Nevermind the lottery--I'll take the free bagel

Every morning, one of the building's cleaning crew comes in to dust and vacuum in the museum. Normally, it's a nice lady named Marta, who is prompt and thorough. Once I've opened the doors for her, and turned on the lights, I normally go across the street to Au Bon Pain to get my breakfast. I usually get an everything bagel with plain cream cheese, and sometimes a cup of coffee. ABP has a stamp card for coffee, and today was my free coffee day.
Now, I don't know how long they've had their stamp card, but it's got to be at least a year. So you'd think that they'd be used to ringing up free coffees. Every time I use my free coffee card, though, I always end up paying something different. It's the strangest thing. Today, the guy at the register got so frustrated that he gave me my bagel for free. I figure it's the universe making up for the fact that my Powerball ticket was a loser. I love karma that gives me free food!

29 plus one

Happy Birthday to me, and every other March baby I know, which is many. We are legion.

Adam and I had a fun weekend. On Saturday, I was going to do our taxes, but ran into a roadblock in the form of my desktop 'puter. It works great until you want to use any program written after 1999. Irs.gov wouldn't load up the PDF files because my Adobe was too old, but I can't download a newer version because my o.s. is too old. And then, adding insult to injury, my printer drivers freaked out, which meant that none of the computers could print. Adam's ancient laser jet died a while back, and the ink jet was routed through my computer, which we could have changed, but we decided that we should go to the library and get paper copies of the tax forms instead. Which evolved into a long series of errands including:

1. Home Depot, so we could get supplies for the next step in the Great Dining Room Redecoration.
2. Office Max, to look at new laser printers.
3. PetSmart, so we could look at a new walking harness for Arrow, to curb the pulling habit.
4. Target, so we could get toothpaste for Adam and various other things.

That's the order they happened in, too, which was good because it meant that by Target, I was tired of shopping and content to leave with only the 5 things we actually meant to buy. Otherwise, I'll spend 2 hours finding 14 more things that I really didn't need. I'm sure you're familiar with the phenomenon.

At Office Max, we found a major deal on a new printer. A $150 instant rebate on an HP network color laser jet. Super cool! We hadn't meant to spend a lot of money, but when you see exactly what you want for a lot of money off in a rebate that ends that day, it's a sign from God. Which meant, of course, that we've been able to print off tax forms. Which means, of course, that we've had aching heads ever since. In the best tradition of post hoc ergo propter hoc, that printer is nothing but a headache!

If Adam Dies I Will Marry Anyone Who Can Keep Up With The Dog

Adam had a work dinner last night, which both of us thought would get him home around 7pm or so. Boy howdy, were we wrong.

I got home at about 5:30, and took Arrow on a long walk until about 7pm. I thought that would be enough to work off some of his energy, but when we got into the mud room at home and I took his leash off, he went totally crazy. I thought he was going to break my knees. So, I let him out the back door, and he took off like his tail was on fire.

See, the stupid mutt still has stitches. He's supposed to say quiet. He's not supposed to do anything strenuous. And if you think that's going to happen, you're crazier than he is.

By the time Adam got home at 9pm, I was drowning my sorrows in whiskey and The West Wing, and Arrow was on his second two hour time span outside. Sometimes I think he annoys me just so I'll kick him out of the house. Thankfully, he settled down when we went to bed, otherwise, he might have spent the night on the back steps.

Oh, and Mom, I think he ate all of the clematis plants. Dumb mutt!

What Today Means

29 years ago today, C. Karbo was one day old.

One year ago today, the shootings at Red Lake High School. A moment of silence at 2pm.

Every year today, the first day of Spring. Gardeners rejoice!

This year today, Arrow is at the vet to be neutered and micro-chipped. He had to fast last night, which was not a fun process. Adam ended up kicking him out of the house for most of the evening. We were watching The Day After Tomorrow (which is a dumb movie) and making corned beef and cabbage. Arrow has lost all of his little fangs, now, and his molars are still growing in, so the chewing everything to bits continues. It's easier to let him go outside and chew on sticks than try to keep enough toys around for him to chew on inside. Thank God for the fenced yard!

Mel's Birthday Observed

Who: You and anyone you bring.

When: Saturday March 25, 9pm

Where: Nye's, of course!

I was going to write a little paragraph here about how we're going to have fun and everyone should come, and then I thought, It's my birthday. You don't need any more reason! Woohoo!

Please note that gifts are not expected, but gift cards to Barnes & Noble and Home Depot are always deeply appreciated.

The Word a Day Calendar says

It's St Patrick's Day! If anyone wants to drink whiskey in celebration, call me up.

It's 10 days before my birthday! Kudos to my brother and sis-in-law for being the first to send a present: The New York City Ballet Workout. Perfect for teaching me lots of stretches I can do at work. Anyone else looking for gift ideas?

It's Friday! If anyone wants to drink whiskey in celebration, call me up.

Tuesday Peeves

1. People who can't understand the concept of shoveling the sidewalk. How freakin' hard is it??

2. People who can't understand the concept of moving towards the nearest exit on the bus. Yes, you stupid dumb, there are two!!

And one from yesterday: People who charge you $2 for a cup of coffee, and then only fill it 2/3 full. Aaargh!!

Picture Page!

Some fuzzy pix of Adam's 30 gallon tank, in the living room:

Some fuzzy pix of the new 55 gallon in the basement:

Some pix of taking down the wallpaper in the dining room:

Some pix of Destructo Dog:

In like a what?

Holy moly--I can't believe it's already March. Cowboy vs Samurai closed yesterday, with a good crowd and an easy strike afterwards. Rick Shiomi, the artistic director of Mu Productions, then treated us to a feast at Peking Garden. It was huge and yummy and a really nice way to end the day.

I came home to see that Adam had started taking the wallpaper down in the dining room. He thinks that it will be a much easier task than stripping the woodwork. From his mouth to God's ear! That will be the main task for this week. The process so far goes like this: Tear off a big piece of wallpaper, then steam off the under-layer of paper and glue using the steamer we got for Christmas from Mom and Dad Thorne (Thanks!! I can't wait to take the rugs outside this summer and steam them all. Yay!). There might be some light sanding after that, but we'll have to see.

I just got the rehearsal schedule for Midsummer Night's Dream, which starts April 11th. So, if you've been dying for a long phone conversation with me, I recommend that you call before then.

I was just looking at the puppy pix on the blog and realizing how out of date they are. One more thing to add to the To Do list......