83 is an entirely resonable temperature. 84 is insane.

- I was going to state that I possessed an internal thermostat- but wikisearch has pointed out that that implies a unique talent for maintaining a constant temperature. Instead, I must resort to a less clever wording and state that I must possess a bi-metallic strip. When the house hits that magical temperature, I begin to do less than rational things. Like take four showers a day. And lie on the linoleum for hours. And water the garden the entire day because it's too hot to go outside.

-Last year I planted a scraggly oval within the range of a sprinkler, but I broke up the peds and formed a hardpan to the extent that no-one is going to garden there for a while. This year, I have fifteen pots, two microscopic raised beds for flowers, and a sprinkler system that puts el Cuervito's to shame. Instead of a measly row of chiles, I have many varieties of tomatoes. Instead of a fancy pants timer, I have Señor C and phone calls at 6:15- "Did you remember to water the garden!?"

-I thought the unobtrusive "Donate to the Obama campaign" button next to the video of the race speech was the cleverest fundraising thing ever. There one is, wiping away tears, and there's a tasteful little link saying that if you wanted to send $15 to this man and increase the odds that he'd have some say in how your great country was run, that would be cool. I was unemployeed and I gave $50. Now I get all sorts of e-mail asking me to do more things. The money and the vote, isn't that enough?

-The local community college publishes a monthly paper. This month had an editorial about how Obama was just as lame as everyone else, because he'd managed to raise a lot of money. It did not state that 62% of his funds were from donors that gave less than $200.