So yeah, I've been a little slow with the updates lately. Sorry. Between the celebrations of the past week (the Valentine's Day/Birthday/Anniversary trifecta) and getting in to the new rhythm at work my writing cycle has been a little off.

Hell, all my normal routines are a little off these days. See, before I lived and worked Downtown. I had to be at work at 8:30 and I got off at 5:00. That meant I left my house at twenty after eight or so and got home no later than 5:15. Now, I have to be at work around eight and I leave around five. I've consistently arrived closer to 8:30 than 8:00 and I've pretty much been leaving at 5:00. That means I'm leaving the house way earlier and getting home way later. I don't care for it. When I get home I don't want to run, or write, or do anything even remotely productive. I just read or watch TV or some such foolishness, and then I go to bed early. It's going to take me a while to get used to this new routine.

What's been going on, then... Well, Monday was Valentine's Day. I gave the Wife flowers, candy, and a card. Always stick with the classics. We also gave James his (long-delayed) birthday present: an Aliens technical manual. He was very pleased. Jen and James came downstairs (after their Valentine's dinner at Elvis') and we celebrated with champagne. Jen and James also gave Sonya Dirty Dancing on DVD. Which we watched.

Nobody puts Baby in a corner.

Tuesday? Sonya's birthday! We had seafood from Landry's and Sonya was showered with presents. Well, four presents, anyway. Some books, some music, Notting Hill... I got her the new Cure CD, too, which required a trip to the record store to buy the gift on the day of the birthday itself. It's cuttin' it close, I realize, but I'm a dardevil. That kind of thing doesn't scare me.

And Buffy was, as usual, excellent. Spike got to do his "friend of Xanderrrrrrrr's" thing again and Buffy got in the good line about her sushi pajamas. It was a hoot.

And what's up with Tara, Willow's semi-girlfriend? Why'd she sabatoge the spell? James thinks she's a demon. I don't know what's up with that, but it's an interesting subplot. I would suppose the whole Adam thing will be the driving point of the show for the rest of the season.

Non-Buffy-fan readers: I apologize for the above digression.

Yesterday was the Big Ninth Anniversary Celebration. Nine years, man. I'm impressed!

"It's a new record!" I told Sonya triumphantly.

"What is?" she asked.

"We've never been married this long before."

I gave Sonya a big book of Warhol art. She gave me a Motley Crue CD (with Toast of the Town on it - I feel like such a teenager when I listen to it!) and some new All-Stars (my poor old black ones were coming apart at the seams) and Mallrats on DVD (with over an hour of extra footage). Material goods! She also gave me a card with a warthog on it. You've got to love her.

To celebrate, we went to Folk's Folly, an oh-so-posh expense account steakhouse. I totally defiled my no-meat rule last night, man. I wrote a while back that if someone were to take me to such a place I would set aside my dietary restrictions for the length of the meal. My sister, in response to this, gave me a gift certificate. We had wine and tiny little mushrooms stuffed with crab meat and artfully prepared potatoes and two huge slabs of beef. It was wonderful. It was also incredibly expensive, but you're only married for nine years once.

Since Tuesday I've been in training - a bunch of stupid server-admin stuff I'll never do. Which is good, 'cause I'm horrible at it. It's actually gone a bit smoother this morning - though without one of my coworker's help I would certainly be sitting in the back of the room by myself, whimpering like a kicked puppy.

I haven't had this much trouble comprehending something since high school physics. I have that same helpless sense of my own inability to wrap my brain around a concept that others can obviously grasp.

So I was listening to Bauhaus on the way to work this morning - specifically, "In The Flat Field." This song includes the phrase "eat my lunch."

"The Lumberjack Song," by the Monty Python crew, also includes the phrase "eat my lunch."

It is my postulate that the phrase "eat my lunch," when included in a song, makes that song better by 20%.

Can you think of any other songs with this phrase in it? Do you agree with my theory? Let me know.

I finally got a license plate for the new car. And you know what? My car burbles!

I had put the plates on, and I started the car and turned on the lights. Then I walked around back to see how it looked. While I was standing back there I noticed a low, contented rumbling.

"Buh buh buh buh buh buh buh buh buh buh buh buh..."

It was my car! I've never had a car that burbled before. All my other cars have puttered.

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