did you know that the dog days of summer have nothing to do with heat per se but a dog-shaped constellation people noticed bizillions of years ago that occurred in the night sky whenever it was really hot.

this is the kind of useless information you start bouncing around when it"s 102 outside and you've lost power, i.e. no air conditioning and lukewarm diet cokes.

at first the power outage was no big deal. and then it just got really hot. i tried napping it away, but i couldn't get comfortable. and then i went swimming but after 10 or so minutes i was bored with being in the pool. so, i finally just gave into the hot and stickiness, pulled out a gossip magazine, opened a bag of trail mix and just leaned into it. three quarters of the way into my bag of nuts and white chocolate chips, i heard a beep and then looked up at the microwave to see its lights flashing. we were back in business.

it always works out that way: the minute you decide something is not a problem, it isn't. in spin class my teacher always reminds us that when you fight a wave it will smack you down every time. turns out that the whole whatever thing is actually a really healthy way to live.

yeah, right. whatever.