If you're doing it right - if you've got your eyes and ears on and you can process those things you take in - you're gonna pick up some knowledge along the way. I'm at the precise age where I realize just how little I know. I'm barely halfway around the tack, and I've only really been paying attention for the last 10 years or so.

Santa Claus comes early to my house. Its a deal we make with the fat man every year: He hits us up a couple days in advance so we can get on the road to Long Island and the people we see up there, it seems, only at Christmas time. This is a tradition that goes way back in my family.

Man, Ive been slacking lately. Its probably stress, or an excess of holiday lackadaisicalness, or maybe Im just a moron. Either way, Ive got to sharpen up in 2009. Did you happen to see the corrections section this week? Theres a couple of doozies in there, each of which is completely my fault.

Ive got ace-eight, off suit. What the hell. I call the big blind, 30 bucks. A ninja calling himself The Bonaparte raises to 90. Screw you, Bonaparte. I call. The flop comes out eightten-queen. Rainbow. Bonaparte checks, and I know its because hes got nothing.

The Piedmont Triad can be a pretty small place, and nobody knows this more than a journalist. We find ourselves living in the same neighborhoods as our sources, getting story leads from friends and relatives, doing business with people were written about and having awkward encounters next to those with whom weve disagreed in print.

Spoke with a friend this weekend, and he sounded a bit off. He moved to the mountains just about a year ago, with his daughter, his new wife, a freshly minted four-year sheepskin and a plan to take on the world.

Im going to sell my house, not in this market. Right? I mean, its not like there was this huge bubble in Triad real estate, but my house is 10 years old, and there are brand-new ones going up in my neighborhood that look exactly like it and are going right now for about what Id like to get for mine.

Whew. For the most part Im happy with last Tuesdays results. Im pleased that Liddy Dole lost her seat to someone who actually lives in North Carolina. Im shocked that Pat McCrory didnt do better in his bid for governor.

Coffee. Thats it Ill make some coffee and plunge ahead. Im writing this on Monday morning, early, the day before the election the calm before the storm. And Im feeling the battle fatigue as an ache in my hips and lower back, where Ive recently begun carrying my stress.

When I was a kid I was afraid of the dark. I slept with the light on until it was no longer age-appropriate. If I stayed at a friends house past dark I would run home in a panic. I kept a flashlight near my bed. That kind of thing. Im no longer afraid of the dark.