On Being "Derailleud"

Last week my rear derailleur failed me as I was biking home.  It's been acting a little funky on the 3rd and 4th gears for a couple of weeks now but I've been ignoring it, which is no small feat given those are the rear gears I use most frequently on my commute.  But this time, as I clicked down from 4th to 2nd to head uphill, the chain didn't quite catch properly.  It would catch and then drop, catch and drop so I was unable to get a full revolution and ended up having to bail on the hill.  I got going again, shifted down to first then back up through to 4th (which nearly killed me on that hill) and back down to 2nd.  It acted up again on the next hill but not as drastically.  I'm sure the derailleur is just slightly misalligned but it doesn't appear to be something I can fix myself.  So, I'll likely bike to work tomorrow (or whenever I bike to work next - I've been home sick for two days and am beginning to go stir crazy) and stop at my local bike shop on the way home.  Hopefully they can fix it quickly and I won't have to be without Blue Beauty for very long.