I've been occasionally checking updates at the NYU website to see what my niece's situation might be. It looks like there are places on campus with electricity so she should be able to charge her phone and call home. (Which I hope she is doing.)

Also - is Andrew Lloyd-Weber a lord? Because is so he has a filly running in the Breeder's Cup Filly & Mare Turf tomorrow. (Her name is The Fugue.)

Ginger, Yahoo is telling me today is your birthday. Happy Birthday!

I have a Tea-zer. Nice big basket

Hmm. The basket is nice and big, but it isn't mesh, and...good lord, I'm becoming a crazy tea lady. I think that ranks below cat lady, huh?

Hmm. I'm not finding travel infusers (or travel mugs of any sort on Upton--what must I be doing wrong?) Plenty of infuses, some mugs+ infusers, but nothing where the infuser screws into a lidded insulated travel mug. Hmm.

I wonder...Lupicia? Nah, nothing there.

Bed Bath and Beyond had a couple Bodum items: [link] and [link] but they're both press, and I'd rather remove the leaves that drink over them--I don't add milk and sugar much, but I especially don't want milk (however dilute) sticking around until my next steep. And I can't see how big the filter is on this [link] .

I think that ranks below cat lady, huh?

Depends on how many cats.

Man, I didn't sleep well last night, and work people keep sending me emails that deserve "bitch, please" responses. That is maybe not a very good combination.

In addition to being annoyed with looking for gifts none of these people need, I just had to do the annoying copy all the medical receipts for the ex-pat task. They get all their co-pays and out-of-pocket medical expenses reimbursed by their home countries, but somehow that is a business task for me to do instead of a personal one they take care of at home, like the rest of us do to file claims.

According to the NYT email I just got, Mayor Bloomberg has endorsed Obama, because he thinks global warming contributed to the severity of Sandy, and Obama will do more to combat climate change.

[link]

According to the NYT email I just got, Mayor Bloomberg has endorsed Obama, because he thinks global warming contributed to the severity of Sandy, and Obama will do more to combat climate change.

On that note, The Economist has just released its endorsement, and they too are (somewhat reluctantly) backing Obama as well. [link] The endorsement of a foreign paper is unlikely to sway anyone in particular, but I mention it for one reason. The Economist has been doing endorsements since 1980. In nine elections, this is the first time, ever, that it has endorsed the incumbent party. It even failed to endorse Reagan in 1984 (though it couldn't bring itself to endorse Mondale either). Hell, it endorsed Bob Dole. Mitt Romney is the very first challenger that The Economist has looked at and said, Nup.

this is the first time, ever, that it has endorsed the incumbent party.

HAH. I do kind of love the Economist. Yeah, they're fiscally quite conservative, but they do great international journalism and they're pretty good on social issues.

The Economist rocks my world. I felt better informed when I read them weekly than I do know, even though I have endless access to information now.

I also admit that I like the IHT better than the NYT because of its succinctness.

I'm pretty sure that the Economist endorsement will make at least one of my relatives very confused. I need more popcorn.