One of my high school classmates writes that there's an initiative to rename Devil's Mountain (Monte Diablo) in Contra Costa County to "Mount Kawukum"; which purportedly means 'laughing mountain' in some local indigenous tongue. It is felt that living near a site linked to the demon world is derogatory. Laughing Mountain? How about 'That Little Bump on the Horizon' or 'Mount NotQuite'?

As a side effect, what do we call the Diablo Valley? It will always be Devil's Valley to some of us. Laughing Valley? Laughing Valley College? Get off it! OK, it made me laugh...

The latest sales figures seem to indicate that the recession which we thought we were putting behind us - is back. The American consumer is losing his/her resiliency. My business is about to get slammed by higher prices - at a time when nobody seems to want to buy anything at any price. Wonder how that's all going to play out.

I've taken a whirlwind tour of a few hundred blogs just to find out what other folks talk about. The most common topic? Food. What I ate today. Many even take pictures of their dinner. So what did I eat today? Mac-n-cheese. And a couple of beers. My daughter crushed up some leftover Halloween candy in a bowl and handed it to me for dessert. Yes, she still has some. I'll spare you the pictures.