New Shelves & Canisters

Originally uploaded by snarkwife

It can’t be Sunday evening already…but, can I tell you how incredible our pantry looks? Right now, it’s a little Stepford Wifey in terms of neatness and order, but I bet you ten bucks we can keep it looking nice for at least a couple of weeks.

We took out the old junky shelving, repainted, installed a new light fixture…put up new shelves, rearranged everything, threw out 10-year old spices (you read right) and added a spiffy new rug. The spot beneath where the spices are…we haven’t decided if we want to put a wine fridge in that spot, or just a wine rack…or what. We’re also adding a new door - something more pantry-ish, but haven’t decided which one and it’ll take a couple of weeks to come in.

Now we can cross the pantry off our To Do list. Next up…hardware for the kitchen cabinets!

Hey…guess whose old domain has pictures of half-naked women?

That’s right…mine does. Nothing interesting happens if you click the links, though. It’s just a search engine/traffic generator.

Want to know what I lovedlovedloved about last night’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy? Medical cases! Oodles of them! Remember back in Season Two, when we had fantastic storylines such as The Great Train Wreck and The Quints and Teen Hermaphrodites? Yeah I know, it’s a bit of a stretch for me too, since last season didn’t teach us much about medicine except you can stop a brain from hemorraghing on a ferry using nothing more than a drill from Home Depot, a dirty work shirt and a phone line with two attendings and a chief of surgery.

Having said that, it was FANTASTIC to see the show’s momentum back on the upswing with detached spines and detached arms and detached emotions, but VERY WEIRD to see Alex, Meredith, Cristina and Izzie as residents; as in, honest-to-God surgical doctors who have to teach other people. I loved how each of them channeled their inner Bailey and implemented her management techniques in his or her own unique way. And, Izzie brought a deer back to life! She couldn’t save Denny, but she could save Bambi…and I mean that in a completely non-George sort of way. Nothing can save George at this point.

Other than that, I won’t even address the George/Izzie storyline. You all know I loathe the two of them together, apart, whatever. They’re really sloppy and risky and gee, do you think someone’s going to find out about them soon? Me too. Seriously, I’m not going to address it..except the part about how the show undid 57 minutes of cheering and giggling and clapping with one sentence out of George’s mouth at the end of the show.

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So, have I updated all of you on my marketing class lately? I don’t think so…so here are the highlights in a nutshell.

• One of my teammates sent me an email, telling me she didn’t like my “tone” and I was too “harsh” when I chastised her for completely failing to show up for a scheduled meeting. By the way, she’s the meeting leader.
• It should be permissible to refuse to give someone an MBA because he or she overuses the words AWESOME and HILARIOUS and ends every statement with multiple!!! exclamation!!! marks!!!
• Influence is a wonderful thing…and I’m discovering I have a lot of it.
• When you tell people you want to get an “A” on the project, they assume you’ll do all of the work and they won’t have to do anything except enjoy the ride. Oh, the AWESOME HILARITY when they find out that isn’t the case.
• My quiz wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be - I actually think I overstudied for it. We’ll find out in a couple of days.

One of this week’s “learning objectives” was the concept of social proof. Here’s the Wikipedia definition:

Social proof, also known as informational social influence, is a psychological phenomenon that occurs in ambiguous social situations when people are unable to determine the appropriate mode of behavior. Making the assumption that surrounding people possess more knowledge about the situation, they will deem the behavior of others as appropriate or better informed.

I know for me when I was a little girl, I had training wheels on my bicycle and nothing my parents did could get me to take them off. We moved to another city, and I noticed I was the only 6-year old who had training wheels on her bike. They were off by the end of the day, as I realized it was time for me to be a big kid like all the others.

Another example…several years ago, CU and I were driving down a busy street near our home and saw a dog wandering in the middle of the road. We stopped our car and went to try to get the dog, but everyone kept speeding around us. Eventually, a second car stopped to help. Once that second car stopped, we were amazed at how everyone else fell in line to try to help out this dog.

I asked this question on my class discussion board, but ya’ll are more fun…so, what sorts of examples of social proof have you witnessed - or found yourself part of? I always like to think of being back in high school, when if one friend was mad at you, it wasn’t a big deal. If two were though, all of a sudden the whole gang joined in and didn’t talk to you for two days.

Don’t worry…I’ll eventually get around to blogging about TV last night.

Appetizer
How are you today?

Fine, and you?

Soup
Name 3 television shows you watch on a regular basis.

Grey’s Anatomy
ER
Dancing With the Stars

Salad
What’s the scariest weather situation you’ve experienced?

When that psuedo-hurricane came through the Dallas area. I was petrified.

Main Course
If you could wake up tomorrow morning in another country, where would you want to be?

Aruba

Dessert
What do you usually wear to sleep?

A t-shirt and jammie bottoms

November 14th! Sweet!

At Jon’s prodding, I watched last night’s episode of Kid Nation at lunch. Whereas last week I thought it was “compelling,” this week I think it’s silly…and contrived…and so obviously produced. The producers have chosen, literally, The Most Perfect Children on Earth, because your “average” American kid wouldn’t give $20k they earnestly earned to their parents, unless their parents owed money to the mob or something. Or perhaps, their parents don’t have health insurance and as such, they have to pay full retail price for prescription Chantix. What kind of weirdo marketing strategy is that? An anti-smoking drug ad during Kid Nation?

Plus, I suspect most of these children are bio-medically engineered robots, because after listening to them complain about how cold they were, they got all excited at the thought of a waterslide in the middle of HannahMontana City. But, it’s heated! It’s much-needed entertainment! It’s 14 degrees outside! It would be fricketyfracking FREEZING when they got out of it, and their clothes would likely permanently mold to them the same way their laundry did in that pail! But DUDE, it’s so COOL!

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Watching:
Survivor: China (okay, not a premiere but I’m still watching)
Grey’s Anatomy
ER

Recording:
My Name is Earl
The Office
Big Shots

Skipping:
Ugly Betty
CSI

Josie went home…as predicted. Private Practice was unbearable…as expected.

We did watch Dirty Sexy Money last night and, you know what? I liked it. CU liked it. We enjoy the Darling family (Is Chuck the black sheep?) and their Kennedy/Hilton family tendencies, and I just love Peter Krause. I’ve been a fan since Sports Night. Nick George and the darlings are just that perfect juxtaposition of good versus…well, not evil necessarily, but seriously effed up.

Intrigue abounds…why does Karen have so many failed marriages? Sure, she’s been in love with Nick since she was a little girl, but she’s obviously looking for love…and sadly, with men who only seem to be interested in her financial and professional connections. By the way, Daniel Cosgrove (Matt from Beverly Hills, 90210) as Freddy…the PGA player…hilarious.

Also hilarious? Nick’s assistant Daisy and her selection of ringtones for each member of the Darling brood…”Rich Girl” for Juliet, “Pretty Woman” for Karen and “Hallelujah” for Reverend “I hate you” Jeremy. And, congratulations to Blackberry, for further showing the world that the Crackberry can, indeed, ruin your life and the lives of those around you.

What else does the show have…tranny hookers (“She’s not a tranny hooker.” - Patrick), suspicious plane crashes, a decades-long affair, an illegitimate child…and wonderful, wonderful Jeremy Darling. Naming his Asian sister-in-law, “No Fun” was the high point of the evening. Wait, wait…I take that back. The high point of the evening was a really weird cameo by Dan Rather. Huh?

Watching:
Dancing With the Stars
Private Practice
Dirty Sexy Money

Recording:
America’s Next Top Model
Kid Nation
Kitchen Nightmares

Skipping:
Back to You
Bionic Woman
Life

Stolen from her.

Boo Hoo … Another Bachelor Bust-Up - TMZ.com

So in my Fafarazzi Dancing With the Stars Fantasy League, at the last minute I switched out Helio for Floyd. Big mistake. Big. Why can’t I simply trust my gut? I now know better, and also understand the rules of Fafa TV leagues a bit better.

Thoughts on last night’s beefcake-fest…

• Helio is perfect…even if I’m now sort-of forced to call him Jean Girard.
• Len wisely refrained from telling Wayne Newton he reminded Len of himself as a young man.
• CU and I are at odds with each other over who has the hotter girl crush - me with Edyta, and him with Julianne.
• Speaking of Edyta, YAY for finally geting a partner who is physically compatible with her.
• What is it with this show and all the invalids? Robo-Leg from last season, Old Man Cuban’s hip replacement, and then Cameron had some sort of disease as a child which left his legs in braces for several months? Where’s that girl with the webbed toes from The Bachelor on Monday? She’d fit right in.

The guys were just fantastic last night…even Floyd, once Karina executed her pout-and-leave-the-room act with standard precision, which always seems to melt her “jackassy” partners to a pool of ballroom goo. I don’t get that. Floyd has a lot of…spirit…he just needs to figure out how to dance. Funny thing, I think I said something similar about Emmitt Smith awhile back.

Going home tonight: Josie Moran. How do I know this? Well, when Tom Bergeron was talking about someone going home on the results show, the camera focused squarely on Ms. Moran’s face. Then, when earlier in the show Tom talked about the stress of the ladies and “someone may go home,” the camera cut to the ladies lined up in their chairs, with Jennie Garth reaching over Josie to grab Sabrina’s hand. It was so awkward, we had to back it up and watch again. You can see the exact moment when Josie mistakenly thinks all three ladies are going to join hands in solidarity but no, she quickly realizes her gaffe and puts her hands back in her lap. Ouch.

**Confidential to Samantha Harris: I need you to come back to the show. As much as I used to snark on you and your spokesmodel tendencies, I’m getting sick of hearing Drew Lachey compare all of his scores to this season’s scores thus far. His exchange with Cheryl Burke last night which ended with, “I think Wayne might be the best partner I’ve ever had,” made me want to throw a shoe at the TV. Please come back. You can even bring the baby. No one will mind.**

Capt. UberHusband summed up last night’s episode of The Bachelor with one sentence, in faux-response to Nanny McMallory’s request that Bachelor Brad take off his pants and come take a dip in her swimming pool of love:

I’d take off my pants, but then you’d see that I have no penis.

Yeah, I know the show is formulaic, but in it’s 123rd season I still find it terribly quaint that deluded men and women still think they can “find their soul mate (soulmate? soul-mate?)” in a Malibu mansion, surrounded by two dozen other women and a permanently open bar.

Hey, did you hear Andy & Tessa broke up?

Watching:
Dancing With the Stars
Boston Legal

Recording:
Cane
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Skipping:
Bones
House
The Unit
NCIS
The Biggest Loser

Well folks, I don’t really know what a Cheetah Girl is, but Miss Sabrina Bryan and her too-hot newcomer partner Mark Ballas were super-fierce last night! Damn you, America’s Next Top Model, why did you have to go and put the word “fierce” into my vocabulary?

As expected, Len, Carrie Ann and Bruno didn’t care for the hip-hop improv towards the end of their dance, but who cares? They had chemistry which reminds me of Julianne Hough & Apollo Anton Ohno - fun and young and powerful right out of the gate. Unless she does something stupid, is it possible for me to pick my favorite on the first night?

I’m-British-But-I-Have-Both-My-Legs Spice also started off strong last night, with perennial great parnter Maksim Chmerovokoskoskischlinowitski. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone that giggly, and all over the place. For some weird reason, I kept expecting her to pop out her best Nenah Cherry with, “Whot is she liiiiiike? Whot’s she like, anyway?”

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Watching:
Dancing with the Stars
The Bachelor

Recording:
Two and a Half Men
How I Met Your Mother
Chuck
Journeyman
Weeds

Skipping:
The Big Bang Theory
Prison Break
K-Ville
Heroes
Rules of Engagement
CSI: Miami

The Seasonal Changing of the Purse

Originally uploaded by snarkwife

So much all at once…..Summer officially became Fall this weekend, the new television season officially kicks off tonight (sorry, I don’t count Fox’s premieres last week)…and I switched out handbags. Buh-bye straw tote, see you next year.

Pay no attention to the fact that it’s still 90 degrees outside every day. Halloween candy is out, I can go get Christmas decorations at Hobby Lobby if the mood strikes and I wore winter jammies last night even though the overnight low was in the upper 60s.

I’m ready for things to switch up a bit…how about you?

WordPress 2.3 is coming Monday…

If we’re lucky, WP 2.3 will have a touch screen, will allow us to manage our music with something other than iTunes, and will be cheaper than $399.

Speaking of the iPhone, after unsuccessfully requesting my $100 Apple Store “early sucker adopter” credit, I had to drive over to the Apple Store at Willow Bend this week. I worked with a really nice manager named David Brown, who helped me with purchasing AppleCare for my MacBookPro (education discount, to boot) and then gave me the $100 credit at the store.

And in other news, my ops management class begins today. It’s small - only about 15 people, for which I am incredibly grateful. My marketing class has about 30 people in it, and you haven’t experienced true insanity until you’ve waded through 100+ threaded discussion messages on how the Segway could be marketed in a business-to-business sense internationally.

I also took my first marketing quiz yesterday, on six chapters our of our text and three chapters out of our supplementary text. We were also quizzed on specifics from the syllabus, which tested our knowledge on the seriousness of plagiarism. Seriously.

Not a whole lot going on around here this weekend. I cleaned the house yesterday, CU is doing his Saturday yard work thing…I think he has some work he needs to do, so I’ll probably finish up Part II of my marketing quiz (an essay) and then…who knows? We might go check out the Plano Balloon Festival later, since we were treated to a pre-show this morning on our way back from Starbucks.

What’s up with all of you this weekend?

First off, I think I should get 50 bonus points for having the person voted off first on my Fafarazzi fantasy Survivor: China team (don’t click if you don’t want to know who it was). I mean, seriously. I have this knack of tagging people I think will just be fantastic in the game…and then watching them get voted off 40 minutes later. That probably explains why I have a team of nitwits for my marketing project…my Lamedar must need a tune-up.

You always know it will be a good season though, when you can remember names and faces of more than three people after the first episode. Originally I liked Chicken, because he seemed like one of those perennial “old guys” who fly under the radar and impart wisdom where necessary, inspiring the younguns with his wit and zest for life. Boy, was I off the mark with that one. My prospective hero morphed into a passive-aggressive ass, which I suspect Peih-Gee would have liked to kick, had she not been so busy “bossing” the other ladies around.

CU brought up an interesting point last night, to which I replied, “Welcome to my genderrific world.” He noticed that when men take charge and exert some leadership, they’re respected for it. When women step up to that same podium though, they’re called “bossy” - and usually by other women. Yep. Two points for CU.

I was so disappointed Leslie’s team name, Fei Long, didn’t translate into “Chinese Non-Christian Team of Pagan Worshippers”, because think of all the drama that would have provided! Oh, the mental, spiritual and emotional hand-wringing! Jeepers…Probsty said upfront the initial ceremony wasn’t one of worship…why did she have to make it one? The producers aren’t trying to make you look like a hypocritical fool, lady. That doesn’t happen until episode two.

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Appetizer
What is your favorite type of art?

Um…music? Is that a “type” of art? Or is that more of a “genre”?

Soup
When was the last time you got a free lunch (or breakfast or dinner)? Who paid for it?

When we went to NC for our nephew Sam’s birthday, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law bought all the goodies for dinner, then cooked for us - that counts, right? It was free for us.

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how emotional are you?

8

Main Course
Approximately how long do you spend each day responding to emails?

Counting personal emails, work emails and now, school emails…a couple hours a day.

Dessert
To what temperature do you usually set your home’s thermostat?

Right now, it’s set to 76 during the day (8 AM - 10 PM) and then 71 overnight. We ran an experiment this summer to see if our $390 electric bill during the “heat of the summer” would go down if we upped the thermostat from 73 to 76 during the day and turned all the ceiling fans on. Granted, it wasn’t nearly as hot this year as it was last year, but our bill did go down $40.

I watched Kid Nation last night…and, it wasn’t that bad. It was compelling (drama over the macaroni!), and there were enough kids I liked to keep me coming back for at least another episode.

My one big issue is the word “kid” spans so many years…and it really did seem inappropriate to have 8-year olds and 15-year olds tackling the same challenges - emotional, physical, or whatever. Reminded me why I don’t like teenage boys. Take those bratty older boys and you have demon spawn who lives behind me.

My favorite so far is Taylor…she’s so cute and I like her moxie, even if she is a beauty queen. Plus, she has the most wonderfully awesome Georgia accent. I bet she’d know where to find the US on a map of the world.

It just keeps getting better over there at Fafarazzi!

It seems The Powers That Be over in TV land are heck-bent on only producing televisions shows based on places Capt. UberHusband has lived or affiliated with things he has done. For example, Over There, North Shore, Hawaii and Beach Patrol: Honolulu. I mean come on, he even gets The Andy Griffith Show!

Where’s the love for Snarkwife? All I have to my credit is a soap opera named after my college town and…Eight is Enough.

Once again, CU gets the non-short end of the stick as Fox has graced us with K-Ville, the story of a sleepy little burb in the aftermath of the Disaster All Y’all Ain’t Never Allowed To Forget. The premise is this: Marlin is a NOLA cop and, in the midst of Katrina beating the crap out of the city, Marlin’s partner Charlie gets scared and flees.

Cut to now, and the city is apparently policed by bad-asses and manly women. Call me spoiled, but if a department isn’t staffed by people like the gang from The Closer, I just have a hard time getting close to them, you know? Maybe New Orleans needs a nerdy Asian lieutenant in their ranks.

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Well, CU and I are done with vacation and are back to the “real world” of…ugh…work. The good news is having a full ten days off has actually re-energized me in terms of keeping all of the aspects of my life in balance - home, work and school. Hopefully that feeling of quasi-zen will last past lunchtime.

Now if I can just keep the snide co-worker comments I usually receive after coming back from vacation (why do people do that?) to a minimum, it should be a good day.

Fox kicks off the Fall TV season this week…are any of you watching the new shows? CU’s interested in at least previewing K-Ville, and I’m going to give Back to You a shot, even if Patricia Heaton does make me want to pull my toenails out.

Oh, and…

The phone’s sitting right next to my laptop as I’m writing this, so I’m sure I didn’t return it - and am now wondering if, in the rush to get this credit out the door, someone missed something in their query for eligible customers.

I’m actually very pleased with the $100 Apple Store credit offer. Some folks don’t care, or are otherwise annoyed, because we have to use the credit at the Apple Store (and you can’t use it for gift cards). That’s fine by me, though - as it will drop the cost of the AppleCare contract I planned to buy next week by a hundred bucks.

**Update** Apple emailed me back and said I received this error due to a bug which had been resolved, and to try again. I did, and received the same error message. Then, they told me to register my iPhone, which I did - and I received the same error message when attempting to register for the credit again. Waiting to hear back on what my next course of action will be.

Diamond Head & Waikiki

Originally uploaded by snarkwife

We get to start planning next year’s trip!

It’s all fun and games, until you have to go home

Originally uploaded by snarkwife

Our flight has been delayed…are we there yet?

Sunset

Originally uploaded by snarkwife

Sakes alive…I can’t believe tomorrow is our last day here! Honestly, this has easily been in the…top three vacations we’ve taken. You can always tell how good of a time I’m having by how many pictures I’ve taken. We went to several beaches, I actually swam out in the ocean more than five feet (a big deal for me, let me tell you) and we’re about to head back out to do some snorkeling. By this point in the day, I’m usually in the room watching Korean soap operas, waiting for meal time.

I’ve seen my fill of turtles, and am looking forward to our afternoon down in Waikiki before heading to the airport tomorrow evening. I still can’t believe Adelle’s coming in Thursday…the day after we leave! Oh, the fun we could have had if we could have just overlapped for one day!

I’m not too upset about heading home though, because I’m off work until next Monday. I know I say this every time I’m about to finish up a week in Hawaii, but I seriously need to implement Aloha Friday at Casa de Snark. At noon I kick on the Sirius radio to the Hawaiian channel, at 3:30 I leave work…it might sound strange, but I live in Texas. Allow me this one thing. Please. I beg of you.

Kawela Bay

Originally uploaded by snarkwife

We’re not coming back…

Don’t be too jealous, though…I have to get on a team chat in 33 minutes for my marketing project. That really bites.

Ever wonder what it’s like to vacation with Snarkwife and Capt. UberHusband? Do we eat at exotic restaurants every night?

Nah, we eat raw fish and fried foods. But, we eat all that with a really good bottle of wine. That’s what really counts.

You’ll have to excuse the quality…the video looks great until Photobucket works it’s magic during upload and then pixilates the bejeezers out of it.

Oops

Originally uploaded by snarkwife

I don’t know which is more disturbing…breaking this glass and totally disrupting our dinner, or eating fried chicken with chopsticks.

Sexy, no?

I’m up early again…and ready for the day to begin. You know, I don’t mind waking up at 4 AM if I can stay up until at least 9 PM, and we seem to be doing pretty well staying up that late.

Yesterday was a fantastic day…we did have breakfast at the Hukilau Cafe and were going to go back today, but the owner has family in town so it won’t be open today. That’s okay…I can get by on coffee, a muffin and my leftover scrambled eggs, fried rice and Portuguese sausage from yesterday morning. YUM!

We spent some time at the beach…saw Oceanic Flight 815, had lunch at Cholo’s and then came back to watch the sea turtles feed. I love watching the turtles. Seriously, it’s one of my top three things to do up here.

Oh, as a side note…I will never ever go on vacation when school is in session again. Long story short, half my team went MIA and 3/4 of my team forgot what their responsibilities were with our 1st deliverable…which is due today. Urgh. The last thing I was interested in doing was getting on my cell phone to call people and find out what the Hell was going on. Urgh.

Fortunately, this all went down right before my spa appointment and surprisingly, I was able to wind down enough to enjoy the experience. I really enjoy spa-ing. Want to know my favorite part? It wasn’t the sound of the waves crashing or the warmth of the sun streaming into the outdoor cabana. It wasn’t even the chilled orange water, although that was great. The steam room was blissful, but not my favorite part. Oh, no. My favorite part was when I had to sign a waiver, and initial the form indicating (among other things) my understanding that “Spa Luana does not provide massages of a sexual nature.” Really? Well geez, the why was I paying them all that money?

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I love going to Hawaii…it’s the only place where I can fall asleep at 9 PM and then wake up bright and early at 4 AM. It wasn’t as torturous to stay up that late this year. Last year I think we were literally dragging ourselves to bed about 7. I read somewhere the biggest cause of post-travel fatigue is dehydration, so we kept drinking water…lots of it. I think it worked.

Anyway, waking up to this news definitely put me in a more-relaxed mood. Good work, Steve. Now I just have to find Apple merchandise to purchase…hmm…iPod nano, anyone? CU just go this iPod video in February, and we will not be upgrading that anytime soon.

It’s 5:36 AM, and we’re waiting until the coffee kiosk opens at the Turtle Bay Resort so I can get some much needed caffeine. After that, we’re off to breakfast at the Hukilau Cafe. We need to take care of a few administrative tasks such as buying drinks and snacks, but then I plan to plop my happy ass on the beach in front of our building and read about consumer behavior, because I have a quiz in a week. Fan-tastic. Later this afternoon, I have an appointment for an outdoor massage…and then after that, we really don’t have any plans.

At some point (not Monday), CU and I are going to Fort Derussy to visit the Army Museum. Funny story…every time we’ve come here and have had the hankering to go to the Army Museum, it’s been a Monday. They’re closed on Monday. We said we can’t go visit other islands until we take care of that unfinished Derussy business. I’m thinking our “in town” day might be tomorrow.

Anyhoo, I’m off to wait for the sun to come up! Check out our pictures from the plane…I must say, the iPhone didn’t do too bad of a job.

I can not WAIT to get out of here. Our flight leaves at 12:45 PM, and we will be landing around 4 PM Hawaii time…or…ugh…9 PM Dallas time.

It’s going to be a long day. I half thought about live-blogging the “en route” travel experience a’la Jerkwad Steve Jobs with his “The beat goes on…and beats you down” special event, but we’ll have to see. After many hours of searching for a reliable moblog solution…I’m stuck. Worse comes to worse, I take a picture, email it to Flickr and then post to the blog from Flickr. Yeah, sounds kind of clunky to me, too.

Plus…who wants to see pictures of people who fly to Hawaii on Thursdays? All of the real action is on Sunday, when you get to watch awkward honeymooners.

Apple cuts 8GB iPhone price to $399 - Engadget

You know, this wouldn’t bother me so much had they waited a few more months, but the fact that I only got a month’s use before the price dropped…that just…hurts.

We were planning on buying an iMac but will probably wait now, as they’ll likely drop the price to $5.

The good news is, for all intents and purposes, we’re ready to head out on vacation. Since we’re staying someplace with a washer & dryer and aren’t landing until close to 4 PM tomorrow afternoon (5 hour time difference…ugh…), we’re going the carry-on route. We wouldn’t even bother if we weren’t flying First Class but since we’ll have the space…why not. The biggest challenge so far has been getting all of my necessities into a 1-quart baggie - or so I thought it would be. Turns out, I use less stuff than I thought - it’s Captain UberHusband who has all the foofoo shaving paraphernalia taking up valuable space.

I just need to complete a few more things…finish cleaning the house (I like to come home to a clean house), finish up the narrative for my marketing class’s team project prospectus, make a spa appointment for Friday…oh, and I have a pedicure appointment at 4. I’m still undecided on whether to go and get another round of Mystic Tan to “top off” my visit over the weekend. It’s pouring down rain right now, so I feel sort of strange about enhancing my tan.

Due to unforseen circumstances (stupidsoftwarerolloutdatechanged…ahem)…Mama Snark can’t come down and puppysit Poodle and Schnoozer…so they’re stuck in doggie jail for an entire week. Truth be told though, I think they get more attention in doggie jail than they do here at home.

When I went over to my next-door neighbor’s house last night to give her our contact info and a key to our house (that’s right folks, we’re serious), she told me again how I was the only normal person in our neighborhood. She said every married woman she’s run into has looked at her like she wants to steal their husband…except for me. That’s a good thing, right? I wanted to tell her I didn’t think she would steal my husband, but please don’t use that key to steal any of our stuff.

I’m guilty of being one of “those people” who likes to lump teenagers into one group - you know, the self-absorbed mutants who don’t care about anyone except themselves and possibly, a roughly 10-square foot radius around them. I sort of feel bad about that…after all, there are teenagers out there who are normal but for the most part, they’re just like we were when we were 17 or 18. I mean, I get that - but I also grew up in a time when adults weren’t completely enamored by everything we did and we didn’t assume everyone thought we were as amazing and wonderful as our parents did.

Having said that, I was getting my allergy shot this morning (I swear, my best stories come from that place) and the kid sitting next to me is all flipped out because he has a quiz in 20 minutes and he hasn’t studied for it at all. First off, why anyone would schedule an appointment for anything which only gives him or her a buffer of roughly -5 minutes given travel time and parking time is beyond me.

That aside, I ask the kid what his quiz is on. Turns out, it’s on 20 pages out of his American history book and omigod, that’s like an insane amount of studying to do. Uh yeah, it sure is when you have to shove it all into fifteen minutes. I told him I felt his pain, and that I have a quiz in ten days on one hundred and sixty pages out of this here marketing text, which I proudly held up for his viewing. I thought he might take the hint and realize that not everyone is interested in listening to him and I might, just perhaps, be interested in passing my own quiz. Wrong.

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