My long-distance phone service has gone down, for no reason I can figure. When I try to call out, I get the message "We're sorry, the carrier you have chosen cannot complete this call at this time." When folks from out of the local area code try to call me, they hear the phone ringing, but it doesn't ring through here. And obviously, they never get to my answering machine.

I called MCI to try to find out what the problem was. One of the messages: "Good news! You can now use MCI as your local phone service!" Harumph. Not bloody likely, thanks very much.

So I've mentioned Jude and Chad are moving to Boston, which depresses me mightily. Alas. My pain was somewhat assuaged when they invited me and a few others over to pillage their CD collection, as they've burned all their CDs onto their computers and no longer need the puny physical manifestations of music. So I got to pillage. Yippee! Now, of course, I need more CD storage space....Jude was taking it rather personally when we weren't snapping up some of his favorites. You were right, Jude, the live Natalie Merchant CD is pretty kick-ass, and the version of Ophelia is stunning. Thank you for convincing me to take it.

For those who know me, no, they weren't getting rid of books, so I didn't end up with more of them. Fear not. (Although if you do have books you're pitching, Jude and Chad, let me take a crack at them, ok?)