There is a company that is developing hypo-allergenic cats that they anticipate will be available by 2007. As someone who is allergic to both cat dander and saliva, and who wantonly disregards medical advice and has 3 cats, I was interested in this amazing scientific advance. Until, however, I discovered that these mutant kittens will be priced at levels usually reserved for luxury items: a Movado watch, an Armani suit, a local politician. I'll stick with my allergen-rich models for now.

Many families have traditions that revolve around the holidays - trick-or-treating, groaning sideboards full of food that is quickly transferred to family stomachs, loading up credit cards with debt that won't be paid off until the nation's birthday. Sometimes we forget the end results of these traditions, however, as the intervening 364 days dull the memory. We have always carved a pumpkin or two for the traditional Jack-o-Lantern on Halloween. This year, Rebecca elected to do the knife work herself and neatly cleaned out the pumpkin, rinsing the orange gunk from the seeds so that we could roast them, as we do every year. And each year I forget just *how much* fiber is in even a small serving of roasted, salted pumpkin seeds. And what the impact of that fiber is on my digestive tract. And how slowly Immodium works when you really need it to slow things down RIGHT NOW.