This weekend I:

• Got a refund on The Wrong New Apartment.
• Put down a check for The Right New Apartment(?).
• Dinged level 29 with my new Dranei mage in WoW.
• Went to the midnight release party for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
• Started reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
• Finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
• Basked in the afterglow of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

If it weren't for one staggering thing, it would have been a perfect weekend – Misty, the pony that my parents acquired when I was 2 or thereabouts, passed away late last week. She went peacefully, passing in the night, and in pony years she must have been nearly 100, but it still doesn't seem quite real. Later this week I'm flying home for Talon's bachelor party (a Jimmy Buffett concert in Cincinnati) and it's going to feel deeply odd to see that big, empty pasture.

Aside from that, though, life right now is really excellent. I can't wait to move into the new place (I love our current apartment, and it's been a great home for two years, but the new place is really charming) and my job is fantastic. I'm in the middle of a list of great books at the moment (White Night, the latest Harry Dresden adventure; Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves' Interworld; the second Bartimaeus book, The Golem's Eye; and I'm anxiously looking forward to the new novels by Warren Ellis and William Gibson) and movie season this summer has been absolutely delightful – and Stardust, The Bourne Ultimatum and (for me) Live Free or Die Hard still have yet to be seen.

I still owe several dozen people several hundred emails, or so it seems. I hope you're all doing well out there and enjoying the summer – I'll try and catch up with you individually soon!