"Man shall not live by bread alone." (Matthew)

.....For the first time that I can recall, three people in my party of four, returned their entrees. This trauma occurred at the Zagat rated restaurant, Outback. Rh+ ordered her fillet steak medium rare with a baked potato (which arrived hard), Irene ordered hers the same way, and Norman, my namesake ordered his prime rib medium. I did fine, my fillet came medium. Rho's steak came cold and raw; same for the other two friends. Natalie, our server, returned those dishes to the kitchen for correction. Manager came over shortly and very accommodating apologized for the problem and promised to do better with the return orders. And finally, they arrived in the proper condition. It was rather weird. Usually only Rhoda's orders arrive unsatisfactory. She has some kind of aura about her that intimidates the kitchen, and it seems that two out of three times that we go out to a restaurant she has to send her order back for one reason or another. Meanwhile, I go on chomping away, and after every couple of bites, take a sip of my diet coke. My usual complaint to our server, nevertheless, is that the ice in my drink is too cold.

.....I already have five volumes of "Pater Noster in Condoland" published, and I really do not want to have six volumes with the same title. After this book of blogs is published, I don't intend to have anymore; so I appealed to readers to offer me a suitable title--one that would capture the themes of these writings and point to my "persona". I can now announce that I have arrived at a title, that has some zest and one that I like. After this collection of blogs, I will follow my son's suggestion, not to quit altogether, but to write one now and then. When that occurs, however, I don't know how my current readers will be aware of it--unless I announce it on Facebook, or Twitter, or any of the other social cyberspace notebooks. The title I've chosen, you ask? Aha, that's a secret.

.....Thanksgiving is coming next Thursday, and I must say I've witnessed a few of them. I'm getting somewhat tired of the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie, and all the other accoutrement's attending the meal of this event. Eight of us will be going to McCormick & Schmich's (Sp.?), a rather upscale restaurant in Boca Raton near to P.K Chang's (Sp.?). I think I might prefer Chinese food or perhaps a pound of Florida stone crabs. Strangely, I don't know of anyone else who likes stone crabs as I do. I don't believe any of my current friends have ever eaten stone crabs. Don't know what they're missing.

.....A victory for Obama, as the Senate has passed a vote to begin debate on a health care reform bill. As predicted, not a single Republican voted for that procedure, and probably not a single Republican will eventually vote for a health reform bill no matter how it will allow most Americans to be insured against sickness. Isn't there some law that denies the right of a legislator to accept money from lobbyists to influence his vote? If not, there ought to be. You have to be brain dead not to realize how the insurance companies are spending millions to defeat any change in health care in this country. Never mind that the AMA and the AARP and the AFT have come out in favor of changes. As usual, Sarah Palin has something to say for the point of just saying it to garner attention and to sell more books. Her criticism of the health reform bill that the Democratic caucus produced is a puzzlement, because she hasn't read it, and she doesn't have access to it. Oh, well, the title of the book in which this blog will be one of many is appropriate to my beliefs. I simply need about 75 more pages. That will come...and then "...the rest is silence."