What a bombshell.

Mr. Stiles's employer asked him to return to Houston after the legislative session ended. Neither of us thought that was very cool, especially considering it wouldn't have been much skin off their hides to let him stay in the paper's Austin bureau.

After dating for nearly four years separated by long car drives or thousand mile flights, we finally got a chance in January to share the same zip code. Then, Stiles' bosses wanted him back.

He went back today, as requested. But in a twist, he resigned. His four years at The Chronicle have allowed him to shine as a reporter, break stories that made people's lives better, and expose issues that allowed readers to better know their community. It's the mark of the man I love. But because we love each other, it's way past time for us to live our lives without the separation of time and distance.

After his final two weeks is over, we will begin an exciting journey together as journalists. But as they teach you in television, you gotta save some of the story for next time.

Just returned from a weekend jaunt to Philadelphia, home of the most historic room in the most historic square mile in America. (That's what our tour guide at Independence Hall told us, anyway.)

Six years after graduating from college, I went to visit my senior year roommate, Fiscus. We were joined by my matchmaker and BFF Sudeep, who has been generally disapproving of my ways since the day I met him.

We ate and drank our way around Philly, winding up at a place called Jim's for cheesesteaks. (My other New England friends sent suggestions ranging from Pat's to some random place in New Jersey, so next time we'll hit up a different locale.)

I really wanted to try a duck salad at a place called Standard Tap, but was talked out of it by, of course, my disapproving friend mentioned above.

Drinking may be my only disappointment - the alcoholic drinks lacked enough of that familiar taste of... alcohol. In the randomly sampled bars we tried, anyway. I suspect there is a reason Austin is consistently-ranked as the hardest drinking city in America... the bartenders generous pourers.

Since Stiles did not come, I was charged with finding him a Benjamin Franklin bobblehead doll. I failed. Sorry. Freedom isn't free. (I have no idea what that means, it just sounds nice.)

The mayor of San Angelo, Texas resigned abruptly, not "to spend more time with family", as they often say, but "to spend more time with his lover in Mexico".

SAN ANGELO, Texas — The mayor of a West Texas city abruptly resigned Wednesday, picking love over his love of office.

J.W. Lown told the San Angelo Standard-Times in a telephone interview from Mexico that he was involved in a relationship with someone who does not have legal status in the United States.

"I don't want to give his name," Lown, 32, told the newspaper.

He said the man attended Angelo State University and their relationship started earlier this year.

Lown said he didn't want to take the oath of office knowing he was "aiding and assisting" someone who is not a U.S. citizen.

"We had to do the right thing and come to Mexico and wait in line for a visa," Lown said.

There's a line in the first Harry Potter book that I love, something about Ron, Harry and Hermione's first fight against a monster together. I can't find my copy of the book, but it said something like "there's nothing like fighting a snaggle-toothed monster to make you friends for life."

I inadvertently discovered a parallel. There's nothing like... embarking on a late-morning run only for the sky to turn and start pouring, rejecting a friend's offer to drive you to a dry spot to instead continue running through what becomes a drenching sideways rain for miles and miles, jumping and darting around street puddles, accelerating despite an added weight from all the water sloshing in your shoes, becoming so wet you can't get any wetter, making it four miles of a five mile misery run only to have a speeding bus splash you with a wave of water fast and heavy enough to temporarily blind you, nearly getting hit by a car and finally, finally making it to dryness... to make you friends for life.

"This must be what waterboarding feels like," said my friend Reeve. He, Brandi and I will at least have this bonding experience to remember forever. And it's instructional. It's the last time I'll ever try to outrun a storm system.

How useful for me to contract the hybrid/swine flu this week! It allows me to give a special "insider's perspective" of it all. (If you're going to get ill, get the "it" illness, right?)

I think I got the bug somewhere around the time I was stuck in a small room with Joe Biden. I followed him closely with a boom mic as he toured a domestic violence call center in Austin on Tuesday. He didn't take any questions. Two days later, I remembered why it's best not to let Biden answer questions.

As hysteria over the swine/hybrid flu reached into a new stratosphere, Biden, in his off-the-kuffness, accidentally told Americans to stop using mass transit.

When this all started Tuesday, I decided I'd beat it with a mojito and additional consumption of iceberg lettuce. Wrong. By Wednesday, my symptoms were exacerbated a migraine, only the third one of my life. Kept trying to work, writing about the killer flu while suffering from it at the same time.

Coworkers insisted I go home on Thursday since snot was getting all over the workstations and it sounded like my lungs might explode from my chest every time I coughed.

Of course, all my dreams of being a swine flu patient came crashing down this morning. The doctor said I have bronchitis.

I've recently discovered that all the people I can't stand have certain character traits in common. So I thought this through and narrowed it down to two main issues I have with people, in general.

1.) People who take themselves too seriously
2.) People who have an over-inflated sense of self

Combine the two traits into one person, and you basically have created my nemesis. I don't currently have one set nemesis (like I did back in 2003), but I have a couple of options.

Now, I know "taking yourself too seriously" and "over-inflated sense of self" can be fairly subjective. But people who don't suck can generally agree on the levels of those traits at which tools become intolerable.