I got a text message from my niece last night. Katharine knew I was trying to help a reporter here find people to talk to about the sudden death of her classmate John Liescheski.

The message arrived at 7:07 p.m., just a few hours after John collapsed on the practice field at school: "We are having a mass at pius now...so everyone is here."

I am not Catholic. I am not particularly religious. But I am in awe of the way the school and the community that surrounds it is pulled together by their faith. They have a way of being there for each other and holding each other up in times of tragedy.

It is a holy thing.

Please tell me it's not just my messed-up taste buds telling me pineapple leaves a weird after taste.

There must be some enzyme that lingers so that when you eat say a bite of pizza dipped in ranch dressing, after eating a bite of fresh pineapple, the flavor of the other food is distorted.

Surely this has happened to you?

Just bought a skirt at Fashion II Consignment. It's turquoise and brown and white and kind of glittery. I think I will love it, although finding the right shirt to go with it might be an issue. It was $9.50. New York and Company, maybe, not sure.

I think it was a good deal. I will know for sure by the end of summer, because either I will wear it happily once a week, or it will sit in my closet among the clothes that looked good at the store but at home, not so much.

I'd like to find the perfect secondhand clothing store, filled with the cast-offs of fashionistas who only wear their clothing for one season...

Since I began drinking coffee two years ago, I've discovered a whole new world: the slower-paced social life of the regular java drinker. (On the flip side there is the speeded-up work life of the morning caffeine junky, but that's another post.)

Now that I drink coffee, I find myself frequently sitting on a plastic chair on a dock, or a patio, or around a coffee house table, sipping and chatting and watching the world pass by.

It is a very nice thing.

Which is why I'm thinking of hiring myself out as a Coffee Mate.

As a Coffee Mate I would avail myself to people who want to sit and sip and socialize, but who can't find a companion. For an hourly rate, I would nod and chuckle and put my feet up on The Mill dock and make chitchat.

I think this shall be my next career.

That's right, if you are a once-a-week sheet washer, stand up.

Remain standing if you dust every week.

Stay on your feet if you scrub the toilet on a weekly basis, whether it needs it or not.

If you are still standing, remain so if you vacuum under the couch cushions regularly.

Dust the ceiling fan blades, keep standing.

And finally, if you launder your bath towel after each use, stay up.

How'd you do?

I have been sitting from the beginning....