It's not a twitch glitch, but when Pepi my cat rests atop the warm computer monitor, like now, the image jerks when he doesn't sit still. I'll just have to deal with it but bl g ma y jmp a roud lttl if e do esn re ax.

A little bad news. Came home one night and my wife said she had bad news. Her somber tone made me not want to know. It could have been anything. Is everyone OK? The A/C wasn't working! Now that's serious. And a relief. Air conditioners can be repaired.

I did what I could then called Tom's Heating to check both furnace and A/C. Air conditioner is fine but Tom will be here in two hours to talk about a new furnace. The 35 year old beast was leaking so bad the technician shut it down.

I just now got my Freeman delivered and was told by them that my regular carrier was in a bad accident.

Three of us had a dental appointment this week -- a reschedule from an earlier one because he went on vacation. This one was cancelled also. He was in a bad accident and he and his wife both had broken ribs. So we reschedule again. "Can we come in at 5:45? The doctor doesn't usually stay after 6:00." I try to be a "patient" patient, but I'm sorry. I can't get off work at 5:00 in Milwaukee, fight traffic and grab the kids to make it to his office by 5:45. That's why the other two were made for 6:00. Our next "tentative" appt. is scheduled for late Sept. and I see that my son's away football game is the same day. : (

I was at work in Milw. when I heard about the World Trade Center. I was in the basement workshop at St. Joe's in Wauk. when I heard about Challenger. And ten years ago, at two on a Sunday morning, I was driving to the Journal Sentinel to do my route when I heard the BBC broadcast that Princess Diana had been in a bad accident.

One of the benefits of delivering the paper is knowing certain news before everyone else. Ten years ago, while waiting an extra long time for the "mains," I knew what was coming. I delivered a lot of bad news that day.

I, like many others, felt a closeness to the "People's Princess." She seemed warm and friendly and everything a princess was supposed to be. The divorce just reinforced how, in the end, she was still just a normal person with normal problems. Diana and I were both born the same year, though I was 3 months older.

I chose to quit smoking when Diana died and affirmed it a week later when Mother Teresa died. If two great and compassionate women known the world over, and who've met one another, could die a week apart without trying, then I could try to stay alive and quit cigarettes. (It also didn't hurt that my kids learned what cigarettes can do and were after me to quit.) Quitting at the time of a major historical event has been my record keeper. IT'S BEEN TEN YEARS SINCE I QUIT SMOKING! The media will always let me know how long it's been. It's nice to know I was able to stick with something this long. For my family. For me.