What we are seeing here may be a crucial point in the history of the Doonsebury comic strip. Toggle is realizing the tremendous musical potential of his sons, which may take them far beyond what he can achieve in his own lifetime.

Wait. Starbucks offers all those benefits? To part timers? I'm in! (Please ignore the bachelor's in math ed.)

I wonder if Starbucks' health insurance will cover an employee wounded by a gun-totin' customer.

I wonder if I am the only one taking note of the deafening silence from the other grandmother -- Mrs. DeLuca.

Yeehaw! Just when I was beginning to suspect GBT of "product placement" praise for Starbucks one day, we get the critique the next. I'll try asking for "a Rio Grande with a dusting of manure" next time I go. As I don't carry heat, open or closed, maybe they'll substitute chocolate shavings for the manure?

Reading last Sunday's strip, I think Garry must have known my late father -- the guy who felled a concrete silo with a rifle. He died with all his toes though.

Seeing Toggle's reaction to his twins' two-point harmonic wailing took me back to the moment when I realized my own daughter really got me: the day she asked to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail, then laughed at all the right moments when we did. You're going to be a great dad, Toggle!

With Alex, Toggle, and the twins we are seeing the transition from one generation to the next. I will miss some of the "old" characters of my generation -- although I'm sure some will still put in appearances -- but it is good to know that GBT has plans to continue for the forseeable future.

Oh, my. Alex is paying Mia under the table, in cash? For a full-time nanny who should be earning close to $30,000 a year, that's illegal.

I got so used to the re-runs that now I find myself trying to remember what comes next... Always glad to read Doonesbury, old or new.

I'm looking forward to seeing Toggle help raise his boys. Diaper escapades, teaching the boys to throw horns, death metal lullabies, etc. Fathers must father, right?

I think that Alex and Mia need to start up their own biotech start-up. They would crush.

Alex seems to have an entirely reactive mind that zooms breathlessly from one potential alarm, one desperate thought, to another. As implied by so many TV characters like the girls in Lena Dunham's "Girls," it might seem generational, but now we have been presented here with the nanny who seems utterly calm and collected. Any wonder the twins can chill in her presence and then rage when Mom gets home? Well observed, GBT.

I recently found myself reading the news of legislative antics (in this case, in the U.S. Senate) with less incomprehension and less outrage than usual. Watching seven episodes of Alpha House in two days is what helped me to better understand and predict legislators' behavior.

As the father of two, I suspect that infants learn to customize their cries through trial and success. They land on the set of tones that work with Dad and especially Momma. The "custom" aspect of this idea springs from hearing other youngsters -- their tones largely don't work on me. Especially with the not-quite-talking, I find their yells and cries to be entertaining, not so much alarming or distressing.

Wow, twins in harmony -- look out, world! But I was struck once again by the enduring truths in Doonesbury: today's Flashback from 20 years ago today depicts a plight we may soon re-visit as a nation...

I love Monday's strip -- my sons are now 34 and 26, but it took me right back to 1980. I'd arrive home, and the minute I entered the house, he would wake and howl, even if I did not utter a word. It was enough to make me believe in telepathy!

Get ready for the pain and pride that comes with raising twins, Alex. As a twin, I know completely.

Wow, Benjy Doonesbury's back! It seems like it's been decades. And I can't even remember when he stopped being "Dr. Whoopee" !

Really, shopping for trail mix at Bagram PX? Nice try Red Rascal, but the real Bagram PX has nothing. No soap. No toothpaste. No toothbrush. No shaving cream. No deodorant. Trail mix with or without raisins? Nope. Dryer sheets -- sure, an endless supply, but no access to dryers. Bagram PX is the most barren, poorly stocked PX in all the Stan.