Magic words, apparently, the laundry buzzed.

I didn't have quite these experiences in my old precinct, but it was still all homey. Baltimore has a lot of problems, but the small-town-friendly is not one of them. I think it is even more pronounced in this part of town because it is long-term home-owning residential, active community associations, etc.

Sarameg, you're almost making me regret my amnesiac decision to mail in my ballot, but then again, your stories have people in them, and they are totally what I'm trying to avoid. So much better to hear your heartening stories that stress me out.

The Citibank guy was going to stop at the one gas purchase, and I kept pushing him back. At first he was "new card, expedited" but by the time we'd reached this Monday (I told him that only medical charges and one meal were mine because I've been pretty much in hospital or home the whole time) with gas station purchases every day..they're nuking my account from orbit, just to be sure.

Which reminds me--that Citibank card about the guy who gets dumped for being boring...is it just me, or is he still boring at the end of the ad? Paying to stand next to Alicia Keyes doesn't say much about you as a person. Hike a trail, climb a mountain, do more in your cooking class than get spoon fed, do more at the art gallery than looking at a photo of Marilyn that's so iconic it might as well be painted on everyone's eyelids...parasail! Take up a martial art! Paint! Write! Musical instrument! Foreign language! Hell, I'd even say MMORPG.

Or you know, learn how to make good conversation. Because I bet it's that and the sex why she dumped your blank celebrity skirt-chasing ass.

I'm so very sorry for the hole in your life your mother leaves behind, Frank, but I'm glad she passed as she wished, when she was ready and surrounded by her family. And I do hope your father was waiting for her.

(My grandmother, for the entire month before she died, kept seeing my grandfather, who'd passed several years earlier, peeking through doorways or just disappearing around corners with a smile on his face; she was certain he was there because he wanted to be ready to meet her when she was ready to leave. Whatever I may believe, I don't know if it was true, but I do know it gave her joy and solace, and I wish all the same to your mom in her departure, in abundance.)

Oh ita, what a PITA about the card. Like you needed that.

I think part of why I get to experience these stories is that I've become more engaging of the Peoples willingly. And I like it and it feed something in me, which wasn't always the case. But part of it is also my environment.

I find the citibank commercials empty. But their customer service has always been good, knock on wood.

Which reminds me--that Citibank card about the guy who gets dumped for being boring...is it just me, or is he still boring at the end of the ad?

Oh yeah. That guy is still boring.

Frank, deeply sorry for the loss of your Mom.

I'm sorry for your loss, Frank.

new post to ask: where did we talk about Sherlock? I just finished up the second series tonight.

Why, why, why do I wander around the Atlantic website beyond the safe haven of TNC's blog? No good can come of it.

Latest installment: pompous blowhard insists that the 2012 Dem party platform on abortion is Bad Bad Bad because it talks about things like affordable healthcare and childcare and various social services aimed at enabling women to choose to carry their pregnancies to term without fear of impoverishing themselves or their families -- which by most estimates would eliminate roughly a quarter of the abortions sought each year -- but has dropped the word "rare," which clearly means they're trying to ignore the moral dimension. The practical effect of enactment of this platform, 25% fewer actual abortions performed, is less meaningful to pompous blowhard than the presence or absence of the word "rare," because practical good works are apparently less moral than finger-wagging.

Please, please keep me from engaging with this fucknugget.

Maybe I should demand that Hec make me a second martini, which would render me incapable of finding the keyboard. It may be the only solution.