Well, I had originally wanted to make up the lost episodes over the weekend, but as you can see, I didn't. My father visited on Friday and we talked until four A.M. -- this was literally the longest talk I've ever had with my father. So I didn't want to stop until he actually fell asleep. Ha.

One of the interesting tidbits I learned: Walter Winchell once wrote that if you want to murder someone and go free, do it in New Castle, Indiana. (Yes, my father is from New Castle, Indiana, and most of the family is there.) He backed this up with a few anecdotes, such as the stabbing death a block away from my grandmother's house in the 80's in which the murderer only got involuntary manslaughter because the defense argued that knife fighting was part of his culture and he didn't actually intend to kill the victim....

He also told me there was once martial law in New Castle; there was a union riot at the Perfect Circle plant, shots were fired, and for a month, walking to school in the morning, he would walk past a halftrack full of armed militia. They stopped all cars entering the town and confiscated all firearms and alcohol. In New Castle, I expect the latter was a significant hardship.

Cool. I realized that although my Dad doesn't travel, he still gets the same rush out of weird-ass things at home that I get when traveling. Go figure.

Lately he's been hanging out with the Amish and reading a whole lot about the Anabaptist movement.

Strange.

So anyway, it took me a while to recuperate. Now I'm back on semi-track. And way behind in work. Don't expect a whole lot.