Odd bits:
1. Two weeks ago at our Monday staff meeting there were 10 men in attendance and 7 wore some variation of a blue shirt - solid, stripe or patterned. This past week, 9 men, 6 blue shirts. Not all of the same men wore blue shirts two weeks in a row. Question: Why are these men so predictable? Extra credit: Why aren't there more women on our executive team? Explain.

2. The fluorescent light in my closet is ending its life in a prolonged fit of sputtering and flickering. It's like walking into a dorm room circa 1975 while trying to figure out whether these are the black pants or the blue ones. Fixing it would require hauling the stepstool out of the pantry, up the stairs and into the bedroom, figuring out how to pry the cover off the light, wrenching the bulb (bulbs?) out of the fixture, going to Home Depot and allowing them to sell me something that is obviously the wrong size, cursing while on the attempting to install the bulb(s) and so forth. Lather, rinse, repeat. Every time I walk into the closet and flip the switch, forgetting, just like when the power is out that the light has not in fact been fixed by the lighting fairies, I feel blessed that I am not epileptic.

3. Up until an age that I will not admit (but I think Reagan was president), I believed that the French Riviera was actually a river somewhere in France to which the rich and famous flocked for some unknown reason. When Caitlin told me yesterday that she had the same misconception until watching a recent episode of Globe Trekker, I felt relieved and also amazed at the burdens passing along my genetic material to her has caused.

4. When I moved into this area about 14 years ago, I noticed a sign that said COURT on one of the many small shopping centers around here. What cases, I idly wondered, end up in a court in a strip mall? Fast forward to the current day, when, as the parent of a 15 year old, I was to learn one of the many reasons why people who look angry, confused, frustrated or just downtrodden troop through those doors. My sweet younger child had decided last month that it was a good idea to sneak off to a party given by a friend when said friend's parents were away, after having told us that she was, in fact, staying with a different friend. She further decided that several beers and a shot of vodka were another fine thing to do at 2:00 AM, right before the police showed up in response to a noise complaint. Going for the underage trifecta, she also chose that time to tell the police exactly what she thought of law enforcement in general. The fine was steep, her driving permit will be suspended for 90 days the moment she receives it, there was much gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair, the grounding was excruciating for all involved (there really should be teenage day care (other than the juvenile detention facility) for times like this in which the parents end up suffering the brunt of the punishment), the cell phone bill is lower this month due to its absence for a long period, and I'm hoping that the lesson was learned. All that just to note that the court STILL USES CARBON PAPER!! They must have bought a big stash back in '68 and feel the need to use it up before they move on to cleaner methods of making copies.