If you haven't yet seen this article, see why I will never buy a diamond engagement ring. An amazing story of advertising; it's from 1982, and while DeBeers is obviously still going strong, the story is still true (and to my knowledge the resale value of diamonds is still negligible). Threats persist, though, like inexpensive, high-quality artificial diamonds, and the fact that diamonds are still used to finance Third World civil wars and authoritarian governments.

I continue to fend off whatever microbe is trying to get me. Drink water. Sleep a lot.

I sing a lot in my office building, especially in the parking garage, where there's a really nice reverb. The office building has slowly gotten to know me, but I ran into a woman tonight as I was singing my way out of the office, and she said, "You're always so happy!". Somewhat nonplussed--I don't recall that anyone has ever called me "always happy" before--I stammered out a thank-you. She said, "Well, at least I'm not scared of you any more."

"That's good."

People are weird.