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In a day and age when there are so many different types of people, with various races, ethnicities and personalities, there is one type I'm more likely to associate with frequently.

I have an insatiable and unconscious desire to surround myself with Dr Pepper drinkers.

But Iím also convinced that most Dr Pepper drinkers are psychotic.

Which comes first is unclear. And calling someone psychotic can be misconstrued, so Dr Pepper drinkers, donít take this personally. But ponder the following arguments.

The world's not revolving faster, nor have its inhabitants been hibernating, but time is moving faster. If time doesn't slow down, it could get pulled over, and it won't stand a chance in court.

Vacations have a lot to do with the insane pace of minutes. No, not the vacation you take. The vacation other people around you take. Many people working at the Journal have taken trips all across the United States, even to Canada. When someone leaves any business for a break, the remaining people must suffer the consequences.

Most sensible people would probably concede, pay the ticket and try harder next time. Not me. Finally, Aug. 2 at 8:50 a.m., the charges were dismissed. I was a free man. But the way it happened was a bit intriguing.

Boy it's hot outside. That's why I'm inside now. People keep talking about beating the heat. You've got to be kidding. You couldn't even beat the heat with a large frying pan. To avoid one silly cliché, I've decided to live by another — if you can't beat it, join it. Here's a short list of things to do to join the heat:

Start a fire — You can burn a lot faster, and burn a lot more for that matter. The folks at Woodstock 99 decided to light a few bonfires, loot shops and get really, really angry. Unfortunately, Willie Nelson escaped with few burns.

Bad things happen.

There's nothing anyone can do; they just happen. This past week, we saw our fair share of incidents. Nationally, a man whose life has been in a continual spotlight died in a plane crash. Locally, a young woman was found dead after being missing since July 4.

Tragedies strike at all times, mostly when least expected. There are numerous levels of tragedies, yet they all come back to one thing — loss. Losing something or someone can be devastating. But eventually, the void becomes a part of you, while you try fervently to concentrate on other things.

As you may or may not know, I'm in the process of writing a book. It was fun, but I'd like to finish it, get it published, sign some books and start working on the next one.

In the meantime, I'm going to provide you a few excerpts so you can see what I'm working on.

To set the stage for the first one, one of the book's main characters is meeting a blind date who happens to closely resemble her favorite celebrity.

Read the excerpt

Building a yearbook can be an arduous task. In high school, clubs and/or classes compiled the yearly piece during months of development. Sometimes, however, it would be nice to create a simpler yearbook or possibly even just an individual book that you can share as a gift for friends or family members.

After a couple of weeks of breaks, I will be back on the book tour 12:30 p.m. March 11 at A Reader's Corner Bookstore, 138 Breckenridge Lane, Louisville, Ky. There's a children's book reading that starts at 11 a.m., and I may show up and read to the kids, depending on the schedule. The theme for the reading is St. Patrick's Day.

To find out more about A Reader's Corner Bookstore, click here to visit the website.

QUESTION

Is it ever appropriate to use profanities in an email?

LAEL: YES

It's okay by my standards to use profanities in email to people that you would normally say profantities when speaking. However, you should becareful not to tell grandma to kick @ss in tomorrow's bingo tournament ... As with all things email related, you should be careful what you write because you never know who is going to see it.

AMANDA: YES

This Sunday (1-4:30 pm Dec. 4) I will join a number of Kentucky authors in signing books at the Portland Museum Holiday Crafts Sale. The museum is located at 2308 Portland Ave., 40212.

Honestly, I have no clue what type of stuff will be there. The flyer shows authentic Kentucky crafts, books, jewelry, prints, ceramics, greenery, etc. It sounds sort of like a cross between the flea market at the fairgrounds, the St. James Art Fair and a book signing event. Surely someone there will be interested in "The Developers," right?