CafeChatNoir

Happy birthday !

Rita is apparently a bitch on wheels, and if you’re not out of the way yet, you’d best be hauling ass here very soon it seems.

Please be safe, be smart and don’t take any stupid chances, OK?

Can someone explain this to me?  (For once, the man troubles are not my own.)

Went out w/friends last week.  In the group was a guy that has gone on a couple dates with one of the gals.  He scored well with all of us, and all the body language over the course of the evening says he is interested in her.  They had plans to hang out on Sunday, he was to call and firm things up and never did.

Granted, yes, she could have called him, but if he said he was going to call - why the hell wouldn’t he, even if just to say, “I can’t make it/My house burned down/I have to wash the cat/If I have to spend any time again with your insane friends I will slit my wrists so I can’t see you anymore.”

I just really don’t get saying you’ll call and then not bothering.  (Don’t get me started on folks that don’t check emails.)

Went out and saw March of the Penguins w/Abigail and Andrea.  Excellent documentary.  We all cried.  (I was pretty sure I would, I felt better not being the only one.)

Walked all over Arlington, ended up at Whitlow’s for dinner, lots of pondering over the opposite sex, no definitive answers found…

Got in the car to hear them talking of “Rehnquist’s legacy” and found myself near yelling at the radio, “Retired or Died?!  Which is it!?”  It will be very interesting to see how SCOTUS ends up after all this.

Oh, and as of about 45 minutes ago, the Shell station at Rolling & Old Keene Mill still had regular unleaded for $2.97/gallon.

I’m tired, but it’s a nice “I did all sorts of stuff today” tired instead of a “the world is kicking my ass” tired that has been the norm a little too often of late.

Sweet dreams, all.

The wedding was lovely, the bride was stunning, the groom was his usual goofy self, and the reception was the most entertaining I have ever been to.  :)  Lisa** is a smiley gal to start with, but you couldn’t get the grin off her face with a Mac truck today.  I even have a few photos of my brother all spiffed up.  No photos of the few times he was dancing, as I swore I wouldn’t take any, and I kept my word.

Tev broke out into the Iccy Shuffle during the first dance, then broke into the Dad & Daughter dance, and proceeded to dance with Dad.

Sat at the “guests of the wedding party” table, as  was in the wedding party in some capacity, but I couldn’t quite tell you what, as all the guys apparently kept changing duties, decision making being done via rock-paper-scissors.

Talking w/ Debbie at my table, she asked if I danced - heck yeah, but I never can find a dance partner.  She says that she is sure that Nick would dance if I asked…  HAHAHA!  Not doing that to Nick (though he’s a nice guy and would probably agree) or to my brother, cause I *do* know little bro would catch shit for it.  I mentioned it to him, and he confirmed, not allowed!  Well, later a bunch of us are on the dance floor, Josh is on the dance floor, but not dancing, so I poke him about joining in.  So he does, more with me than the general “us” bouncing about on the dance floor, and apparently within seconds, my brother is catching crap from his friends along the lines of “Josh is going to nail your sister.”, LOL.  I did not get in trouble w/him for this, as he said, “Well, I did only specifically ban Nick.” 

I also became near permanently attached to a small child who had to be on methamphetamines - my god, what a insanely high energy little one, who wanted to dance to EVERY SINGLE DANCE, and loved getting picked up and spun around.  Weight training and cardio today?  Check.  Finally, she latched on to the bride, much easier to find in a crowd with the big white dress.

Just a really great wedding and reception, and I think they’re gonna make it for the long haul.

And despite a two hour dead-to-the-world nap upon getting home, I’m still beat, so I’m going to bed.

**
Lisa = bride
Tev = groom
Debbie = Mark’s wife
Mark = groomsman
Josh = groomsman/friend of
Nick = groomsman/friend of

The dog, while an absolute joy, is a lousy exercise partner.  There is no such thing as “continuous” walking with him - it’s stop & sniff & walk & stop & sniff…  This is another reason aside from the heat that he gets dropped off after one lap. :)

Next Saturday I am going to be at a wedding that starts at 1 PM.  It just occurred to me today that I am on beeper until 3 PM next Saturday…  Hell, I’ll just put it on vibrate for the ceremony and pray it doesn’t go off at all…  And at 3 PM, I may just drop it in the punchbowl.

Got a fair amount accomplished in the basement today w/, though the dog decided to test my considerations of his being “an absolute joy” by attempting to undo it…  Fortunately, I caught him in the midst of it and was able to get it cleaned up immediately.  Coulda strangled the little mutt for a few minutes there, though…

Happy Birthday, and !!!!!

Happy Birthday !!!!!!

London office all safe and accounted for, has posted, I can now relax.

Though she hasn’t heard from him, his flight to Dublin was last night at 7:05 out of Bath, so he shouldn’t have even been in London today.

I emailed him anyway telling him “when bad things happen and you’re anywhere near them, you’re now under strict orders from the LJ chicky chicks to move heaven & earth to find an internet connection and check in.”, but I feel a hell of a lot better.

’s sister has not heard anything yet, but does not think he was in England today, and will let me know as soon as she hears something.

I just remembered that I have an email address for ’s sister and have sent her an email - hopefully she will have good news.

please check in if you can cause now I’m worried.

Now they’re saying 3 tube explosions + bus. Better than 6, but still…

Had a chat w/Nina out in CO this morning, sounds like things are good out there, she’s yet another in a line of gals I know getting married, who have all decided that wedding planning is for the birds. :) Her advice to all is: Elope.

Goodness, just got pinged by Dan, too. Planets must be in some kind of alignment today. (Or this is what happens when you say “Fuck the massive distraction” and set IM back to everything.)

I’ve been up since *gak* 7:30 this morning. Got a few things accomplished, but the thing is, only now I’m hitting my real get-up-and-go time. Just in time to start working… Dammit, I have got to work on my timing.

I am near tears. Not because of some fragile emotional state, but because for the SECOND time today I have managed to bash my knee into a solid object. God I wish I wasn’t so clumsy.

It’s really neat to finally put a face to two years of IM’s and phone calls.

The 11 shift is good today cause I needed to sleep in big time. My only pain was discovering that I only had enough coffee for one cup and being near out of cold sodas. That has been rectified.

Tasha is an absolute gem. She’s smart, funny, sweet, a ton of fun and just a terrific person. I am SO glad they had her come up here to do training.

In other news, it’s very cool to finally meet a coworker in person after two years of IM’s, emails and phone calls.

Tomorrow the rumor mill will run rampant that I’ve changed teams and we’ve slept together, LOL!

Will post more on a slightly more serious note of finally meeting Tasha in person tomorrow. :)

Said guy coworker & myself are very much on the same wavelength, so we have all sorts of bizarre conversations, today’s just made me laugh…

: besides, I’m sure the gals were just all throwing themselves at you anyway
: or maybe just throwing things at you, but still
coworker: HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA
coworker: Stop it hurts
coworker: Never had that trouble
coworker: Always had to work at it
: women throwing things at you?
: I am sure there has been a rock or two winged at your head over the years
coworker: Was chased out of a house with a fireplace poker once
…
coworker: Lets just say the relationship was not going to take the direction she thought
: you mean down the psycho road where you do everything she says?
coworker: THAT’S THE VERY PLACE!!!
…
coworker: I often DO wonder what became of her
coworker: Ran into her at a bar a few years later with some GQ looking fella hanging off her arm…I had just finished tarring a foundation and was in with a few guys for a pitcher of beer or two…she made it a point to walk him by our table twice…a point a gladly ceded her as I knew his life was probably a living hell
…
: should asked her if that infection ever cleared up
coworker: ROFL…no…know thy enemy is the first rule of warfare…for a petite person she could take it to a WHOLE ‘nother level in a second so I decided to smile and leave it at that
: yeah, sounds like me
: wait, did we ever date?

Why? Cause it’s the first day of SUMMER!!!

This weekend is the Old Dominion Beer Festival! You should go - it’s fun. It’s also very dog friendly. (If I had someone available to go with besides just the dog, I’d be there myself, but you really need to do it with someone else. So, if you go, have a black radish for me!)

In very happy news - TASHA IS COMING TO TOWN NEXT WEEK!! She’s gonna be up here doing some training and I am SO excited to see her!

First: is having a raffle for an LJ coupon!

Second, oh how my head & feet hurt!! Actually head’s not bad anymore, was just dehydration from spending 3 hours bouncing around a dance floor and not having enough water, the Advil has already kicked in. The feet? OUCH! No blisters, but just sore from spending 3 hours bouncing around a dance floor. :)

Things I learned:
1. I’ve apparently been to Arlington enough lately that I am starting to recognize where things are - I even remembered where the free parking garage was.
2. The rooftop bar at the Clarendon Ballroom should probably be condemned by the City of Arlington.
3. Eminem can be danceable. Who knew?
4. There is no such thing as drinking too much water when dancing.
5. As fun as it is to get all dressed up every now and again, I am happy to be back in my jeans and just be a mess again. :)

It is always awesome when someone comes through with a reason to make you laugh when you really need it (even if it is SO WRONG to laugh about their situation, but they know you well enough to just give you the opening anyway.) And the radio stations cooperated nicely on the way home by playing lots of good music.

My clients were again pretty reasonable today. It’s like the pod people came and replaced the real ones or something.

The neighbors must think I am a total nutjob. The dog is not supposed to take his toys outside - so of course he does, and then we make a game of it (which is probably why he takes them outside…) When he’s got one of his toys, he makes this bizarre happy growly sound and bounces around all over the place when you walk towards him. So of course, we have to make this more interesting and I end up running around the yard after him waving my arms and making monster noises. He thinks it is the BEST THING EVAR!!! I hope my neighbors can actually see the dog happily bouncing around at my feet… (We do work “leave it” regularly, he knows this is full on playtime.) We also just finished a most excellent game of ball, and thank goodness the winds have kicked up with the storms about to come through, cause earlier it was ick-still out there.

I have even managed to convince the dog to hang upstairs with me tonight, even though for him it’s hotter than hell upstairs. I promised him that a laptop and wireless router were in his future so I can be a dork and hangout online downstairs so he doesn’t roast. I will be filing that expense under “Pets” in Quicken. :)

OMG, in other news I am TOTALLY GOING TO HELL. The phone just rang - my grandma saying, “Yesterday it was my turn to call [we alternate weeks] and I had it written down and everything, and I forgot to look at the calendar.” I didn’t take notice of the fact that she didn’t call. I am back in “bad granddaughter status” I am sure. I’ve now got another task on the calendar every two weeks “Grandma should call today…”

…but that was fun. Haven’t seen Abigail in forever and a day, and it’s good to have someone you can just hang with and do some benign guy-bashing. (She’s in a bit of a cynical spot in her life, too.)

Also happy to say I found my way in and out of Crystal City with a minimum of illegal u-turns. :)

The Brick no longer carries Xingu. :(

But, found Todd & Co, had a good time. Celia & Chris are still getting married, and I am still a firm believer in eloping to Vegas and having Elvis officiate after hearing a few “not even really horror stories but things you just wouldn’t put up with in any other situation”…

A good week with a decent ending and I’m tired and hitting the rack.

Yes, I am going to dwell on this for a while, so bear with me.

It’s just been one of those days where, at every turn something has gone amiss, and I’ve felt like a complete fucking loser, and each time I think I couldn’t possibly feel MORE like a complete fucking loser, something else happens, and no, wait! You CAN feel more like a complete, fucking loser!

And jeez, why couldn’t the ONE person who I needed very badly to answer their phone actually answer their phone?!?

Some days it’s just not even worth trying.

Today is WAY up there on the crappy day list.

First, I realize I don’t have the directions to get where I need to be to celebrate the friend who finished her MBA. I glance at the email, look up the address of the bar online, get directions printed out *and* put in the PDA. I am good to go there, cause even though it’s a haul to get up there, getting your MBA is a big deal.

Last call of the day the client tells me not to be snappy. Great. Fucking wonderful.

Then on the way home, I am at a red light, take my foot off the brake and tap into the person in front of me. Not exactly a stellar moment in my driving career. She is OK, I apologize, and offer insurance info, she wants to check the car. No problem. Not even a mark on either vehicle, *whew* I am very inwardly relieved, apologize again, and then she flips out, threatening to call the police and telling me “you can’t just go around hitting people and just say you’re sorry!” WTF? Took me about three more offers to get her to take my insurance info, she decides she’s not going to call the cops (even though she could do that, because *I* hit *her*, as she reminded me about 6 or 7 times.) Finally she takes the info and leaves, and I go home and immediately call the insurance company because of this whacko, last thing I need is a cop showing up saying I left the scene of an accident.

So, needing to shake of psycho chick, I feed the dog and head out to the bar. Except no one is there at all. Great, I know I’m late but apparently I must be really late. I call the only person I have a number for in my phone who would be there, and of course, no god damn answer. Fuck it, I head home again, after spending 45+ minutes getting there. Get home, go back through my emails, and apparently, there is more than one location for this particular bar, and I had the address for the wrong one… Fuck. FUCK. So now I appear to not care/be one of those people that can’t show up where her ex is. Wonderful.

So, yes, a truly craptastic day, and I think I am gonna just go cry now. At the rate the week is going, I won’t make it to Friday.