My failed memoir and salmonella on your Big Mac

I wish this entry was going to be all about how I've been so incredibly busy doing all kinds of reporting and writing that I've hardly had time to sweat in this Texas heat, let alone blog.

Not quite.

My last few days have simply been rather low key and devoid of anything exciting and worthy of an update. So, I've spent my weekend lounging in my air-conditioned apartment and reading a new book.

There was a book sale at the Statesman on Friday, where paperbacks were $1 and hardbacks $3. Finding this book was like kismet for me, but also a bit frustrating.

I feel like all of my great ideas get taken before I get to bring them to fruition. When I was in grade school I developed the idea of a self-soaping washcloth. Well, watching Figure it Out on Nickelodeon one day after school, I found that some other little brat had already invented and patented the darned thing.

Needless to say, something along the lines of "Things I've Learned From Women Who've Dumped Me"was always the working title for my to-be-written memoirs. Now I'll have to rethink that, too.

However, the book -- series of lessons from alpha-males like Stephen Colbert, A.J. Jacobs, Andy Richter and former U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey (!?!?) -- is a pretty fun read full of stories that made me realize that maybe my love life isn't as wacky as I sometimes like to think it is.

Damn.

Also, if you need a fix of news from Austin, there's some stuff out there. Somebody torched the governor's mansion last night and Salado, home of the team that won state for 2A baseball last week, is now in the news for another reason.

Also, maybe I wasn't so crazy to not eat tomatoes all those years after all, eh?

To come in the next week: Articles by W. Joseph Oram on soccer, the ties that bind, and a sport invented by Native Americans that is experiencing a major surge in Central Texas.

And probably some more lame attempts at humor.