A bug in your ear

Just now I was getting out of the shower, drying my hair, wrapping myself in Leonard Pennario's beautiful blue bathrobe -- I mentioned, didn't I, that I inherited Pennario's bathrobe? -- when...

Eeeeeeeeeeeek!

This gigantic bug came trucking right past my bare feet. Honest, this bug was about a foot long. It passed my feet and scuttled behind the waste paper basket. I sure was not going to follow it!

That is one thing I will not miss when summer ends, these big bugs. If I wanted big bugs trekking across my bathroom floor, I would live in Charlotte, N.C.

Another thing I will not miss are the boom cars, pounding nonstop in front of my house. What happened to the surge, anyway? Not the one in Iraq. That surge worked. The surge the Buffalo cops declared back in July, against boom cars.

I have not seen any change in the situation. Oh, the cops are fantastic about setting up roadblocks checking for inspection stickers and registration. I just saw one of those roadblocks on Niagara Street. I was thinking, fine, this really improves my quality of life. Meanwhile the boom cars go on into the sunset. Boom cars are allowed in Buffalo. They are encouraged.

OK, enough kvetching for one day. It will not fix anything. I have good news.

I have lost two more pounds! The needle of the scale is now under the 140 mark! I am in the 130s! This morning, 6 a.m., I am slogging away at this one chapter that has been giving me problems, and I kept forgetting why I had this great sunny feeling. Then I would think: Oh yeah! I am at 138!

Rejoice with me! Howard did.

He said: "Who's dropping faster, the price of crude, or you?"