Catching Up...

• This week's series of chamber concerts only requires my participation on the Mozart Flute and Harp Concerto and a new piece by Philip Wharton. After last week's run of Sibelius 5 and screaming high notes, it's a refreshing change of pace to have a show that's actually pretty mindless. And in fairness to the screaming high notes, that piece ended up being not so bad after all.

• At the urging of a certain clarinetist, I watched the pilot of Gossip Girl last week, which reaired on the CW. Tonight, I just finished episode five on my computer. There's been a real lack of teen drama in my life ever since I left Las Chicas Gilmore behind when I moved back from Spain. I think Gossip Girl will fit the bill nicely.

• I got a blender a few weeks ago. It was only five bucks at LNT, so I figured it was hard to go wrong. Well, okay, five bucks and a chance to re-spend another $25 there via a mail-in rebate. As someone who a) never eats breakfast and b) never eats fruit, the blender helps me to do both on a regular basis.

• Thank you for your condolences on the Packers' untimely demise on Sunday night. Upon watching The Kicker Who Shall Not Be Named destroy our Super Bowl dreams in overtime, I did what any self-respecting 30-year-old would do: I called home and demanded that my mother make it all better. Like Brett Favre, she was unable to get the job done.

• Against my better judgment, I've been watching a lot of the Australian Open. It's against my better judgment because, of course, Melbourne is 17 hours ahead of Sioux Falls. That means going to bed at four in the morning more often than I should.

• Temperatures on Saturday are supposed to reach 30, which is downright balmy compared to today's current reading of 1 (windchill -17).

• And now, the most exciting news of all: my 2006 taxes are finally done. Yeah, that's right, 2006 - the forms you probably filed nine months ago. Having to declare foreign income is tricky. If any of you ever decide to accept full-time employment abroad, do yourself a favor and hire an accountant to do your taxes.