You are currently browsing the daily archive for December 5th, 2007.
Okay, don’t want it to get to boring and sad and repetitive, do I, now? So, happy things!
First, a very interesting night last night. John and I took Amelia out for dinner and drinking after her meeting with her boss, wherein he basically told her he was helping another lab scoop her and she should just work faster than them. For the non-science out there, “scooping” is when another lab publishes basically what you’re working on. And science really is publish or perish, so at that point you’re screwed. So the fact that he’s actively helping somebody else potentially harm someone who he’s supposedly mentoring? Just cruel and unusual punishment, if you ask me.
Anyways, so we took her out drinking. To dull the pain and all. A local tapas bar that we like to go to shut down just as we were walking in, which sucked, because we’re friends with the bartender and he lets us drink for free. Good guy, even when we pay for drinks. So we went next door and had beer and pizza, and the bartender joined us (he’s got a crush on Amelia). It wasn’t exactly the drinking-and-bitching that Amelia and I had planned, but that was, in some ways, probably all for the better.
As we were standing outside, having finally decided to let the poor pizza boys close shop, we heard a screech, then a bang, then another BANG. And then we see a little white Honda in the parking lot across the street rocking violently. And then a yellow mustang came roaring out of the parking lot and took off. Bartender called the police, and I got the first 4 digits of the license plate number. A chick across the street took off running after the car, a couple people in the parking lot took notice, and a bunch of the waiters that were closing shop at all the surrounding restaurants took notice, too. Between us, and several other calls to the police, things were likely to get taken care of.
The mustang had a pretty bent up front, with what looked like more than just fender damage. Served them right, frankly. The white car, when we oh-so-casually-I-swear-my-car-is-parked-over-this-way walked by, was bent up at the back, and bent enough that there was some structural damage there. As John put it, you can get a lot of power coming off the line in a mustang. The saddest part was, we thought the girl running down the street owned the car, and it turned out she didn’t–she was just being a good samaritan. Very impressive, given the anger she displayed. So somebody, at some point, was going to come back from work or dinner and find their car all bent in. Poor people.
So we all go our merry way.
Then today, Amelia gets a text from the Bartender. Turns out they caught the car just a couple of blocks away, with two roaringly drunk girls in it. He had to go ID them and the car at 1am. Poor guy. He was nice enough to tell the police that none of us got a look at the girls so none of us had to go in. He wasn’t exactly lying, either. I was focusing on the license plate number, Amelia thought it was two boys, and John was trying to figure out if we needed to get out of a trajectory path, given the way they were driving. But they caught them. Apparently the driver tried to swear they didn’t do anything and mouthed off to the police and all. Smart, that one.
So, that made for an interesting night!
Hrm, what else can I tell you??
Christmas season officially begins for us today, or possibly yesterday, or possibly Thanksgiving. John’s mom bought our heinously expensive plane tickets to come home. I take back everything I’ve ever said about that woman and how she hated me. Sort of. Woo! We’re going home! And my mom’s family is doing a giant Christmas all together, so we get to see all sorts of fun relatives!
Last night, while waiting for Amelia’s meeting to finish, we started our Christmas shopping. We’re having to ship everything home, as we’ve got a 55 minute layover in Phoenix, so there will be NO BAG CHECKING BECAUSE WE’RE NOT CRAZY!!! Plus, liquids and all.
So our first stop was Trader Joe’s to buy fun candies and cookies and soups and coffee and stuff that you can’t get in Iowa, because, let’s face it, it’s Iowa and Trader Joe’s, and no one in Iowa is hippy and green enough to care about Trader Joe’s, and no one in Trader Joe’s sells enough pig fat to care about Iowa. Ok, that may be a generalization, and not that I’m bitter about a place where it’s below freeing for four months out of the year, or where there was once a blizzard ON MY BIRTHDAY at the end of April, for pete’s sake, but yeah.
So there was that. We still need to come up with something to give Amy, and go buy some fancy-schmancy teas for my parents, and come up with something for my Dad, who is the world’s hardest person to shop for.
Me: Mom, what do you guys want for Christmas?
Mom: Oh, I don’t know. We already have everything we need. Don’t get us anything, we don’t want anything.
Me: Oh-kay, that’s helpful. What about some TJ’s stuff?
Mom: Oh, your aunt and uncle are coming from Columbus, and they’re driving, so we’ll just have them pack the car.
Me (silently): Dammit!
Anyways, so if any of you have any idea what to give my parents, let me know. Seriously. Anything is a good idea at this point. Please?
We haven’t gotten out our fake tree or anything to decorate yet, and sadly, may not, as we won’t be home. Hank the Bunny always eats the fake pine needles, anyway, and that’s probably not very good for his poor little digestive system. The cats, although they love to chew on plastic bags (really? why? so annoying!), haven’t ever viewed the tree as a chew toy, or the ornaments as amusement, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time, so leaving them home alone with it for a week? Maybe not so good.
We officially start with the holiday parties tonight. We’re headed into the city for a wine tasting and dinner with Amelia and the ex, who she’s still good friends with, and then tomorrow there’s a party at the spa that Amelia and Rhiannon and I go to when we have extra money and don’t know what to do with it (i.e. never, almost). Free gift bags! Woo! Friday there’s two different departmental parties, one for my department and one for Amelia’s department. Sunday is my lab party. Then next Thursday, there’s a third departmental party. And the following Monday, Amelia, Rhiannon, Sam, John and myself are going out for our annual Big-Giant-Fun-Dinner-Instead-of-Gift-Exchange dinner. Mmmm.
Somewhere in there I’m meeting with the endocrinologist, so should maybe think about not enjoying the festivities too much. Bah. Or rescheduling for January, either way. Except for that whole fancy test thing to measure your blood glucose levels over the last three months. Bah.
Ok, so, recap: fun stories! Fun times! Life isn’t all work and plague!
Hope you all find the holiday spirit somewhere, perhaps dusty and under the bed, but somewhere. And stay away from the plague, it sucks!
