It's Outer Banks time with 40 plus members of both sides of the family -- first time traveling (and in an airplane!) for what, two years? It seems like longer since we had to cancel out last summer.

Vol. 50 No. 007

Let me get the shameless advertising out of the way so by the time you've read the newsletter, it'll be embedded in your brain and you won't even realize you've had the sneaky implant. VORTEX -- incredible cover shown below -- is the 25^th FBI thriller out August 10^th. There, painless, done, be sure to pre-order because that makes the publisher very happy and, well, it makes me sing a bit of opera (not from Aida).

Vol. 40 No. 11

Happy St. Patrick's Day Green beer? Excuse me? Who does that? I mean, could you be convinced that to properly celebrate this lovely Irish day, you are required to pour GREEN beer down your gullet? Hey, can you get GREEN beer Light? Would the color be a lighter green?

Happy February What a great month –- First the Super Bowl and a BIG congratulations to Tommy and the Bucs (not Benny and the Jets). And second, let’s hear it for Valentine’s Day, the only day of the year (other than your birthday) when chocolates have absolutely zero calories, so if you go for a hike, even munching chocolates as you tromp the trails, you’ll lose a couple of pounds. What more could you ask? Well, there’s red or yellow (my fav) roses, a clever card, and if you’re female, your other half owes you a half-day servitude. Valentine’s Day is definitely for the female half of the population. Guys, suck it up.