--HOLD ONTO ME WHEN YOU GO

…The latest episode of "Breaking Bad" was so brilliant that no superlatives will do.  My son deemed it not only the best episode of television, but better than any movie he's ever seen.

It does always surprise me that a show so dark can do that well in the ratings, but this show has it all.

Don't miss it.

…I keep thinking about a night in Paris.

I saw a woman in a coal-black burka.  Perhaps less than three inches of her face was visible—just her eyes and the surrounding area.  She was walking behind an overweight man wearing a bright, turquoise polo shirt.  As they strolled by me, I noticed the woman also wore a pair of bubblegum-pink Crocs, her only expression of individuality.  

…Here are a few things I learned of late:

-21% of Facebook users check it first thing in the morning, even before peeing.

-The average teen absorbs 7-11 hours of digital content each day.

The average teen sends more than 3,000 text each month.

-Largest emitters of carbon dioxide:

China - 26%

USA - 15%

India - 7%

Russia - 5%

Japan - 4%

…Here are some random things I like for the middle of the week:

"All the same, it is good to be alive." Proust

"If we should fail -- we fail. But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we'll not fail." William Shakespeare

"But try," you urge, "the trying shall suffice; The aim, if reached or not, makes great the life: Try to be Shakespeare, leave the rest to fate!" Robert Browning

"Without fear, you'd never survive." Woody Allen

"You are today where your thoughts have brought you, you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you." James Allen

"I never did take anything from anyone. It ain't that I'm not grateful, but I love to earn it better." Betty Higden

"Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody." Longfellow

"Writing fiction is like shooting a gun.  All of us can do it.  But, seriously: Should we?" Nick Arvin