I’m back from North Carolina, after a trip to Pennsylvania for my grandmother’s interment.

There are many things to say about this, but right now I'm physically and emotionally exhausted, and also preoccupied by the phrase "soft meat of the neck". I have A -- self-defense instructor and former hand double for Gillian Anderson on the X Files -- to thank for this, and for an excellent impromptu demonstration on how to make the most of the soft meat of an attacker's neck.

She gave me a coupon for three free lessons.