This week and next, we're in Athens, Georgia. Mrs. theskinnyonbenny is here for her work, so we packed up the whole family human members of our family and moved into a condo downtown. We're just off the UGA campus, and I've always liked checking out other college campuses when I travel. I haven't had a chance to explore yet, but there's not doubt that I'll become quite familiar with the layout.

I'm not in the habit of using this blog to repeat stories that get emailed from person to person to persona million times, but this one is a) true, and b) made me laugh out loud when I saw the choppy little animated gif video of it.

Whatever fairy dust or pixie magic floated through the New Orleans Saints season last year has officially been dissipated by the heat and rain of a Louisiana summer. For the second year in a row, I had the fortune of attending the Monday night home opener. If you care, you've already seen the highlights and heard or read about what happened on the field.

If I had no life, I would drive to Jena, Louisiana today to get a gander at the 50-60,000 expected protesters in a town of 3000. It's got to be absolute bedlam -- the kind of thing you read about, but not the kind of thing you ever see. I'd love to read a real report of it, rather than just get the spin from the news network.

Once this week and once last week, I had a craving for Grade E meat. That is to say, I was hungry for some Taco Bell.

I was driving down my street this morning, and I passed a crew from a tree service grinding an enormous stump out of the ground in someone's front yard. I had the top down on my Jeep, and the smell of the wood being ground to bits reminded me of a story. My Uncle Johnny and Aunt Helen live in an old house on a big lot with plenty of trees. Once upon a time, it was out in the sticks, but the town has grown up around them, and they're now in an old house on a big, tree-lined lot, surrounded by strip malls and pharmacies.

I was cleaning the kitchen last night while listening to a radio show. As the show came back from break, they played that one chord that everyone can immediately identify as the first note of The Beatles' Hard Days Night. This single bit of music in a universe of unintelligible talk immediately caught Vanya's attention. He stopped what he was doing, looked toward the source of the music, and prepared himself to jam a little bit if the music was to continue.

I hereby declare the end of my contest, with Shelly as the winner (and only participant). It might have been easy to beat Shelly. You didn't actually have to be mad about whatever your topic -- getting The Advocate to publish a bogus rant would have been twice as much fun. So you could have come up with anything.

Suppose I was a professional golfer. And suppose that I found myself doing pretty well on a Sunday in a tournament. Well enough that I'm in the final group, paired with Tiger Woods.

You may have noticed that I haven't posted much lately, I'll blame lack of sleep, as I've tossed restlessly with stiff neck from stress. Every other year at this time, I've convinced myself that the Saints will win the Super Bowl, and that LSU will win every game by 35 points or more. But this year -- now that both teams have the talent to make it happen -- I am full of anxiety. I don't know how to handle realistic high expectations.

Last night, I was ready to walk the dogs, but I couldn't find my keys. I looked in all of the normal places that I leave them, and no dice. So I just grabbed a spare house key and went on my way.

There's a beverage trend in Baton Rouge, which has come from the Southern states East of here. It used to be that if you ordered tea, you got unsweetened iced tea. Nothing more easy or straightforward. Now, more and more places are asking if you want sweetened tea or unsweetened tea. And by sweetened tea, they mean a tea that is so supersaturated with sugar that if one grain of dust happens to fall into the glass, sugar instantly crystallizes in the glass and floats to the bottom.