It's been quite the long week.

I really wish I had more to tell you, but this has not been a week for self-growth or discovery, nor has it been a time of exciting developments. I'm still working, and this week was very much the busy time. A dozen stories to convert to web format in our bizarre and complicated production system. A new template for our administration tools to be examined, broken into it's component parts and implemented. Lots to do.

Financially, we're a little more sound this month, and the outlook is stable. We'll be making all our bills (you hear that, crummy Visa bastards?), including some to put towards what we owe my folks. Although paying off that debt feels much like trying to bail out the Titanic with a Dixie cup.

We won't be able to save any money just yet. That'll have to wait until Lisa's raise goes through.

Things will also be easier once Lisa's health coverage is finally activated. I don't know what the hell is going on with the HR person at the head office, but it sure looks like she's learned special yogic contortions allowing her cranial access to certain post-digestive orifices. The pattern for the last few months has been something like this: Lisa fills in a form, the HR lady takes six weeks to stick it in an envelope and stamp it, the form processes in a week, then the insurance broker sends another form to the HR lady, who takes three weeks to get it to Lisa. This little scenario has happened three times now. So a process that began in August is only now nearing fruition.

Lisa finally managed to bypass the HR lady, and talked to the insurance broker directly. She was enormously helpful, and will do what she can to speed things up. In the future, I suspect Lisa will make her HR lady's life easier by stamping and sending off her own damn envelops.

This will make a huge difference. We pay nearly $200 a month on asthma medication for Lisa, none of which is currently covered. That's money we could sorely use in paying bills, but keeping my sweetie breathing is much higher on the priority list right now.

Her medical coverage also includes optical and dental, which we're both looking forward too. We both need our teeth cleaned, plus I'm still a bit worried about that broken filling of mine (if that's what it was).

And I would like to replace the one-month disposable contacts that I've been wearing for the last six months. I haven't had new glasses since high school, so not only is the prescription woefully out of date, they're quite the fashion faux pas. Plus it's missing one of the nose cushion things, so on one of the exceedingly rare times I have to wear them, I have to stick a tiny wad of Kleenex there to keep the stub from stabbing into my sinus cavity. So very chic.

One bit of fun news. Earlier this week, the Guinea Pig we've been taking care of finally had her babies.

We brought her home just before Christmas, so she wouldn't have to be in the store during the whole Christmas fuss and all. It's better for them to give birth somewhere private and quiet.

Monday night, we walked in just in time to see the first new baby. It was still all slimy and stuff, so we must have JUST missed the blessed event. Ew.

In the morning there were these three cute little baby piggies in the cage, all looking like tiny versions of their mom. Now we just have to let them grow a little bit and take them back to the store.

No, we're not keeping any. We have far too many already.

Those keeners over at The Straight Dope are doing a five-part special this week called, "Who wrote the Bible?" It was done without all the usual snark and sarcasm with which these guys normally answer questions.

Everyone go read it, then by Saturday we can all call ourselves Bible scholars. What say?

We're all terribly pleased that Ethan won on 'Survivor' last night.

He wasn't my pick to win. I put too much emphasis on his bizarre hair, and expected him to be a weirdo. Boy was I wrong. He turned out to be a complete Boy Scout, and through a combination of good playing, good acting, and good luck, he managed to avoid controversy and conflict the whole way through. He never acted as a leader, always helped out, was fun and useful... Geez. I wonder what he's like in real life.

We can't prove it now, of course, but Lisa did pick Ethan to win from Day One. I thought it would be Jessie, the Deputy Sheriff chippie. Who was voted out in episode 2. Go figure.

I'll do better in February. Because that's when I hear the next installment begins.

After all my pimping of the notify list, I only got one new subscriber? Jeepers, you guys can do better than that!

Although, as Mark emailed me, it may not be so much the list that's the problem, but that I host it on Yahoo! groups. Some people don't feel confident about Yahoo!'s privacy policy. Anyone else feel that way? Let me know.

Oh and hey, welcome to the new list member! You rock!

Aaaaand finally. Another Friday Five.

1. What was your first job? I generally discount my flyer delivery job, since I never took it seriously, and generally dumped my flyers in the dumpster behind a nearby elementary school. A big Yay! for anti-junk mail activism, but a Boo! for the environment. I shoulda recycled them.

My real first job was working for a local fish and chip restaurant. I spent three nights a week running the till, cleaning tables, etc. I'd come home all greasy and stuff every night. Yuck.

2. How old were you when you had your first kiss? My first real kiss (prolonged contact over a half-second) was around when I was 14 or 15. Basement of my parent's house with Gail Jones. It was a Spin the Bottle/5 Minutes in the Closet sort of afternoon.

3. What was your first car? My first car was this grey Dodge Colt that my folks gave me when I turned 18. Drove it until it was nearly dead, then sold it to my best friend Chris for a hundred bucks. He then promtly drove it with license or registration and got it impounded. Heh.

4. What was your first concert? Do I have to tell you? Okay, it was to see Platinum Blonde way back in '86 or so. My girlfriend wanted to go, okay? Sheesh.

5. How do you plan to spend your weekend? Not a lot of action on the front. Trying out a new character at a game Saturday night, but the rest of the weekend will be mostly house cleaning and the like. Golly, eh?

Mom Rating: 3 out of 5. Mom wishes I was out of debt. And not just because it's to her I owe a lot of money.

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Take me home, big fella