The older I get and the more fiction I write, the more I outline, the more I think about plot before I dive in and plunge too far.

For the benefit of those of you who have real jobs and are not involved in the news business, I should first explain that . . .

Avoid the traffic by using one of the park's shuttle buses and view the elk rut with a park ranger.

It was you readers who really came through, proving once again that when the American people decide to "get involved" in a problem, it is best not to let them have any sharp implements.

I'm not sure you can count as history, was Keith Richards's "Life," which he so modestly titled it. I did find it a fascinating book. Keith's a pretty honest fellow.

The thing I have learned, especially in the Internet age, probably the easiest thing in the world is to declare that something is not funny. I mean it's not actually humor to say something is not funny, but it is viewed by a lot of people - and by that I mean mainly snarky young Internet men - as a kind of humor in and of itself is putting down other people's efforts at humor. And I don't care that much anymore about that because I know how easy that is to do.

Do not spit gum in the drinking fountains.