I'm watching From Russia with Love and it hits me that there are a few too many scenes of 007 walking around a hotel room looking for bugs with chase music going on. The trademark Bond theme blaring with all the trumpet power it can muster, and Mr. Connery is doing nothing short of looking behind a painting for a wire. 30 minutes later, his associate in Istanbul has his private office bombed and all we get is a cello. Call me reactionary but I think the director of music must have taken a nap when he threw this baby together. Probably wrote the whole bit on a Sunday afternoon after watching The Birds and realized it was good but needed a snappier soundtrack.

So there's this little girl next door who's taken a shine to Lil Miss Austin. I can't quite imagine why, LMA is 2 and this girl is 6. LMA is working on not leaving surprises in her miniature panties and this girl is modeling swim suits. The only attraction I can figure out is that the neighbor girl, we'll call her Alice, thinks LMA is a little doll. They can't talk on any level, they don't have the same toys, Alice's other friends are even older than her, by almost a generation. Regardless, she's at our door almost every 20 minutes asking if LMA can come out to play. Actually, she's got a bit of a stutter, so it's not so much asking as it is a lot of standing there with nothing to say while she tries to chat up a 30 year old dad who wants nothing more than to slink back into his nice cool home and play Half Life. Nothing against the girl, she's really sweet, but I think she's still learning about boundaries. It's one thing to approach a family as they sit outside, playing in a pool or with a small two wheeled killing machine, it's another to come in to our house unannounced, bringing the mail. Mrs. Austin and I have got to the point where we don't answer the door anymore. I'd rather see Jehovah’s Witnesses outside than to have to small talk this little trooper. On top of it all, she doesn't give grace time from first doorbell ring to next door knock to next insistent door knock to small polite "Oh I don't think their home but I'm 6 and what do I know" door knock...*sigh* I really would like LMA to be friends with her, or anyone really. There're not many toddlers around here. However, I think Alice needs some friends her own age. Plus I'm pretty much out of lies about LMA being sick, asleep, doing her calculus homework, or dead. I mean, I'm being played by this girl and it's making my reflux act up.

The Da Vinci Code. Oh good God don't give this book to anyone unless you don't expect to see them for 48 straight hours. I received this nugget as a gift on my birf-day and I haven't read it yet. Meanwhile Mrs. Austin has absconded with it, took the day off of work, read it cover to cover, researched it online, figured out all the clues and is currently petitioning Austin Community College to open a course on the subject. I mean seriously. (Mrs. Austin here. If Mr. Austin knew anything about the book, and had as much desire as I had to read it, he would know that there already was a course!) To add insult to injustice, she's a fast reader and can accomplish such Dead Poet Society tasks, where as it will take me the greater part of a M Class star's life span to read it just one time. For example, Lord of the Rings; the full trilogy took me a year. A YEAR!! That's half my daughter’s age, to read a book! Who's the mook now??

Anyway, I hear it's a good book. I hope to find out before LMA can drive to the library to check it out.

Father in laws don't appreciate humor about pot distribution at the Austin airport. I can't imagine why. Well, maybe Timothy Leary's dad thought it was funny. Or Jerry Garcia's dad. Yeah, that's it. Pot in Austin is like Hash in Amsterdam, it's a non-issue. I don't smoke pot *coughliarcough* but I do drink a lot of coffee and eat too much pasta, ends up being the same effect. Right? RIGHT? Besides, someone who's seen Willie Nelson in concert THREE TIMES *cougholdmancough* should at least chuckle at the joke. Otherwise, no double-holed bent up Pepsi can for you at the show, man. Sweeeet. Totally.