(1) Yay -- snow!!! Well ... it's really more like pelting ice fragments, but it's whitish and sticking to the ground. So -- yay, snow!!

(2) Getting off the subway at Rockefeller Center: I stopped by Dunkin Donuts for my favorite morning guilty pleasure: a medium coffee with skim milk and a biscuit.

Yes, I know the biscuit cancels our any calorie savings from the skim milk -- and, in fact, these days I've been taking whole or 2% milk more often. But at this particular DD counter, my tongue is programmed to say, "Medium coffee with skim milk, and a biscuit, please."

And 10 times out of 10, they will produce my unsweetened beverage on command -- WITHOUT the biscuit. And I have to repeat the words "and a biscuit" about six times as the counter-jockey points to various bakery items, none of the names of which remotely resemble the word "biscuit."

Today I pointed to the sad little pastry, sitting alone in its bin and said, "You see that there? Pick it up and put it in a bag."

And in spite of my attitudinous sneer, the woman behind the counter cheerfully picked it up and put it in a bag.

It is worth noting that no one behind the counter speaks English as a first language -- in particular, New York English. So not only are they incapable of deciphering words like biscuit; they can't quite decipher the harsh tones of contempt.

And maybe that's not a bad thing.... for either of us.

(3) Getting to my cubicle: An office mate is bitching about jury duty -- in particular because he has been summoned to FEDERAL court -- which sucks for him since he lives in Queens and the Southern District Courthouse is in Brooklyn.

Granted, there are many understandable reasons he doesn't want to serve -- not the least of which is that he's a contractor and wouldn't be paid for his time at court.

But he just couldn't stop going on about the FEDERAL Court thing -- even to the point of, oh, say, questioning the innocence of any defendant he might be brought to judge there.

"I mean, it's ridiculous!" he ranted, "I mean, it's FEDERAL Court, right? I mean, that's a big deal, right? The guy would HAVE to be guilty, right???"

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?