All I can add to this discussion is I had way the hell too much to drink Saturday. It didn't seem like it at the time, then it hit like a freight train. I try avoiding that...

When I was in high school, we learned in health class that binge drinking was more than 4 drinks for a woman and more than 5 drinks for a man, in the course of an evening. It was also binge drinking if you stayed below that limit but had more than one drink per hour.

I know that I heard someone on NPR postulating that part of the cause of The Enlightenment was the arrival of tea and coffee, so people went from drinking alcohol all the time to drinking caffeine all the time.

OK, that's hilarious. And sounds really likely!

yeah I feel judged, but am ok with it since I am fairly certain I am being judged by a pompous ass.

Heh. Relatedly, I was asking my mother about nail polish color for my interview (I like to focus on dumb things I can control, what can I say?), and she pointed out that if they wouldn't hire me because I had the wrong nail polish on, I didn't want to work there anyway. Good call, mom.

omg y'all I'm watching the last Leverage available! I expect withdrawl

January 13th. I envy you your relatively short wait.

When I was in high school they didn't teach us anything about binge drinking. Then again, it was the UK, and it was already legal for us to drink.

It was also binge drinking if you stayed below that limit but had more than one drink per hour.

Dude, that's two drinks with dinner. Or three shots in an evening.

she pointed out that if they wouldn't hire me because I had the wrong nail polish on, I didn't want to work there anyway. Good call, mom

Get hired and change them from the inside.

So my nails are brown, and I'm still having sticker shock: $12!

Jesse, that would be at east $25.00 in Upstate NY.

How much would that have cost you in NY, Jesse?

I can't remember how much I paid when I got it done here. But I probably overpaid. I certainly travelled too far to get it done.

I now have a team lunch and a team holiday potluck on my calendar for this week. This had totally better be billable time. I will talk shop during them if necessary.

Jesse, that would be at east $25.00 in Upstate NY.

Holy crap. $12 is probably Manhattan prices, but I paid $7 in Queens!

anything heavier has to go to the counter clerk.

Yeah, but you can usually just drop it on the counter, rather than waiting in line.

...but.

Oh, shit. I am a dumbass. I could have gotten in and out in less than 5 minutes, because the automated machine was unoccupied when I came in. I just didn't realize that it would be okay to pay for postage at the machine and then drop it on the counter without waiting in line. I guess I assumed it wasn't "allowed."

God, I am SUCH a rules-follower, even when they're rules that don't even exist! Damn!

Is it really an OMGWTF YOU MUST EXPLAIN kind of thing?

That's fairly prying, especially from a new acquaintance.

At university I plain didn't understand non-drinkers.

I have to admit that there was a time in my life when my mom and I often had the conversation that we couldn't IMAGINE being with a spouse/partner who didn't drink.

The Boy doesn't drink, at all. And I admit I would love to wine-geek out with him over a killer zinfandel, because opening a bottle at home for just me is a waste.

But, honestly? I no longer remember the rationale my mom and I used when we said that we couldn't imagine being with a non-drinker. Because there's nothing weird about it to me, I always know that he's not going to drink the last Guinness in the fridge, and I always have a willing designated driver.

When I was in high school, we learned in health class that binge drinking was more than 4 drinks for a woman and more than 5 drinks for a man, in the course of an evening.

See, this has NEVER made sense. Say you go out at 9, stay out till close (2 a.m.) -- 4 drinks is fewer than 1 drink an hour. How in the hell is that binge drinking? Craxy, man.

You shouldn't be closing down the bar, young lady! ....is the rationale, I think.