* On an upper Manhattan sidewalk a woman was causing a little commotion by walking her 4 foot platypus on a leash with a rhinestone collar. People walking by stopped to look and then did a double take. Some stopped and asked questions and then moved on.

Two boys walked by and one said to the other: “Wow, that is one ugly dog.”

# I got a great deal on a Rembrandt painting from his black velvet period. It was very educational. I did not know dogs played poker in the 16th century.

@ On a flight going into Washington DC my father sat on a plane as it tried for the third time to land at the airport. The problem was that the cross winds going over the Potomac river were bouncing the plane around and blowing the plane off course. My dad noticed the man sitting next to him was very tense and gripped the arm rests with white knuckles. He thought he could reassure the nervous passenger. Dad said, “Don’t worry, those people in the cockpit know what they are doing.”  The man explained, “You don’t understand, I am a commercial pilot and I know what they are doing.”