Waiting for a friend in a restaurant, I watched another guest came through the door.  Bulging gym bag, open briefcase with papers sprouting out of it, hat, overcoat and umbrella (it wasn't raining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky).

Have you ever pulled a "fine, then" on someone? A friend tells you that maybe you shouldn't have taken so much oxygen at the party. Fine, then, I won't talk at all next time!

Because we were celebrating something lovely, a small group of us went out to eat at a very fancy restaurant this week. We had to make reservations two months in advance and in the intervening time between making the reservations and the day of the meal, I got seven email messages from the restaurant…