I think I may be losing my hearing. These guys have been drilling concrete right outside of my window for a week now, with the promise of returning every morning for several more weeks. The sound is deafening. I tried earplugs. Useless. I tried pillows. Suffocation. I'm trying to block out the sound by plugging in my Rio and listening to tunes all day (I've hit repeat for Black Eyed Peas' "Where is the Love" and Cheb Khalid's "Aicha" about six times this morning alone) and so far, that seems to work out pretty well. So please accept my blanket apology for asking you to repeat yourself several times during the course of a conversation. Yasmine, can I borrow your tune-out-background-noise toy?