Coming Soon To A Small Town Near You, Maybe

It is time for my annual October vacation. This may be my last posting until I return. Savor it. Soak in the verbosity that is me, for you will not have the chance to get your skin metaphorically wrinkly in my waters again for at least 12 days - unless I decide tonight that there's something I really want to get off of my chest, in which case I'll be here again tomorrow to bother you.

I plan a couple of vacations a year to coincide with Columbus Day and Thanksgiving. You know why? Because I can get 9 days in a row off, but only have to use 4 vacation days and 3 vacation days, respectively, to accomplish it. Luckily, I have seniority in the company for which I work, thus tradition in picking these weeks and nobody complains.

By the way, I've had about four hours sleep both of the previous two nights. I expect that this will be coming through in my writing here. I'll probably go from subject to subject without so much as even a feeble attempt at a segue. If so, I pick the Red Sox to meet the Yankees in the ALCS, while I expect Philadelphia and the Cubs to get through in the NL. Meanwhile, BC plays Bowling Green this Saturday, and they have a chance to go to 6 and 0 for the first time since fire was discovered, I think, and the first day of my vacation will be spent in a pub in Watertown quaffing a few brews and watching that game. If USC, LSU, Ohio State, Cal and Wisconsin all lose, while BC beats BG, the Eagles could become the #1 ranked team in the country, which would probably be a sure sign they'll lose to Notre Dame the following week.

What else do I want to talk about?

I suppose I could take this opportunity to thank you for your continued patronage. I have my moments, I know, but I'm about as wildly uneven a writer as there is on the planet, so I truly appreciate the fact that some of you have waded your way through crap like this in order to find the cubic zirconias I occasionally produce. I can't possibly keep a straight face while promising you a better effort, but I can keep one while expressing my gratitude. So, Thanks!

My return to this space should happen on October 15th (I think that would be the 9th of December in Australia) so please come back then. Of course, you could always drop by in the meantime and read my old stuff. Like cheap wine, it gets more vinegary-smelling with age.

See you then - whenever the hell that is - and remember: If you're in a small town in New Hampshire next week, and you see a bald guy with a goatee wearing a Boston College cap and a Red Sox t-shirt, buy him a drink and he'll mention your name here (or promise not to, as is your preference.)

Soon, with more better stuff.