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Now would be the point where I would round up everyone’s totals, including mine, and brag on how much money we raised for worthy causes, but if the conversations I’ve had with my pals are any indication, this year’s Blogathon was much, much harder than last year’s, and we all need to go to bed, already.

So I will save a proper roundup for another time.  For now, I will say that a) over 285 bloggers raised over $97,000; b) pledges will be accepted for another 48 hours; c) everyone involved did a brilliant job; and d) compared to where I was at this moment 24 hours ago, I am very, very happy. 

How could I forget?  Thanks to everyone who pledged, donated, kept company, encouraged, cossetted, flirted, covered me when I needed coverage (good morning, Keith!) or provided a place for me to blog when I thought all was lost.  Thank you, each and every one.

And thanks to Lloyd for being such a good sport when I announced I had to disappear for the night.  Honey, I’ll be right there. 

Dear friends,

Immediately after I finished writing that last post, and hit the “publish” button, Julie and G’s internet connectivity went down.

It’s back on, as are all the appliances that died 1/2 hour ago, and everything seems to be running smoothly.  Nevertheless, I would like to apologize to a) Julie and G for breaking their apartment, b) Lloyd and Time-Warner Cable for breaking our modem, c) he residents of Astoria, Long Island City, Woodside and Sunnyside for knocking out the power for eight days, and d) the entire City of New York for causing three city-wide blackouts, one of which occurred before I was born.  (You heard me.  Yes, my powers of destruction are that vast.)

All kidding aside: to Barb, frykitty and the rest of the hardworking Blogathon team:  can we safely assume that if for some reason the power and/or internet connectivity go down again, and I disappear for the last-ever post of Blogathon 2006, that is not to say that I am unable to fulfill my duties as a charity blogger, and thus my position on the webring is safe? 

...or maybe you should call me the Typhoid Mary of Electrical Systems and High-Speed Cable Modems.

About ten minutes ago, Julie and I were chatting pleasantly when I heard a pop, followed by the overhead light going out, the air conditioner whirring down and the battery-power icon showing up on my laptop.  It would appear that a fuse has been blown.

Fortunately, the blown fuse doesn’t manage the juice for the entire apartment (although the fridge is on that circuit, which means no extraneous opening of the fridge); there is another working air conditioner in Julie and G’s bedroom, and the apartment is still nice and bright and cool.

Still, though.  Julie and G did me a solid, and I returned the favor by breaking their apartment.  And even after I did that, Julie still a) insisted that I didn’t do it, and b) made me a scrambled egg sandwich and a big iced coffee for breakfast.  The woman is amazing, I’m telling you.

(Go, Bunni!  Go, Sam!  Go, Eric!  Go, Skyte!  Go, ‘thonners all!  Woohoo!)

I think I’m done.  Not done-done, obviously; I am certainly not about to drop out now But in terms of anything new or exciting, I think all the new and exciting is behind me.  (I can envision all of you, dear friends, staring at your screens in bafflement, crying “there was something new and exciting here?  For the love of God, WHERE?”

Since we’re now in the homestretch, a fact that would make me dance ebulliently on Bunni’s and Eric’s and Sam’s and Skyte’s and Barb’s behalf if only I weren’t too tired to dance, I think it’s safe for me to start knitting.  I brought my current work-in-progress with me, something of which I can’t write or show pictures yet because it’s a present for someone who reads this page regularly, but I kept it far away during the wee small hours in the morning, afraid that my posts would degenerate to the level of “can’t write anything!  can only knit!” Now that I see that that’s pretty much what I was writing anyway, I can confess:  there was something tremendously comforting about having a well-knitted swatch to run through my fingers.