I do get vacations from the news grind from time to time, and I'm a big believer that a vacation is just that -- no work, and that means no blog, too.

However, vacations for me are one part laziness, one part accomplishment-oriented, one part introspection and another part planning for the future. So, if you'll indulge my vacation beard (it looks a dab better in person), which I am sporting in this photo from today, I'll do like we did as little kids and spout off all the things I learned during my week-long vacation.

I learned that:

1. The 2:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. sleep shift is just about ideal for me.

2. Annie Lennox' version of "Waiting In Vain" is 50 times as good as the original.

3. Rachael Ray is finally annoying to me.

4. However, I love watching Rosie on "The View," which I only did once this week.

5. At some point, after a 28-10 loss to Texas over the weekend, it will be OK to question Big-Game Bob's ability to win the big one. He's actually been pretty shitty the past three or four years, and I'm one of Stoops' biggest supporters.

6. I told my brother more than two weeks ago that Florida would win the national title, and I think they'll beat a vastly overrated Auburn team this week to keep them on pace with Ohio State.

7. Henryetta is somehow 6-0 and getting ready to play Chandler. Whether or not I attend the game depends on "Big Trash Day" here in Norman and how early my neighbors start leaving their things out -- and whether I'm motivated to do anything tomorrow.

8. "The Rules of Attraction" is one of the absolute worst movies I have ever cut off after an hour. Unbearably bad.

9. "Heroes" is still the best new show on TV, but "Grey's Anatomy" is the best overall. "Studio 60" is slipping fast in my esteem, and "30 Rock" was pretty damned funny. ABC's "Help Me Help You" is possibly the funniest underpromoted new show of the season.

10. But I still like "What About Brian" because I'm obsessed with Sarah Lancaster.

11. However, I'd take a young Debra Winger over most anybody. "Urban Cowboy," and you can laugh, is a terrific movie. Watched it for the 15th time this week.

12. I actually installed a new audio card on my computer. Now, I can watch and HEAR videos on YouTube.com.

13. Now that I am hearing sound from my $30 desktop speakers, I have to admit: I like them better than hearing the computer music come from my stereo. The sound is more compact, full and less bassy. Plus, my $30 speakers are actually really good.

14. Greg Manning is the best unknown smooth jazz artist out there. One of his tunes, which I bought via the old mp3.com back in 2000, is playing right now. Last I heard, he was a keyboardist for Brian McKnight. I'd take that gig.

15. The smooth jazz genre as we knew it five years ago is pretty much dead. Radio stations that still play it (KOAI in Dallas is not among them anymore) now only play adult contemporary tunes mixed with soulless Kenny G material.

16. I cleaned the heck out of the house and still could do more.

17. A second feline has spent most of the week at the house -- an indoor/outdoor unfixed male named Buster, who basically stops by for food and to crash on my chair. This IS a college town!

18. My cat Finley seemed frustrated and depressed at times by Buster's existence; however, she's started to warm up to him in ways that make me wish I had a video camera.

19. Karrin Allyson, whose "Moanin'" is playing right now, is the best jazz singer in America -- bar none.

20. Canned pinto beans mixed with spanish rice that was mixed with diced tomatoes is really, really good on the second day.

21. I'm not going to renew the NBA League Pass package this year. I can't really afford the extra $169 relative to other things, and I'd like to watch more non-sports television, if and when I'll be at the boob tube. It was like a job last year trying to watch 82 NBA games.

22. I got my scanner updated with Cleveland County listings today.

23. There is a Starbucks being built in my neighborhood, next to the Conoco on Main Street, just off Pickard. I'm psyched because that means free Wi-Fi and a place that will have coffee and a NY Times on Sundays. However, I do recognize that in a college town, Starbucks is really counter-ambient. It's totally corporate. We should really have a local hangout like that in the neighborhood. Good coffee, though.

24. Now that I've mastered the installation of an audio card, I think I'm going to revive one of the two PDAs I never use.

25. I had a vivid dream earlier this week that Jim from "The Office" entered a classroom I was in and started executing students by shooting them in the back of the head. After he offed two or three, I ran like hell out of the back door. However, the interpretation of the dream depends on whether you believe that I actually escaped my own execution. See, to see an execution in your dream means you're going to hit misfortune at the hands of somebody else's carelessness. To escape your own execution in a dream means you'll overcome enemies to gain wealth. But, did I just run like a chicken-shit, or did I actually escape my own execution. I find it hard to believe that Jim from "The Office" is capable of such things!

26. I actually believe strongly in dream interpretation and analysis as a viable representation of the subconscious and a possible precursor to the future. So, I'm really hoping for the secondary interpretation.

27. One of the things I liked most about Texas was learning a bit about Tejano. I was a Selena fan back in the day, and I have a CD from a friend of a friend, named Margo Reymundo, that I absolutely love. "Acaba," the opening track from her CD is playing right now. Of all odd things, I heard another tune from this CD playing at an El Fenix in Dallas about two years ago.

28. "Friday Night Lights" was good again this week, but I actually take back something I said about the original movie. It wasn't merely good; it was great. Wonderful, in fact. However, I still think the stereotypes in the TV show are a bit over the top. Perhaps, because I was a sports writer, I was shielded from a lot of the goings on when I was covering HS football.

29. One of the better players I covered in El Campo, a kid named Courtney Sosa, was killed in a car wreck last week. He was 27. Driving in fog, didn't see a stop sign and got plowed by another car, killing Sosa and a passenger. I've driven home from gigs at 2 a.m. in thick, thick fog. Driving should pretty much be banned when the fog gets to a certain level of thickness.

30. Cory Lidle really believed his small plane was safe, and I suppose statistically it is. However, the fact is that a crash in a small plane is almost always a life-ender. Most car crashes are survivable. You'll never get me in a small plane like that. Never. Lidle's wife is now a widow, and his kid gets to grow up without a father. Truth is, Lidle had no business flying near Manhattan. He was incredibly inexperienced. That's too bad. One can only feel terrible for his family, but part of me finds the person who flies small planes and rides his motorcycle without a helmet and refuses to wear a seat belt to be incredibly selfish, particularly if the person has kids. We all gotta go, but my hope is that my demise isn't because of my own bravado and stubbornness.

31. The feds actually reacted to Wednesday's incident fairly well, directing the fighter jets to cities across the country fairly quickly. Now, it wasn't until we were into the second hour of the situation before the order was issued, but it was better than if they didn't do it at all.

32. Best breaking news coverage -- by a mile -- in the afternoons is Shepard Smith. Because he is right there in NYC, he was much better at describing the neighborhood than his CNN or MSNBC counterparts. However, even when the breaking news isn't emanating from NYC, I simply prefer Shep over Wolf or anything they've got on MSNBC. I still say CBS should have paid the bucks and gotten Anderson Cooper and Shepard Smith and turned its evening news into a dual-anchor, from the field, news show. They could call it "Top To Bottom." Yeah, I went there.

33. N'Sync was by a mile the only bearable boy band in history. Musical. Not annoying. They're playing right now, stuff from the first CD. Oh, ok, they just started singing "I wanna rock witch u," which makes me realize that they are annoying, just not as annoying. They did enough musically that was really good to wipe out most of the bad. Alright, some of the bad.

34. Song of the week has been "Pain Killer" by a band called Turin Brakes.

35. Probably my biggest accomplishment this week is something I'm keeping totally to myself. Believe me, you won't be able to guess it, and it's potentially life-changing.

36. Stephen Bishop's 1970s solo work freakin' rules.

That's it, dudes. I'll get back to something a bit more organized and thoughtful next week.