1. I can't believe it's my second to last day before I leave for Florida for my cruise. AHHHH! I'm so excited- and I'm also nervous that there are loose ends I'm forgetting to tie up.
2. Mets game tonight! Take me out to the ballgame!
3. Streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetch. ::yawn::

1. I'm taking the train to Ol' Virginny this evening, to celebrate my nephew's fifth birthday with my whole family.
2. I'm about to run down to Grand Central to buy him a model subway car from the MTA shop (I thought of getting him a set of colored paint pens along with it so he could grafitti it up himself, but that would be encouraging vice in an impressionable youngster).
3. I still have to pack for my trip and my train leaves at 18:20. But since I got here at 08:00 to field 08:15 and 09:00 conference calls, I'm leaving at 16:00.

1. The kid's school is on an "accelerated early release", so no volunteering today.

2. I cleaned this morning instead. I'm getting a new washer and dryer delivered. A totally awesome washer and dryer. There is even a video detailing how awesome these laundry machines are. I would link to it, but that would only advertise my sad, sad world. I am actually excited about a washer and dryer. Woo! Laundry!

3. Walking and weeding the rose beds is on the agenda this early evening while the kids and mister are at b-ball practice. Reading with tea after they're tucked in. Husband is playing cards tonight. I have the night to myself.

1. My wrist is still wonky and I still have not made a doctor's appt. My doctor's office isn't open on Wednesdays. (This is not something that is killing me - it's just really bothering me.)

2. I am hilariously busy this week. I've suddenly got a ton of work + my brother will be in town starting tomorrow which means I've got family crap between then and Saturday every day. Plus I just found out a comedian is in town who I'll probably end up ferrying about the place because he's friends with one of the comedians I work for.

3. I am so freaking tired and I can't figure out when it is I'm going to sleep between now and tomorrow. Seriously.

1. I'm having trouble maintaining an even emotional keel.
2. The event this weekend is eating my life.
3. Overwhelming workload.

Hm, doesn't look so hot in black and white.

1. busy week socially; irritating week professionally.
2. date (by all accounts) went really well but has (as yet) yielded no plans for the next one.
3. will either home improve or self improve on the weekend. or do neither and just ride my bike around.

1. i was supposed to wake up at 8 a.m. to go deal with a bunch of bureaucrats. instead, i woke up at noon.
2. there is a fly in the living room. it's driving me nuts. they get in through a hole in the screen and then can't find their way out.
3. i'm addicted to facebook. FACEBOOK! it's so lame, yet so compelling. alas.

1. Working from home today, so I got a chance to go to the supermarket, as there was barely a morsel in the fridge.

2. I also cleaned the car. I was worried about rinsing away all that dirt, just in case that was the only thing holding the car together but it's all lovely and clean, to the extent that I can actually see the colour of it. At first glance it looks black but it's very dark purple, like an eggplant.

3. England v Russia on TV tonight. I hope the Russians have all been doing their bit for Sex Day and are knackered. It's a game England really needs to win.

1. Won at bridge last night, yay!
2. I'm loving looking out the window at the blue blue sky.
3. The next few weeks are going to be incredibly busy, but the next few days are not, which means that I probably won't get *anything* done in the next few days.

1. I got up early so I can leave early as part of all the stuff that needs to be done before my son leaves for Europe on Friday.

2. I am bone tired and coming down with a cold.

3. I have lost four pounds in the last 3 weeks. Go me.

I realize that my first part hardly even makes sense. Man, I wish I could go back to bed. Yaaaawwwnnnn.

1. Because of a series of miscommunications at work, we're going to have twice as many cupcakes as we anticipated. But hey, cupcakes.

2. Tonight, somebody is coming to the library to give a presentation about bats. I'm excited, because I kinda like bats.

3. You know those Ikea shelves that are made up of a bunch of squares, and are ideally sized for, among other things, milkcrates and 12" records? Are there any pitfalls to constructing one of those that I'm not seeing? I'm thinking it'd be easy, and much cheaper, especially since the nearest Ikea is several hours away.

1. I let all this bureaucratic stuff slide and now I have to get my car registration/vehicle taxes/inspection done, like, yesterday. Naturally, this involves three separate trips to three completely different places. Also, I think I need to get a new drivers license (at yet another place) while I'm at it because it's all faded & the obnoxious girl at the ticket office said they might not let me in to see the Meat Puppets tomorrow night with that ID! Argh! Must see Meat Puppets!

2. And I'm at work and busy as hell which makes #1 more difficult.

3. There was supposed to be an article about me in the paper today but it got turned into an article about some of my friends instead. This is actually sort of a relief (it's a blogging & anonymity article & something I kind of would prefer not actually to discuss with my new boss, being as how I am a big fan of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy when it comes to work/homelife conflicts) but they still used my picture - why? Why my picture? It's a good picture but I'm barely in the article.

MGL, this is awesome. Your photo and profile are at the opening. Looks like top billing to me. I love your name too. Must remember to read more blogs!

1) I keep getting up around 5AM, going to bed around midnight and then I wonder why I'm so tired. Fucking idiot.

2) I need to finish The Discoverers by Saturday and get it back to the library because I've used up all my renewals. It's good but it's not "bother to come back and get off the shelf and start the whole cycle over again" good, or "buy a copy" good (given current space constraints). I have a little less than half to go, and not much time for reading between now and then.

3) Th' wife leaves town for a few weeks on Friday. Being a psuedo-bachelor will be fun for about three days, and then I'll sink into deep loneliness, if past trips are any indication. Maybe I'll get Bioshock to take my mind off things (built a new PC last week).

1. I just got back from picking up nephew presents: a 7-line subway train car that'll fit on his wooden tracks and a book of historic subway cars that you can punch out and fold into 3-D models.

2. It's gimme-a-Gee Gorgeous outside. What a pleasant walk, even with midtown gapers and short-stoppers every five steps.

3. Do it to it Mountain Dew!

1. good haircut
2. love job
3. AUTUMN

1: I spent 21 hours yesterday in broad daylight
2: I'm almost there with the 8 hour time difference
3: Somewhere in Cincinatti airport is a pair of expensive glasses which I'm hoping will turn up.

1. I am an idiot.
2. People are exhausting.
3. I really need to get back home to my island. I miss the trees and my kitties and the quiet.

Also, Hugh, you must be the bestest uncle ever in the history of ever. Really.

1. afternoon nap
2. multiple cookie choice
3. writing

1. Financial joy day: Won $166.6666666 dollars today (AKA $1000 split six ways) at work. I don't know what for. And I got my annual merit raise, which worked out to be just shy of 40 cents an hour.

2. I somehow managed to come home from the store last night with two right shoes and no left.

3. I made a sewing blog so I can blather on and not bother anyone. It is here, should anyone care.

1. Cleaned the bathroom
2. Working on laundry
3. The mister comes home tomorrow!

hose Ikea shelves that are made up of a bunch of squares, and are ideally sized for, among other things, milkcrates and 12" records? Are there any pitfalls to constructing one of those that I'm not seeing?
Expedit? I have put together a couple of these and, apart from the fact that you have to get all the bits together at once, which is somewhat like herding cats, they aren't too bad. Be patient, thought, they are not as easy as some flat-pack stuff.

1. Started new job last week (acting for three months only), but haven't tidied up all the bits from my "normal" job yet, so doing two jobs at once.
2. Have to give a presentation about methods of gathering and retaining electronic assessment evidence to a conference of 300 miners later today - gulp.
3. Generally feeling frazzled.

1. Grandbun and daughter all settled in here, and we are all happy and doing well. Amazing. (and it's amazing how drunk/stoned babies look when they first wake up. Hilarious.)
2. Watched Biggest Loser last night with Mom of Grandbun and got inspired to start losing weight again before I plump out of my "skinny" clothes.
3. Husband will be going on last minute business trip in a few days-to Vegas. I'm actually relieved I'm not going. (Can't afford it right now and am NOT leaving girls here alone with Grandbun. Nope.) Happily I have a husband who I can trust to go to Vegas without me.

One of the assistants to the new owners of the penthouse (neither of whom can bother to pronounce my last name correctly) told the wife that I damaged their place---NO NO NO! I need to take photos before my construction starts (which most likely will be delayed AGAIN) to document its condition. God knows what the spoiled prince told them...but what I've read about the new owners makes me think they are not my sort of people: an aged gold digger and a suit who could have prevented deaths from a workplace disaster several years ago but didn't.

The crown of the tooth which needs the root canal feels like it will pop off and explode pus--the antibiotics haven't kicked in--and I hurt my knee when I tripped over the cane of a blind guy who didn't hear me passing in front of him.


The mice are back and the traps I set don't work. How effective is the sonic thing?

About the IKEA shelves: I suspect that buying the lumber and hardware to make your own would actually be more expensive than buying the IKEA shelf.

Really? That shelf is something like $200 before shipping. I've already got the tools and hardware, and there are a few different avenues I could pursue for cheap lumber. You're probably right, though, that I could buy it cheaper at Ikea than I could buy the parts at Home Depot.