...For The Ride Home: A funny writer says funny things, Mike weighs in on LeBron and Soul Week kicks off!

Good news! Week 17 is going to be our second themed week! Two exclamation points means business. For those of you who may remember, we first did such a thing here at The Ride back in April, when the showcased a video featuring the lovely Norah Jones each day. This time, and because no, I will not share the gamillions of stories I came by during my week away from you, the always-loved reader, we offer Soul Week, a week dedicated to soul music. Each day's Ride will contain a video that features various artists rooted in what everyone who knows me knows is my favorite kind of music: Soul music. This begins to today with (by my calculations) the fifth greatest song to ever be written and recorded in all of music (rock, pop, country, hip-hop, polka, etc.), Johnnie Taylor's "Who's Makin' Love." If only more videos of these artists existed, I would post live versions of these songs much like we did with Ms. Jones. But alas, such things are few and far between. Soooooo, with that behind us, how are you? How have you been? Did you miss me? Yeah, I didn't quite think you did. My friends always tell me how I should take vacations and how much I deserve/need them, but I don't think I've ever invested in that notion until now. It was so nice to press the reset button, make 5,000 memories, remove myself from the entire world (and this, I learned, also provided me with the time I most enjoyed not having a cellular phone), and stumble upon some of those rare slices of life you can only be so lucky to encounter every now and then. Goodness. Listen to me. I sound like a Christmas card. In any case, it's good to be back, and as July continues to fly by on this muggy Monday, take some time to check out a few links, enjoy the first installment of Soul Week and watch the season premiere of "Mad Men" again. Be nice.

Yes, sir. Michael Jordan says LeBron is stupid for playing in Miami with the overrated Chris Bosh, the bound-to-be-underutilized Dwayne Wade and Mr. James’ personal butler, Big Z. Have to love Mike. (New York Post)

Twenty questions with Gene Weingarten. If you care at all about newspapers or feature/humor writing in general, you really ought to check this out. Funny: “Q: You feel best in Armani or Levis or? A: Natalie Portman.” (Popmatters)

Geeky, but I have to offer it up. A list of winners for this year’s Alt Weekly awards. (Alt Weeklies)

Wasn’t able to get back in time last night to check out the first episode of this season so no spoilers please. That said, this guy talks about revealing too much when writing about the best show AMC will ever see. (Variety)

There was only one thing news story that leaked into my peripheral while I was gone and it was completely by accident. Here’s a discussion concerning the idea of George Steinbrenner being in baseball’s Hall of Fame. Think what you want about him, but I came across a priceless quote he once offered: “If you do something nice for someone, and more than two individuals know about it, then it wasn’t worth it.” (The Big Lead)

Tiger’s former mistress is going to be on the next installment of “Celebrity Rehab.” So, what’s the definition of celebrity again? (ABC News)

Glenn Beck is going blind. This one’s too easy. (Kansas City.com)

Comic Con begins this week. I only know what Comic Con is because of “Entourage.” Victory! (Washington Post)

Because I was gone and couldn’t link it then. Jason Whitlock’s take on LeBenedict. Dude got booed at the ESPYs? (Fox Sports)