"Mercury is in retrograde, everyone needs a hat!"

One of the first things I heard when I visited Venice for the first time was a guy selling freaky hats on the Boardwalk yelling, "Mercury is in retrograde, everyone needs a hat!" I liked his logic. Even though I had no idea what he was talking about at the time. I also knew that I would live here one day. For sure.

Well, that was years ago now, and I'm sitting at my desk in Venice now, pretty much freaking out about Mercury being in retrograde. Apparently, when Mercury goes retrograde, everything having to do with communication and technology and things of that ilk go haywire and you should just not even bother, really. I am dealing with having had no internet for over a week now, the very week I launched this Blog and am trying to reach people in foreign lands and get work and hustle during Back To School week (you know how you get re-jazzed about things when it's that time of year? I do, anyway. I always want new clothes too ...), and it's REAL annoying when you're held back by a little company called Verizon. I try to be very calm and kind in my life, but a few gentlemen over there got an earful once I finally reached a human. I'll just say I was FIRM.

So ... deep breaths ... borrow your friend's computer until the new modem arrives ... sit on hold with Verizon some more ... breathe ... re-boot ... hope for the best ... and ask your readers to come back for a REALLY good story as soon as I can streamline myself back into the mix.

Oh, Mercury. At least it's an excuse for a new hat.


*Trip on this. The very day I did the Hyperlink thing for Prairie Home Companion and Garrison Keillor, I clicked on it to make sure it worked and I see that G.K. just had a stroke! I hope I didn't voodoo him by saying I wanted to be like a newer version of him. Eek. BEST WISHES for a full return to top health, Sir! I heard you're already out of the hospital and back to work. Minnesota style. GO G.K.!!!