I have returned from the biosphere weirdness of Orlando, and have power at home. Actually, I returned Wednesday night, but betweeen catching up on work and taking care of some other business there's not been a lot of free time.

One odd and entirely unwelcome side effect of Wilma is that my internal timer is completely out of whack. I have always been a night owl by nature — I don't function well in the mornings, even with a liberal aapplication of caffeine, and start to hit my stride around 4-5:00pm, not usually tiring out until well after midnight. However, being without power for two weeks has modified this. These days I wake up at 5:00am, become quasi-functional around noon, and am ready for sleep by 8-9:00 at the latest. While I know some of you work this way all the time, I hate it. This puts me in the awkward position of having nearly all of my useful and creative hours take place during the work day, so now more than ever my life revolves around my job. I am already enough of a workaholic; I feel no need to move further in that direction.

Fortunately, I have taken today off to clean the house. (I know how to have fun, don't I?) Once I accomplish my errands, I need to set to work evicting the lifeforms which invaded my warm, dark, humid, and thankfully empty refrigerator during its weeks without power. I am hoping that Agent Orange will be enough, but I have procured a flamethrower as backup. (C'mon, this is Miami, you can get military gear from the same guys who sell bottled water and mangoes on thr Gratigny Parkway.) As it may take a while for it to cool down after the detox, I am eternally grateful to the dear friends who sent me boxed, canned, and bagged foodstuffs. Although they arrived right after my power was restored, it's comforting to have a stocked pantry again. Besides, one can never have too many Pop Tarts!

In local news, the 2005 Miami Boook Fair International begins Sunday afternoon with presentations by Margaret Atwood and Mike Wallace. (I'll let you know if Atwood signs her own books, or uses her automated book signing machine.) If you are interested in books at all and live in the South Florida area, you owe it to yourself to visit the fair.