Just found a note this morning from my downstairs neighbor that she's called our landlady about the heat. Thank goodness. I'd have called myself but I don't think my landlady likes me very much. I haven't spoken to her in over a year. We don't really have any reason to speak to each other, although I could probably call to get my toilet fixed, but it's been so long now that I can live another eight months. (It's not all the way broken, for goodness sakes. I just have to flush it from within the tank rather than using the lever.)

Anyway, it's been hovering around 40 degrees overnight the past week, and we have no heat. Needless to say, it's frightfully cold when I wake up, so much so that I've started sleeping in sweats, which is actually kind of handy because when I get up to walk with Susannah all I do is put on a bra and I'm out the door.

That's probably more than you wanted to know. Anyway, since it's also cold at night when I'm working, I've taken to warming my hands around this oil lamp I got at K-Mart. I feel so Dickensian.

Speaking of Dickensian (oh, admit it, you've always wanted to find a way to use that word), I feel that this new Sting album is quite Dickensian. It sounds much better when it's dark outside, and if it's raining, then it's perfect. It just makes you want to huddle around a woodburning fireplace, although there's definitely some very very minor hints of modern techno, and the silly country/gospel song. 1 to 5, I'd give it a 4+.

You know how in "The Truth About Cats and Dogs," they talk about how someone at first glance can be devastatingly attractive, but once you get to know their personality, they become ugly?

There's a guy in my class like that. He's gorgeous, all dark hair and blue eyes and scruffy-but-in-a-good-way goatee, but he's an ass. He sits next to me in one of my classes and never says a word, not even a "hey" when he sits down. I'm just annoyed with him generally because he and the girl on the other side of him spend the entire class writing notes back and forth to each other on blank pieces of paper. It's distracting. Anyway, he's simply not attractive any more.

Speaking of that movie, remember in the beginning when Abby's going into work and the guy holds the door open for the beautiful woman in front of her but not for her? That happens to me all the time.

I got an e-mail today from a girl that worked for me on the production staff at KJHK, KU's radio station. It was so sweet. I totally didn't recognize her name in my in-box, but once I read the e-mail and she described herself, I remembered her.

It's just amazing what this medium can do. She found me through Planet Alumni, which is a great site. You can register for your high school and your college, and even subdivisions like dorms or majors. Someone at my Kansas City high school e-mailed me about it, so I signed up. It's of course completely free, and once a week they send you updates and links from your groups, so if you see a name you recognize, you can click and go read about them.

Go check it out, and let me know about the person you found who worked on your production staff seven years ago.