Ha! I went to Loft with a 40% off coupon, and the WHOLE STORE was 40% off without it! I wish I could wear Banana Republic—I love their stuff—but the reason Loft owns me is because their petite clothes fit me so well. I would have to be on stilts (no, really) to wear BR's pants.

Ann Taylor Loft shut down their store in the mall near me, and that's when I drifted away. They're back now, but BR is fucking killing it with the random discounts, and it's working perfectly to keep me attentive and wallet whetted.

Sad me, I ended up with a tuxedo shirt, pleated ruffle top (now I want one with sleeves...) as well as another sweater and a skinny belt. Fuckers, hitting me while I'm weak...but the fake feeling of bargain makes it all okay.

Isn't that part and parcel of embedded behaviour?

I suppose so, but she seemed to be the only one running with the general.

How would you communicate?

A few burner phones, and arrange for coded message drops at randomized places at each physical meet-up. Never leave a paper trail. Change codes every time. Meet-up places always at different spots. Always pay cash. Get a few false ID's. Never go anywhere affair person or I frequent; I know too many people in this town.

WAY too much trouble and money; I'd just ask my husband if he was cool with me boffing ssomeone else a few times, or if I fell out of love, end it.

I'm fucking loyal. And a loyal fuck, I suppose.

it's always fascinating to bump into a scandal of a group where you know no one and nothing about what's going on.

Speaking of that plus affairs, I think a while ago I mentioned my (married) relative who brought her boyfriend to meet the family? The boyfriend who her husband didn't know about until he turned out to be Bad News? She just re-friended me on Facebook with a new name -- apparently they got married last month.

I feel the need to ask her sister about this, but we barely talk, so it feels rude to reach out just to dish.

I'm still stuck on the top spy unable to keep something f***ing clandestine.

That may be simplifying things a bit, but . . . yeah.

I'm also flabbergasted by the idea that there is a conspiracy to stop his testimony.

Politically ignorant here, but whether you hold a job concurrent with an investigation or not doesn't seem relevant. You quitting, resigning, being fired doesn't make your tenure during the timeframe of the investigation irrelevant.

A few burner phones, and arrange for coded message drops at randomized places at each physical meet-up. Never leave a paper trail. Change codes every time. Meet-up places always at different spots. Always pay cash. Get a few false ID's. Never go anywhere affair person or I frequent; I know too many people in this town.

I don't think you're describing an affair.

If you are really worried about your dad, I think it's worthwhile to bring up your concerns with your mom. (Forgive me please if the totally unsolicited advice is out of place, it's just that new concerns about parental behavior tend to set off a warning buzzer for me.)

It does for me now too. It's an awful lesson to learn and if it can help someone else, I'm willing to mention it. Worst case, there isn't anything actually wrong and I can say I am glad and sorry for worrying them.

Quick confab with my mom: she's making dad see a dr when they get back cause she doesn't like the changes she's been seeing, which she tried to explain away before but she's seeing it's so not explainawayable. So. Good? But also worrying.

This is good. Really, there is nothing a doctor can find out that you don't want to know as soon as possible. Including, fingers crossed, that there isn't anything wrong.

but there are many LDS members in good standing who believe that it is not their job to force their beliefs on the population as a whole, which Mitt Romney himself has stated.

Which is exactly the kind of person of faith that I can have an enormous amount of respect for because they have a faith but it is theirs. Not turn two, the rest are fodder.

Does it happen that way everywhere or is the military just really good at infidelity?

The military is really good at it. So are a lot of other people but their lives are not so clearly ranked and regimented.

If you are a lawyer and the senior partner sleeps with your wife, you can change firms. It can affect your career but you have alternate employment options available. If you are in the military and your CO sleeps with your wife? Fewer options.

Plus, knowing anecdata is not actually reliable data, yeah, the military is kinda good at infidelity.

I'm fucking loyal. And a loyal fuck, I suppose.

All that said, you'd be a really rocking spy!

Checking out Once Upon A Time. It gets grey, right? Because Ginnifer Goodwin's character is barf-o-matic right now.

According to one of the actors, yes.

Oh, hey--when did Anderson Cooper come out again?

The July email?