As Alane was making the chicken pot pie (glazed ham!) in the kitchen last night, she was playing music I never heard before. This morning I saw a newly-opened CD case -- something from Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Seeing Robert Plant's leatherized mug in the cover photo made me think of one of my favorite tracks from his early solo career, a song called Big Log.

Which, of course, made me think of Don Vito.

Thus does the Mastandrea mind operate. Even at the office, as I talked shop with various members of my department, when the discussion turned to the turf battles that inevitably arise among the different pieces of any organization: some requested that I take a harder line when demanding certain outputs from other departments. Yes, we'll get what we need from them, I assured my group. But I will not take an overly-aggressive stand. "I don't push," I explained.

Were they assured by that? Or did they hear in their heads the piercing intonations of Robert Plant crooning "my love is the miles and the waiting."

Miles? Makes sense if you remember Cowboy Buddy's ad for the Swollen Tick Family Restaurant: "Shoot, you got five miles of intestines. That's plenty of room for all my inventory!"

Yes, this is how the mind works.