Down at the end of the hall here in the office is a huge roll of bubble wrap. I'm talking HUGE. It's about four feet high standing on end, and the roll diameter has to be about three feet across.

I should make a huge bubble wrap suit.

You know. Or something.

"Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up."
      - Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride

I've tried three times over the last two weeks to finish an entry for here. It's just not working.

I'm not blocked; I just can't seem to get it finished. Something always comes up and prevents me. I had a lot to say too, but now it's all too much to cram into one column. So here's a summary:

Work Stuff

• Things are solved between the IT ninjas and me. They sent a snarky email about me, my boss found out, they apologized. Everyone is all happy and working well together again. I'm now the official contact between my department and there's. How's that for irony?
• Marketing Christie is turning out to be a huge snob. She interrupts people talking with irrelevant stories about herself, she doesn't initiate conversations that are not about her, et cetera. Weirdest thing is that a half hour after I had asked her if she and her husband were planning on having another kid and she had answered, "Well we'd like to get the first one out of diapers first", she announced to the office that she was four months pregnant. Pity there is no one else who I can get a ride to work with on days Lisa needs the car.
• While they still haven't hired me full time, I keep getting pushes towards it. For example, I'm being given added responsibilities. I'm in charge of a bunch of new initiatives and old projects that had been ignored. Very cool.
• I'm certainly feeling more secure now I've been given an official nameplate for my desk. Why would they make a nameplate for me if I was going to be gone in a month?
• The boss has even offered to buy me a desk humidifier to help my asthma. How's that for proving they want to keep me?

Family Stuff

• There's been a bit of bad news from my Grandma, whose doctor found a 'lump' a couple weeks back. Grandma's having an operation Monday, and the whole family wishes they could be there for her. My uncle and his family live out there though, and Grandma has tons of friends, so she'll be okay. We love you Grandma!
• Lisa's work insurance brokers are screwing her around again. They've decided that due to her existing asthma and my bad eyes, they will provide dental coverage for her and nothing else. And since we only get $200 dental coverage each for the first year, we'd be paying $444 ($37 a month) for $400 of coverage. Whatever. Blue cross, here we come.
• It was our sixth anniversary last week, and Lisa's 24th birthday. As Joel mentioned, in celebration we had a big food night with thick steaks for the guys and 'ocean bugs' for the ladies. Nothing better than stuffing your face with good friends.

On Survivor: While we saw Zoe's expulsion a mile away, we did NOT expect John to go last week.

separated at birth?

Wow! And just like Rob before him, this was a guy convinced he had the game under his grubby, eel-bitten thumb.

My pick for next week: Tammy, unless she wins immunity again. If so, Rob.

You know, Zoe looks a lot like Ronja, except with all the attractiveness filtered out.

On The West Wing: Not sure what the purpose was of last night's show. Was it a blatant push to show how patriotic the show is? Was it an attempt to prove how much the show is like the real White House? Either way, it was still good watching, even for a Canadian fellow like me.

Oh, and a gentle poke at my American readers. Remember the episode a month or so ago where they talked about how the British had set fire to the White House and you could still see the scorch marks in one place? That was US baby! The U.S. tried to invade Canada, we whupped their butts, set fire to the White House, got bored, and went home. Hah!

A Year and Two Days Ago: Roger Ebert is an idiot - where I spank Ebert publicly for his review of 'Josie and the Pussycats'.

Mom Rating: 3 out of 5. Some of this, some of that. Mom's heard most of it already.

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Take me home, big fella