Unblocked boing. Hee.

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to the Buffistas who helped me celebrate my birthday ... and wouldn't let me pay my share. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Oh! just realized that I totally forgot to share.

We had originally planned to go to our standard restaurant, a mediterranean tapas place. Service had been "spotty" last time, but Todd wanted to go, so that was the plan. I arrived at 6:30, let them know that we were a group of 8, and the party would be complete in half an hour. They don't take reservations (feh). We've done this before, it's never been a problem. I went in at 7, they said "oh, a couple of large groups came in, so it's going to be an hour wait" I was annoyed. We talked about going somewhere else, called a nearby place, and ended up having a lovely mexican dinner. Hil, Maria, Sheryl and Gary were there, as well as two non Buffista friends of Todd's. It was a wonderful time, as always.

waves to Vortex

Can it be Friday night yet?

I want to come!

Some of you may recall that my F2F dogsitter, aka my sister, somehow managed to turn dogsitting into a party-at-Brenda's for like 7 people.

Now, I knew they drank some of my wine - the ginormous blue stain on the carpet tipped me off. But now I'm making spaghetti and meatballs from the Barefoot Contessa, or as close as I can remember of course, and I'm realizing they drank a lot more than I thought. Dammit! I can't eat this without wine. I'm already hobbled because my sister left for home yesterday with half my groceries still in her car.

(Relatedly, Oxi-Clean Laundry Stain Remover rocks the world. And in their defense, I also came home to a much cleaner bathroom than I left. Not sure how that works, but I'll take it.)

You should come!

Actually--you're in Chicago, right? You should've come out to O'Hare today. We spent about a full work day there.

The plane sat on the runway in Greensboro for over an hour until Chicago said they had room for us to land, because of bad weather. We missed our connecting flight at 3:20, but immediately got tickets for the 5:30 flight, so we figured that was okay. They sent us to another gate, though. And then an hour later they sent us back to the first gate. Then we got word our plane was delayed in Phoenix, and they had to scramble for another plane to take the flight. They sent us to yet another gate, the plane arrived and started boarding at 6:50. We taxied out for takeoff, and sat for another hour or more. Finally, we started moving into position, but come to find out we were 20th in line for takeoff. Apparently only one of their four runways was operational. We got into Seattle at 10:15, called home (everything's fine), the baggage people had our luggage (which had NOT missed our 3:20 flight), the rental people had our car ready to go (minivan! We can take everybody to sushi and cupcakes!), and the motel had our room on hold.

We'd asked for nonsmoking and it smells like an ashtray, but it's only for tonight. I've taken aleve and am about to collapse into bed.

Oh--I sat next to a gorgeous leggy blonde I'd noticed in the terminal wearing a very 50's vintage chevron striped dress in red, white and black. Come to find out, she was traveling with two friends; they'd all left Stockholm at 5:00AM Swedish time, had had similar airport experiences, and once they were on the ground in Seattle, were taking a bus to visit friends in Vancouver. Talk about a long day's journey into night! Her English was fluent, charmingly accented, and she was a delight to talk to. Rookie cop. Rookie Swedish cop. How cool is that?

We can take everybody to sushi and cupcakes!

The airline should pick up the tab.

DC folks - tis official. I will be in your area from June 3rd through the evening of June 9th. I expect to have my evenings free and want to do some touristy stuff on the 9th. I'd love to do dinner with folks and/or have a tour guide on Saturday. My hotel is in Centerville and I will have a vehicle!! Wheeeeeeeeeeee!

Oh, Bev, I'm sorry flight day was so bad, but glad everything else worked out.

Why isn't it Saturday yet?