I'm taking a look at state traffic data, specifically at accidents in the past four years when it's either snowing or sleeting.

Care to guess (for 2007-2010):

A few days ago, I listed some of the great concerts I’ve gotten to see.

I love wristwatches. I always have, since I was a kid. My mom makes fun of me when she asks what date it is and I look at my wrist.

I was using the lyrics to an old Simon and Garfunkel song in the journalism class I’m teaching this semester, and that got me thinking about a Paul Simon concert at the Assembly Hall in the early 1970s.

One of my co-workers recently got her first smart phone. A reporter for more than 25 years, she had a treasure trove of numbers in her old phone. Getting them transferred to the new phone, a Motorola Droid X2, was not a problem – Champaign Telephone took care of that when the switch was made.

Just stopped off at the Verizon store, and the staff outnumbered the customers. Guess all the chocolate bars are gone.

But on the drive back, I got to thinking on a tangent, as I will sometimes, about the chocolate bars. And Willy Wonka and the original golden tickets.

Look what arrived today. Motorola Droid Bionic.

Remember story problems? I used to love story problems. If Car A leaves Memphis heading north on I-57 at 51 mph and Car B leaves Champaign heading south on I-57 at 54 mph…

… The other drivers will be telling them to get off the road.

For 25 years now, give or take, I’ve played music on Labor Day weekend with good friends. It’s a party to celebrate the end of summer.

I've mentioned that we are producing a book this fall from a special section the newspaper published in 1994 about World War II.