It was cold last night. When I got home, the house was dark. A box of books had arrived from UPS that I needed to autograph and ship to the bookstore in my hometown.

When I went out to greet the dog, I noticed a pile of firewood on the deck. "What a nice night to build a fire, sit at the table in front of it, sign books, then do some of my computer work on the laptop," I thought. So, I built a fire, hauled the books into the kitchen and opened up the laptop. Except for the fact I wasn't drinking coffee and don't look like a TV model, it was a scenario worthy of a TV commercial.

Except:  It took all of five minutes to sign the books, even with me trying to be careful and sign my name legibly. The laptop power cord wouldn't reach any outlets and within 10 minutes, the 6 hour, fully-charged battery was drained and the screen was telling me to save my work or else.  Then the wife came home. "What's that I smell?"  "Oh, you built a fire. Did you open the flue?" Of course I opened the flue--after the kitchen started filling with smoke.  Did I mention our fireplace is in the kitchen, not in a wood-paneled great room like in a real TV commercial?  She was tired and didn't feel well, so went up to bed.

I decided to gaze into the fire and contemplate. Within two, maybe three minutes, all of the contemplating I could think of while sitting in a hard wooden chair at the kitchen table was done.

You can't manufacture those heart-warming scenes represented by TV commercials. But, on rare occasions they happen. Last night was not one of those occasions.