After going to sleep just after 4 AM, I awoke this morning feeling elated, excited, and thoroughly relieved. I'm referring, of course, to the news that Britney Spears is getting divorced. Obviously, it is a tragedy for the Spears/Federline family and everything, but it is really wonderful news for anagrammicians. I have long worried that as her marriage progressed, Brit might take Kevin's name, which would have negated one of history's greatest anagrams: As is widely known, BRITNEY SPEARS anagrams perfectly to PRESBYTERIANS.

In other news: I would like to publicly say thanks to my brother Hank (who lives in Montana) for voting. It is possible that Hank and his wife Katherine literally cast the deciding votes in the race for the U.S. Senate. Such are the joys of living in a state where you, as a married couple, represent 1/14th of the electorate. (Hank, by the way, runs one of the best blogs on the whole Internet.)

I put on my Montana Griz t-shirt the moment election returns started coming in, because I thought it would be close, but I never thought it would be this close. (Virginia, too.) But things look pretty good at the moment for both Jim Webb (who will be the Senate's only good novelist) and Jon Tester (who will be the only seven-fingered senator). But I'm going to keep my Griz shirt on until the rest of the results come in from outlying Montana counties. All I can say is thank God for Hank and Katherine.