So while I was in Ecuador my roommate left the States for Honduras. There he performed many altruistic feats such as carting birthing women around in vans, cleaning amniotic fluid out of vans, and installing awnings on orphanage roofs. Drawback: during the last of these activities the electric drill he was using sought out his limbs as electrical channels, causing him to fall of the roof, singe some bodyparts and break an ankle. GOSH. Fortunately he is fixably ok, currently in Tennessee getting repaired, and returning to the bosom of Andersonville in due time.

While Jake was undergoing corporeal duress in the Southern climes, I was doing the same on a much smaller scale in Chicago. Biding time ‘til my corolla’s 7 p.m. homecoming (it having been subject to the whims of Dave for a full ten days) by reading some Kafka On The Shore on, naturally, the shore, I was totally oblivious to some stealthy epidermal roasting that was happening on my backside. Owch. So my daily herbal infusion now includes, in addition to goldenseal and wormwood, about a gallon of aloe. Mmm. Anyway, after the burning I welcomed Dave back to the cittaaayyyy and soon thereafter treated my car to a little bit o' sweet welcome-back-to-Chicago lovinnnnn' in the form of a thorough vacuuming and nine minutes of foamy brushing and high-pressure rinsing (all manual, of course). It looks stunning!