Feasibility study: can I buy a friend a bouquet of flowers, sit with them though a play and then give them to her, understanding she might not get home soon? I should include a vase too huh?

A friend in the play? That's definitely done -- just wrap the bottoms of the stems in damp paper towel and then a plastic bag, and you should be fine.

Go, shrift! Definitely don't take the job you don't want (there was one of those, right?).

I am suddenly obsessed with going to Costco again. I bet I can get a good deal on an air conditioner there!

I don't think you need a vase, but maybe you should have those water things that go on the end of flowers. They have them at florists, but am not sure where you will get them.

I just got off the telephone with a friend who I haven't seen in at least seven years-- actually she is my board name namesake. We are trying to coordinate meeting up, but neither of us drive and public transportation is not conducive to meeting up on Sundays.

Also, I am a little nervous because I am so much fatter then when last I saw her. I mean, like 100 pounds fatter-- I feel I should give some sort of warning-- like-- don't be surprised-- I am fat!

Also- Yay multiple job offers shrift!

Yay on the multiple job offers, shrift!

Thanks, ita-- she's prepared for it to go either way. She is seriously the most mellow child on the planet in some ways.

After the audition we went to M & M World and created a custom mix for her brother with Jacksonville Jaguars colors (teal, black, & gold), then sauntered down 5th Avenue, peering in the windows and stopping in the Disney Store and FAO Schwarz. I stared longingly at the Apple store, but no way was I going in there--there were people milling outside behind the barricades, looking terribly expectant, which initially convused me, then I remembered, new iPhone. These fools were standing outside in 95 degree weather waiting for the thing. I loves me my Apple products and I'm a serious geek with my first gen iPhone, but doing that kind of wait? No way, baby.

Definitely don't take the job you don't want (there was one of those, right?).

Yeah, there was one I definitely didn't want but accepted because I didn't know if I'd get any other offers.

Thanks, guys. I certainly have the ingredients for that fresh bouquet.

Playing narcotics poker/bargaining with todays's ER doc. She says she can't because no one has. I point to my charts. She says it's outside her comfort zone, and I should get admitted because it's more likely to work.

I point out that it hasn't, and if that's my only option I should get discharged. Now she's told me to wait a sec and then she disappeared. I better be out before shift change at 7.

Love the haka vids!! Loads of fun. All we get in baseball is Ichiro dropping f-bombs to rev up the AL squad at the All-Star game and occasional football players screaming in each other's faces to get everyone in the appropriate fighting spirit. (At least the Bears got rid of the cheerleaders decades ago.)

Work at the bookstore was boring as all hell today, and nobody was buying membership cards. Feh. Also, we were out of the books I was going to pick up for my nephew's belated high school graduation gift ("Where's Mom Now That I Need Her?" and "Where's Dad Now That I Need Him?")--guess I'll call the Joliet store and see if they have them in stock on my way over to Dad's tomorrow to see brother and nephew (in town for college orientation).

I've finally opened up the bottle of Smithwick's I've had chilling in the fridge for the past month--yummm, so smooth! Also got caught up on my DVR'd eps of America's Test Kitchen and put some of them on tape, especially the Beef Carbonara (beef and beer stew), which I definitely want to make ASAP. Looks great!

shrift - way to go with the multiple job offers!! (I thought I had posted before but I m ust have had some sort of posting malfunction - because my post disappeared.)

Also - someone just set off fireworks of some sort. . . I wish I knew why.

Some people think this is a big deal:

Iraqi PM says US should leave as soon as possible

BERLIN - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says U.S. troops should leave Iraq "as soon as possible," according to a magazine report, and he called presidential candidate Barack Obama's suggestion of 16 months "the right timeframe for a withdrawal."

In an interview with Germany's Der Spiegel magazine released Saturday, al-Maliki said he was not seeking to endorse Obama. The Illinois senator and likely Democratic nominee has pledged to withdraw combat troops from Iraq within 16 months if he is elected.

"That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes," al-Maliki was quoted as saying. "Those who operate on the premise of short time periods in Iraq today are being more realistic. Artificially prolonging the tenure of U.S. troops in Iraq would cause problems."

Asked when U.S. forces would leave Iraq, he responded, "As soon as possible, as far a we're concerned."

What does this mean for McCain?

Via e-mail, a prominent Republican strategist who occasionally provides advice to the McCain campaign said, simply, "We're fucked."

[link]

Congrats on the job offers, shrift.

hey ita, did you get that discharge?