Now that we have waved 'Bye, Bye, Brownie' to Michael Brown, the hapless head of FEMA, could we turn our sights back to another agency on the skids: the Food and Drug Administration?

Just to assassinate Michael Brown's character is wrong.

Okay, it's my turn to bitch about something. Everyone places so much importance on having the playoff bye week. Well, we got it weeks ago, but now everyone thinks we've had too much time off. But the bye week is secondary to home-field throughout. If we didn't have home-field, we may have to go to Denver, New England, or Pittsburgh. It's chilly in those places. If I can't set the thermostat to a cozy 74 degrees and play on a soft, yet firm, turf, then I'm not happy. 'Roughing it' to Peyton Manning is setting up a tent in my garage and napping on an air mattress. If I even hear about snow in New England, I wet my pants.

There's a trick to the Graceful Exit. It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, a relationship is over - and to let go. It means leaving what's over without denying its value.

Most people do not consider dawn to be an attractive experience - unless they are still up.

The central struggle of parenthood is to let our hopes for our children outweigh our fears.