Lord God, what an afternoon/evening. Got an email from a customer from a couple of days ago telling me he bought me a $50 Amazon gift card, with the code to redeem it. It's slightly weird, and I sent an email to my supervisor to ask if it's ethical to accept it. Then I forgot we weren't supposed to stick personal flashdrives into the company computers--I wanted to grab some pictures I'd downloaded--and got a message saying "You're not supposed to do that." I'm waiting to find out if that was a private "Bad person!" thing or if someone's going to be following up.

Then I leave the office and see that another big fire has sparked off at the south end of the valley, just where the big ones were last summer at this time. There's a lovely red-yellow glow all along the top of the ridgeline. And when I got home, the upstairs neighbors were gathered outside the building, and I hear what might be a smoke alarm. It stopped, and I made my usual slow way up the stairs, and a fire engine pulls up. I point them upstairs.

The fire engine has since left, but my tension has not. Oh, and the Pulmonology office called to tell me that my blood gases were a little elevated and my lung function is "a little restricted." The technician yesterday said "Your lung capacity is at 58%. We normally like to see that around 70%." I guess lungs don't have to be at 100%? But all will be explained at my office visit, in October. I'm assuming that if there was something really dire, they'd be fitting me in earlier.

That's been my day. Still, I got a $4000/year "wage adjustment", and some very pretty beads I ordered arrived. Somewhere this all evens out.

Closing is in 2 weeks!

That is so awesome that the repairs are being done quickly with no arguments. This is clearly meant to be. So excite!

Gris, I am sensing a business opportunity.

I've never consumed iced coffee. I drink a lot of coffee, like way too much, but black and hot. Maybe some day I'll try iced, but I don't like coffee ice cream so not expecting to like it.

Note to self: can't live with Teppy. Spoiler font for Teppy's protection. I have been known to walk around the house while brushing my teeth. Often.

That was a roller coaster day, Connie. I suspect the "you're not supposed to do that" message is just local to your machine and not reported. Just a block message.

Ick, fire! I'm not a freak about it, but I do at least unplug things like the toaster and basic safety stuff like that. Have the hose next to me when I have a bonfire outside and hose off all the surrounding grass and trees before a start a fire.

My mom was super paranoid about fire and was always nervous when she smelled smoke, which happens often here in the Adirondacks because people burn trash outside or have bonfire often. And it happens a lot in Florida with sugar cane burning and the Everglades on fire during droughts. When Mom lost her sense of smell in her 80s we would smile to ourselves when we smelled smoke because she was unaware and wouldn't be upset by it. She used to joke that she must have been burned at the stake in a past life.

My baby boy is 25 today. He and the wifey are on a mini-vaca in a cabin at a ski mountain in Gatlinburg TN. She was messaging me pictures last night.

Happy giving birth day, Laura!

That's quite a day you had there, Connie.

I've never consumed iced coffee. I drink a lot of coffee, like way too much, but black and hot. Maybe some day I'll try iced, but I don't like coffee ice cream so not expecting to like it.

If you don't like coffee ice cream, you probably wouldn't like it. I don't have my iced coffee as sweet as ice cream, but it's definitely in the same flavor profile. I love iced coffee with cream (never milk) and sugar, even though I drink my morning coffee hot, black, and unsweetened.

Reader, Tim is still alive simply because I know I'm not cut out for prison.

A wise man marries a woman too pretty for jail.

A fool tests that proposition.

I usually drink my hot or iced coffee with milk and sweetener, but am also fine losing either of those additions. Straight black is a little much for me.

I thought iced coffee was a New England thing, so am I wrong, or has it spread?

I drink iced coffee every morning from some time in April through October-ish. Hot coffee is only for cold weather.

When did you start drinking it? Googling didn't help me much, but I did find a thing about Dunkin that said they only sold iced coffee in Rhode Island at first.

I can remember in high school not being able to get iced coffee anywhere but RI. I graduated in 95.

As you know Bob, my mother is from Rhode Island, and I grew up drinking coffee milk -- with or without Autocrat (without, it was just a quarter coffee/three-quarters milk).

When did you start drinking it?

At least 20 years ago. I mean, I just made it at home. I don't really remember the first time I got it in a Starbucks or other coffee place.