people at work who make "always get it in writing" necessary. luckily I learned my lesson long ago, but it still pisses me off to have to reproduce emails or notes and wave them in someones face. I don't like being in the position of either having to say "I told you so" or look like a screwup.

Yet another trip to the vet yesterday to find that our kitten has tapeworms. Bleah. He is a lovely little thing but costing us more than our kids do right now.

Someone in the kitchen at the Pampano Tacqueria had a heavy hand with the salt today.

I'd discovered that going for tacos after 2 p.m. results in noticeably fatter specimens than those procured earlier in lunch service. Generally, this is a reason to be cheerful. Today, it means I'll be thirstier.

I deserved it, but it didn't make it any easier to get my second-ever ticket today for speeding. By a highway patrol officer young enough to be a Boy Scout.

But I was on my way to meet Rancho Gordo for shopping and lunch in Half Moon Bay, so who cares?

Minnesota

I'd like to meet the idiot who designed those combination paper towel dispenser/garbage cans that are built into the walls of public restrooms. WTF?

Let me see if I get this straight. You wash your hands and then dry them off by pulling paper towels out of a slot that hovers a few inches above a receptacle full of used paper towels and god knows what else?

Fucking brilliant.

Cab drivers who pull away at speed from a green light only to brake sharply when, surprise, surprise, the next light in the synchonized sequence doesn't change in time.

....yep. Guy's lucky I'm not armed.

Followed swiftly by:

"Sometimes they won't know how to fix a problem. Like one time my harddrive died and they couldn't fix it, but usually they're very good" --tour guide outside re: helpdesk

What did she want us to do exactly? Find a drive from the same factory run and swap the controller boards? Mount the platters on a good spindle? Dust off the scanning tunneling microscope we keep in the basement?! We don't use that damn thing nearly often enough! Help me out here, tour guide lady, so next time we can better meet your computer help needs!

This is why I need to keep a bottle of tequila in the cable ducting by my cube.

Stomach flu.

Missing a dinner tonight with wonderful company and, no doubt, food.

I knew, when I bought an Oral B Cross Action battery-powered toothbrush at my local Duane Reade, that the day would come when it would stop stocking the replacement heads. Sure enough, I couldn't find them anywhere last week. Thank goodness for the web, however. Bought a quantity through the Oral B website and got free shipping and no sales tax.

Thanks, Steph and Leslie.

Mocha just exploded. But still not in Edinburgh, so that it alright I guess.

Is Mocha a person, place, or thing?

Intuit.

I use Quicken to write checks and pay bills online. When I transferred everything to the laptop for our temporary exile, nothing worked. But Intuit don't even provide free email customer support.

Now I have received an email telling me that the online banking facilities will be discontinued for older versions so I'll have to fork over $50 for an upgrade. And the upgrades always introduce more bugs (it's impossible to print single checks on an HP printer).

Anynone know of an alternative for the Mac?

I stopped in at a casual sushi place for a late lunch/mid afternoon meal yesterday. I am not sure if the other customers there were trying to be strange or if I was just easily annoyed because I was tired and hadnt eaten anything all day.

One guy to my right asked for "tekka maki, but make it spicy." The sushi chef replied, "so you want a spicy tuna roll?" and he said yes. A silly way of ordering in my book.

Then there was a strange couple to my left. The man may have been European or not but he was certainly odd. He was also very proud of himself for using some of the japanese names for the fish as in unagi for eel etc. After he and his girlfriend had some sashimi and then some eel he asked for a eel sushi - prepared however the chef thought best. Then he asked for a roll. What kind do you want the chef asked? Whatever you want to give me he replied. The chef said that they dont do fancy rolls there and the customer replied I trust you - just make me something special. I thought it was odd and annoying that he was pressing for some bizarre special creation at a very low key sushi bar that does not specialize in crazy rolls or high end creations or fusion. He received a scallop roll and acted like he was one of the women in the herbal essences commercials, screaming to his girlfriend that this was incredible. I had enough and asked for the check.

Subway musicians that play badly and stay in your car for stops on end.

Nearly midnight. Still working. Blizzard raging. Sod this.

[singing] I can't stand the rain! (ha, uhh)
[singing] 'gainst my window (uh-huh)
[singing] I can't stand the rain! (uh-huh, uh-huh)
[singing] 'gainst my window (against my window)
[singing] I can't stand the rain! (uh-huh)
[singing] 'gainst my window (what?)
[singing] I can't stand the rain! (uh-huh, uh-huh)
[singing] 'gainst my window (uh)
[singing] I can't stand the rain! (what?)
(like that baby)
[singing] I can't stand the rain! (can you stand the rain?)
(uh-huh, stand the rain)
[singing] I can't stand the rain! (what?)
(can you stand the rain?)
[singing] I can't stand the rain! (can you stand the rain?)
(uh-huh, can you stand the rain?)
[singing] I can't stand the rain! (what?)
[singing] 'gainst my window (uh-huh)
[singing] I can't stand the rain!
[singing] 'gainst my window (huh)
[singing] I can't stand the rain! (hmm..)
[singing] 'gainst my window (yo)
[singing] I can't stand the rain! (why not, break it down like dat)
[singing] 'gainst my window (break it down baby)
[singing] I can't stand the rain! (uh-huh)
(yeah like that, uh-huh)
[singing] I can't stand the rain! (uh, huh)
(uhh.. Misdemeanor)
[singing] I can't stand the rain! ..
[singing] I can't stand the rain! .. [ fades out ]

It can't seem to stop raining in LA. Great. Hunter Thompson is dead. My downstairs is flooded for the second (!) time this season after I've now spent some serious money trying to leakproof it. The living room's fulla boxes that we had to remove from below. And for reasons that don't make sense to me (I guess that's part of the problem), my wife wants a divorce. WTF?

Awwwwwww.

Damn, Hollywood. Damn.

No real snowfall in NYC, just an ugly, slushy mess.

A Daily News reporter interviewed me three times about one of my cases last week. Today, the story ran. It even had a full-color photo of my client. Guess whose name was never mentioned?

I *just* realized that I have a dentist appointment in an hour. And this is after I've eaten about 10 tootsie rolls.

But the world looks mighty good.

Dentist: Have you been flossing?

Abby: Do tootsie rolls count?

My tradition is to buy a bottle of whiskey after going to the dentists as a present to myself. My dentist is around the corner from Park Ave Liquors. Last time I stopped in I announced to the guy helping me that I didn't have any cavities and he congratulated me on flossing well. When I sheepishly admited that I don't floss nearly as often as I should (or never) he thought for a minute and then said "it must be the whiskey."

Now that is a tradition that I could get used to. My appointment actually got rescheduled so after lunch I treated myself to another handful of tootsie rolls.

As much as I dislike going to the dentist (as an adult, I once went 18 years without going), I have to say the dentist is a necessary evil (sorry, any dentists about). The thing is, after all those years, my teeth were actually in pretty fair shape. The real danger for people with otherwise good health and good dental hygiene is not teeth issues but rather gum problems. Upon my return to the wonderful world of dentistry, I spent several lengthy sessions in the dentist's chair dealing with gum issues. And, of course, I was told I was very fortunate not to have delayed any longer as some real damage could have occurred. Let's face it, it's no consolation that you have no cavities in your teeth if they are falling out of your gums.

I only go for the Nitrous oxide. And cause my dental plan says use it or lose it (the coverage).

"Dislike" doesn't really cover it. You know - "I dislike being left in the ocean surrounded by maneating sharks." "I dislike being thrown out of an airplane without a parachute." "I dislike having my nmose broken with an iron bar." Must be a better word...

Can anyone explain why heating honey with fresh milk should curdle the milk There goes my honey & cardamom icecream

v

Amino acids, maybe? I believe molasses will curdle milk because the proteins break down.