After having spent the waning days of summer soaking my 27-year-old bones in an Oregon hot springs, I come home to this.

Rain. Cold. A hungry cat who wants to know why I left the window ajar and the heater off.

Today may be my first day back in the office, but I'm determined to hang onto some of that vacation bliss.

So here's my oh-crap-it's-suddenly-fall remedy: Equal parts David Bowie (circa Ziggy Stardust for me, please) and Thai green curry (I like Silk Thai and Indochine).

Eat, rock, wear a sweater.

Former TNT arts critic Jen Graves (hi Jen!) thinks you have a sexual problem.

She cites three suggestive marketing messages from T-town that she's had the "pleasure" of discovering since this summer. So what gives? Are you feeling a little feisty lately, Tacoma?

If you were going to write a suggestive marketing message for the city, a particular event or location, what would it be? Keep it moderately vanilla, people. I don't wanna regret this post.

I'll start:

"Is that a Tall Ship in our South Sound or is Tacoma just happy to see you?"

AP Photo/David J. Phillip

Not that this has much to do with Tacoma and its surroundings, but it's dominating the news cycle today and dominating much of my concentration. One of my besties lives in Houston and is drinking heavily and hunkering down in hopes that the hurricane won't pick him up and drop him in Oz. Here's his most important live update from The Storm Zone:

So we're dealing with Hurricane Ike. When I noticed it would be hitting the Texas coast I immediately sought to find out if there is a Tina, Texas. Alas, there is not.

However, tickets to TINA TURNER'S CONCERT go on sale Monday. Yes, Monday.

And that's why he's one of my besties.

Do y'all have people you're worried about in that area of the country? If WE were facing a 900-mile wide storm, how would you be passing the time? Or would you high-tail it out of town? I'm fairly certain I would be hiding under my bed with a bottle of Grey Goose.

Also, check out this amazing satellite image of Hurricane Ike from space. Can we please have our A1 story on this hurricane tomorrow be Hurricane YIkes?!

R.R. Anderson's comment on the post below inspired me. I had to go looking for a new blog mascot. Something gritty, but charming. Something with joy in its heart and impaired movement in its paws.

I think I found him.

Blueberry the Great Dane.

I apologize on behalf of all of us for the lame state of things here on GritCity. Yes, the mood around here has been somewhat hectic and depressing at times, but we're looking for a way out of this funk.

But first, let's submerse ourselves in the funk as much as possible to get it out of our systems. I found this great time-lapse video of the Tacoma waterfront on YouTube. It's a minute of semi-emo zen that I need to indulge in before I can properly write more posts full of frivolous non-news.

Alright, Tacoma, I feel better. What's going on out there?