Quote of the day from Dave Barry's latest column.

"The city of Beverly Hills has been evacuated twice this month because of reports -- false, thank heavens -- that terrorists had put a bagel in the water supply."

AND

"But the Atkins Diet lives on, helping millions of Americans to lose weight. The irony is, you can't tell this by looking at actual Americans, who have, as a group, become so heavy that North America will soon be underwater as far inland as Denver."

More Obsessions...

And after I finished my bar graphs last night around midnight, the urge hit to hang the curtains I'd just purchased. I made a few tips yesterday in the pool bar, so I wanted a canopy for my bed. One thing led to another and I found myself balancing on the headboard rigging a swag across the long side of the bed. Then I had a great idea to use the scrap lace I'd bought as the tie backs for the canopy. Then the swag needed something, so I ran outside to grab my hanging ornate candle holder.

Then, laying on the bed admiring the canopy, I realised that I had plenty of room to subdivide my "office" from my "living room"....

An hour later found me dragging my dresser out of the closet because moving my writing desk left a void. And the chairs just weren't working. I traded them around for twenty five minutes looking for something to "hit me." And something did. My new chandelier, actually. In the head when I forgot to duck.

But the dresser was too tall for the lamp, and the chairs too small for the corner, and on and on. At 2:15 I finally finished my last hat box vignette on the dresser, with just a little fringe and lace peeking out of the top, and a vase of fuschia butterfly carnations. It looks lovely.

Except the writing desk needs just a little something draped on it. And the beautiful new canopy makes my kitchen look even worse....

Obsessions of the Geek-inclined

Wendy and I did our month-end spending reports and our quarterly reports last night over a couple of cups of very strong Chai. My top expenses for the quarter:

1. Student Loans/other debt.
2. Car Insurance
3. Car Payments/Downpayment

And the next largest categories in no specific order were those that come off the top of my paycheck, savings and tithe. But I thought I did pretty well for the quarter. My bar graphs are quite impressive.

Wendy, here's to a great 2nd Quarter!

Christians Everywhere! Tip Well!

You have no idea how much your faith is called into question by how you act after the Amen.

Horrible woman checked out today. The hot water was dirty. There were spots on the inside of the wall behind the door. (who LOOKS there?) There was nobody to host the wine and cheese reception. (it isn't hosted) There were a couple of spots of what looked like blood on the floor. (I would suspect since we are in wine country that perhaps it might be, I don't know, WINE?) Then she came to the front desk, authorized me to charge her credit card, and then looked at the bill and wanted the AAA discount. I told her I couldn't do that after the card's been charged. THEN she said that she'd already asked for the rate, so I looked, and yes, there it was. But she wouldn't believe me. She thought I was overcharging her and lying. I finally had her compare the rate on the info card with the rate charged on her bill. Only then would she stop telling me I'd "led her to believe" that she hadn't been given the discount.

I have just run out of customer service. I have no more in me.