Wow, the color! I especially love those fiery Maples this time of year and the breathtaking show nature puts on for its last gasp before we settle in for those cozy long winter naps.

While driving around your neighborhood, I’m sure you have neighbors who diligently rake their leaves on a sunny weekend day, open the windows, and engage in a little fall home detailing. They also do the same thing for their prized (or not so prized) automobiles.

I LOVE football, especially the NFL (and that catchy Monday Night Football theme song). I especially love my hometown team, The Washington Redskins - yes, I know it hasn’t been a good year for them, but that’s a blog for an entirely different site.

But, win or lose, they are my team and they do have three Super Bowl rings. Not as many as the Steelers, Patriots or Cowboys, but if you have even one Super Bowl ring, you did all the right things to get there. You know what it takes to be the best and how attention to detail yields results you can be proud of.

We go back, Linda and me. In fact, we used to work together when I lived in Los Angeles some years ago. As sometimes happens when you are fortunate enough to make a life-long friend (I consider her my kid sister) at work, living across the country doesn’t change that friendship.

The political bug has bitten me, so I’m stepping on my soap box to stump for the AP Best Practice Doctrine. Hey, wait a minute……is there really such a thing? Sure there is. Well, why not, as it seems there all sorts of doctrines floating around these days according to CNBC, FOX News & CBS’s Katie Couric; like the McCain Doctrine, the Obama Doctrine, Church Doctrines, Strange Doctrines, Pocket Doctrines, if you’re short on time, et.al., so it’s high time AP has a Best Practice Doctrine, too.

Ah, I just love flowers and foliage this time of year. Every variety: roses and dogwoods and azaleas and sunflowers and, well, you get the idea. It's really great when previous years' bulbs and shrubs spread, creating more of the same beautiful blooms.

While getting rid of paper seems to be the mantra of the 21st Century for those in AP and accounting departments around the globe, “going green” and saving a few trees while we’re at it, is not only a worthy trend and good for the environment (a sheepish nod to Hollywood’s green brigade) it’s good for your department’s bottom line!