"We're all born with the same stomach"

I’m planning a trip to NYC for the 4th of July and in my Internet searches, I came upon an article about the city's annual Nathan's Famous 4th of July international hot dog eating contest. Yup, that's what it's called.

I'm posting a link to the article here but it is not for the faint of heart or even those who actually like hot dogs.

Accusations hurled at hot dog contest

Snow globes and such

My boss brought back a snow globe for me from a writer's conference he went to in Philadelphia. Naturally, it was confiscated by security on the flight home. You see, there's liquid in a snow globe. Even in this very tiny, innocent, little snow globe. When my boss questioned the silliness of taking away his gift, he was sternly told, "If you go to tsa.gov you will see it plainly states - No snow globes allowed!" Sure enough, here's what it says under what not to bring in your carry-on (though I'm suspicious about it being the very last entry in the list...): "Snow globes and like decorations regardless of size or amount of liquid inside, even with documentation." Snow globes come with documentation?? In the end, my boss was kind enough to buy another snow globe in the airport gift shop. He's nice like that.

I'm reading an autobiography of a favorite author. And it's annotated. So, after one particular anecdote, there's a note that says something like, "Actually, since he grew up in this certain area, we think he probably meant such and such." So... imagine writing your memoirs, leaving instructions for it not to be published until after your death, and then someone comes along and annotates it for you, explaining what they think you meant to say. Which gives me an idea for a book title, "The Annotated Life."