Feeling a little congested the last couple of days, mild sore throat, bit of a cough. I go for the good old Hall's cough drops.

But instead of just a small medicated throat lozenge, you get this ...



Is it just me, or is this "Pep Talk in Every Drop" annoying? I'm feeling a little sluggish, just need a cough drop. Not life lessons, not trite encouragement. And certainly not a line that tries to make me feel guilty ... "Don't try harder. Do harder!"

Maybe some people like it. Me, I'm thinking of switching brands.

I had a clipping of this for a long time, but I lost it at some point in one of my moves.

Regretful killer tried to kill self

My favorite line in the story ... "The killing occurred after the couple had spent the day drinking gin."

Yeah, nothing good ever happens after that.

Well, it's a new year. We've got a fresh 366 in front of us. Yes, a leap year, what fun.

Presidential election this year, that will consume much of the oxygen and public attention. But this time next year, will the election of one man make that much difference?

No, it won't.

Summer Olympics in London. That will offer some athletic excitement ... and a seemingly infinite stream of marketing opportunities. Let's just hope the athletes play clean. I don't think I can stand a lengthy performance enhancing drug controversy.

Not sure why, but I have a sort of negative feeling about 2012. About the only bright spot so far was actually a nice little closeout to 2011.

My car battery has been acting up, I took it back to Wal-Mart to have them look at it. Sure enough, a bad cell. Lucky me, the current battery was purchased in December 2008. And it had a three-year warranty.

So, if I had waited a few days, I would have paid for a new battery. Instead, I got a free replacement. The Wal-Mart folks didn't seem to thrilled about having to give me the free battery, but I was really glad that I stopped in on Dec. 31 to get it checked.

Maybe that's a good sign.

My most vivid memory of Pearl Harbor Day came when I was assigned to cover a Survivors Memorial ceremony near Vero Beach, Florida. This was back in 1989 or 1990, when I was a reporter for the Sebastian Sun.

The ceremony was very somber, and the Vero Beach chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association had a pretty decent membership at the time. To end the ceremony, they placed a wreath in the water and watched as it floated our to sea.

Well, that was the plan, anyway. On this morning, I'm not sure if it was the tide or the wake of a boat, but the wreath did not drift away from the shore. It came back to the shore from the end of the short pier where it was launched.

When it got close to the shore, one of the survivors went back to the end of the pier. This time, instead of simply lowering the wreath into the water, he sort of Frisbeed it out about 20 feet away from the pier.

The wreath hit the water and just sat there, bobbing in place, not drifting away or back to the shore. Everyone stood and watched, not sure what to do.

After about 5 minutes, a long-haired guy on a Jetski came out of nowhere, grabbed the wreath, gave a sort of nod and salute, and headed out to open water.

All of the survivors, old men limping or partially bent over or in wheel chairs, returned the salute, waited a few minutes as the Jetski motored away, and then departed the shore for a tent with drinks and snacks.

I'm sure there are fewer survivors at ceremonies today. But I'm also sure they still take their tributes just as seriously.

My morning commute was ruined by a quote that came from Texas head football coach Mack Brown. Sure, I don't think anyone has ever held Brown in high regard as a great thinker or scholar, but this is something he needs to get straight.

He mentioned in an interview that penalties "have been one of our Achilles' heels lately."

OK, here's the deal. You can only have ONE Achilles' heel.

Back in mythology, Achilles was a great and seemingly invulnerable warrior because he had been dipped in the River Styx. But, he was held by his heel when he was dipped, so that spot would be his only weak point. The rest of him, immortal. The ONE heel, his ultimate downfall.

So, if you've got three or four areas on your team that are causing you to struggle or lose, you don't have three or four Achilles' heels.

If you're playing perfectly in all other phases, but you're being brought down by ONE aspect (i.e. penalties, turnovers, special teams, weak quarterback play from numerous 5-star recruits), THAT'S your ONE Achilles' heel.