Sorry: that isn't a handful of headboards; just one (for a Queen bed, if you're listening to us, and a King bed, if you're listening to my mom--who as usual wants to make things more complicated). And there are actually two entertainment centers involved: a standard one for the living room that will hold a large flat-screen and readjust the viewing angle on same (we've got to get that flat-screen too) as well as one for the bedroom that might double as a small or narrow dresser, and will hold the ancient television that is . . . wait for it . . . VHS compatible! (It just needs a DVD player.)

Oh, and (4) figure out whether the internet connection should be through our phone lines, or through our cables, and get both those items installed before we move in—along with TiVo, which as I understand it will allow the Very Flaky person in the household to still watch Boston Legal; Law & Order: Disneyland; the Sunday political shows in which the token conservative receives a brutal verbal anal probe; and Saturday morning cartoons.

And I've got to get some drawers installed in the walk-in closet (the main one). Hooray. That is: hooray if we can afford it.

Maybe Katrina and the Waves can help you relax. If she caught her flight, that is.

And pull the carpeting before you move anything in. Not only lakes life easier, if the Hazmat team finds it in the dumpster you can still finger the previous owners.

Cable by far. Costs about the same (around here anyway) but is much faster than anything the phone company can pump out. Plus you can get phone via cable too, and most companies will give you some kind of break for a package deal (tv, phone and internet).

Katriina is HERE! Yippee! Thank you!

Must start with "Red Wine and Whiskey," and then listen to the entire thing, all the way through.

On Laundry

Nudity taboos are enacted not to establish a modicum of public decency, but as a way to maximize the need for laundry equipment and supplies. American paranoia about naked kids didn't appear until laundry became cheap.