So much for sensitivity to the lessons of history. I'm blogging from the frozen east coast of Nebraska, where the temperature struggled into the double digits. I'll folow the cold to the east on Monday morning as I head to CT to instruct. Funny how I missed a cold spell two weeks ago while I was visiting Castle 1526, leaving NY as the cold got there and missing it in Nebraska. This time I'll endure it in both places, neatly conforming to karma.

It's been good to be back home for a few days, cleaning up the mess at the office and getting ready for a week of vacation there so I can do my part-time job and visit Castle 1526 again. So much for John's hypothesis that I'd learned the lessons of history. Actually, I fly in and out of LaGuardia and the drive to the job is three times longer than the drive home so I couldn't miss this opportunity to visit. See how work intereferes with after action reports?

When it comes to Vito's mix we might want to include:

• Never Give Up by Barbara Streisand (another Brooklyn kid)
  
• Fight by The Bunburys
  
• I Can Help by Billy Swan
  
• It Takes Two by Marvin Gaye
  

No one mentioned a Helen mix, which itself would be ripe with options:

• Leave Me Alone by Donna Summer (was this supposed to be a dance mix?)
  
• On my Own by Patti Labelle
  
• Love Stinks by the J. Geils Band
  and of course
  
• All By Myself by Eric Carmen

John wins with "King of Pain." I somehow felt that I couldn't list another song by the Police or I would have posted Don't Stand So Close to Me."

"Unrolling the bracciole of life" is a nice touch, not that there was anything wrong with stirring the gravy or the cellar stinking of old wine.