BACK TO WORK, BACK TO SCHOOL

I returned to work today after a two-week vacation. First time in two weeks that I wore long pants. Luckily it was a pretty easy day.

But tomorrow should be even stranger. I'm going back to school -- and even to my old alma mater, The University of New Mexico.

I'm already feeling like Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School. But instead of "Hot Lips" Houlihan, my professor will be former U.S. Sen. Fred R. Harris, a fellow Okie in exile.

I'm taking Harris' American Politics class. For years I nagged my daughter to take this. Only recently I realized that my real motivation was that I wanted to take it myself.

But the cool thing is that my daughter is going to take the class with me. She'll probably embarass me and get a better grade. But I'll probably be the only student with a direct memory of Harris' jingle when he ran for Senate back in the '60s:

The man from Oklahoma
Is a man that you can trust
A vote for Fred R. Harris
Is a vote of confidence ...