Useful Things to Do In A Heat Wave

This is very good weather for arranging your photo album, balancing your checkbook and organizing your files- all activities that make you feel like you've accomplished something without expending much energy. Bonus points for doing it in an air-conditioned room.

Today, that is what I did- bankbook, wrote out August bills, and then I started organizing all my school stuff. I unpacked all the junk I stored at campus in the kitchen, locker, bags and car (I am famous for having nearly everything you need within reach). I need to buy a bookcase and arrange all my pharmacy texts and notes- I liked Prof Simard's recommendation (courtesy his son) to put each topic into its own binder, and Mike upped it by adding his pharmacology/medchem notes of same topic in with it. I love stealing great ideas! Between Pharmacy Son and myself, I think we can fill a whole bookcase, and I can give Pharmacy Son his own shelf for the gangster books he collects. I don't think he needs any books this year, again- the Drug-Induced Disease course I took electively is mandatory in his program, and he has OTC this year too. I plan to buy a bookcase when we go to buy the new grill I promised the boy. I also promised self a trip to Christmas Tree Shop but that's hard to do with the boy unless he needs stuff too. Everyone hates to shop with me because I meander aimlessly around the store. I don't shop often, that's why I like to meander.

I had a notice from my insurance that my car insurance had been reinstated so I spent some time on the phone with them. Twice this has happened- I never get the cancellation notice but I get the re-instatement. How odd. I just dripped sarcasm all over the keyboard but I wiped it up with a spare cat. Verizon claimed I didn't pay them for last month but they cashed the check. After fifteen minutes listening to robots playing techno-jingle music, I gave up and scribbled a note on next month's bill. And my main accomplishment of the day (drumroll) was- getting back on the internet!!! I ordered DSL but they put back my old dial-up service to tide me over because they are sick of listening to me complain that they didn't send the reminder to the email address I requested even tho they said it was quite doable. They're getting my business, they should keep me happy.

So now I am on the net working on my blog. What a great thing to do in a heat wave!!!

What NOT to do- jog, heavy cleaning, baking cakes, things that make you hot.
What TO do- make a blog, organize papers, draw out a garden for next year, fill out financial paperwork, start online payment accounts and give the kitties lots of cold water (Cujo likes an ice cube but is dubious about lemon slices).

Happy birthday, Banfhlaith Kathleen! You were born on a day this hot.

Pirates, Penguins and Indian Dancers

My weekend officially began at 3 pm Thursday at the end of final exam week. We went to one of the millyard pubs for a few, then took Ryan out to dinner for his birthday (belatedly). What a huge relief to be done- all the previous days' results were posted so we all knew we passed. Yahoo! P3!!!!! June 15 is the graduation date and that will be one bigass party!
Friday, Chris V had a big cookout at his place. I spent part of the day at the campus, so I carpooled in with Michelle- boy, is it country where he lives! We had such a good time, though we missed the swimming and sun, arriving as we did at the height of the thunderstorm. We laughed and ate, and danced. The girls did some dancing so I taught the MCP Riverdance set a slip jig! Eva did a documentary of Nana 's stirring rendition of how Frank and his Amy got together, followed by Frank's version, which was much less dramatic. We got Crispy and Brendan to tell how they met, and recorded that for posterity too. Saturday was Demis and Azita's wedding reception- the Indian dancing was incredible, the food was awesome, and the company was excellent- Buck and MeyDee, Dan and Amanda, Camel and Liz and their new roommmates Mike and his girlfriend Helena (who looks like Helen of Troy in a gold gown). We had this guy at our table that noone knew- I felt kind of bad for him. He never said a word to us, but just smiled, ate and left. They kept calling him the wedding crasher. I can't download my pictures yet but I will. We all danced- Indian music is so easy to dance to and everybody looks graceful. All the girls except beautiful Helena were in little black cocktail dresses (moi included, Jones New York find of the day), and everyone else was in brilliantly colored gorgeous saris and dresses. Next time I need to find something colorful and flowy! The wedding was in Cambridge so I stayed at Sue and Ted's. We spent the day on the porch just vegging and enjoying the breeze. When we moved it inside, I decided to check my email, then I checked Kate's blog, then I decided to start a blog as well. I am sure it will NOT be as exciting as London and Hawaii, but enough interesting things keep happening to me that are worth mentioning. OK here is my last thing, which is interesting: Truong drove us back to campus after Ryan's dinner Thursday. We were stopped at a light and I said "Dude, am I really really drunk or is the guy in the car next to you a pirate?" Truong looked over and sure enough, this guy was in a three-corner big black hat with a bushy beard and glasses. When we pointed it out to Michelle, she started rolling up all the windows like he was going to board our little white car and steal our treasure chest. When I was telling this to the kids at the wedding, Liz said there was actually an event by a radio station where people were encouraged to dress up like pirates. Who knew? Then they made fun of Buck who went to a party and it was a pirate or penguin party, so they apparently taped him up with duct tape to be a penguin and he got really drunk and went home after removing most of the tape. I love a party with a good theme. Sue is cooking burgers and I am hungry so I am outa here.