I’m finally going public with the air conditioning fiasco. If you know what summer is like in Minnesota, you know that it’s really, really, really (did I say really?) hot and humid this time of year. Since I live for free, I sacrifice a few things here and there, like, oh for example, an air conditioning unit. A year ago I used to pay $4 to go to bad matinees just so I could sit in a cool theater for a few hours. My friends would call me: “Lynsey, I’m going out but do you wanna come over and just sit in my air conditioned apartment for the night?”

So, imagine my pure delight when I arrive at home this past Wednesday night to find a note on my door: “Your air conditioner has arrived! Call us with a time so we can install it.” Life is good! Before I can even pick up the phone Thursday morning, the carpenter is knocking at my door at 7:30 a.m., AC unit in hand (well, in his van, really). I go off to work, reveling in the fact that by the time I get home at 5 p.m., my apartment will be cool and arid. SO (yes, you knew it was coming), imagine the horror of coming home at 5 p.m. and reading another note on my door: “The air conditioner didn’t fit. Need to order a new one.”

Yes, folks, the first frost will have arrived by the time I get the AC. Maybe by that time, I’ll have hot water in my apartment, too …

Today my glassdog.com postcards arrived. The postcards weren’t nearly as cool as the envelope, however, which read “glassdog deadtree product.” So, my closest friends, watch for a glassdog postcard in the mail one of these days. The world domination continues!

Whenever they travel, my friends usually send me postcards. Jason always sends me something from Sarasota when he visits his retiree grandparents. For quite sometime now, his postcards have been sitting on my window ledge, above the Christmas lights I’ve yet to take down, and amidst plants, candles and photographs and other kitschy kitsch that makes my apartment so mine. While straightening things up around the living room tonight, I moved the postcards and noticed the sun had faded all the words away — they were gone, just as if he’d sent me a blank postcard, with only a stamp and a postmark. I had this weird sensation, the kind that Michael J. Fox got in “Back to the Future” when he looks at the picture of his family and realizes they’re fading away. I leave for Chicago on Friday, where Jason lives. Maybe I need to give him a call.

Hey, everyone: the blogging permalink feature is back! (Dad, you must be happy now!) June and July entries are now packaged neatly into a new archive page and directory. The rest of my posts are still hanging out in the ‘00 directory. So, after messing around with the Blogger archiving and permalink features tonight, I realized that I’ve now been blogging for just over six months, and this summer marks the fifth anniversary of my personal home page. Kinda landmark events for me. Kinda things I feel good about.

Ever tried placing an online personals ad? Well, this woman did, and she even lived to tell about it. Read the responses to her ads and you’ll be laughing out loud for days …

I’ve heard so many great things about The Tipping Point lately, that I decided to check out the college’s libraries to see if it might be available. Instead, the closest match I found was Tips and Pointers for Underwear Dealers and their Salesmen (published 1923). Which really makes me want to read that book instead.

Ever tried to work on a computer after your eyes have been dilated? I wish you could all join me in this psychedelic world of flashiness I’m living in right now …

Fresh! is suffering from that not-so-fresh feeling. Stay tuned, kiddies. Updates to come.