I have a very cool event to tell you all about, but first I have something a little more important.

I have been bombing around town over the long weekend and I noticed something. I have seen this before but it has only started to bother me recently. The problem? People that back into parking spots. I am not talking about one of those moments where you pull through one spot into the spot in front. I am talking about backing the butt of your car against a wall.

Why in the heck (I toned it down) do you people feel like you have to back into a spot as opposed to pulling in forward like the rest of humanity? What makes you so important that you have to stop all the traffic in the parking structure while you pull past the spot, then back into it?

Are you all thieves? Maybe you all are get-away drivers for a high-tech crew of thieves and you need to practice your pulling out technique so you can get out of parking spots quickly.

Maybe you are a little uncomfortable with your backing skills and don't want to have to back the car out of parking spots.

Perhaps you don't know how long the front of your car is but you have perfect knowledge of how long the back of your car is, therefore you are more comfortable backing your car in than pulling in forwards.

Or maybe, just maybe, you are all international spies and never sit in a room without your back to a wall so people can't sneak up on you. Why would you want to leave your car in a space where other cars could sneak up on it.

I can't imagine you all belong to a massive group of thieves that are practicing your fast pull aways. Other wise you wouldn't drive thousand dollar cars with five thousand dollar wheels and tires.

If you weren't comfortable with your backing skills, why would you be backing in in the first place?

I know for a fact that most of you have no clue how big your car is because I have watched you plow into the cars on either side of you when you try to parallel park. I have seen the bumpers on cars in the district, no one there knows how long the back of their car is.

The only thing I can think of to explain it all away, other than you are all freaks that are so enamored with the sight of your hood that you have to see it at all times, all of your cars are members of an international spy ring and have brainwashed you into pulling them in backwards so no other cars can sneak up on them while they are parked.

On to different things, more important, less important, you be the judge.

On Thursday, September 13th Anita Thompson will be in our Lansburgh location reading from her new book The Gonzo Way: A Celebration of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. Anita is Hunter's wife and explores the legacy of her late husband as a writer and as a citizen, through her own words and through interviews with those who knew him best including Johnny Depp, Ed Bradley, Doug Brinkley, Jack Nicholson, Bill Murray, Senator George McGovern, and others.

I thought I would throw my favorite Hunter story into the mix just for fun. Now this isn't my story, I got it from Mark Bailey and Ed Hemingway's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers:

"Thompson began his day with a lumberjack breakfast, never to be served before noon. Calling it his "psychic anchor," he described the meal; "four Bloody Marys. two grapefruits, a pot of coffee, Rangoon crepes, a half-pound of either sausage, bacon of corned beef hash with diced chiles, a Spanish omelette or eggs Benedict, a quart of milk, chopped lemon for random seasoning, something like a slice of key lime pie, two margaritas and six lines of the best cocaine."

One last Hunter story. I hear he used to take a large glass and fill it with ice, he would then fill the glass to the top with Chivas. He would then take this down to his gym and sip at it while he rode his stationary bike. A big glass of Chivas to work out with. Genius!

That makes perfect sense to me for some reason. I enjoy having a few drinks before I head to the gym. While I was in Alaska, I started in on the martinis around 11, got three in and headed out to the treadmill where I ran 4 miles then did a shoulder workout. I jumped back into the martinis after a shower. I think if I had a treadmill in my house I might try the drinking and running, but until then I will have to settle for a couple drinks before and a couple drinks after. I am a lot of things, Hunter S. Thompson is not one of them, all I can do is emulate him as best I can.

You might be thinking that it is a little reckless to tell people that I enjoy a couple of cocktails prior to my gym routine. I can't really speak to that, so I am going to let Dr. Thompson speak for me.

Hunter is also quoted as saying, "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence. or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."

Come on out to Lansburgh down in the Penn Quarter on the 13th at 7 pm. See Anita and hear what she and others have to say about one of the greatest writers to have lived in our generation.