March

Starts in full force, as James begins rehearsals for the Public Theatre's second run of the snarky, irreverent punk- rock musical "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson."

Back in December, Tara won a dinner at Tse Yang, a schmancy Chinese restaurant.  Apparently, she was the most festively dressed at the Globex holiday party, which basically means she wasn't wearing a suit or all black.  She and James pick a date night and gorge themselves on overpriced salt and pepper shrimp, mounds of roasted Peking duck, and fine bevvies.  Tara would have been just fine with a pulled pork sandwich and a couple of beers, but hey...you only live once.

Go for the whole duck.

James begins previews in the Public's 300-seat Newman Theatre.  Tara travels to Greenwich, CT for a weekend to judge a two-day high school drama festival.  Dinah heads down to Fort Meyers, Florida for Red Sox spring training.  All is well with the world...until...

Until Tara and James decide it's time to upgrade their phones with Verizon.  They trade in their old-school flip phones, complete with real keys and user-friendly calling features for the hateful HTC Droid Eris, which markets itself as a smartphone, but is the farthest thing from one.

Oh sure, it looks swank.  It's got a virtual keypad and a little camera.  You can download fun games and facebook your face off.  But here's the reality, stockholders: The Android is actually an alien sent down from outer space to mess with your life.  It calls people randomly while you think it's sleeping inside your purse.  It mocks you when you try to make a real call.  It turns down it's alarm volume on a whim so you don't wake up in time for work.  Let's just say the Prizm is off the hook for a while.