jaysaint Getting it all down on paper…

Work is fixing to explode. Because I live in fear of being one of those bloggers whose journal mysteriously gets seen by a colleague, I won’t say more. But this time tomorrow things are going to have a dramatically different outlook. And I will tell more specifically as soon as I can.

I’m back from DC after another whirlwind trip down there for a meeting. I’ve started staying at the Sheraton. The upside is that the room service is much better than the Marriott and, more importantly, I’m adding up the hotel points again. On the down side, it’s an older hotel and a bit on the shabby side. Little things… they often forget to hang the robe in the closet, the carpet is pretty worn. It sounds petty, but luxuries mean a lot when you travel as much as I do for work.

I’m currently nestled into the couch and Damon and I are watching ‘Snatch.’ As usual, I can’t just do that, so I’m answering email and otherwise goofing off. Brad Pitt must work out 36 hours a day.

I’ve just found out that our April visitor slot will be filled after all, which keeps our once-a-month average in place. It’s not a home run because she’s staying only one night, and maybe none at all. But my friend Anne will be in New York for a few days and I plan to monopolize her as much as possible. I’ll bet I can get her drunk and make her sleep over.

My laptop is in the shop, finally. I’m biting the bullet, all for the love of getting my iPod to work. If it doesn’t work after this I’m going to freak freak freak out. I know Apple stuff is supposed to be super easy to use. But you know what, that’s a big lie.

bold the states you’ve been to, underline the states you’ve lived in and italicize the state you’re in now…

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C /

Go HERE to have a form generate the HTML for you.

It’s been a while. Damon’s home, Rachel was visiting, lots of stuff going on.

But right now I’m consumed by the fact that my beautiful acidy green mini iPod ISN’T WORKING after mere hours of ownership. This is particularly bad because I was so so so excited to get it.

Maybe telling the story of my birthday will make me feel better….

After the obligatory “It’s my birthday!!!!” announcement at midnight, I got a good night’s sleep. At work I found a pretty little pot of flowers on my desk from my boss. About an hour later a gorgeous flower arrangement showed up from my Dad — pale pale pink roses and lilies with some of that twisty, viney, branchy stuff I love. At our afternoon meeting there was chocolate mousse cake (2 pieces for me!) and a bag of a high-end bathy type stuff. I can’t remember the brand. It’s one of those that puts its stuff into bottle that are almost medicinal looking. I couldn’t carry it all so it’s still on my desk. I’ll retrieve it tomorrow.

Damon picked me up at 6 and we went to the Russian Vodka Room for drinks. Waiting for us there were James, Charles, Megan and John. James and Charles gave me two months of Netflix, Megan gave me a bag of chocolate peanut butter eggs, John gave me a beautiful vintage brooch and Damon gave me the aforementioned iPod, which sent me through the roof with joy. It’s a splurge I never would have done, but I really wanted one. And I felt like Damon was a genius because he knew the full iPod was more than I wanted, but that the Shuffle wasn’t enough.

After drinks, Megan, Jeff and Charles took off and John, Damon and I headed to Monster Sushi. There we met up with Rachel and Jeff for many many rolls and some sake. Rachel brought a big bunch of peach roses.

Last, the five of us took off for La Gamin for dessert and coffee. Kari joined us there and we had an assortment of crepes.

Damon was such a good sport, lugging around my huge rose/lily arrangement from my Dad in a vase full of water. But they were so beautiful and I knew I’d miss the best of them if I didn’t have them at home over the weekend.

Saturday and Sunday were pretty low key. Tonight we went to Havana Chelsea for dinner before putting Rachel in a cab for the airport. James (who is Cuban) says that’s the best, most authentic Cuban he’s found in NYC. I order the rice and shrimp every time, but all the other stuff looks good too.

So after dinner was dedicated to unsuccessful attempts to get the mini working. No dice. Damon’s taking it back tomorrow.

I’m comforting myself with a British comedy called Spaced, which is really really funny. I can’t believe I’ve never heard of it. Daniel taped it for us and sent it up with Rachel.

So that’s the short version of the time I’ve missed. I’m heading to bed in about 15. Work will be waiting for me bright and early. Times are about to be a-changin’ there, so I want to make sure I stay on my game. That means reasonable bedtime when possible.

Illegal drug tax: On Jan. 1, Tennessee became the latest of 23 states to institute a tax for possession of illegal drugs. Usually, you have to be in possession of a minimum quantity, say over 42.5 grams of marijuana in North Carolina, to be subject to the tax.

In Tennessee, when you acquire an illegal drug (even “moonshine”), you have 48 hours to report to the Department of Revenue and pay your tax, in exchange for which you’ll receive stamps to affix to your illegal substance. The stamps serve as evidence you paid the tax on the illegal product.

Don’t worry that you might get in trouble for admitting you have enough drugs to fuel a rave party for years. You need not provide identification to get the stamps and it’s illegal for revenue employees to rat you out.

Still, next door in North Carolina, which has had a similar law for 15 years, only 79 folks have voluntarily come forward since 1990, according to the Department of Revenue. Most were thought to be stamp collectors, or perhaps just high. Another 72,000 were taxed after they were already busted.

North Carolina has collected $78.3 million thus far, almost all from those arrested and found without stamps.

It’s the weekend, and to that I say “Yes please!”

I just ate a piece of cake. I’m sitting on the couch watching the first season of ‘Friends’ on DVD. I win I win I win.

Damon comes home on Monday. I win again.

Jeff and I are going to IKEA and to see The Gates this weekend. Yet another win.

While I’m at IKEA I hope to find a big piece of art to go over the sofa. Or maybe something for over the bed. I’ll have to pick, since whatever I take goes home with me on the subway. Jeff is warning me that he can really dig in at IKEA, which makes me laugh. Like he can out-browse me. It would be nice to have something pretty when Damon gets here, a nice surprise.

I finished watching ‘Like Water for Chocolate’ earlier this evening. What a beautiful movie. I love our remodeled kitchen. But having a big old kitchen with things like grinding stones and huge kettles and open fires — I might never leave it.

I don’t often talk about work in this space other than to say “Crazy!” or whatever. But one of my areas is Health, and I read the most intersting thing today. A new 10-year study of marriage and health reveals:
— Women who hold their tongues to keep the peace are four times more likely to die than women who speak their minds.
— Men whose wives hate their jobs and frequently come home complaining about them have a 2.7 times higher incidence of heart disease than men whose wives are happy at work.

Maybe I’ll start throwing in other interesting nuggets. Here’s a mini: sports drinks and commercial lemonade are worse for your teeth than soda — they’re corrosive.

I wonder if what I need after my piece of cake is a bowl of spaghetti. They were just eating spaghetti on TV, which is pretty much all it takes to get me started. I wish I had some milk. I was greedy and drank it all right away.

And here’s an interesting news item. Yesterday my train was late and I was wondering what the deal was. I read in the paper this morning: Severed legs on the track. That will definitely slow down the line. No body in sight, mind you. Just the legs.