So internet connectivity resumed mysteriously at my house last night, which didn't bode well because it meant that I was going to spend time dicking around with such diversionary items as chatting with blondes in Romania and checking the scores even when my TV can tune ESPN in HD just fine.

I spent all night getting the house ready for a party, and even now it's still not ready. My life has been mired in such squalor since Carroll moved out, and it's not that I ever took her presence for granted, but rather I never knew how much cleaner I am when I know that someone else is around. So in that sense, gatherings like the kind I'm having tonight will be wholly unindicative of the way I normally live: reheating leftovers, wearing pajamas and staring at the screensaver channel.