Simon Wesp did the though I wonder why he didn't try the etching (maybe our suggestions didn't make it in time).

Scallops are delicious. Chick-fil-a is tasty. I like the flavor of smoked meat. A lot. Even tuna, which I thought would be disgusting with smoke flavor.

Sleeping on a good mattress in a temperature-controlled room is so very much worth it.

My laptop is beginning to disintegrate - largely mechanically (plastic case cracking, hinge wobbling and flopping around, screen cracking) but probably in other ways as well (I should probably check disk integrity, since things seem to randomly just crash more these days and the total wipe/reinstall last week didn't fix it). I wish I could describe the symptoms less vaguely, so I'll start logging the next time something breaks. I think it's mostly that I use my laptop constantly, lug it around, beat it up, toss it places - and once you pass the two-year mark, there's only so much a piece of hardware can take. (I'm actually impressed my Thinkpad lasted this long without any Major Fail. I had to get my Dell's parts swapped out every few months due to constant "Mel Has Too Much Energy" usage.)

It's still usable, but I'm just waiting for it to catastrophically fail - so I'm now looking for my next computer. Suggestions very welcome. I'm rather tempted by netbooks these days, because they don't cost quite so much when they disintegrate in two years - then again, small screen + constant travel = pain. Then again, they make palm-sized projectors now.

Friends who are willing to take the time to help me walk through my own insecurities (including role-playing practice, which is simultaneously educational and hilarious) are wonderful. Thank you, Andrew.