I don't often go out with people I don't know really well, and the bill nearly never gets split down who ordered what lines. I'll pay for someone's because she got my drinks last time and I don't have cash, or someone came to visit, so we buy theirs or they buy ours, maybe I'm doing a little better this month so I treat the person who just dropped a bunch of money on property tax. Terribly subjective accounting all based on friendship, generosity and what feels fair. Can't say I'd really reccommend it though.

Smaller dinners, especially with close friends, we usually end up fighting over who gets to pay. More often than not we do the, "you can pay next time" or "I'll get dinner if you get the movie tickets" route.

oooookaaaaaay, I think I have a rough draft of a paper. I have to read it again I guess. But I am so sick of it by now! Sadly, I suspect it sucks.

Mostly I prefer the pass the check around and toss in your share method. This works for me since I usually drink and DH usually gets appetizers. Most times my share would be more than an even split. We also tend to overtip. Those times when I have the garden salad and tea I still like the pass the check around method, because money saving!

There are times when even split makes more sense. Particularly when there are a lot of table dishes and shared wine.

eta: Yay for rough draft.

With group dinners, I just like to know going in how we'll manage the bill to avoid reenacting that Friends episode, especially since these days I'm one of the poor Friends.

Last weekend I was the organizer in chief for a dinner with 14 Regency writers, and I'm pleased to say that despite many of us never having met before the conference, the bill-splitting went perfectly smoothly. We announced to the waitress that we'd all be paying separately at the start, and while she couldn't do separate checks, she was nice enough to do a handwritten sheet itemized by person to help us out. That and the fact that most of us were carrying enough cash to cover our meals helped out--I'm sure the thing where you hand the server a stack of credit cards and say "$25 on this one, $30 on that one, etc." gets seriously annoying with more than 2-3 cards.

Ginger and Deena, insent.

I really, really want to go for my walk, but my knee is still ouchy. It's less ouchy than it was this morning, since I've been staying off it most of the day, but it still feels irritated and inflamed.

And it's a nice day out, too. Feh.

In other news, my nice temp assignment ended Friday. They're talking like they would like to take me on full time in their curriculum development department, but it wouldn't be until January. I'd be willing to wait that long if I knew it was a sure thing and that it would pay enough, but I'm getting sick and @&(*$@ tired of all this uncertainty and waiting.

Hec, I like a port and raspberry sauce or lemon butter on mine.

See, I knew you'd deviate from the conventional in an interesting way.

::looks at unopened jar of fig and ginger preserves. Considers Raq's recipe...:

Emmett and I are back from our ride in the park. We went past the just reopened De Young Museum (huge lines, but it looks lovely. Can't wait to try out the tower and get the view from the middle of the park.), and then down to Stowe Lake. No bike locks yet so we couldn't do the paddle boats, but we got a Cherry Icee and an ice cream bar and reminisced about Stowe Lake. (A nine year old with nostalgia is a curious thing.)

Then we rode back to the double baseball fields where we parked the bikes in the grass and played with a very sweet and playful miniature schnauzer named Oscar. His owner was playing Irish Field Hockey nearby and came over and talked to us.

It's unbelievably gorgeous in San Francisco today - 80 and sunny. A classic SF Indian Summer. (Which we get to make up for our cold and foggy Augusts.)

Sounds fun, Hec.

Raq, if you're possibly maybe still there? Have you noticed Greek people ironing a lot? Because I was just speaking to my Greek flatmate and she was telling me that she ironed about six hours a week, especially underwear. Somthing about 'killing microbes'. And myself and my other flatmates were flabbergasted, because interviews are pretty much the only thing we iron for, and then only if we're feeling fancy. But then my Greek flatmate's Greek friend came over to iron with her, because it's such a fun activity, and she couldn't believe we didn't iron our underwear. And our sheets, and our towels.