Why am I still here? Because I'm not quite there. Yet.

Being there is why I'm here?

No offense against the State Farm agent, but as we watched the float roll past on Saturday, there was immediate collective recall of Dave Thrasher's slogan -- you know, the one that would have served New Albany's utterly squandered bicentennial so much more cleverly than "By the River's Edge."

No, not "At Sanity's Edge." That one was mine.

It this one: "We're all here because we're not all there."

My, my. What might have been -- if only the white bread and school paste brigade hadn't gotten hold of it. Year Zero ends in less than three months. Finally: relief.