It's 8:15 p.m. Dec. 31, 2009. I have just been beaten in Scrabble -- again -- by my mother, who does the Sudoku puzzle every day and has a mind like a steel trap. This I know is true. She is smarter than anyone else I know, maybe even smarter than my dad. He couldn't -- or maybe wouldn't -- balance the checkbook, but could dissect a cat with his eyes blindfolded.
