Been there, done that. I know why Bill Murray doesn’t want to do Ghostbusters 3. He wants to make movies that are as entertaining as Ghostbusters, but that are fresh in their own way.

We have an arrangement worked out for the weekly coffee group. My son, Rick, goes first – it’s less than a mile away – and if any of the ladies have come, he telephones me and I hasten on down. If it’s only guys, I stay at home. This week one of the ladies came. She really admired my pin, and immediately burst out with a cry of recognition: “Dan Akroyd!”

One of the guys in my writing group identified right away my man-in-the-moon badge pin -- no fooling him. And he said, that of all the people he would most want to have lunch with, Bill Murray would be tops on the list. I told my friend that when (if) I ever have lunch with Bill Murray, I'll take him along.

No one in my workshop group yesterday knows Bill Murray, but they all admired my pin and wouldn't buy my explanation that it was the man-in-the-moon. Someone muttered, "six degrees of . . . .," so I have great hopes

Wish I could find an Irish "dictionary." No, not Gaelic, but Irish. Like the English "dictionaries" we found in London.

The ones that explained that a brolly is an umbrella, and the bonnet of a vehicle is the hood. At first it seemed to us that the Londoners sure had a lot of "boots" to sell, until we found out that the boot is the trunk of the vehicle.

But Irish? What is miggie, debble or grush?

PINK SHORTS ?

When is the Harvard Crimson going to stop claiming in a headline that Bill Murray conducted the game band in a pair of pink shorts?

The garment may have been pink -- hard to tell -- but they sure weren's shorts.

(Maybe I wish they were ! )

Shopping for groceries at Aldi, where the conversation is always sparse. I thought my eyes and mouth only, man-in-the-moon button/badge looked appropriate for the spooky season. The very young clerk spoke to me with a personal comment: "I like your pin."

I was quite surprised; Aldi clerks are usually totally business.

"Do you know who this is?"

"Yep. Bill Murray."

Newly-found blog: Throw Your Laptop Down the Stairs. At blogspot.com. Don't bother going there, the title is the most interesting about the blog. Much more interesting is Son of an Irish Pig-Thief.

I’ve made button/badges for some of my friends – when I could find their picture of a suitable size on facebook, or on their websites. Today I took badges to the writers’ group. Most everyone was amazed, and asked, “Where did you get this?”

The pictures have to be the right size. I had found one for Bill Murray that really was too big, but I made a pin anyway, which shows mostly just the eyes and the mouth. I thought it looked rather like the man-in-the-moon, but everyone recognized it as Bill Murray. (None of them know him personally, though, and couldn’t arrange an introduction.)

I made a lot of campaign badges for a candidate, and then just for fun, I made some badges for myself. I printed the pictures of friends from their facebook page – it’s entertaining to hand a campaign badge to a friend, and watch their surprise when they realize that it is a picture of themselves. I made some badges of Bill Murray, too. Some of the pictures I found on the internet were so big that the badge shows not much more than Bill Murray’s eyes and mouth. Those will be appropriate to wear on the run-up to Hallowe’en.

I submitted a poem to Bill Murray the other day. I was wandering around on the internet, and stumbled onto a poetry contest page that asked if I wanted Bill Murray to read my poem, like he's a judge or something. I'm so bad about remembering where I was on the internet, and figured if I left the computer to go look for one of my really dazzling poems the danged screen would go black or disappear or something, so I just threw in my three-liner that I think is mildly amusing, although no one else seems to be much impressed. It did win an honorable mention once, but the whole thing depends on the judge actually recognizing three of the words, so whether or not I win depends on how extensive a vocabulary Bill Murray has. He hasn't called yet.

I'm doing research for my book, the working title of which is Son of an Irish Pig-Thief, with a lead role that only Bill Murray can play. (But the synopsis is FINISHED -- I'm ready to talk.)

According to Bill Murray, soccer is the “World’s Game.” That’s according to Bill Murray, the well-known Australian sports historian. The World’s Game: A History of Soccer. I’m reading a newer book, Soccernomics, by Simon Kuper, a journalist who lives in Paris, and Stefan Szymanski, an economist who lives in London.

Was Ground-Hog Day ever available as a book? I doubt it. Bill Murray’s character gets up every day and it’s still February 2. Must have driven the film crew out of their minds – which day page are we on?

Drat! I lost two paragraphs today. Scrawled them on any old piece of paper. Tore the house apart looking for them.

I've just started working on the manuscript for Son of an Irish Pig-Thief, but the synopsis is finished -- I'm ready to talk.

I saw Bill Murray today -- not in person, but conducting a college band after a football game. Someday I'll meet him in person. Or at least talk to him on the telephone, to tell him about my work in progress, Son of an Irish Pig-Thief.

Son of an Irish Pig-Thief, a working title, is a role that only Bill Murray can fill -- it will have him crawling inside his own skin.