Extolling the virtues of Amazon.com.

For those of you waiting breathlessly for the outcome of my first do-it-yourself diabetes medication injection, the results are in — IT WAS NO BIG DEAL WHATSOEVER. Even though the needle was at least three times longer than the picture in the manual, it’s still extremely teeny, puncturing myself turned out to be a very simple procedure and I honestly didn’t feel a thing.

I can’t wait to do this again TOMORROW. (Okay, maybe not.)

To celebrate, I ordered a really nice insulated travel case for diabetics from Amazon.com that holds all of my supplies and comes with a gel pack to keep everything cold. I love all these zipper compartments and pockets. Some even have VELCRO!

I know I say this a lot, but there’s practically NOTHING you can’t buy on Amazon — from suppositories to Fred Astaire movies to gefilte fish, I am constantly amazed.

Believe it or not, weather nerds, Dallas fell one day short of breaking its long-standing record for consecutive days (43) with triple-digit heat. Yesterday’s high was a frosty 88° due to heavy cloud cover. The air outside actually felt cool after so many weeks at 105° and above, and late in the afternoon there were even a few — hallelujah! — THUNDERSTORMS in the area. None of them actually got very close to Mesquite, but it probably would’ve been worth a half-hour drive to see it raining in Denton.

And finally, the Howdygram would like to extend birthday wishes to former Cuban dictator and hard-line Communist funnyman Fidel Castro, who turns 85 on Saturday. Castro is best-known for overthrowing Fulgencio Batista’s government in 1959, after which he installed himself as Cuba’s Cigar King and initiated a decades-long love affair with the Soviet Union. Castro continues to wear ugly outfits and bad hats since retiring for health reasons in 2008.

I’m going to spend the afternoon watching Tiger Woods self-destruct at the PGA Championship in Atlanta. Yesterday he apparently shot his worst opening round EVER and spent most of the day whacking his ball out of bunkers, ponds and knee-high weeds. This is certainly golf at its best. Thank you for reading this.