Wednesday

2 is appointed Daughter of the Day! She and I will be headed out shortly for the Augie game. I like to think that she comes with me to share that Father-Daughter bonding thing. I'm afraid that the hot dogs and popcorn may be the real motivations.

I had to restock my wine cellar yesterday, and for the first time since I can remember, I actually took a bottle back for an exchange. It was a Murphy-Goode cabernet that I have really enjoyed in the past. But I could tell when I opened the bottle that something was amiss as the cork came out way too easy. And the wine smelled bad. Drinkable, but you knew that it wasn't right. The store took it back, no questions asked.

My "wine cellar" is the shelf under my couch table. It rarely holds more than a case of wine. Maybe in my next house.

Speaking of winning the lottery without even buying a ticket, check out the windfall that came to the two-years-retired Kieth Van Horn as part of the Jason Kidd trade to Dallas. In order to make the numbers work, Dallas included Van Horn in the deal (since he had never formally filed retirement papers with the league and Dallas still held rights to him). He was/is, of course, never going to play for New Jersey, and he'll be formally cut/waived after 30 days to "free-up" salary cap space next year for the Nets. Van Horn's piece of the trade? Something like $4.3 million! He was a stick when he played, let alone at this point in his non-career. It's a wonderful country.

Craig Wilson's column today has some relevance to the fam. He wrote about the album-after-album of pictures of the first child, and the dearth of pictures of subsequent children. With additional references to the amount of time that the parents spend with that first child compared to substantially lesser amounts of time with the other children. It was one of his better pieces in the last few months. No necessarily original, but borderline humorous.

I think that arguments could be made that the baby of the family catches up with Numero Uno by the time that they have all reached 21. Pity the middle kids. Sorry 2 and 3.

I laughed out loud at SB's on Sunday when I read the piece in the NYT entitled, "I Married a Republican". I'm not sure that many Democrats would marry across the aisle in today's social order.

Gotta go. Have a great evening.

BCOT