A friend who cares about the right things sent me this note about the great announcer for the L.A. Dodgers, Vin Scully.  He will announce for at least one more year; suspicion had it that he would retire.  Note how Scully explains his decision to stay on:  "I remember thinking, 'Gee, I should cut back.' But I talked to my wife, and she said, 'No, if you totally love it, then maintain the pace.' "  Great advice.  You can't retire from something you love.

A friend, overjoyed, sent me this note when he heard:
"Good news for America, and I can feel the world economy turning around as we speak, driven by an ineffable joy.  At restaurants in L.A. strangers walk up to your table, starry eyed, and announce their engagements or offer you a cigar.  A used car salesman stopped lying for 45 minutes--and he was not fired.  Sean Penn and George Clooney signed a public announcement in the L.A. Times: 'We love America and are ashamed of ourselves.  We will never speak about politics again, except to sing the national anthem at Dodgers games, and we will try to make better movies.'"