I went to several estate sales today (it's what I do on Saturdays, after all), but one was memorable. Some sales just jump out at you, and this one had evil genius/mad scientist written all over it.

Nearly 20 years ago, as I sat in a high school English class, the teacher told us all about the American Dream. And then she said there was one generation that wasn't going to experience that dream, and she pointed at us.

As grim as things look right now, I can look around myself and see people proving Mrs. Susan Collins wrong, and that makes me happy.

A couple of coworkers were talking about taxes, deficits and the national debt this week. One of them looked my direction and said, "I'll bet Dave can figure out how to pay off the national debt."

It's actually not as hard as it sounds.

This morning on one of the Sunday morning political shows (probably "Meet the Press"), I heard a statement that troubled me. I may be misquoting, but I heard the moderator ask how we can afford to have a vice president who believes in Creation in a time when the United States is lagging so far behind in fields like science and engineering.

I call irrelevance.

I've done some reading in recent days. First I read that GenXers aren't happy with Corporate America and the feeling is largely mutual. It appears I'm not the only one.

But I see an opportunity in this. We have a window to take this country back. And I have a plan.

My good friend the Meiers' neighbor (close enough, at a mile away) and I keep talking about this case. Hopefully you're not so sick of Megan Meier to indulge me, because this appears to be a case of a parent being an ally, right or wrong, rather than being a parent.

I can't stay away from this story, partly because I can relate to it, and partly because a good friend's daughter goes to the same school Megan Meier did.

The story is getting a lot more attention now. And a good number of people believe they have the name and address of the unidentified hoaxers, based on clues in the article.

So now what?

There's an episode of "Everybody Hates Chris" where a thug tries to get Chris to start stealing gold chains for him. Toward the end, Chris' dad finds out, confronts him, and says that if he goes near Chris again, "You won't go to jail. I will." Chris' dad then goes on to tell the thug exactly what he'll do to him. And that was the end of it.

That's how parents handled things in the '80s. My dad did something similar when I was in 7th grade.

I guess today, some people set up fake Myspace profiles. Don't read the story (or what follows here) if you're easily upset.

Tomorrow is Labor Day. If you're like me, that means you don't have to work.

If you need a reminder of what you wouldn't say you've been missing, Bob, then you need to watch Office Space.

I bought an Erector set today. I'm not talking the stuff in the stores now. I'm talking a real Erector set, an honest-to-goodness Erector #7 1/2 manufactured in New Haven, Connecticut by A.C. Gilbert. The booklet in the set was dated 1951.