Early To Bed
I was ready for bed at 7:30p last night but I didn't actually crawl in until 8p and didn't turn out the light until 8:30p. Bob was already asleep. I had to move his laptop and turn off the movie he was "watching."

On the occasions where we go to bed that early I'm always worried someone is going to phone. What are they going to think if they wake us up before 9pm?

A couple of weeks ago our thermostat acted strangely. It seems like we've had long stretches of weather this summer that were at the threshold. Not really warm enough to kick on the air but almost.

One night I noticed the air kicked on after 7pm when I had all the windows opened. I figured it was warmer than I thought and closed everything up. A half hour later the air was still blasting and the thermostat said it was 80 degrees in the house. When it went to 82 I turned off everything and reopened the windows and wondered how serious this problem was. I noticed a weird display on the screen and part of it said "batt." The other part said something like "6|o9b" but I guessed it was the battery.

I found the user book and read what it said about batteries but I couldn't figure out how to get the unit open. I pulled, pushed, squeezed and slid but everything seemed like it was going to break it. The user book offered no clues of how to do this.

I checked the website. In fact, numerous sites would let me download the same user book I already had. No one said how to get the thing open.

I jotted off an email to the contact at the website that I needed a new battery and didn't know how to do it and they responded to open the unit and replace the old one. I realize my question was poorly worded but it would seem that anyone smart enough to walk upright would know where the battery went, the thermostat is about as big as a pack of cigarettes.

I sent another note, explaining that I couldn't get the unit open and a guy named Woody sent me instructions: you need to insert the tip of a screwdriver into the seam and twist. Worked perfect. I think they should put that in the book.

Finally, one of my favorite online quotes of all time at my new fave guilty pleasure website Jezebel.

She's interviewing this guy on the phone (backstory omitted) and in response to his question of whether she's hot:

Um, not right now. I fix up okay. But "hot" isn't, like, my selling point. I'm more of a "fun" type person. Like, I am really hungover right now, and probably not looking so good, but it's because I was "fun" last night. Anyway I'm not sure why I'm telling you this.