The Never Ending Tuesday

Well, hopefully it's done now, but I'm not going to spit in the wind and think I'm staying dry.

So Wednesday I came in to work to discover MY computer was fried. After giving up on my own technical talent I spent the rest of the morning on the phone with Tye from Dell. Tye and I concurred that it was a memory issue, but we couldn't see if it was memory chip, or mother board memory. He sent me out restore and diagnostic CDs that day.

Thursday I squealed in delight at the sight of the DHL guy who had these CDs for me. Tye and I had another coffee date that morning and ascertained that it was the memory chip itself that was fried. How fun to spend 20 minutes laying on the floor under my desk! So Tye was sending me a new chip. Whee!

Weight Watchers was quiet without Jill, but I lost a pound so whoo hoo.

Friday the new memory came for my computer, and once it was in things went fairly smoothly. I spent the rest of the day reinstalling all the software I needed on the thing. Week over!

Noooooooo. On my way home my car started having some shifting issues, so it goes into the shop tomorrow where hopefully they can fix it the same day (pretty please!). In the meantime I'm driving a Chevy Cobalt...weird little car.

And in happier news, I had lunch with Connie and Will at Connie's favorite sushi place yesterday. It was pretty darned good too!

Fingers crossed that Tuesday has finally passed!

Sigh

Definitely a Tuesday.

Our receptionist Beverly is out sick again and I want her back! Yesterday Ardia managed to fubar her computer so the shipping program self destructed. This morning I've been fixing that, setting up pick ups, answering the phone and trying to get my work done. I was juggling pretty well until the obscene phone call...the 3 obscene phone calls. I'm not even going to repeat what he said, but it was more than "What are you wearing." Gene was at the desk when the 3rd one came through so he answered it and scared the creep off.

My Hero!

Then Kerry from the shelter e-mailed to say she missed me, and not just in a volunteer capacity. That was nice. Then she sent me a picture of what she calls "orbs" and says if I zoom in on them I can see faces.

How do you tell someone it's just dust on their camera lens? She may be losing it.

Sigh. Tuesday Monster is in fine form today.

Game and Grill

So it was 11 when the first races were over and we had an hour before we were due to head to Pottstown for the Game and Grill at Adam and Andi's. After considering our options we decided to go with my joking suggestion of heading back to my place to pick up the "Beast" hat I'd made for Jill but forgotten.

Did I mention Don has a convertible? Top down and we headed back to North Wales for the hat. At my laughter when he locked the doors and set the alarm on the topless car, Don explained that his car's security system actually cuts off the engine unless it is started with the key. Okay, admittedly it makes sense. After my disclaimer about the chaos of my apartment (oh it was bad) we wrangled 2 hats (Beast and ball cap for me) and I dropped off my Nikkon since I'd finished the roll of film I was working on. Back in the car and on the road.

Beautiful day, beautiful drive, good music and great conversation. I had two sets of directions to the house: Andi's and Mapquest, I figured my bases were covered. Well, we did good until we got off 422. We tested the turning radius of the Audi a few times, cobbled together a direction hybrid, and did end up calling the house for a little help..hilarity ensued.

We ended up on Charlotte, which according to the directions we were to follow until it curved around past an abandoned building and then it would be Cherry, the street they live on. So we followed Charlotte around a curve and past an abandoned Rickles, but were still on Charlotte. We turned around and headed back into town and I called Andi, who passed me to Adam, who passed me back to Andi, who got something in her eye and passed me back to Adam. We finally figured out where we were, and he told us to go through the light, down two blocks and turn onto Cherry. We went through the light, down two blocks, and turned onto...South. So around the block we go, past South to where the road ends and on to Cherry where we park and see Dan. I'm still a little foggy on where the abandoned building was, but I have to say there was a lot of laughing in getting to the house.

Once hellos were said and games were situated I headed to the back yard to present Jill with her hat. She was living up to her title and kicking butt at a game involving movie titles. She also pointed out I was quite red in the chest. In fact, you can clearly see where the seat belt was. Moisturizer saved my face, Don was not so fortunate.

Andi was at the grill and after they finished the game lunch was ready. Very yummy all agreed. Don even tried my chocolate pumpkin muffins (which you can't taste the pumpkin in, no worries) and decided they were pretty good.

After munching away we moved on to playing a game Jill had found at the thrift store. Dan was the beast of that game and as such received the hat. An attempt was made at Dork Tower but we were thwarted by the wind. We then moved inside to play a Citadels.

Citadels is an interesting game where you choose a character each round and build districts. You have a choice of king, assassin, thief, merchant, bishop, warlord, and architect with each having their own abilities. The assassin goes first and chooses someone to kill, but as you don't know who is who until their turn the assassin is guessing about which player they took out. Jill killed me 3 times in a row. The third time I just went up to the bathroom muttering "if you didn't want me to play you could have just said something..." Trying to turn the tables I took assassin but ended up killing Don's architect. Her response?

Ah well. I honestly don't remember if Don, Rick or Dan was the beast of that game, as we got caught up in stretching and talking about playing Arkham Horror. Besides, Brianna (I think) had taken possession of the hat and looked much too cute in it to snatch it away. Plus she seemed to need any extra edge it might have given her to beat Adam at Fairy Tale.

Since we were waiting on more folks for that we decided to venture outside for a new game.

Rick wanted to play Bonanza, otherwise known as The Bean Game and the reason Jill is "The Beast" so we prepared to plant. Always a fun game of trading and selling, the surprise beast was Don, who was a great sport about taking the hat.

.

I attempted to shift the hat back to Jill with a game of Set, but Don caught on quickly and won. To insure a Jill victory I said, "Watch this" and dealt the deck as Jill annihilated us and took back the hat. Don wanted a rematch with her dealing once again and this resulted in his having the hat again (I think he just liked the hat).

After set Don, Jill and I played Timbuktu. I must admit that he looked ready to go on safari with the hat on, not across the desert! So now we played a game where you loaded up your camels with pepper, salt, coffee, water and gold then try to get across the desert with the most profitable goods (price being determined by how much makes it into Timbuku). It was fun, though I think had I been a little less sunburnt and a little more awake I wouldn't have faired quite as poorly. Don kept the hat.

As it neared on 9 o'clock we decided to head back home. The trip back was less eventful than the trip up, and a good bit quieter. Don was getting a migraine and I was just tired (and didn't want to make it worse by babbling). This resulted in him doing a lot of talking, which I found funny. Soon we were back in Philly, and I was in the car and headed home...where I passed out.

And did I win, you ask? Why no, not a single game, and that was just fine with me. I like games for the fun, I'm generally not that competitive.

Generally.

On the Water Front

Saturday was beautiful. It was sunny but not hot, and the temp was due to head to 70 by the afternoon. In other words, the perfect morning to wander Kelly Drive and take pictures of the Penn crew team row against Princeton.





I got to Don's about 8:30 and we loaded my goodies for the Game and Grill into his car then headed toward the river. We spent 2 hours taking pictures of the event and various flora and fauna we found along the way. Don spotted a duck in her nest, I got some nice shots of back lit mausoleums and we both enjoyed the blossoming Japanese cherry trees.




You'll have to stay tuned for the actual event shots...

Bingo Beast

Jill is a game beast, we know this. I did not realize she had branched out from board games to become a bingo beast as well.

Friday was the 4th annual Ambler Catholic Elementary Basket Bingo fund raiser. Jill, Julia, Bev and I met at chez Wentzel and wandered toward the church with healthy snacks in tow. Bingo seemed to go faster this year, rumor had it we needed to be out by 10 so they were moving things along.

When we realized they had a pie server we knew Jill would be winning that game. She already owns one she didn't want, so of course the universe would saddle her with two. We were right, she won it. Time went on and lo and behold I had covered 4 corners and yelled "Bingo!"...and so did Jill. The two of us wandered up to cut for high card, and she came out on top so then became the proud owner of a cracker basket filled with votives. I got a deadly pair of crafting scissors which I have to say have come in more useful than the basket would have, so all good. And of course people thought we were sisters-at least I wasn't asked if I was her mom...again.

Now Jill had the fever. Toward the end of the evening Jill was lamenting that she'd only won twice and hoped she had better luck at the Game and Grill on Saturday. I told her I'd pray for her...too funny. Julia won a lovely basket with tea cups but sadly Bev was empty handed. We made Jill carry all her winnings home.

All in all, it was a very fun night for a great cause. And it kicked off a very fun weekend.

Blood and Booze

Hm...Friday fun started with my 3 month check up with Dr. Sundermeyer my hematologist. He's the one who looks like a cuter Carter from ER. After showing me pictures of his new puppy we settled in to talk about me. Everything is going as planned. I'll see him again in July to go over CAT scan, echo cardiogram and ultrasound results and if everything is back to where is should be I'll be off the blood thinners. Then I have more blood taken for some tests that can't be done while I'm on meds and we will know for sure that there isn't a genetic component to the blood clot from hell. All good.

This took about 15 minutes. The following half hour was chit chat. We talked about him taking the dog to Missouri to see his parents, he wanted to know how life was outside if health stuff so we talked about my trip to Italy to see Bear. He asked if it was a "romantic rendezvous," I laughed and said no. I got the clearance to drink on Cinco de Mayo as long as I promised not to fall down, then he started telling me I was old.

Yes, he exclaimed "Your going to be 33 this year?! Wow, your getting old!" That was lovely. I fired back with 33 wasn't old, and after some good natured back and forth he confessed he'd be 33 four month before I was...yes I gave him hell.

So, I'm healthy, there is less of me than there was 3 months ago and I'm cleared for tequila. Life is good!

Leading By Example

It's been a serious few days, hasn't it?

The governor of NJ is in an accident and in critical condition. Now we learn he was not wearing his seat belt and the vehicle was going around 90 miles an hour when the accident happened. I am choosing to believe he is trying to be an example of why seat belts are important and why we should obey posted speed limits.

Then there was the Virginia Tech...massacre. There really isn't another word to describe it. My heart goes out to those who lost loved ones, and I find no fault with the school or the police. Who could have foreseen that something they thought was a domestic violence incident would blossom into this? Though now it turns out a professor of the shooter had been disturbed by some of his writing and brought it to the attention of the school and the counseling center, but current law leaves hands tied until there is an action or direct threat by the author.

We've altered stalking laws, perhaps the good that can come out of this is to amend immanent harm. But then the 1st amendment is in danger...no good answers, and a lot of bad ones. The NRA spokesperson who insisted if there was someone carrying a licensed concealed weapon they could have taken out the shooter before more people got hurt was, to say the least, insensitive.

Global warming and human incomprehensibility...spring is here

Adventure!

So Friday I was going to have coffee with Lydia, but Ralph surprised her with an evening out so we postponed. Then Jill wanted to go shopping...but ended up heading out of town with Dan so we postponed. This seemed like the universe telling me to do a Friday errand I had been putting off, so I did.

I drove down Main Street in Norristown, found a pawn shop and hocked my wedding and engagement rings! I feel this was a fitting epitaph to a short marriage. And it's a great story...

I walked into the lottery/jewelry/betting shop (and shoe repair for all I know) and went to the little jewelry counter where the clerk was putting on her lipstick in the mirror behind the display. She greeted me from the mirror, finished applying her makeup then apologized for the odd greeting-she didn't want to turn around with one lip done. Fine by me.

I presented her with my rings, she let me know they could only give me a price for the gold and I was fine with that since I'd already learned that no one around really buys diamonds (and I don't think these were particularly good grade anyhow). She gave me a price and said she knew I'd paid more originally, which I countered with "I didn't pay anything!" We had a laugh at that one and she asked how long I'd been married, then, if I didn't mind her asking, what happened.

I told her my ex just had another life he wanted and that didn't include me, you can't make someone stay if they don't want to. She gave this some thought, then said it was the best advice she'd heard. She was in the middle of a divorce herself, in fact the guy who had wandered over a few minutes before was her husband. They are trying to stay friendly as they have a house and car together and need to get that settled. I told her the only things I know about divorce:

1) Someone has to be the crazy one, don't let it be you.
2) Handle things with all the grace you can, the universe does payback much better than we do.
3) Some things weren't meant to be, but that just means better things are ahead.

We wished each other luck and I headed on my merry way...I got about 15 minutes away when I realized I forgot my driver's license! So back I went. She was relieved to see me, and her husband was back. I just shook my head...been there!

And what did I do with the money you ask? Why, I went shopping!

9th Level of Hell

It's 2:30 AM

I can't sleep

The jerk upstairs is singing along to Kenny Chesney's "She Thinks my Tractor's Sexy"

Please shoot me

Signs Point to Yes

So this was my April romantic horoscope:

"The 1st, when it comes to romance, you need to open up and let it all out. Yep, that's right -- talk, talk, talk, talk about it. Then talk about it some more. Talk to your friends. Talk to your siblings. Talk to your cousins. Talk to your second cousins. Talk to your therapist. Talk to an energy healer. Talk to your great-uncle Bob. And after you're done talking to all those folks, you could even consider talking to the object of your affections. Wow! Some very interesting insights could come out of this month's communications. The 4th and 5th, you get analytical. You analyze this, you analyze that. Don't forget to take a look at how you really feel as analyze all those emotions! The 11th and 12th, you could be talked out. If you're tired, take some quiet time alone. The 17th and 18th, you're ready to take another shot at this whole romance thing. Has your aim improved? The 22nd, you've identified a little problem with your romantic approach (Has talking about it so much made you realize you really shouldn't go for folks who are emotionally unavailable?). The 27th, give the whole thing another think-through and see if you can't find a way to make a change."

Interesting

Wooo...

...Hoo! WW last night was a happy surprise, I lost 2 lbs! I am very excited because this makes me 3 scant pounds away from losing an even 20. Now my obsessive desire for round numbers is kicking in and I'm wondering if I can do it this week. It would be oh so cool.

Stay tuned!

Rewards

So to reward myself for finally losing those damn 15 lbs (the first in a long line of them) I decided to go shopping. Specifically I wanted a new bra. Connie was also in the market, so we decided to make a night of it.

Last night we started at Soma where the sweet sales girl informed us that they have the most comfortable bras...sadly I did not agree. I found a few that would work in a pinch, but truly I was not that desperate. Connie found a few items to try on so I wandered the store while she was in the changing room. Of course I found something. I'm calling it the "diet shirt" because it is a wrap around top, adjustable to my changing size. Wheee! Connie found a cute shirt and some odds and ends, then we wandered toward Iron Hill for dinner.

Now since we were shopping, and we were walking right by J. Jill I couldn't very well just go by without popping in. I found a nice, casual, cotton sweater on their sale rack for $19.99. Not too shabby. Then, finally, on to dinner. A nice night I must say.

Sigh

I spent last night being sad.

I went out looking for something to put Drew's comics in. I finally found something simple, but appropriate. And I found a little carving that seems to express my mood about perfectly.

Then I went home reread the last few books, had it really been that long since he'd published? Then in my morbid mood I braved "The Letters". I think that's the first time I cried about this. I ran through the "I shouldas", was a little ticked that he didn't take better care of himself...and then figured he'd probably have liked that he went out while still drawing instead of just fading away, at least professionally. But then I thought about Mary, how he wouldn't be there for her prom or to walk her down the isle...

I rarely get the urge for a cigarette these days, but damn if I didn't want one last night.

Enabling

Alaska...The definition of enabling! This morning there was an interview with Sen. Ted Stevens on NPR. Among other things he was talking about climate change and how it was affecting Alaska. He supports a change in car manufacturing to make them more efficient and a change in energy consumption because the lower 48 are causing all this climate change that's affecting his state (since Alaska only has like 2 roads and 5 people he doesn't feel they are really contributing).

Now here's the fun part: He doesn't, however, feel Alaska should stop pushing into the protected lands in search of oil because this has no bearing on the problem. Energy consumption is the evil, not drilling for the stuff that makes the energy possible.

So let me get this straight, if this were, say, heroine instead of oil then it would be okay to raise poppies for the express purpose of making heroine, though heroine itself is bad. Makes perfect sense, so why don't we let the farmers in Afghanistan do it?

I understand that natural resource development is the base of the Alaskan economy, and that he has a responsibility to his constituents to protect their interests, but for crying out loud this is a really dumb argument. It's right up there with, "I knew he was a homicidal maniac and I sold him the gun, but I didn't tell him to use it."

Good Grief.

Not Dead Yet!

Just busy! Spring has sprung and that means the spring musicals are in high gear, so work has been a wee bit nutty. Here's the life recap:

• John...long story
• Tom...long story but I did finally ask about that weird stuff on his bathroom walls that looks like someone surprised him while he was peeing...I assumed it was condensation picking up nicotine stains from a previous apartment occupant...turns out it's been there since he moved in a few years ago and he's never tried to clean it. This prompts the question: Does he in fact clean?
• Work...breads are out the door! Now we are finishing up Garfield's new t-shirts.
• Easter...Bill came over for dinner then he, Monie and I went to see Grind House. I think Monie is in love with Zoe Bell.
• Zoe...(not Bell) turned a whopping 6 on Saturday!
• Me...tired but good, if a bit confused by life in general. I have decided to let my dating life descend into chaos if it does so choose, for right now I've not a mind to correct it. I have more fun with my friends anyway!
• Gaming...spent last Friday night with Jill, Dan and Don playing Order of the Stick. I think they have convinced Don to come to the game and grill...that should be interesting.
• Shopping...I scored a Liz Claiborne purse at the thrift store yesterday!
• Dieting...finally broke that 15 lb mark! In celebration I shall buy new bras. I've decided to reward weight loss with shopping.

And that, I think, should bring y'all up to speed!

I wonder...

The state of Delaware is moving to make blowing through tolls without paying a felony for repeat offenders. Tally up over $1000 in fines and you are charged with "Felony Theft of Services."

So if a prostitute gets raped in Nevada (where prostitution is legal) does that mean that the assailant can be charged with assault and felony theft of services? I think it should...of course, I also think he should have his privates ripped off, but that's me.

Easter Musings

For a while now I've disliked the Easter holiday. I've chalked it up to it being the last holiday my parents were in the state and my guilt over not joining them for dinner. Little did I know they'd be moving west before Thanksgiving. But as I pondered the season yesterday I started wondering why I don't feel that way about the other holidays, and then I realized: Easter is the only holiday my friends and I don't have some sort of celebration.

I usually do the Christmas party, Monie hosts "Friendsgiving", Jill and Dan have Halloween and, in recent years, New Years. There is the Irish bar for Cinco de Mayo and the Mexican one for St. Patty's Day. But nothing for Easter. I am very lucky to be adopted by different friends and their families for the holidays, which is just wonderful, but I usually have a little pang of sadness because I'm not with my mom and dad. Easter has become the holiday I am most likely to just stay home, and I wonder if it's not because it seems to be the most family oriented day for us.

As I think on it, not all of us celebrate Easter, and I honestly have never heard of an Easter party and don't feel we need to start one, so the lack of fan fare makes perfect sense. Looking back on the past few Easters it's actually quite amusing. For one I was in Hawaii with Bear. We had breakfast at BK, climbed Diamond Head then had dinner at TGI Fridays. For another it was McDonalds with Monie. And last year was with Brad's odd family. So there are always Easter stories at least.

Spam Spam Spam Spam

Saturday was the long awaited Spamalot outing. It began as my mea culpa for missing the Brian Setser concert with Don...nothing says "sorry" like dancing knights and attack rabbits.

The evening started out with me being early for a change. I picked Don up and we headed to dinner at Mixto. Once again he was subjected to my questionable parallel parking skills, but it only took 2 tries this time, so whoo hoo. It was a 2 hour only unmetered spot so we worked out that since we could walk from the restaurant to the theater it would actually be cheaper to spin the wheel of fate and chance the parking ticket than to park at the Kimmel.

I am happy to report that Don no longer laughs at me when I walk, so the short stroll to Mixto only had conversation related snickering. I told him the story about the man who held up a Linens and Things only to be thwarted because his girlfriend dropped her pet duck coming out of the pet store next door. There are so many things wrong with that story, but I digress.

Dinner was good and on the less expensive side which is always a plus. Don ordered the octopus salad which actually looked good as opposed to just "interesting" and the tuna medallions. I had the Chicken Limon which was quite tasty. Both had plantains which are so much fun. And though I was attacked by a carrot at one point, Don managed to fling part of a fried plantain so there was no finger pointing.

After a lovely dinner of catching up, talking a bit of politics and harassing me about my late introduction to the Beatles we had an hour to noodle around before the show. Don's office is moving to Broad and Chestnut this summer, so we walked up that way to see if we could guess which building it was and figure out where he could go for lunch. Between the Borders, the FYE and the restaurants in the area I think he'll be fine. We then wandered past the Academy of Music and down to the Kimmel Center. After showing off my stair prowess we discovered that the show was at the Academy, never mind the tickets with Kimmel Center printed all over them. We arrived shortly after the doors opened so there wasn't much waiting in line.

I'd deliberately nixed tickets in the "family circle" because I wanted to avoid children, but Don still ended up with a little girl next to him. To be honest, I don't know what the parents were thinking. The show was definitely not for kids, between language and lewd gestures it was a little raunchy, and I have to wonder what the girl got out of it. Most of it should have gone over her head.

But the show was fun, even the playbill was humorous. I'd mentioned that we made the shield for Sir Lancelot so that got me a nudge when it came on stage. Intermission came dangerously close to nap time for Don, though he managed to stay awake with the promise of more show girls in the second act. Well, they weren't really girls...but it definitely woke him up. Who knew Lance was gay? Of course I loved the attack rabbit, and they did the Black Knight beautifully. After the curtain call there was even a sing along (follow the bouncing Grail) for Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. Very fun, and then it was time to take a sleepy Don home. During the walk back to the car we went back and forth about whether or not Lancelot really had been gay, but agreed that Sir Robin certainly could have been. Sometime later this week we will decide on if we have Easter plans or not.

Oh, and the parking? No ticket baby!

Irony...

...Or perhaps cosmic humor, is getting the T-shirt you've had on back order that proclaims "Drew Lives" a little more than a week after he's died.

He'd love that.