All the news that fits ... in my backpack!

Thirty years in this stupid business and I've never been accused of stealing a story. Today I stole dozens of them.

Not on purpose, but still.

After my doctor's appointment at the UW Medical Center I drove up to University Village, the nearby kinda coolio shopping center, to get a cup of coffee and look around at the Apple store. In line at the Starbucks, waiting for my tall drip and cinnamon swirl coffee cake, I picked up a New York Times and began to skim the headlines. When I got to the register I paid for my food but forgot to mention the paper.

It didn't occur to me until I was settled in at a table and reading a really lame review of "Halo 3" in the Circuits section. By then, though, the line was really long and I started rationalizing.

What about all those times the paperdude forgot to deliver my Times and I called but they still didn't come across? We could count this against my credit. But wait, this wouldn't cost the NYT company, it would cost Starbucks. Oh well, what about all those times they've rounded up by a penny or two when Mich and I or Michelle and I bought coffee together? They owe me too! And besides, I've only spent about 12 kajillion dollars in these places over the years; they could comp me one paper.

And then I thought of last week's "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Sometimes you get something from the cleaners, and sometimes you lose your vintage Joe Pepitone jersey, Yankees No. 25, and build a whole show around it. Maybe this is kinda like that. Today I received.

Even so I was still feeling guilty about all this tonight when I ran out to buy a pound of French -- we'd be out in the morning otherwise. I almost offered the Morgan Junction Starbucks guy a buck and quarter for the paper I ripped off from the U Village Starbucks, but then I thought, screw it.

Thoughts, dear readers? Am I a bad person?