Ack, so much to catch up on!

Congratulations sj and TCG on house closing! That has got to be a very satisfying feeling.

Pix, you are a dynamo! Can I borrow some of that?

Maria, I'm glad you were able to straighten the problem out, but, boy howdy, do I want to bend a few necks for you having to go through that.

Also, I just want to thank everyone here for their purchases of American Girl Dolls. Those purchases have meant new galleries at the local art museum on campus, the Overture Centre, which houses four theatres, and I'm not sure what else she and her husband have contributed to the city, but it's a lot. Pleasant Rowland, the original owner of AGD, and her husband are very generous to my city. So, I am happy to take advantage of your generosity by proxy.

eta: And my condolences to Steph. It sucks to lose a co-worker that you've known for a long time and been friendly with. The work place feels broken for a while after. I'm glad you're giving yourself a bit of a break today.

In the PNW we tend to all sit at the stopsign expecting someone else to go first. No you go. No, you.

And waving for the left turner to go before the person going straight through? Dangerous as hell. I feel like I should have an identifying mark to show I moved here from California because my attitude is to play by the rules but once you fail to go, I WILL.

When I am home, I feel like I am a California-ish. When I am back there, I hope people don't squish me and I get funny looks for allowing people to merge in front of me.

ugh, Maria - I'm so sorry that happened. I am glad they straightened it out, but, seriously - they're a life insurance company - so they should have something in place to avoid this particular thing. And a "we're sorry we were idiots" florist on call. I'm glad you had a good day before hand.

Steph, my condolences.

I think you could respond with a whole 'Oh, I'm not sure that's appropriate, isn't it an in-house lunch? Wouldn't I be out of place/crashing/etc?" and the response would determine the outcome

Yep, that's what i would suggest.

Heh. Well, if two PNW transplants agree...you should probably ask a native. I'm not sure I have the appropriate polite-passive-aggressive thing down, quite yet.

Hey! But I can't really argue, no matter how much I'd like to. And I'm not really sure why PNW folks tend toward passive-agressive.

I think you could respond with a whole 'Oh, I'm not sure that's appropriate, isn't it an in-house lunch? Wouldn't I be out of place/crashing/etc?" and the response would determine the outcome

I never would have thought of that. I'm horrible in those sorts of situations -- I assume that people are saying what they mean, because why wouldn't they? There have been several times when someone has offered to pay for something for me, and I said, "OK, thanks," and then someone later told me that the person was annoyed at having to pay, because he had only offered to be polite. I can't get my brain to work that way.

I have that on dates all the time. I feel bad having them pay, especially if I can tell we're not going on another date! Sometimes I'll put my foot down, but sometimes it's too awkward.

That said, after my date last night, she texted me and asked me on another. I suggested dinner (we had drinks last night) and she said yes, I said I would eat most anything (I had picked the bar we were at) she said how about....the melting pot. Um....

I can't get my brain to work that way.

I get frustrated by that, too. Why make the offer if you didn't at least want to take the risk it would be accepted?

Jilli, after surviving DC/MD/VA drivers, I prefer passive-aggressive to out and out aggressive.

Maria I'm so glad that was straightened out quickly.

Jilli Alert - not the bad kind, Adorable Possible Infant Goth Alert. Today a woman came in with her tiny little baby daughter. She was 2 1/2 months old, wearing a gray onesie with pink bows down the front. And her pacifier holder was alternating white and black beads. The largest had a pink skull and cross bones with a pink bow and the smaller ones just had small skull and crossbones.

The mother wasn't dressed overtly Goth but the baby was so cute.

I got called into work today and got an extra 6 hours. Which was good, because my shift for tomorrow got cancelled due to being over payroll. But I'm okay with it I'll still end up with an additional 5 hours and the President is going to be holding a fundraiser at the hotel across the road from the store so I can avoid the Presidential Traffic.

And the store manager told me they wanted to give me one of the new part time positions, this one would be a keyholder thing - Customer Service Manager. But I don't think I can accept it because of the temp assignment. However, I talked to the Assistant manager before I left and told him I still want hours. I'm thinking about working 1 week night and either Saturday or Sunday. So, they may see if they can still give me the position.n Which would include a raise.

Jilli Alert - not the bad kind, Adorable Possible Infant Goth Alert

D'awwww! I love all the gothy baby stuff that's readily available now. It makes me so happy.