100-year-old gets Baylor degree...and other news

They say he made an A in "Life 101." So he gets his degree after dropping out in 1929.

And soon enough he'll be enrolled for grad school...in "Afterlife 101."

Happy holidays, everyone! Between theater reviewing, TV reviewing and talking my brother into getting me cute boots for Christmas (thanks, bro!), I've been winding up my first grueling month of fitness bootcamp. My bod feels like it's been run through a meat-grinder. Stuff hurts where I didn't know I had stuff...or where my thin stuff is buried under layers of fat stuff.

Progress is slow but certain. After three weeks of thrice-weekly workouts, I now can do 50 push-ups, 50 arm-dips, more walking lunges than I thought possible for a broad my age and when we do the hop-skip-jump thing, I no longer feel like I'm going to throw up. Get this, on Saturday I joined the "stairclimbing club" at the campus stadium. Want a good time? Try bear-crawling up the stadium seats and then running back down. Ten times.

Why have I suddenly gone jockette? Why wasn't I doing this at 30? I think it's that Baby Boomers do not go into our dotage easily. We're fighting it every bruised and battered step of the way. I'm the oldest, chubbiest gal in the workout group, but dang it, I'm not quitting.

If you're interested in the "buttcamp," here's a link. It's women-only but because it's done outdoors, that means you're exercising in the dark until at least March. No one can see you sweat. If you join up, mention that you heard about it from moi.

Also, remember your charities this time of year, chilluns. And pick up a little prezzie for the pets. I think they know when they're left out.

This is my first Christmas in years without the beloved Kubby the Wonder Dog. I like to think that somewhere up in Pooch Heaven, she's crunching fortune cookies and barking at squirrels.

Just like I'm doing down here.