Mine look much better now.

That was my big question. I just want to be able to see a difference.

I hope your brain stops doing the cha-cha inside your head.

Sleep well, Zen. I am already debating whether my intention to rest today would be better served by going for a leisurely walk (I am sure Walter's choice) or just going to bed as early as I can manage. Can't do either for a few more hours what with being in the office and all.

Hey, we have a "tailgate luncheon" on Thursday. I need to revise my planned menus for the week...

I'm starting to wonder if I'm having side effects to the blood pressure medication I've been taking for years. I'd been attributing some of my symptoms to too much bar food and beer, but now that the playoffs are done I will have to keep an eye on it.

That sounds like a possibility to keep in mind.

I may have run out of brain. I wonder if I can come up with stuff that needs doing that doesn't actually take braining.

That sounds like a possibility to keep in mind.

It's been so long that I looked at the list of possible side effects that I forgot what they were.

In other news, I got an email from potential new manager congratulating me for the job offer. I still haven't heard from the recruiter this week, so I'm just going to say thanks and that I'm waiting on her so we can move forward.

Yeah, side effects are like that.

I am putting the unwrapped York Minis in my sugar bowl, since I have no need of sweeteners for my tea right now. That might be okay. Probably the people who come to my desk in search of chocolate won't know they are in there, but I can live with that.

I've been perusing Venice Beach hotels, and I realized I was feeling uncomfortable about staying at them. Not from feeling too small-town or anything like that, but lacking in fabulousness. Which sounds gay-er than I mean. Too frumpy. Dress it up as I may, I'm still a fat over-50 woman who lives in Utah, and I feel like I'll stick out like a sore thumb in some chic, semi-boutique hotel on the beach in LA.

Snatching a few seconds to say hi and commiserate with folks.

Zen, I feel for you. Good thing it was a flat rate. I hired Two Men and a Truck for one move and one of the movers kept taking water breaks and laying down! I ended up paying much more than I expected. I should have complained to the company, but the slacker kept asking me not to because he was afraid he'd get fired for age discrimination. I'm too easy.

Ginger, that is terrible! And when I hear all the news about the subsidies for the ACA possibly being cut out, I just want to scream, because of the way it effects people I know. Here in Wisconsin it would be a huge hit as we didn't take any federal funds to supplement it.

I started using a Fitbit yesterday. I walked 9000 steps for the day, about 7000 of them just in my building. The thing is huge like whoa. I'm going to lose a lot of weight working here.

I've been perusing Venice Beach hotels

Is the goal to be right by the beach? Like Hotel Erwin? If so, yeah, those hotels are likely to be spendy and pretty spiffy. And may well be full of Beautiful People. But they would have the advantage of being right there. If you want more urban funk (and probably more noise and more grime) I think there's a hostel right by the beach as well.

Rest assured that the average Venetian is not super hipster, they are just people. More tats than Utah, more street people too. But the beach is by definition a casual place, not a fashion statement.

If you want a less hipster environment, you can pick a hotel on the east side of Venice, which is a more residential, less beachy neighborhood, but then you are looking at a bus, car, or bike ride down to the water.

Is the goal to be right by the beach?

The goal is to be on the beach. I won't have a car, and I'm not planning on wandering anywhere. I really want to spend a couple of days listening to and watching the ocean. I'm looking through Travelocity, so the truly spiffy places may not be there. There's one called the Inn on Venice Beach that doesn't look too bad.

I have been to Venice Beach, I know that they embrace the weird. I guess the creeping invisibility of age and body shape is begging to weigh on me.

Edit: Yeah, Hotel Erwin looks a bit out of my range. Venice Suites looks pleasantly funky, though all the available rooms face the city. I guess I'd just have to sit on a bench somewhere.

2nd edit: And I hadn't noticed the dates had readjusted themselves on the deal calculator, and what was a reasonable 2-night stay is actually an unreasonable one-night stay. So time to find a cheaper ocean.