Good things:

1. Madeline Albright's autobiography, Madam Secretary. Hilarious and compelling. And I'm only on page 77.

2. Lonely Planet's German phrasebook. It includes an entire section on communicating with one's lover in the bedroom. I won't be using that section in Germany, but it was a determining factor in my purchase — I figured it was probably the most practical phrasebook on the shelf.

3. Miriam Makeba.

I've been having the strangest dreams lately. Saturday night I dreamed about trying to track down an old flame. (Does using the phrase "old flame" make me hopelessly un-hip?)

I wandered around the city where he lives for what seemed like hours, by foot. I was terrified, for some reason, of meeting him outside his place of employment, feeding the parking meter.

(This makes sense because I thought it very strange for there to be parking meters in the small Midwest town where he lives.)

But my fears were unfounded, since I discovered his place of employment had been paved over in a Mississippi River improvement project.

I was unsuccessful in my search and ended up running into my mother at a Mexican restaurant with very unusual restrooms.

For some reason (not margaritas) this made me feel better.

(There was no Mexican restaurant in the town where he lives. At least not one so inauthentic as the one I found in my dream.)

Anyone into dream analysis? Want to tell me what my dream means?

I'm following a strict budget these days. I'm going to Germany for two weeks this spring, so I've been trying to control my spending here so I can enjoy myself there. Meals out have been luxuries, lately.

I do my laundry at this little hole-in-the-wall smoking-permitted laundromat where the guy with the silver hoop ear plugs and anarchist tee-shirts and I share pleasant conversation about the weather.

While watching my damp laundry tumble in the dryer, I noticed, first, a dollar bill. Then another. And another. And another. Then, while folding my laundry, I came across a tenner. Nestled comfortably among my socks and towels and underwear.

And it all came back to me. How I'd put my car keys and a twenty in the tiny pocket of my black pants when I went salsa dancing last weekend. I'd come home exhausted, deposited my clothes in the hamper and fell asleep immediately.

By the next day, the remaining $14 was forgotten.

Until just now, when I splurged on a delicious $2.50 shish-kebab sandwich at the Pakistani restaurant next door to the laundromat.

What a beautiful day! First, it's been about 42 degrees the past two days. That's warm for February, here. Second, I'm (finally) getting over the infection that's had me down-and-out since Monday. Thank God for antibiotics. And third, if I didn't know my 100-degree fever had left me, I would think I'm hallucinating: I talked to my manager this morning, and it looks like I'll attend the Parliament of the World's Religions in Barcelona, Spain this summer.

Can't believe I got tickets to see Orchestra Baobab in April. It's the Friday after I get back from a two-week vacation in Germany. So I may be jet-lagged, I may be exhausted, but I'm going to see Orchestra Baobab. I'm going to see Orchestra Baobab ... I'm going to see Orchestra Baobab ... I'm going to see Orchestra Baobab ...

Today is a day for Doc Marten's. Burgundy loafers by day, black lace-up knee-high boots by night.

All of the circles of which I've been a part have always taken the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator quite seriously. My high school church group (okay, forever ago), the res hall staff at the university I attended and now at my current job (with a religious publication), where we're encouraged to post our type placards for our co-workers to see.

Seems like most of my friends can tell you their "type." Me, I'm an INFJ, the type that takes things like personality assessments seriously. I've always found my friends' profiles uncannily accurate. What's the deal with that? Is it simply the power of suggestion, like noticing Libras are all fair and balanced? Or is there something legitimate to these sixteen personality categories that don't attempt to define "nature" or "nurture" but can still predict the way someone will most likely act in a given situation?

Let's see if this commenting system works. Let's try a poll:

Meyers-Briggs ... legit or bunk? And why ... ?

Last night at English as a Second Language, we had the students draw police sketches. It was my co-teacher Emlyn's idea. We took turns describing criminals. For an example, I mugged Emlyn and stole her purse. Then Emlyn described and sketched me. Her portrait made me look better than I actually do ... she made my square glasses look oooh-so-chic. I think I'm going to hang it up at work.

Ten things that make 35 minutes on the elliptical trainer at the YMCA worth it:

1. 35 minutes of Putumayo's "Arabic Groove."

2. Filling in the thought bubble over the head of the kid in the faded Sonic Youth shirt who preens in front of the mirrors.

3. 35 minutes of Over The Rhine's "Eve."

4. Watching MSNBC without having to get cable for the apartment.

5. 35 minutes of Dream Theater's "Images and Words."

6. $210, 17 hours and nine pounds (things I no longer possess, thanks to two months at the Y)

7. 35 minutes of Rage Against The Machine's debut.

8. Working out all that daily stress.

9. 35 minutes of The Waco Brothers' "Electric Waco Chair."

10. Falling asleep before midnight.

Harbinger.

Some guy on NPR's Marketplace just used that word (a harbinger of the improving economy). I like it. It's kind of like an agnostic nod to fate ... it always precedes something else, points the way. But it doesn't require belief in something beyond itself. It just stands for what is to come. It's a prophet of reality.

Ligature. For those of you who aren't typography geeks, a ligature is a character typographers use when they set an "A" and an "E" (or an "F" and an "I") together in print. It takes into account the positive and negative spaces of each letter and merges them into a single character that represents both more seamlessly than the individual characters.

You'll see it when you read a finely typeset book, and sometimes in the newspaper. It's probably something most people see thousands of times and never stop to consider.

I don't know if I have a "philosophy" for this blog yet. Except to perhaps share observations that I might otherwise keep to myself.

Little things, like the way an "A" and an "E" come together so beautifully.