Okay, so I've been getting some nasty comments about the fact that I haven't updated the blog, well, basically all month.  I maintain that it is totally not my fault.  Extenuating circumstances, I swear.

Jen: "I'm so sick of seeing 'What's a Nubian?'  I see it and I get all pissed off."

That's a paraphrase, but still.  Come on!  That is an EXCELLENT scene from Chasing Amy!  It is not my fault you are not hip enough!

Hooper:  And then you got Darth Vader, the blackest brother in the galaxy, Nubian god!
Banky:  What's a Nubian?
Hooper:  Shut the fuck up!

[Later]

Hooper:  What's a Nubian?  Bitch, you almost made me laugh.
Banky:  You didn't tell me you were gonna yell "Black Rage."  I nearly pissed myself.

But, as a peace offering, I'm going to go back and make up as much stuff as I can remember--but as an excuse, I've been very busy at work so I was pretty worn out when I got home at night, and then I had no electricity (which equals no internet).

It's supposed to be 100 for the next three days--that's disgusting.

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Sunday, 7/30 - After church, Mom & I hit the Mills for a movie & lunch.  Monster House was starting just as we got there, so rather than wait an hour & a half for the next show, we just decided to eat after.

Monster House is REALLY GOOD.  It may be a little too intense for little kids--the house is a pretty rough monster--but they did a really good job with all the characters and the story is good.  I had to stay for the credits because it kept bothering me that I couldn't place the voice they had for the babysitter's boyfriend, Bones (it's Jason Lee, by the way, but I attribute my inability to place it to the fact that he was playing a stoner musician--he was giving off Keanu vibes).  If you go see it, there's a couple of scenes right at the beginning of the credits, but there's nothing at the very end--once the screen goes black for the credits, there's nothing more.

Then we went to Tony Roma's for lunch where we had the world's most overly attentive waiter EVER.  Sitting down at the table "for a while" is over the line, dude.  I am sorry you don't have more tables, find another way to occupy yourself.

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Saturday, 7/29 - Lazy chore day.  I cleaned out my car, scrubbed down the inside and let the rain take care of the outside.  Then did a bunch of laundry.  I also went through all my mail and realized that my Disney World trip confirmation had me arriving twice, Katie once, and Beth not at all--and since Beth is arriving separately from Katie & me, I wanted to make especially sure that she was taken care of.  So I called the Disney Travel Company to straighten it all out.

I don't know where the guy on the phone was from--it wasn't an Indian accent, but it was definitely thick (I don't think Disney uses any outsourced to India call centers)--but he just kept saying Katie's name all crazy-like.  No matter how many times I said "Katie Connolly" he just kept saying "Cat Eye Cannoli."  But I was able to get everything straightened out and Beth should get to the hotel easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.

I watched the awesome thunderstorm and hoped and prayed that I wouldn't lose power again.  I think it's safe to buy groceries again--and I've lost the 5 pounds I gained living off of canned fruit & McDonald's while I waited for the electricity to come back.

I thought I was going to the Muny, but I was wrong.  This was the show I agreed to give up my ticket to in exchange for Mom giving up a ticket for Karen.  I did not remember until about 7:15 when I was all, "Well, I guess she's not coming."

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Friday, 7/28 - Today was the last day at work before the office empties out--all the bosses are gone Monday & Tuesday, and two of them are gone into the second week of August--plus a couple of the non-boss people are out next week too.  It's gonna be great, I'm going to get so much accomplished.

Then I ended the day with my traditional Katie Connolly drunk-dial.  I am the person she calls from the bar.  This time she called me when Sweet Caroline was playing and had all of her friends sing it to me in the bar.  They're so silly--they don't even sing the right words.

"If they think the song sucks, why do they keep asking us to play it?" --One of the Jelly Rolls guys

I don't think we'll go to Jelly Rolls this trip.  Beth doesn't have the nostalgic attachment to it that Katie & I do.  She always had to work super early, so she never came out on Tuesdays with us.  Plus it's a lot of work to get there.  For some reason Disney doesn't seem to have connected the fact that they get low traffic on the boardwalk to the fact that there's no Disney Transportation to it--you have to take the busses from your hotel to any of the parks, then take a bus to one of the Boardwalk hotels.  That's not convenient.

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Wednesday, 7/26 - Girls Night Out!!  Hit the Melting Pot with Jen, Katie & Monika.  The Town & Country Melting Pot has been doing this for the last Wednesday of the month since... well, since at least last month, but I don't know when they started it.  Girls only, preset menu, door prizes & goodie bags.

Seriously, it's so good.  The goodie bags are mostly just ads (and coupons) for other businesses in the plaza, but there was a coupon for free chocolate on a future visit, and that sold me.

Since you don't have to order (preset menu, remember) they're much more efficient than a typical night at the Melting Pot.  We sat down and there were already two pots of cheese bubbling on the table--it was a spinach artichoke fondue.  It's not on the menu, but it's a variation on the Wisconsin Trio--instead of the blue cheese, they put in some spinach and just a teensy bit of artichoke.  Very yummy. 

Then there was some fruity salad with strawberries & field greens.  The entree was a sampler of sorts--a little bit of tuna, a little bit of chicken, some sirloin, and a couple of veggie raviolis.  Katie and Monika turned up their noses at the tuna, so Jen & I shuffled a bit with them--I gave Katie my ravioli in exchange, and Monika took a little bit of everything from Jen in trade.

We finished up with a Rum Coconut chocolate, which I don't remember seeing on the menu, but what I normally look for in a chocolate fondue is whether or not they set it on fire--it's the coolest part--so I may have just overlooked this one in the past.

There are a couple of pictures over on Jen's blog if you want to take a look.  New header over at Cracker & Cheese--Jen's glamming it up and making eyes at the camera, and Bob is drinking on the couch.

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Tuesday, 7/25 - Yay!!!  The power is back!  I can scarcely believe how excited it makes me when I flip a switch or push a button and something happens.  After so many days of walking into rooms, and flipping impotent switches by habit, I'm giddy with power.

I came home from work and saw the light I left on in the window.  It was like winning a prize.  I turned the AC on really high, and turned on lights and noise all over the place--making up for lost time.

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Monday, 7/24 - I love Jen & Bob.  I do.  I love 'em.  In expectation of continuing blackout, I packed a bag before I left work because it was just going to be too hot to sleep with no power.

After work I went over to Jen & Bob's for Monday night dinner--it's fun.  Jen, Monika & I made a four-course dinner (and Bob helped with the meat-cooking, because that is the man's job).  The main course was these steak-bruschetta thingies--it's a thin steak layered with diced tomatoes and yellow peppers with stuffing and some cheese melted on top.  Since Jen & Monika did most of the chopping, I did the layering of ingredients when Bob told me the meat was ready.

My cutting skills came into the game with dessert--we made a peach crisp and something like an ambrosia salad?  Cherries & bananas & pecans in whipped cream.  Threw together a Caesar salad to start and there you go--yeah, that's right, two of the four courses are dessert.  What's wrong with that?  Nothing, that's what.

After the eating and video games (we watch Bob play Kingdom Hearts) I made my pilgrimage to No-Co to see if I had electricity.  Jen offered me a crash pad at their place if I was still powerless--which of course, I was.  It's just so depressing.  It's just been so many days with nothing.  I got a little weepy in the car, but I pulled myself more or less together and met up with the Sherrons et al at the bowling alley where they have their league.  I watched for a bit, until Anne asked me to join in and give her company, since she was the only non-leaguer playing.

I got two strikes (and a lot of shit about my technique of throwing the ball incredibly slowly in hopes of getting it to stay straight)!  It's effective, I don't care what anybody says--plus I got Anne to do it too, just one time.  Jen had an awesome night, she got a 205!!

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Saturday, 7/22 - New Haircut!  Due to a lack of alternative activities, and a desperate need, I started the day off with a new haircut.  It's probably about 5 or 6 inches shorter, and layery.  She started the layers a little high, but it'll settle in a week or so.

Tonight was Gypsy at the Muny.  I had an accident.  I was wearing a pair of rubber soccer slides, and while I was watching the turtles in the pond in front of the Muny, my left shoe exploded.

The glue on the left side of the strap just came completely unstuck, leaving me with one shoe, and one useless piece of rubber.  So I walked, half-barefoot, to the Muny.  Luckily it had been a cool few days, so the sidewalk wasn't too hot.  We got the security guard to let us into the nurse's station in the backstage area so we could get some medical tape to fix up my sad little shoe.

The nurse was really nice, she tried to talk me out of the tape.  "Are you sure?  It's going to look really hoosier."  My response: "You know what looks more hoosier?  Walking around with just one shoe."

I told her about the last time I was at the Muny nurse's station--I was 6, almost 7, and the brand new sandals I was wearing were tearing up my toes and giving me blisters, so the nurse set me up with a bunch of bandaids.

She said, "There's no way you remember that!"  I said, "The hell I don't!  I saw the CATS getting ready!"

Gypsy was a pretty good show, even though there were only a few songs I knew (Let Me Entertain You, Everything's Coming Up Roses).  Honestly, the funniest thing about the night was when the strippers did their "You Gotta Have a Gimmick" number and the man in front of us busted out his binoculars for the first time all night--dirty old man.

It seems that most people knew that it was a show about a burlesque star--there were very few kids.  I did see one little girl on her dad's shoulders on the way out, but she had flowers and they stopped at the stage gate, so I think her mom was in the show.  I don't know if the fact that her mom may have BEEN Gypsy Rose Lee in the show makes it more or less appropriate for her to be there.

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Friday, 7/21 - Went into work today, power had been restored and everything was working again.  Arrgh.  When we got that storm in the morning I think everyone in the office was half hoping the power would go back down so we could go home again.  It was a crazy day catching up on the aftermath of having to implement our disaster plan on Wednesday/Thursday.

I was pretty sure with my weenie electricity, that I'd have no power, so I tried to make plans for after work--Clerks II started today.  I tried & tried to find someone to go with me, but in the end, I figured it was better to go alone than try to entertain myself with no electricity in the dark.  Katie says that makes me brave, going to a movie by myself.  Whatever.  I've done it before, I'll do it again.  Movies are easy to go by yourself, the only bad part is that there's nobody to talk to about it after.

I was definitely not among a group of fans of the original Clerks movie--I think I was the only one who got excited when Randal wrangled across the counter during the big dance number--yeah, that's right, dance number.  I liked it a lot, but could have done without the [donkey show scene], but Kevin likes to keep his crude cred high, I think.  I'm going to go see it again with a fan.

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Thursday, 7/20 - I got a call around 7 this morning from our COO to tell me that the power was out and the phones were down at work, so I didn't have to come in unless that changed, and to please call the rest of my team to let them know.  So, after a few phone calls... Yay!  I'm going back to bed!  Nah, I was already pretty much awake after all the phone calls, so I called Gretchen and made some plans to hang out with her and Slug, since I hadn't seen them in a few weeks and Slug had just had her monthiversary.  Then I put my phone in the car to charge, because I was on low battery and needed to be reachable if they re-opened the office.

When I went out later to head over to Gretchen's...  I had a voice mail...  from the office...  telling me to come in because the power was back.  Sigh.

I drove into work and along the drive was a little curious about how all these businesses along the way had no power, but we did.  Then I pulled into the parking lot and we did not have power either.  Found out the power had gone BACK out and they were calling work off for the day.  WOO-HOO!

So I rescheduled with Gretchen & Slug.  We hung out a little.  Slug was being very good, but once we got to Red Robin, she got pissed off.  Slug would NOT settle, not for Gretchen, not for me, but we took turns trying to placate her while the other ate--but once we left the restaurant, she calmed right down.  She just seems to HATE Red Robin.

After we ate, we just sat around Gretchen's talking and Slug took a nap on my tummy.  It was cute, she just sprawled on me, one arm down either side of me.  Plus, I can officially confirm that Slug DOES have eyeballs, she finally showed them to me.

On the way home, I stopped by the gas station to buy some bottled water (since Gretchen had informed me that I was under a boil order, and it's a little hard to boil water when you have an electric range and now power), but when I got home I had power back--yay!!

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Wednesday, 7/19 - Katie & I had tickets to see Les Miserables at the Fox.  We'd both seen it before, but it's such a good show.  We decided to meet up after work and get dinner on the Loop before the show.

We decided on Fitz's, and the entrance was FULL of people waiting to be seated--but there was no wait if you sat outside, so we decided to buck up and just ask for ice water right off the bat.

But then, out of the blue, the clouds roll in and it gets dark.  The wind picks up and one of the waiters ushers us all inside, where we stand around in whatever space we can find until we can find open tables.  Lost power, but just for about 30 seconds.  We asked for our check to get on our way, but the computer was down from the storm.  We were just about to hand our waitress some money & go when she came up with our check, so we paid and got on the way.  There were limbs blowing down the street like tumbleweed.

We made our way down Forest Park Parkway without incident, outside of dodging fallen limbs, and trying to decide the INTENTION of the construction barricades that had been blown out of place.

The rain picked up as we got closer to the theater.  We pulled in to park, but the guy we thought was the attendant told us not to worry about the money and just go ahead.  Bonus.

We were more or less drenched when we got into the Fox.  FYI--the Fox full of wet people has that particular smell of an enclosed amusement park water ride--"It smells like Pirates of the Caribbean in here!"  They even opened the disabled accessible bathrooms to the public to let people towel off quicker.

The show was GREAT.  Les Mis has such good music.  However, I think Cosette is boring, and Marius is a wuss--Eponine shouldn't like him, she's too awesome for him.  She should like Enjolras (leader of the students at the barricade) instead--he's way cooler, and he has that awesome vest.  They both die of course, but I am pretty sure they hooked up in heaven.

Got home to a severe lack of electricity.  Was anybody surprised?  Nope.

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Friday/Saturday, 7/7&8 - Karen came to St. Louis!! 

Went to see Wordplay with Katie.  It's a documentary about crossword puzzles.  I was actually emotionally involved with the outcome of a crossword competition.  Plus Jon Stewart is funny in it.

Met up with Karen after and we hit California Pizza Kitchen, then opening night of Pirates of the Caribbean 2.  It was good, but I got a stomach ache about halfway through, and that kind of ruined it for me after that.  It was still good, but I was distracted.

Then on Saturday we decided that what our weekend really needed was a crafty project.  So we headed out to the Wal-Mart for super cheap canvas shoes, red glitter & industrial strength glue.  Can you guess what we made?  Would it help if I said we went to see Wizard of Oz that night?  That's right--our own ruby slippers.  We got plenty of positive comments from people.  Everybody was jealous.

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