Kinds of shorts: comedy, dramatic, boxers, briefs

I just left a voice-mail for my daughter Adrienne (aka Kippy) wishing her a safe trip back to LA, good luck on the contest, and telling her again how great I think the video is.

The baggage I carry as a former Harvard English major is that I can't just tell her it's great, it rocks, and all the others suck. I had to say: "You know, what sets it apart from all the other videos is that they are all just slapstick, comedy derived from comedy. Yours is comedy derived from drama, and both the drama and the comedy are great, and that is why it works better than any of them."

Or words to that effect. Yadda yadda yadda. Can you imagine how boring it must be to have an old man who was a Harvard English major?

What I didn't mention was that I actually caught myself walking around this morning singing the song. "We're just two dudes, goin' to Napa...." Nothing wrong with having a musical hook, right? Worked for Friends, Cheers, and Hannah Montana.

Anyway. Before I move on -- and I do intend to move on -- I should mention that the contest still goes on through tomorrow! There's still time for a few more clicks! You can scroll down for instructions, or click here.

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Meanwhile, a few other things from my life:

* I am happy to really, really be back on track on the BMGS front. Since my effort from the beginning has been an effort at moderation and balance rather than a diet, I think it is probably true that after I got to the 35-to-40-pounds lost point in the first 3 or 4 months, I needed to step back for a while and maintain. That's what happened, although I did it in fits and starts without precisely planning it. Now I am back in gear and, having lost 4.5 pounds in the past 5 days, I'm on my way to my best week since last Fall, and feeling good, energetic, and productive to boot.

* How about those Celtics! The last two nights, playing without one of their 3 "stars," they beat San Antonio and Houston bin back-to-back road games, the first 2 legs of a 3-games-in-4-nights Texas triangle trip. San Antonio is the defending league champion and Houston had won 22 in a row. In the last 10 years NBA teams are 29-82 on Texas Triangle trips. The Celtics are now 54-13. They are 25-8 on the road and 22-4 against the "dominant" NBA West. Of course, as Larry Joe Bird or just about any Patriots fan can tell you, it ain't nothing less'n you win it all, dog.

* Barack Obama's speech yesterday has a very good chance to take a place in history as a transformational event in our American life, alongside JFK's inaugural, Dr. King's speech on the Mall, and the Gettysburg Address. I could go on about why, but I won't. Instead, if you haven't done so already, do yourself, your children, and your neighbors a favor. Click on the link and listen. We could remain what we are forever, or become the stuff of God's dreams for us. We could break out of the cycle that Eugene O'Neill described with these words about Ireland: "There is no present or future, only the past happening over and over again."