just a little nip

Who exactly are the senior members of Al Qaeda? I don’t have the time to go back and sort the exact number of senior members that have been killed but I don’t think “senior member” means much anymore. Aren’t those positions just reloaded with the next guy in line? Aren’t all these senior members just calling themselves senior members like program managers call themselves program managers? I’m certainly not impeaching the work the military and CIA are doing – I’m merely chuckling at the Administration(s) that always act as if they’ve got the eye chart that outlines who’s who in a terrorist organization.

I’ve started reading the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series. L, who’s read just about every series of children’s/fantasy books, declares the Olympians series to be her favorite. As a reference, the Harry Potters are down around fifth and the Gregor the Overlander series is in at around number 3. I’m sure she’s my kid because she creates her own power lists. I’ve decided that the best birthday gift this year will be Kindle with some book buying coupons included. She’s the perfect test bed since she’s always carrying around books and rereads just about everything. Once she gets that thing loaded up she’ll be in heaven...and noncommunicative.

I was thumbing through my Concise Oxford English dictionary just now and as I fluttered through the pages I came across an index word (?) at the top of a page: doch an dorris. I thought to myself, “What the hell is that?” and stopped to take a gander. Here’s what is said at the entry: variant spelling of deoch an dorris. Ah, I see. Hold on a second and I’ll be right back…

A deoch and doris is a 17th century Scottish and Irish term for a “final drink taken before parting; a ‘drink at the door.’” I know I won’t get a straight answer when I get X cornered at home because she’ll have already read this entry; but, based on the freakish nuggets of information that cling to the dusty corners of her brain (along with her pub expertise), I’ll bet she knew what it meant. She’s so lovurly.


I just got an e-mail from Jill Biden. I know I should have been able to produce the first name of Joe Biden’s wife – I saw her at the final celebration in Chicago – but I had absolutely no idea. I did riddle it out before opening the e-mail so I should get points for that, right?