"My name is Wile E. Coyote... Genius."

The Movie: The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie, 1979 (Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese, screenwriters; Chuck Jones and Phil Monroe, directors)
Who says it: Mel Blanc as the voice of Wile E. Coyote… genius.
The context: Wile E. Coyote is introducing himself to Bugs Bunny, explaining that Bugs, as a rabbit, is no match for such a skilled predator. This is Wile E.’s standard opening line; he even has business cards that say this.
How to use it: When you’re about to implement a plan that could go seriously, seriously wrong.

I use this line -- or its variant, "My name is Wile E. Coyote... Sooooooper Genius," at least once a week.

My mother's dog, Molly, is something of an escape artist. She ran out the front door when Mom's visiting nurse arrived this morning, and is still running around. She wants to be chased, she thinks it's a game.

I'm not playing. I remember too vividly one Christmas Eve seven or eight years ago, when Mom was sick -- either just getting out of the hospital, or just about to go in -- when I chased Molly all over my parents' old neighborhood, for most of an afternoon and over at least a square mile. Eventually a couple of neighbors in cars herded her into someone's fenced-in backyard. Molly made a fool of all of us, and I still haven't quite forgiven her.

Today I send good thoughts out to my friend Barb, whom I was originally supposed to visit in Lincoln, NE on the way out here. Barb has a large menagerie that began with Tippy, who was six when Barb adopted her in 1998. Tippy died over the weekend, at the ripe old age (for a greyhound) of 12. Barb, who designs web pages as well as plays the bodhran, hosts a radio show and many other things, put up a memorial page here.