Car finally got reinspected, passed, hurray! Bit of an ordeal, more for L. than me today as when I found I couldn't get the inspection done this morning (computer still down), I took her car to work & left her mine to deal with. She did so admirably, even though presented with further complications by the hateful VIC.

Took celebratory drive in car to Brattleboro for sushi & bibim bap.

Happy birthday T., Peretz.

Went & fetched my now repaired car, took it to inspection center for retest, was told it would take 45 minutes to an hour, fifteen minutes later was told to come back tomorrow as the car needed to be retested on the same computer, that that computer was currently down awaiting a part & to call in the morning to see if it could be tested then.

Ugh.

Going to do some more work.

Happy Square Root Day.

Car's still not fixed, supposedly will be done around midday, drove L.'s car to work, assuming car is fixed by then, will return in afternoon to reacquire & reinspect.

Blech.

Should've had a bagel before leaving the house.

Working from home today, car's in shop, snowstorm. Mostly been slogging through VMware instructional materials. Last video I watched lost audio sync about a third of the way through & never got it back, pretty painful.

Supposedly car will be finished some time today, seems likely as not that it won't be in time to get it reinspected & I'll need to do that in the morning, ick.

Ick, ick, ick.

On the non-ick side of things had some more of delightful layer cake from New Orleans, yum, yum.

Muffaletta accomplished.

After L. got home, took her car to do weekend work, stopped & got requisite cold cuts & cheeses on the way home. Hurray.

Been having anxiety episode all day, hip, hip.

Trying to figure out how to get myself to work, ugh.

Had some beans & rice, tasty & filling.

Hate having a fucked up car.

Back from dinner with friends from out of town, had some lovely brisket & waffles, talked of the overwhelming monumentality of Gettysburg, played with cute baby who now enjoys gnawing on solid foods with a particular fondness for salty focaccia.

Fed & walked dogs.

Earlier spent some time reading a very under realized scifi novella titled either War on Venus or War of Venus depending on whether one chooses to believe the cover or the page headers. Generally both proofing & plotting quite slapdash. Gotta love Ace Doubles.

Going to settle into some more scotch & Dr. Who now. Comforts of home.

Not having heard back from my mechanic, walked to town to ask him what's up, turns out I hadn't heard from him because parts situation still a bit uncertain. Can probably be fixed on Monday.

After that went & got some 18 year old Talisker, Peretz & I are sipping some now in our smoking jackets toasting my long dead terrier of the same provenance. Pickles, meanwhile, already three sheets to the wind off that rotgut he hides under the couch, is playing golf in the next room, muttering to himself.

Went & talked with mechanic, still don't have a quote, but sounds like it can probably get fixed on Monday & will be comparable in cost to getting the rear struts replaced a while back.

Making some red beans & rice so I'll have tasty food to eat throughout the weekend.

Henry & Co. should be showing up around 7, am going to go out to eat with them at the usual place.

Quite the vibrant, sunny day, wish I felt a little more up for it.

Lots of sleep has left me less tired but still nervous about car. Going to go try to locate mechanic momentarily.

Not quite sure what to do with myself in dog-rattled, empty house.

Tired & useless, have been since I got home.

TV with dogs.

Oh dear, oh dear, car failed safety inspection, needs all sort of front suspension work, ugh.

Can't get an estimate from nearby friendly mechanic as he's off at the hospital awaiting a baby.

Drat.

Sipping some nice scotch, watching The Big Sleep. Pretty damn idyllic. Earlier I had a praline.

Was going to make a muffaletta sandwich, thought better of it, got take out Thai instead, sandwich later.

Despite how much of it I remember, always surprised by the quality of this movie's dialogue.

Have been deluged with edible gifts from New Orleans. Thanks, folks.

Did a number of onerous chores at work today, hate mucking about down in the real.

Can't quite figure out what to eat for dinner.

Got home, made some chard with bacon & onions to accompany cheesy pasta left over from yesterday. Walked the dog, sat around & watched some Doogie Howser with the wife.

Recharged, headed out to show despite crick in my neck. Talked about Austin BBQ with another tall guy just back from a conference there, talked to Cooper's mom about fancy scotch. Learned there's an Islay tasting in Northampton Saturday.

Faded pretty fast, here I am again.

While still alert, said to the tall guy, 'Reckon there's crawdaddies in that crick?'

Off to dreams of glorious violence.

Wonder if I'll ever have a job where I can take a couple days off without having to dig out from a pile of shit on my return.

So that's today.

Brain Exchange later, should build up energy between now & then.

Pretty low key day, H & O lunch, a lot of people wishing me a happy day on Facebook & the phone, L. made a red velvet cake. All very nice but feeling a bit overtired & glum, also my eyes itch something terrible.

Back to work tomorrow, the mind reels.

Us shabu shabuing:



Went out with Peretz to find package for neighbor on porch, took package to neighbor's house, found package for me, lovely Italian sweets, thanks, Mom.

Not sure what else is on tap today.

38, how ridiculous.

Having some coffee in bed.

Got the call telling us to come with the kid to meet with his girlfriend & her family a little earlier than expected, we were a little slow to get going, left girlfriend & family waiting in a Lexington parking lot for about an hour. Had to jump their SUV for some reason.

After that, we went & fetched Tasha from her lonely perch & went to look at glass sea life & flowers. After that, went out for shabu shabu & sushi, reestablished my geek cred ripping my zipper open with corner of table, spilling a glass of Coke all over the place, got hot bubble teas after.

Doesn't seem like that much, took an awfully long time, guess we were at that natural history museum for kind of a while.

OK, TV & dogs. Hopefully the house'll warm up.