A friend told me that Mercury's in retrograde until Monday. Basically, that's New Age for "expect communication breakdowns until early next week." Supposedly, it's also a bad time for travel.

Say what you will about astrological stuff, but these days I'm so out of the communication loop that I'd call the TV psychic Miss Cleo if she were still around, just to find out what the hell's going on.

For one thing, my cell phone keeps powering down. I've had two experiences this week where I'm yammering on about something and didn't realize the other person was disconnected. Talk about feeling like a dumb ass. Luckily this didn't happen during my radio segment with Kramp & Adler this week.

Also, I ordered a book for my son for Valentine's Day and paid $9 in shipping to guarantee it would be here by Feb. 13. I never received it. Amazon.com refunded my money, but still, where the hell is "Dragons, Dragons" by Eric Carle?

Add the facts someone didn't receive an important e-mail from me, I got in a stupid argument with my husband because he misunderstood what I was saying and I generally feel disconnected from the human race this week, and suddenly I'm wishing that damn tiny planet would start spinning in the right direction again.