ve never quite understood why so many people care.

If I were the state of South Carolina, and I couldn’t come up with a less stupid, cheesy, and spam-like domain name than “travel2sc.com”, I think I’d skip putting it on my license plates. But, as many have noted, South Carolina seems to exist primarily to give North Carolina someplace we can feel superior to.

Ever have one of those nights where you just crumple yourself into a little ball and keep asking yourself over and over again why you continue watching local TV news? Of course, I do it because of Lanie, but sometimes, like after a 90 minute newscast that covers exactly one story, I wonder if even she makes it worthwhile anymore.

Speaking of TV, I’ve decided after four episodes that I actually do like AMC’s Mad Men. I already liked it in theory, but I hadn’t decided for sure if I liked it in practice. I still don’t think it’s great art or anything, but it amuses me. It also occasionally makes me want a martini, which is not something I’ve ever particualrly wanted before (and is something I’ll probably skip).