Bert is cool. And funny.

Tim wouldn't be Tim if he didn't question convention incisively and trenchantly.

I'm proud to say I did just that during last week's fact-finding mission in the south central U.S.

I spent New Year's at a hotel room in Fort Smith, Arkansas, carrying out my latest act of hilarity.

A year earlier, I drew mustaches and beards on photos of Dr. Laura and Bill O'Reilly that graced the cover of a phone book in a Virginia motel room. This year, I did something very similar.

I took a piece of paper from a La Quinta Inn pad and drew a picture of Bert from 'Sesame Street' saying, "POOING IS COOL." Then I placed the paper between the pages of the Gideon Bible:


(http://i45.tinypic.com/hvnzt2.jpg)

Hopefully that shows up on your screen. Bert should be easier to see on your monitor than on mine, because mine is so old and dim.

What's really funny is that this wasn't even a La Quinta Inn! So the motel is going to have its feelings hurt that someone placed a paper from a pad provided by one of its competitors.

I'm going to use a word I haven't used in years: How fi is that?