Epic, my deep condolences on your loss. I'm so sorry.

I didn't know she and K. knew each other.

I didn't either!

I leave in a week and a day. A week and a day!

I'm still hella jealous and bummed I can't go (especially after watching T's little video), but y'all are going to have so much fun! Drink some muscat and eat some stinky cheese for me.

So know that I love you all but I seem to be in 'Lurk' mode for Bitches.

Hiya, Laga. Jump back in whenever you feel like.

Hil, that's ridiculous.

Good news - one of my coworkers is adopting the kittens, so they should be gone tomorrow.

Thanks for the birthday wishes! One of my crew brought in chocolate mini-muffins and lit candles and they sang happy birthday, and I followed the NOLA tradition of getting dollar bills pinned to my shirt (well, we used a binder clip). One of the office volunteers didn't have a dollar bill, so he put a dollar's worth of coins in tape and clipped that on.

StW took me out to dinner (Dante's Kitchen - [link] and it was excellent. I had a Gentry Fizz cocktail and we split Pot Likka, Redfish on the Half-Shell, Chicken Under a Brick, and a piece of chocolate cream pie. He gave me a wee giftie - I wondered whether he would and was trying not to expect anything - and I haven't quite decided how I feel about it. It's a silver fleur-de-lis wine stopper, from a jewelry store in the Quarter. It's like he was going to buy me jewelry but freaked out? Or something? I guess his thought process was, "she likes wine, she likes New Orleans, she wears silver"? That's certainly all true.

I know I shouldn't try to read into it, and I know he's doing two jobs and is super stressed and busy. But I keep looking at it with my head slightly cocked. I mean, given our shared interests, why not a nice chisel? Or the s2 Justified DVDs, so we can watch them together?

Sucker is heavy, though. I could put a serious dent in someone's skull with it.

Hil, that's ridiculous.

Did I mention that two of the rooms are nearly a mile away from each other? Getting to all six rooms within the 75 minutes of the exam is so not going to happen. There are three right in the middle of campus, and then two about half a mile away in one direction, and the last one about half a mile away in the other direction.

It might be a "She'll put it in a favorite bottle of wine and think of me when she sees it" thing.

I'm sorry, Epic.

My computer died in its sleep. I've been planning to replace it soon-ish but not two days before I leave town and not without some research and, really, not without slightly more research. Possibly having backed up more recently too. Bother.

Oh God, I feel you. My computer seems to be on its last legs as well, as it takes a few tries to turn on if I ever turn it off, and this past time, I really thought it might be The End. What kind of dead is it? Could you just replace the power supply? Also, rather than pay $100, you could buy a case for like twenty bucks and put your hard drive into it; voila, it has backed up itself.

Unless you are talking about a laptop, in which case I have no idea what to do.

Smonster, my husband gave me a steam mop and a (kind of ugly) owl pillow for Xmas. (Granted, I'm a Virgo and like owls, but still...)

He took you to a nice restaurant and gave you a pretty gift that suits you, after telling you he wasn't ready to commit. Most guys would be terrified to buy a woman they've been dating in a non-committed relationship a tool. and equally terrified of buying jewelry.

He done all right, bebe.

Ack! I forgot to say happy birthday, smonster!

I like the idea of the stopper but I can see where it might not ping you right. Still, I want a weaponized silver fleur de lis stopper for wine! It's pretty, functional and can hurt people.

What kind of dead is it?

Laptop that wouldn't wake up. It won't power on at all. Even the Genius Bar declared it toast. I can have them pull the drive and transfer the data hopefully if my backups aren't sufficient. But it is gone. Tme to see how well Time Machine works after all....

I remember on our 2nd date, Dan and I went out to dinner and then back to his place to watch Dollhouse. He had mentioned he didn't know if he had a corkscrew, and I had like, 4, so I brought one.

He was forgetful, and I'm detail-oriented, so was like, "Hey, I brought a bottle of wine" and he was all "I don't have a corkscrew" and I reached into my purse and pulled out a heavy, nice one.

He was like "Holy shit, do you carry around a corkscrew all the time?!"

"Yes," I deadpanned. "No one mistakes it for a weapon, but it IS."

(And I DID forget it in my purse for a long time, and kind of seriously thought about carrying it around all the time. But it was HEAVY.)

(Granted, I'm a Virgo and like owls, but still...)

I'm a Virgo and I like owls! But not mops. My parents sent me a lovely owl card I need to frame, speaking of.

Most guys would be terrified to buy a woman they've been dating in a non-committed relationship a tool. and equally terrified of buying jewelry.

The jewelry I get. But a tool? Then again, he doesn't know what I have, really. And that was just me riffing, anyway.

He done all right, bebe.

Oh, totally! And if he was trying to get a gift that effectively communicated a lack of commitment, well, it worked. He is eminently logical and practical, too - foofarraw and tchotchkes aren't his thing.

I hope I don't sound like an ungrateful bitch. I didn't even expect him to take me out tonight, because I know he's so busy. He put thought into choosing a restaurant, and happily paid, and bought me a pretty and useful gift.

You know someting awesome, though? During dinner, he recited back to me verbatim my favorite Angel quote, which I'd forgotten I'd even shared with him. "If nothing we do matters, all that matters is what we do."

"Yes," I deadpanned. "No one mistakes it for a weapon, but it IS."

Oh, fantastic.

It's a wine stopper, a cosh, or the oddest nail punch I've ever seen!! I kind of want to carry it around, too.