Unpredictable. Unfocused. Just like life.

Today's New York Times Magazine has On the Homeland Front, questions for Michael Chertoff, head of the Department of Homeland Security. The magazine asks: With all that pressure, do you find it hard to sleep at night? Do you take Ambien?

Ambien isn't exactly the first cure for insomnia that comes to mind, but it is the product that has a one and a half page ad in the same paper starting on page 19. Coincidence? Maybe not given that Ambien has been in the news lately.

Mr. Chertoff suggests that if he did he would probably be 150 pounds heavier, given that Ambien has been linked to sleep eating.

The most interesting comment came later:

So what are you saying? That e-mail is bad because it can't be shredded?

I don't use e-mail. One reason is when you write an e-mail, you have to be mindful of the fact that nothing ever disappears. It can be deleted, but it is still in the system somewhere.

What's so bad about having an email trail? Unless of course you are trying to hide something.