Frog and Goat

The better-half and I are going to FL in early March to see my sister and her husband. We’ve been back and forth and back and forth over the price of airline tickets, hotels, etc. We considered driving there but the thought of being in a car for 13.5 hours was a little horrifying. I’ve driven down to FL twice to see my sister but she lived 3.5 hours closer then and that was still a long drive.

We finally found airline tickets that weren’t insanely priced and the trip didn’t take us North to go South. And, there are no long layovers on these flights. I can handle an hour our two in an airport but get much past that and crazy things start to happen. Like the time I got my hair cut at the Hairport in Orlando. My regular hairdresser was appalled by the hack job.

We’re leaving on a Thursday and coming back on a Monday. That Tuesday we have tickets to see Kodo and that Wednesday is The Niece’s fifth birthday. I haven’t stuffed this much fun into a Spring Break ever. I spent most of my Spring Breaks in college buying tires or working (seriously, I had to buy four tires during one Spring Break so while everyone else was getting liquored up and tanned, I spent all my money on tires–the wild and crazy life).

It will be nice to get a way for a few days and hang out with my sister and brother-in-law.

I’m home today attempting to get over a cold that just wants to hang around but never get quite bad. The fact that I was having a hard time hearing and speaking yesterday (head full of stuff and voice fading in and out) made me think that staying home and napping most of the day would be a good thing. I also have double digit days of sick leave and I may as well use a day now and again.

The better-half is also feeling bad and I think he may be worse off than I am. I foresee lots of liquids and soup in our future today.

The past week has been full of only middling interesting things:
The Niece almost spent the night on Saturday but a beloved snow globe was shattered and The Niece decided she should go home, bummer.

Monday night we made pasta and I, like an idiot, dumped a packet of herbs and spices into the sauce. A coworker gave me the bag after going to Italy last fall and I figured we’d better use it up. I realized as soon as I dumped it in there that the proportions were off so I added more tomatoes. When I took a bite of the pasta, I choked and could hardly breathe. The spice packet was for Midnight Spaghetti which is some twistedly hot pasta concoction in Italy (note to self, use The Google before dumping packets of whatnot into food). I like heat in my food but I couldn’t eat the pasta.

We went out to dinner on Tuesday night for Valentine’s Day since last night I was in class until 9:40. The food was incredible. We exchanged cards last night and the better-half found the perfect card for me. It may be the best card anyone has ever given me.

Strange thing #1: There’s a guy in our neighborhood who is a ham operator. When conditions are right and my computer speakers are on, I can hear him talking. I can’t tell what he’s saying but I can hear him talking. In fact I hear him right now. Kind of creepy.

Strange thing #2: When the work buddies and I decide to go to the grocery store to buy lunch (great salad bar and prepared foods), should it be considered rude to do other shopping while there? I have picked up a couple of things before but sometimes my coworkers walk out of the store with bags of stuff. Yesterday the store was crowded but I know I waited more than 10 minutes for everyone to get through the line. I was worried my sushi was going to get hot.

I came up with a new phrase today at work. I decreed that this week it seems more and more people have started to drink the crazy juice. Proof of crazy juice drinking:
-Tuesday morning meeting–the person I’ve been having issues with went freaking nuts and raised her voice, pointed fingers and then said mean things about me to me
-Wednesday morning–the weird thing that happened at the coffee shop
-Friday morning–I found out some person in the northern part of the state was ranting and raving about the “wrongness” of an online course that she’s never even bothered to look at

About the person who went freaking nuts on Tuesday–it is only a matter of time before the rope she’s tied around her neck becomes a hanging rope.

I parked down in the pay-to-park lot this morning as it is closer to my night class. Feeling like I needed a cup of coffee, I stopped by the coffee shop on the way to my office.

The way the coffee shop is set up, the line usually files in front of the counter. This morning there were three women in a disorganized line out into the tables and chairs. Usually that’s where you stand when you’ve ordered food to go but I figured it was early and if the coffee-deprived are confused about queuing up, then that’s OK. They all slowly got through their ordering process until the third woman asked if they serve grits. No. Then she had to ask about the coffees and who knows what. At this point, I was sort of staring at the menu board and taping my toe and finger to the bluesy gospel playing. I was tapping my finger along the dollars in my hand as I had already wrestled my wallet out of the bookbag and then stowed it back in the inner pocket.

When the third woman finally got her stuff and turned to leave, I stepped into the order spot and said hi to the coffee guy and he said hi to me. As the third woman passed me, she leaned in and said, right in my ear, Hello. It was so weird that I didn’t even react to her. The coffee guy just gave me a funny smile and I handed him my two bucks. He handed me the coffee and I did my cream/sugar thing and walked out the other door.

What was that all about?

The other night when we were standing around outside the Coliseum waiting for our friend, the restaurant across the way played some really horrible songs over their PA system. While we complained about the cold, the lyrics of this song finally worked their way into my head and I commented that we had a copy of that song. The better-half kind of looked at me funnily as if to say “we have some weird shit at home”. Indeed.

But, now that it is Monday I find that I am living in a box of sorts. The building I work in is old and apparently has zero insulation. I got tired of being able to feel the breeze on my hands and legs so I ventured down into the basement and grabbed two boxes (already flattened). I hauled them upstairs and shoved them down in between my desk and the window. I affixed a big binder clip to the middle and now I have some protection from the air pouring in through the window. I really don’t think it has helped too much but it made me feel better that I’m pointing out how ridiculous it is that we basically freeze during cold snaps.