Our kitchen is being remodeled. Right now, it's a big empty room, without cabinets or even walls or ceiling. The main objective of the rennovation was to get our washer and dryer out of the kitchen. Mission accomplished. They now sit useless in the dining room.

Oveheard during the St. Patrick's day stuff a couple of weekends ago: Mrs. theskinnyonbenny: Lily pulled a "Lassie" this week.

This morning, I relit the pilot light on our water heater. I've never lit a pilot light before, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I feel a bit more like a real man than I did yesterday.

I think the "Funniest Show on TV" title made a move this fall. I'm going to have to put 30 Rock ahead of The Office or Flight of the Conchords. The gag that runs from seconds 28-45 of this episode was so funny that my laughing (in the room alone) drowned out all of the rest of the opening segment, as well as the entire theme song/credits section of the show. It might be the hardest I've laughed at a sitcom.

I haven't posted worth a damn in February. Normal excuses -- busy at work, my house is a zoo in the evenings, etc. (I do wish I had been quick enough and clever enough to compare Governor Jindal's address to Kenneth on 30 Rock, but I am neither. Also, I was watching LSU play Florida on ESPN, so I only caught a couple of snippits during commercial breaks.)

If you've been reading between the lines, you've figured out that I spend most of my work days at either a fancy new state office building, or at a filthy local building that's occupied by one of the state's contractors. I've been working with this contractor since August without ever once mentioning to anyone at either place that my friend Amanda is an employee of theirs.

On Sunday afternoon, I found myself with a nosebleed. That's actually not unusual when it first turns to spring, so I stuffed a wadded strip of toilet paper up my nostril and went on about my way.

I was trying to prove that he didn't really invent every flavor from the house, so I asked to try the cockroach. He asked whether I wanted the adult or juvenile flavor. Cockroach, apparently, has subtle characteristics. Not unlike a fine wine.

I got an email earlier this week from Eddie, and the message just said, "This guy looks like you." The link was to a Fox News page, and I was about 50% certain that the picture was going to be Blagojevich, as I need a haircut more than an Olson twin needs a double cheeseburger.

My kid is really growing up. So far, he's had difficulty with V's, so he pronounced his name "NaaNaa." Yesterday, he got the V in the mix: "VVVVVnaanaa."

I'm stuck this week, because I feel like I should post something or other about the inauguration, but there's really nothing else to say. And I'll admit, I didn't have a chance to watch the coverage Tuesday morning, and when it was time to listen to the address, I couldn't find my headphones. (They were on my Jeep dashboard, if you were wondering.) By the time I got connected, I had missed 2/3 of it. I did read the text of the speech yesterday, and that's one of 16 million signs that this one is special. I certainly never read the text of a presidential speech before.

Here's another overheard that Shelly recently sent. And that, of course, reminds me of a story from my childhood and one from the past week. Hungry?