Grab bag

• Last night I dreamed that adding five ripe blackberries to a bolognese spaghetti sauce improved its quality immensely. I'll have to wait 'til August to try it, though.


• R. is a media star this week. He's co-hosting a radio call-in show on Saturday, and today KMTR (the Springfield station) sent a news team to the nursery to show how they're making a per-wreath donation to a breast cancer fund, with the feature to appear on Thursday.


• Meanwhile, this morning after he made a bagel and put the package back on top of the toaster oven, it slid down and engaged the heating lever, and the thing overheated and sent plastic fumes all over the house and melted the handle off the toaster oven. We haven't used the thing in years anyway, so, bye bye toaster oven, hello counter space.


• A new sandwich shop is going to open up in our neighborhood shopping center, between the Mexican restaurant and the Allstate agent. I doubt it will last long; the tavern has really good food.


• Tomorrow our imagination seminar is meeting in Second Life. We're going to visit Red Square and Ancient Rome, and then we might go to Ruby's Pub to meet Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.


• Added: How could I forget? Our NIH proposal is done!