Sorry for the trail-off in posting recently. I'm finally putting a decent amount of effort into the job hunt. I thought it would be painful but the process has been more enjoyable than how I used to spend my days: eat, nap, eat, nap, web browse, nap, shower?, nap…

Extended unemployment has turned me into a model of frugality, or as I say now, frug. After disdaining the excess of consumerism and commercialization in our society for years, I find myself having a powerful desire to take a shopping cart, a couple of beers, and a lasso and round up an electronics posse at Best Buy. "Yee-haw!" I'll yell as I bring my cart on two wheels and lasso the last remaining IPod player from the hands of a sluggish teen, his senses dulled from years of rote learning, too many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and daily visits from his friend Mary Juniper Jane.

By the time he turns his head, he will only see a shadow fading into a cloud of dust, and hear faint yells of "Haa-hee!" "Who was that?" he'll ask. A Best Buy employee, sucking on a corn cob pipe while in a rocking chair, will tilt his head up just an inch. "There goes a man who hasn't bought a new pair of pants in a year."