Taking a shower this morning was like swimming in a lake. The water smelled like mud and weeds and more than just a little goose poop – I cannot wait for the water to get back to normal. Last night I wanted nothing more than a hot bath for soaking goodness, but the water was not playing along. BAH.

I’m also experiencing ass marbles at the lack of ice available in the city. I really only drink things with ice in them, and it’s hard to come by except in our freezer where one or more bottles of water are sacrificed for the freezing daily. 7-11, however, claims all their water-based products are 100% safe thanks to their 5-time filtering. I took the plunge and got some ice today – if I die, be sure to check my blood for turbid herpes.

I’ve been having a very difficult time getting a Christmas wish list out of Ed. He’s notoriously hard to buy presents for, and in recent years I’ve had to quite literally beat any semblance of a hint of what he might want or need out of him. Recently I’ve started requesting a formal list from him to at least give me a guideline to go by, but he’s dragging his feet. I set up a list for myself and have had a great deal of fun e-window shopping as well as providing him with any number of ideas for gifty fun. His reluctance to do the same for me is making me grumpy, since I derive a great deal of pleasure from watching people be surprised at their presents. If he doesn’t cough up something soon, I’m going to have to take my gift-buying cues from what I see on TV: power tools, large SUVs, and shaving cream.

Teaching someone the tricky ins and outs of cutting and pasting over the phone is giving me a massive headache.