Lots of death recently.

One was my self-confidence as I batted 1 for 2 on the midterms this week with one take-home left. The last one was a disaster. Let's hope the word curve figures prominently.

Then it was discovered this morning that Mr. Rogers is dead at the age of 74 from cancer. As a kid, I never did catch Sesame Street too often because I was more of a Mr. Rogers fan. Farewell to him.

Emmitt Smith had his ties with the Dallas Cowboys killed when they cut him. He is a great, if not the greatest, running back in football and still has some good years left in him. He'll get on another team real quickly.

Pioneer 10 has sent its last signal back to Earth. It was launched in 1972 and was the first satellite to leave the solar system. Being 12 billion kilometers away, NASA chose not to track it anymore.

Sarah Michelle Gellar is leaving her role in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, which pretty much kills the show's prospects for renewal next season. This comes after Eliza Dushku, heir apparent if Gellar left, got her own drama on FOX.

Not death, but certainly different. David Letterman had to use guest hosts when his eyes puffed up so much, he could barely open them. He was suffering from a case of the shingles. Last night's show featuring Bruce Willis was nothing to win awards with but it was certainly decent considering they only had a few hours prep time.

Ever since the death of Burger King in Berkeley and the rise of Curry-in-Hurry (you will not believe the number of people searching this site for info on the place), change is continuing on Shattuck. The office that used to house former Mayor Shirley Dean's donkey is now home to a new EB Games store. Why the electronics boutique store is opening this one when they just opened another one on Telegraph is beyond me.

And the carousel of failed Chinese restaurants next to the UA theatre is coming to a halt. They're actually opening a Pho Hoa in its place. Pho Hoa has its own little niche in my life. I used to go there all the time as a kid in Lion Plaza until it went all commercial and Americanized and charged more than $5 a bowl. Though that was like 5 years ago, so $5 might be reasonable these days. And my parents' friend owns the one in Milpitas Square. While I go to the trio of pho places near the Target on Capitol when I'm at home, there's a noticeable lack of them in Berkeley. In fact, I can only think of one, the pho house. So there might actually be a market for them here.