Today I received a comment from our good friend Robert Brodie Booth, writer. (Hi Robert!) He was kind enough to leave a few nice words in spite of the fact that he's a dog owner and probably read my recent posting about...well...the one about inviting various barbaric tribes back to sack the city of Rome and asking them, among other things, to rid the city of all dog owners AND their dogs, etc., etc.

I felt badly because Robert is the nicest, most charming, generous, good-hearted person in the world and he has, what I'm sure is, a wonderful dog and I really wouldn't want either of them to be dragged away in chains by some hoarding mass of blue-faced barbarians. Then I started thinking that a lot of my friends have dogs, and I shouldn't be so mean-sounding because how would I like it if someone said something really awful about cats?

So, okay, I'm sorry. I was a bit harsh and I can only attribute it to a massive sensitivity lapse. Now you have caught a glimpse of my dark side and The Man is happy because he thinks you'll all feel sorry for him for having to live with such a nut case.

I have also written the Huns, Goths and Vandals asking that they scratch the "dog" part of my pillaging requirements.

Okay, we should be all straight now.

And, Robert, thanks for writing.