As we speak, some virus is doing its damn best to kill my insides and then eat them. That aside, however, some of my favorite reading is the stuff about Lincoln's early political years as an Illinois state representative. Basically, as far as I can piece together, his legislative strategy was to stand up, tell an amusing anecdote which doesn't seem to have anything to do with anything but that is just too damn Old Timey Charming to resist, and then sit back down to tumultuous applause.

That's probably something of an exaggeration, but, as I said, there is a virus trying to eat my important bits... Time to Get Equipped! with SOUP!

- Count Dolby von Luckner

This episode came in under the wire. Sunday night, while the Count battled with his mystery affliction, I came down with a case of the Bourbons.

Which means that I let my liver take an amble through several glasses of delicious bourbon contained in my bar instead of diligently working on Frederick.

And yet, somehow, this episode got finished. People ask me what it's like to be a hero. I tell them that I drink my whiskey one glass at a time, straight, no chaser.

--Geoff