Sigh. The sidekick has died! No, not Charles. My phone. It must have been jealous of my ipod. Alas. I'll do my best to drag the ole Ericsson T39 out of its box in the garage tomorrow and start returning voicemail, but in the meantime you should call Catherine, not me. Not that I'm such a social butterfly -- I rarely use even half of my 200 monthly weekday minutes. But still: if you tried to call me and I didn't respond, it's not because I hate you. Probably.

But now I'm faced with a dilemma: what new toy should replace it? As much as I want to buy a Treo 600 or 650, there doesn't seem to be a way to do so and get grandfathered into my very cheap $40/month plan -- and they're pricey gadgets to begin with. Oh well. The sidekick 2 looks pretty rad, too, so I'll probably pick up one of those in the next day or so. I hope you all like terrible-quality digital photos!

i nearly just simultaneously peed my pants and threw up on my computer monitor upon receiving this email:

Dear Catherine:

Congratulations! The Admissions Committee has approved your application to Medill’s Graduate School of Journalism with a concentration in New Media.

Your first quarter in the program will be the “Journalism Methods” package of courses, which is designed for students who have not had professional daily newspaper experience. This quarter consists of a media law and ethics seminar, and intensive work in news writing, beat reporting and copy editing. It is required for approximately 80 percent of our students.

Blah dee blah dee blah blah, buncha other stuff that is probably important, but which i am too delirious to process.

how to pick? the only thing i'm sure of right now is that i'm starting a new blog called "J-school days: the diary of a liberal propagandist-in-training."