Worms, Roxanne! I'm Afraid of Worms!

My words and thoughts of late have been incomplete. Still, I wanted to share my latest musings:

-- I hate mathematics but I love numbers. Give me raw numbers, especially of the political variety, a calculator and I'm good for hours upon hours.

Additionally, I've always had a knack for remembering dates and other statistical data. Just not birthdays.

A couple of months ago, I slept in rather late. Until 8:12. When I opened my unadjusted eyes, I saw a "1" in front of the 8. My first thoughts were of Andrew Jackson and the Lafitte brothers fighting a swamp-land war they didn't know had already been won.

It happened again last Friday night: Melissa rolled over and woke me up. At 4:44. It was a little more timely since I've been reading this.

-- Melissa's favorite show is Everyday Italian. About 80% of our DVR recording memory is reserved for this, and other, cooking shows. I'm not complaining since Giada and Bobby Flay have helped Melissa to learn that cooking is simple and fun. The only downside is that she now wants all their appliances to make our meals.

Christmas Eve, Melissa and I cooked a rather elaborate meal for her family. But the one thing we were really missing was a zester; our grater can be a make-shift zester, but it's not specifically suited for that purpose.

I had actually purchased one from Williams-Sonoma as a stocking stuffer. I gave thought about taking it out of her stocking a day earlier than intended. I left it hidden since I wanted her to be surprised Christmas morning.

Turns out the surprise was for me. She had also purchased a zester from Williams-Sonoma for my stocking stuffer and also wondered if she should take it out earlier than Santa intended.

Just one of the many memories from this Christmas. I'm sure there's an O.Henry-esque story in there somewhere.

-- A few weekends ago while Melissa went to the gym, I went to Half Price.

Typically, my trips to the fiction section are pro forma. This time instead, thanks to the book club, I slowed down and looked more thoroughly.

Anyway, I made my final stop in the T's. Ever since Presumed Innocent, Turow has issued a new book every three or four years. As he published a book last year, I was not expecting one for at least two more years. In retrospect, I'm not even sure why I looked for his book section; nevertheless, I'm glad I did. I quickly grabbed his latest work, Limitations.

His formula for character development is fabulous. A secondary character in one novel becomes the central figure in the next. As the series progresses, characters and plots are revisited to provide error-free continuity.

Every novel takes place in a fictional mid-western city, DuSable, modeled after Chicago. Turow even went so far and created a history of the city and provided a map in one of the books. This city and its residents have become real to me in a cry-for-help kind of way.

His books go beyond judicial temperament and legislative intent. He is able to make tangible the deeper questions that form the bedrock of our judicial system. He is able to clarify the murkier complexities that exist in the prosecutorial system.

Once again, I'm reminded of why Turow is my favorite writer; once gain, I am left wondering how Grisham has become the more popular author of this genre.