K is always quiet on his way to school, and it often freaks me out, since he's never quiet. This morning was his second full day of school -- and his first where I wasn't planning to walk him in, and I was afraid that he was nervous about finding his way around. At a stop light, I turned back to him and asked, "Are you sure you know where to go when I drop you off?"

Tip of the cap to AAA. I called last night because we had a car with a dead battery. The only thing I had to type in for the computer is my account number. Called again today, and their system must have associated my phone number and the account, because I got right to a human without having to enter anything. She confirmed me by name, and I didn't have to read off my number or verify any silly childhood memories. Very nice.

I thow out a new conspiracy theory, and I float an old one that I kind of buy into.

We spent the week of Easter on the sailboat. Almost entirely, we were tied up at Pontchartrain Landing on the lakeshore. It's an almost unknown RV Park and Marina, and not at all a bad place to hole up for a week.

This is just three totally unrelated short little posts about what's been happening around the theskinnyonbenny house.

I'm going to write a whole post dumping on Clemson football, and then tell you in a single sentence that I want them to win the national championship.

Last week, Mrs. theskinnyonbenny and I celebrated our twentieth wedding anniversary. I'm not nearly old enough to have been married twenty years, just as I am not nearly old enough to have a younger sister who dotes on grandchildren, yet here we are in a weird parallel universe where both things are ture.

As I've mentioned in this space before, I'm an old man now. It's time to start publishing my gripes.

We decided to sail to Mandeville, a town that's usually four or five hours from our home dock. It's a pretty standard trip for us, but this one spirals into nuttiness.

After being mostly away the past two weeks, our kids started camps this week. Vanya is doing dance, arts, and music at a camp that he seems to be enjoying quite a bit. Kolya is going to one that seems pretty similar to preschool. Let's face it, though. Preschool is a day-long session of dicking around in fun ways that also happen to be educational for little kids. Drawing, Play-doh, songs. It's a pretty good day compared to yours and mine.

Today is Vanya's gotcha day, so happy day to a wonderful, kind-hearted, enthusiastic kid who has an amazing ability to make people smile. Our tradition is that the kids get to do pretty much what they choose...

I keep hearing something that is turning me into a deranged, foamy-mouthed lunatic. I'm not sure if this has just started, or if I've just started noticing. But I keep hearing people say "bolth" instead of "both." Are these maniacs stooges for the "L" lobby? Also, comments on a podcast, some journalism, and a sailboat electronics installation. It's not as disjointed as it sounds.