Hi Buffistas! I have been packing and cleaning all day and I am soo hot!!

It is like 500 degrees in my apartment. If I had the $$ I would buy an air conditioner just to use while packing.

Also, my poor mother was going to meet me this am to give me some money to have until I get tax money back, but last night her basement flooded (2 1/2 feet) and, unrelatedly, her 2 year old refridgerator broke! It appears that they pumped out the basement of the house they are buidling behind her (it was just the hole, nothing else) and it went into hers and her 80 yr olld neighbors basement, And so my 60 yr old mom and this 80 yr old farmer wwoman were trying to rig up their sump pumps to go into the street sewer, but finally the fire department from the next town over came and pumped them out!

So, hypothetically, if one were (hypothetically, of course) to be in Canada and one happened to have bought a bottle of absinthe (also hypothetically, of course), could one hypothetically bring it into the U.S., and if so, could one (again, hypothetically), take it from a flight from California to Seattle.

Mind you, this is all hypothetical.

Perkins, I would declare that you have a bottle of alcohol and hope that the customs people are ignorant about the Absinthe ban. Though I think the stuff available in BC is wormwood free.

Sue's suggestion sounds good. (Hypothetically.) Should it not work, you could always claim hypothetical ignorance.

This isn't wormwood free, but they have substituted in a different kind of wormwood, which is supposed to be safer.

eta: I like the suggestions, by the way.

Sophia -- that is just terrible about your mom and her neighbor's basements flooding! And her fridge -- it busted at only two years old? Incredible!

It's based on an article by Jeffrey Steingarten, the food writer for Vogue, who decided to smuggle raw milk cheese into the US by declaring it.

I'm going to a party where I kinda know the birthday boy and have never met the birthday girl. Dinner will be served (we were told to bring our own beverages).

Do I bring alcohol (which I have no intention of drinking) or a bag of Blue Mountain coffee (ground)?

Bear in mind, I have no idea if they drink alcohol or coffee.

Ahhh, I finally went out for sushi like I've been craving since last Sunday. I'm now stuffed with a California roll, a Jacksonville roll (cilantro and spicy crawfish with seared tuna on top), a pyramid of rice, avocado, various nigiri & roe, and a trio of ginger, green tea, and mango ice cream. I might just take tomorrow off from eating.

How annoying is it that on a saturday, while my parents are in town, my car decided not to start? Finally got it going, but AHRG. It seems starter related. (Please let it be the starter not the flywheel thing.) It hasn't done it since, but while the chance of ME being inconvenienced is one thing, the three of us? Will stress me out. So I will rent a car tomorrow, and we'll drop mine off at the mechanics to be looked it monday and there will be minimal stress. Until the bill comes in, of course. That won't be stress, though. That will be annoyance.

WHY ME. (please note: this whine also is partly due to my car curse: every serious no-go problem has appeared on weekends after closing hours or on public holidays. This time I got weekend + major plans + parents. I'm very special, damnit.)