The victory speech by Sen. Obama was inspiring. It will be nice having a president who doesn't treat the English language as a contact sport.

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I love family traditions. After I mentioned the passing of friend and classmate Mary Jo Mader, her sister, Marilyn, wrote me a very kind note including one of their family's traditions: "The 'urban' legend was that you wrote her name on the bottom of your shoe in second grade.¬ We then teased each other about our boyfriends and girlfriends.¬ That it never was true love unless they wrote our name on the bottom of their shoe."

Family traditions. I love 'em.

The writing on the shoe does follow a pattern of behavior on my part. During our wedding pre-cana meetings, I once wrote a two-word note on the bottom of my shoe to the fellow sitting next to me. The second word of the note was "you." I was only 20 years old; I'm much more mature now.

The note was on my white dress shoes (we really did wear white shoes back then). The next time I wore those shoes was to our wedding about a month later. I thought about the writing on the shoe's bottom as we were kneeling in front of church during communion time. Our friends and relatives were filing past us.

Folks probably were thinking this groom was really nervous. And I was. But for different reasons than they thought. There is really no good way to check the bottom of one's shoes while kneeling in front of church.

All's well that end's well. The writing was quite small. And I think that incident ended that particular pattern of behavior.

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Senator carPATbagger Roberts was taken to task by an op-ed piece in the Hutchinson News. It seems that Roberts bought some radio time to portray former Kansas Congressman Jim Slattery as "a 'Gucci loafers and all' lobbyist who is out of touch with voters." Slattery is Roberts' most-likely opponent in the general election for U.S. Senate.

The article points out that Slattery's response was to remind voters that Roberts had accepted more than $4 million dollars from those very lobbyists he seems to disdain so much.

I've always said the best thing about Roberts being elected senator was that he only returns to Kansas every six years, instead of every two years when he was a congressman.

Stay tuned. This has all the makings of a great race.

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In a recent conversation, Star Printing's Kim Billinger said he could solve the gas crisis now, just as he had before in the 1980s.

Needless to say, I was all ears.

He explained that during the last oil boom "when everyone was making money," he decided to invest in an oil well. The well didn't hit and the market dropped out of sight.

So. What's taking you so long, Kim? The entire nation awaits.

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Pat Lowry's column on Sunday took me down memory lane with the mention of The Alpine Room. If those walls could talk ... Let's just say there are a lot of people out there really happy they can't.

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Next time you are looking for a road trip destination, I offer O'Brien's Pit Stop in Norton as a choice. I passed by Attitudes, despite the nearly full parking lot on a Thursday night and the great name; it appeared a little more upscale than what I was looking for on this trip.

The Pit Stop was it. A step back into time. A cigarette machine that took only quarters. Some quick math and I figured a person who wants to purchase cigarettes here would be needing 18 quarters. The pool table was in use the entire time.

The people were friendly. The sixteen ounce beers were two bucks and the hamburgers were great. Together, we chomped down two hamburgers, two beers and an order of fries for $13.

A good friend from Norton said that in the old days you would call The Pit Stop a "beer joint." I responded the place defines beer joint.

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If you take nothing else from this column, remember this: If you are going to write something on the bottom of your shoe, make it the name of the one you love.