So my brother has spurred me to action (or at least, the thought of action) by stealing...um, I mean, "purchasing," my kayak from me and hauling it to Vegas to never be seen again (except in nice photos of kayak condos). Which means I now have to get a new kayak before I go home to be a poor starving law student with no income. Which means I might as well get one before this spring so I can use it, which means I might as well get one this month while everything in Italy is on sale. So my goal for this weekend is to come home with this very nice birthday present for myself. Oh, wait, I meant this one.

In case anybody missed it, that second-to-last sentence was also a not-so-subtle reminder that my birthday is this weekend. (Apparently my parents were reminded of that at midnight on Sunday when my dad's cell phone alarm went off with the reminder of "one week until Chris' birthday." I wonder who put that in there.)