So, this was just in front of my apartment building. While Teh Hottness of the firemen was good, seeing FOUR hook-and-ladder trucks in front of my building is a little unnerving.

Fortunately, the building did not burn down (or at all); some chick on the ground floor burned her dinner. But -- I didn't get the whole story from Paul the handyman -- her smoke alarm was going off, and he went down there and pounded on the door and no one answered, so I'm not sure if she put dinner in and left, or what.

In any case, the firemen were quite pleasing to gaze upon.

Fire bad. Men pretty.

Seriously, it was kind of funny -- I wouldn't have known anything happened (until the FOUR trucks arrived), except I took laundry downstairs and encountered Paul the handyman pounding on the tenant's door. I could hear the smoke alarm beeping, but I figured that Paul would use his master key and open the door if it were serious.

Of course, 30 seconds later I realized that no, he wouldn't, because he didn't want to burn to death, and he had no idea if a raging inferno was inside, or just burned dinner.

And all the while, I kept putting my laundry in the washing machines. Seriously. I figured, even if there was a fire, my clothes would be IN WATER.

JZ, that's wonderful! Go you!

And all the while, I kept putting my laundry in the washing machines. Seriously. I figured, even if there was a fire, my clothes would be IN WATER.

Ha!

So, I just walked Toto and found out that the little errand I drove my elderly neighbor to today was so she could buy scratch lottery tickets. $700 worth. I know it's not my fault, but I'm still feeling terribly guilty. Here I thought I was being all helpful taking her to the store, but in reality I was not. If I wouldn't have taken her, she wouldn't have gone. Ugh.

How did you find out, vw?

How did you find out, vw?

She saw me while I was walking Toto, and I went up to chat. I asked if she got everything she needed at the store (because I only dropped her off), and she told me that she ended up buying $700 worth of scratch tickets at the store. I was like, "HUH?" And she was all, "I only meant to buy $100. Oops. And it's not the first time."

She's chatty. I know all about her and her whole family and everyone in the neighborhood that she talks to.

vw, she's not housebound without you, is she? It's not your fault or your responsibility.

Good luck, JZ! ::puts interview ~ma on calendar for three weeks from now::

vw, no guilt! You helped a neighbor and put someone else's needs above your own. You did good. I understand how you're uncomfortable with how the errand turned out, but this isn't yours to control.

From yesterday...

OK, this is a GENIUS business model...

Pizza Beer & Porn Delivery

We could franchise all over the place and buy the island in about a year and a half.

Okay, it seriously is time for us to don our tin-foil hats. Check out this worksafe link to CBC News - [link]

::headdesk::

::headdesk::

::headdesk::

Just finished tutoring. Spent, quite seriously, forty five minutes on the definition of the word "solution." Like, OK. If you've got an equation, say 3x + 2 = 8, then the solution is x = 2. He'd keep saying he understood that, but then we'd get to a problem asking to compare the solution of one equation to the solution of another, related equation, he'd look at that and say that the solution is 8. Because that's what's on the right side of the equals sign.

Now, I can understand coming into this class without having really thought about precisely defining the terms in that way. But, it's a ten-second definition, if that. There's nothing to understand there. Forty-five minutes of me finding more and more ways to explain it and him saying he didn't understand.