My day has been brightened by a parody of Windows OS. Check out Windows RG: Really Good Edition. Your browser must support Flash.

This week, I got a very special letter from Capital One. It told me, "To let you know how much we value you as a customer, we'd like to give you the opportunity to upgrade to something even better--a Capital One Visa Gold card." Considering that I've used my Capital One card exactly three times in the two years that I've had it, I was very touched that they still valued me as a customer. I was so touched that I didn't rip up the letter before I threw it away, something I typically do with credit card applications.

After listening to my sister complain about her Biology class, I suggested that it would be cool if there was such a thing as a "Let Science Be" class. Oh, the scorn. She rolled her eyes and explained patiently that there were better things she could be doing with her time. Well, I don't care! I still think it would be great to have a Let Science Be class, where you attend class and don't read your textbook. You also set up for labs and don't do them. It would just be a nice, relaxing class where you didn't question science and didn't try to prove anything. I would enjoy it.

Again, I've noticed something odd while at school. Remember how I said there were look-alikes who correspond to people I knew in high school (or from my shady past)? A while ago, I'd noticed that this one particular person had the same voice as someone I knew in high school, aside from also looking like him. I thought it was just a coincidence. But just this week, I discovered a different look-alike who had the same voice as his counterpart in my past. Is this just weird? Are we humans really created in some kind of mold where if we look a particular way, we'll have a particular voice? It's really very eerie.

I've been wondering about people who spell "a lot" with no space between the words. Do they really think there's such a word? I'm not trying to be pejorative (hey, an AP word), I just can't understand why one might think "alot" is an actual word. It's very puzzling. Okay, so I used to use "alot" when I was younger, but I remember my 4th grade teacher, Ms. Falgout, told us to cut it out. She also told us never to use the word "very."

Last night, I was writing a paper for my dance class. I was operating on 3 hours of sleep, so I kept dozing off at the computer. At about 4 a.m., I woke with a start and read over what I'd written so far. There was the portion that I'd written while at work, and then, there was the portion about...plowing. Even though the dance I was writing about had nothing to do with plowing, I'd written a rather lucid bit about it. Sure, I'd invented a few new words here and there, but apparently, plowing was an integral part of the dance.

So I'm denying myself the hash browns (temporarily). I decided that before I bought one, I'd have to find the $$ for it--"find" as in find on the ground. I also called 15 McDonald's places and did a little survey. I found out that one hash brown is 96 cents (including tax) at most of the restaurants in my area. There's one on Westheimer where it's 79 cents including tax and one on Cartwright where it's 84 cents. One pricey place says theirs are 96 cents before tax, making them about $1.02 after. I'm also kind of annoyed because hash browns are apparently sold singly. Possibly due to the way my high school cafeteria sold hash browns, I thought they came in pairs. Now I have to decide if I want to wait another 5 As to get two hash browns or if I should splurge and get two. My sister told me she couldn't believe I was torturing myself for good grades just to spend one dollar on food. I have a good reason for this, but it would take too much room to explain. Just ask me; it'll be interactive or something.

Ah, my pretty hash browns...soon you will be mine! Eight cents and counting...

Helen