Jilli, I totally thought that when you said "very important tool" you were talking about a person.

Oh, man, Brenda, this made me laugh.

I have gotten my pad thai fix, as Tom showed up at the train station to walk me home and we passed by the Thai place and Tom was knackered enough to be persuaded easily to have cheap Thai food instead of going home and cooking. We'll have curry tomorrow. Tom had the Crazy Noodles, which was AWESOME, and I had the Pad Thai, which paled by comparison, but was fine.

We have lugged all the flooded basement debris out for garbage day and it's a lovely evening with a nice breeze coming through the windows. And life is pretty good.

And, I loved JZ's rant and want to marry it and treat it with the utmost respect. All the "frow burrowing" made me laugh. And Jilli, I hope things work out OK and the tool mysteriously reappears. And stops being mysterious. Dammit.

SA, you need a picture on your desk of a significant other.

Hee. It's tempting to offer you a picture of me in drag, and you could be like "Yeah, that's my boyfriend! Well, he used to be my girlfriend..." Or, y'know, one of the other kings who is hotter.

Hmm. Or Fay, since she'll be sending you steamy emails. Maybe you could work up a SCANDAL where you're involved with BOTH of us! Ooooh!

I hereby loan you all some of my day, which involved sleeping in, finding out I didn't have to be anywhere until 10:45, already being up so that I got to spend some time on the internet before leaving the house, getting Starbucks, driving along and having my iPod play good music, being HAPPY. Um, and then work, but even that wasn't heinous. Then I dropped my car off at the dealer, and it's not until they call me tomorrow that I will be in a bad mood. :)

Having met Jilli and Pete (though not nearly enough), it makes me want to have them adopt me, so I can bring home girls and have them tell me if she's good enough. I don't know why that is the image that popped into my head.

"Because bending and squatting are difficult for your partner now, you may want to take over scrubbing the floors."

Hee. What about those of us that don't scrub the floors when NOT pregnant?

I still have some exams to proctor and grade, but the teaching, she is OVER!

Yay, Kristin! May your next school kick ass.

I don't even have a passport. Never have.

Man, they are so much trouble. I'm on my third.

It's tempting to offer you a picture of me in drag, and you could be like "Yeah, that's my boyfriend! Well, he used to be my girlfriend..." Or, y'know, one of the other kings who is hotter.

Hmm. Or Fay, since she'll be sending you steamy emails. Maybe you could work up a SCANDAL where you're involved with BOTH of us! Ooooh!

And there's my summer office scandal. Hell yes.

I'm glad you had a great day, meara. Hey, are there pics from big yet?

it makes me want to have them adopt me, so I can bring home girls and have them tell me if she's good enough. I don't know why that is the image that popped into my head.

Because Pete is scarily good at meeting someone and going "Huh. This person is going to turn out to be a complete jerk and/or whackaloon" and being right about it. Scarily good.

I'm pretty good at it, but he's better. Plus hey, adopt-a-meara! I think it's a fabulous plan. Come to Seattle.

The mysterious tool's problem was that it had been updated, but the update-y people apparently forgot to tell anyone. A complete re-install later, it works. Gaaaah.

Because Pete is scarily good at meeting someone and going "Huh. This person is going to turn out to be a complete jerk and/or whackaloon" and being right about it.

And now I am *totally* bringing girls home to see Pete for approval.

And there's my summer office scandal. Hell yes.

Hee! One of my friends just started at an office where the boss woman and her husband both work there...but bosswoman is having an affair with a *different* guy who works there!

I'm pretty good at it, but he's better. Plus hey, adopt-a-meara! I think it's a fabulous plan. Come to Seattle.

Plus, if she reacted badly to either of you, I'd know she was Not Right.

but bosswoman is having an affair with a *different* guy who works there!

Good grief. but that makes for *awesome* coffee gossip.

Because Pete is scarily good at meeting someone and going "Huh. This person is going to turn out to be a complete jerk and/or whackaloon" and being right about it. Scarily good.

Hee. One benefit I brought into Bec's life was as a canary down the mine for her new friends. How they reacted to me was a very good indicator of whether they'd prove to be a good friend to her.

This is one of the good things that I took away from the freak-ass church. My non-church friends who were married would often snipe at each other in public (and the wives sniped at the husbands as often as the husbands sniped at the wives, so it wasn't a husband-abuse thing), and trashtalk each other behind their backs. So it really made an impression on me that the married folk in the FAC didn't publically bitch at each other, and didn't trashtalk each other in private. They *did* have fights, but they kept it to themselves, and not in front of a group of people. And they'd talk about their problems with close friends, but not in a trashtalk way.

My FAc was strong on this too. Not that everyone lived up to it, but the couples I respected most certainly did.

One benefit I brought into Bec's life was as a canary down the mine for her new friends.

Are you saying you're a birdbrain?....

(And now that I've summarily insulted you, what are the exact dates you're going to be in Cincy? I'm trying to plan a trip to Vermont [well, I'm thinking about planning, which is the first step], and I just want to make sure not to double-book myself.)