My plumbing has it in for me. First, my heavy duty, industrial-strength garden hose developed an aneurysm and burst from the pressure while I was washing my car. The suds were still running down the windows, however, and I have no other hose, so I had no choice but to use the defective hose to finish the job. Sure, it was forty degrees in the sun and more water is spurting out the hole in the hose than the end of it, but what was I supposed to do? The suds had to come off.

When you hit a bump or a deep pot hole in the road (economy) it is like playing musical chairs when it comes to jobs the music has stopped and you better have one. Their are not jobs aviliable at the level you last achieved so you better understand that some settling is going to have to occur. And you had better be ready to work smarter and harder for less.

 Florida may be playing in the BCS National Championship Game, but for departing offensive coordinator Dan Mullen, his new job comes first.

 Mullen was hired to be Mississippi State’s head coach last month, and he’s in South Florida with two cell phones. One is from Florida. The other is from MSU. If they both ring at the same time?

 “This one gets picked up now,” Mullen said raising his hand with a phone. “That’s the Mississippi State one. That’s my No. 1 priority – Mississippi State.”

"Efficient" and "bureaucracy" normally aren't words I string together.

But I was floored by how quickly the State Department processed passport applications for my two sons recently.

We couldn't renew their old passports by mail because they were just tykes when those documents were issued 10 years ago. So the day after Christmas, we hauled the guys -- now 18 and 19 -- to the nearest passport office, had their mug shots taken, filed their applications and paid the fees.

I thought since we just concluded an election where everyone was talking about change. I would run through a few things that I have not seen change and probably never will, as the song goes somethings never change.

We decided to stop for lunch in Indiantown, a small town on SR 710, about halfway between I-95 and Lake Okeechobee.

"How adventureous are you?" Bob asked.

The reason for the question: A) there aren't a lot of food options in Indiantown, B) we weren't about to eat somewhere as mundane as a Burger King, C) we were passing a place with a sign that said ...

Three Amigo's
Chef Chang
Chinese & Mexican Food to Go

"I'm game," I said.

BritPatJax Comment: I could make my own argument and have done but here it is from a paid professional. You just will not see, hear or read anything closely resembling this mindset? Amazing.

George Bush didn’t do it this time! I know many want to blame George for everything that happened over the last eight years but in the case of our current financial crises it was not George. As Gordon Gekko pointed out in the movie Wall Street in 1987, “greed really is good!” Let’s consider the facts:

It's been a long couple of weeks with the holidays, but all of us at Jacksonville.com and the Florida Times-Union have been busy covering events and getting new stuff on the site for you to enjoy. Here's what's new on our site that you should check out.