If you haven't looked outside, lately, I need to let you know that you can turn down your thermostat. Due to global warming, ozone depletion, El Nino, or possibly God having a grudge against the ski industry (maybe he resents the high lift-ticket prices -- I know I do), temperatures have been rising and February's wrath has become a tepid bath of melted snow. Which stinks in one respect -- no more snow days off from school -- but does hold some value... perhaps the tourists, who are currently traipsing through our backroads en route to the next snow-capped peak, will find it unsavory and go home. Perhaps they won't appreciate the mud splatters on their pristine SUV's that have never before encountered earth not slathered with tar. Perhaps they won't love the puddles and slush at the edges of their beloved white mountains that they will have to sludge through to get to the slopes. Perhaps -- and this is the ultimate -- they will get their enormous behemoths of gas-guzzling vehicles stuck in the mud (they all have 4WD, but I ask you, when was the last time they had to use it?) and, swearing in their Bostonian accents and stomping their brand-new LLBean GoreTex boots that will never see below zero temperatures or any winter conditions worse than those behind a snowblower, will give up and FRIGGING LEAVE!!!! Please?

How many shoes is too many shoes? (And, in case you are wondering, this question is directed only toward women and fashionable males, since the average guy's answer is pretty obvious.) I, myself, have probably around 40 pairs of shoes, including boots, sneakers, slippers and flip-flops. Yes, I admit this is a bit much. But buying shoes is one of my only vices (BK Whoppers also come to mind) and sometimes deals are just too good to pass up. Like, for instance, today's deal: an $80 pair of New Balance sneakers for $19.99. Sure I just got a pair of sneaks on Monday, but how can a money-conscious female ignore a bargain like that? My boyfriend, however, disagrees. "How many pairs of sneakers do you need?" he asked when I told him of my purchase. And then, with a deep sigh, he answered his own question (correctly, I might add): "All of them." :) Need and want, I informed him, are two very different things. Want usually wins.

Let me guess... You've been watching the Olympics, too. Great. So you know what I'm talking about when I say that Bode Miller is so hot he should have melted the snow he skiied over on his way to earn his second Silver Medal. I know, I know. The Olympic Games are about skill, derring do, courage and strength... But aren't they also about watching really fit, beautiful people impress us with their unparalleled power and zest for life? And does it really hurt if they are incredibly cute too? I don't think so. So what you need to do, is go here and vote for him as the best Olympian. That's your job. Your mission. Go. Now.

Well, I just accomplished my first successful bid on Ebay. Yes, I know most of you are thinking "Dear God, how long has she been living in that cave, exactly?" but I've been just a tad wary of shelling out my hard-earned money for an uncertainty. And, at least according to the way I handled this escapade, I should have been wary. Not of the other person, necessarily, but of myself. Apparently, I don't have a shred of haggling ability or common sense because I placed two bids on identical items and came within 4 hours of ending up with both. I guess I was thinking something like "Well, if one doesn't work out, at least I have a chance with the other" but I didn't stop to consider the possibility that I'd have TWO. College just doesn't prepare you for these kinds of quandaries.