[Prestidigitweeze]

It was bound to happen one Friday in NYC. Exhausted and needing to avoid the rain without an umbrella, I stepped into the only coffee shop in sight: a crowded Starbucks across the street from J&R.

As I was sitting in front of the window with my Red Eye, my bus stopped just outside (I'd thought I missed it and they come sporadically). Pleased with my good fortune, I ran out with my coffee and got on, only to realize as the doors closed that I'd left my PRS-350 on the table. Too late: The bus had started moving. By the time I'd gotten off and run back to the table, my 350 was gone. No one had delivered it to the counter or witnessed who took it, Starbucks staff who had just cleaned the area claimed not to have seen it and only one person, a customer, had noticed it at all. She'd thought it was a spiral notebook and so did nothing.

All of which means my PRS-350, the reader I use most, was stolen.

Goldman Sachs just announced layoffs and it's very possible we might have a double-dip recession, which means this isn't the time to be blowing $129 (if I'm lucky enough to find one for that). I haven't even considered getting a new case yet. The one thing I have is a backup DecalGirl skin.

The loss depressed me this weekend. I was a bit less social than I should have been.

The rest of you should be glad, however, that you haven't done anything that stupid. I'm happy, at least, that this hasn't happened to you.