The Big Chill.

It's going to be over 90 degrees today kicking off another East Coast heatwave. All I want to do is stay inside, watch movies in French and shop for raincoats. I'm ready for fall.

1. concave hooded raincoat - zero + maria cornejo, 2. army style anorak - green envelope, 3. hooded rain jacket - weatherproof, 4. inside out rain jacket - gargyle

Video killed the radio star.

I don't understand people who renounce television. I generally love tv. Lately I've been completely addicted to both Gangland and Who Do You Think You Are? and have watched them for hours on end.

Chortle.

This gave me a good laugh to pull me out of my morning slump. (Thanks Samantha!)

Mondays.

Sometimes sitting in my cubicle at the beginning of the week makes me feel like a trained monkey.

(Sketch by me.)

Fancy girl.

I have a dog named Arlo. She has a raincoat. Arlo is an 18 lb Manchester Terrier. She has long spindly legs and enormous pivoting, telescoping ears that clap behind her head when she yawns. She is not, in fact, a vicious miniature pinscher thankyouverymuchconcernedBrooklynparents.

But she has a raincoat. It's navy with yellow piping and if it didn't mean that we'd match, I'd wish that I had one like it. I swore that I would never be one of those people that dressed their pets in cutesy little outfits, but she won't go out in the rain without it. My dog, fierce appearance and butch name aside, is kind-of a wuss. And I have become that lady, walking past the hipsters smoking outside the bar at 8:30 on a Sunday, with a dog in a jacket.

Saddle up.

I've had a case of writer's block for over a year now. I think the only way to get rid of it is to just start with something, anything to get back in the habit, and to remember that the worst circumstances make for the best songs.