So many degrees from Kevin Bacon, it's not even funny

So, I just got back and already, I'm packing again. I have a work conference in Anaheim on Thursday, for which I'm expected to be awake and ready to work at 6:30 a.m. No kidding. Anyway, at least I volunteered to work the thing so I could get the overnight stay. Other people in our department who are just attending need to travel through Orange County traffic and be there by 7:30 a.m. to check in. I think I got the better deal. At least I get to hang out with my friend A the night before in The O.C. (yeah, I feel a little lame calling it that).

Before I forget, you guys with cats (are there any of you??) HAVE to get this Super Cat Scratcher thing from Target. Man, our cat goes NUTS over the thing. She's cracking me up right now playing with it (it's infused with catnip and irresistably scratchable, apparently). She must've hit the bud early this morning because she was throwing herself all over the house by the time I woke up, and talking about it the whole time.

Anyway, on to the blog about my trip...

First, it was C.O.L.D. Sixteen degrees on Thanksgiving night, to be exact. Second, the highlight of my trip was spending countless hours on the phone with tech guys who were probably in India trying to figure out just what the heck was wrong with my mom's computer. Oh, wait, that wasn't a highlight at all. To make a long story short, my mom had adjusted a setting so deep in the control panel, it took all those Indian guys, a trip to Best Buy, and two Geek Squad geeks to figure out how to change it back. Sheesh.

We mostly ate and shopped and saw musicals and documentaries (by the way, I think the cat is now hallucinating. She's glancing around the room like crazy, as if the walls were crawling with jiggly strings!). One of the musicals was the Licolnshire Marriott's production of Footloose. Don't laugh, Lincolnshire is known for its cutting-edge productions. Oh, okay, laugh. It was pretty hard to watch. I don't know if it compares to the "Broadway" version (was Footloose on Broadway?), but let's just say that I prefer my 'loose men to be in Kevin Bacon form.

We also saw the movie version of Rent, which I enjoyed very much (I'm still singing one of the songs from it on a daily basis--at least it got Footloose's "I Need a Hero" outta there), and March of the Penguins, which made me cry a thousand tears of amazement at the way nature works (okay, maybe just two or three tears). I bought a sweater. I tested my mom's new Dish Network DVR (no comparison to TiVo at ALL). I ate some ribs. Er, I think that sums everything up for Chicago. Doesn't sound too exciting, does it? That's possibly because I'm trying to just get something out and up on Blogger so I can go about my evening business without feeling low-blog-output guilt. (The cat keeps staring at me with her head all cocked funny. She's totally high!) Is that good enough for you?

I heart turkey gravy (I don't know, just go with it)

Okay, I'm going to be gone for a little while, which may make some of you sad (and most of you say, "meh"), but don't worry, I'm not far away. In fact, I've been away from blogging longer without giving you a warning like this. Meanwhile, I promise to fill you in on my chilly, chilly trip to Chicago when I get back. Brrr, I'm cold already (though that might be the overactive air conditioner at work).

I'll leave you with this (boy, I really wish I'd planned this better. I got as far as "I'll leave you with this," then had nothing to follow up with. Sure, I know I could just delete that part, but it sounds like a great introduction to a conclusion—I also like the way that sounds, so I didn't want to delete it either. You're really not gonna miss posts like this, are you?).

In which all I talk about is food

Oooh, cool, Los Angeles was named the nation's smog capital! But didn't we know that already? I hate when there are "studies" on such obvious and stupid things. Like the other day, I read a headline on Yahoo News to the effect of "Study: Sleepy Students Aren't Good Learners." Did we need to pay someone to research that??

Anyway, that's not why I called you here today. I guess I can start (and probably finish) with the weekend. Actually, it was a big weekend in the TV-N household. We did something we've never done together, and something N's never done before at all. Something he was a little scared of, but I was able to gently talk him into it and allay his fears. We went to Sizzler! That's right, Sizzler. We happen to live directly behind one, but, like I said, N's never been, and had some preconceived notions about the place (for some reason, he said he pictured it like an adult Chuck E. Cheese's, which I can't for the life of me imagine why or even understand, for that matter). I told him it was more like a notch and a half above a Denny's, and almost on par with Red Lobster, except for the ordering-before-you-sit-down part. Anyway, it was a decent meal. We both got steak and shrimp, mine grilled, his fried and all-you-can-eat. We even got cocky and ordered a rib sampler add-on (don't do that, by the way).

What was even more remarkable was that we did this on a Sunday night, which if you know us, is a HIGHLY unusual venture from the settle-in-for-night-to-prepare-for-the-work-week Sundays we usually have. PLUS, it was one night after another out-to-eat night (that time at RJ’'s in Beverly Hills, which used to be really good but is now kinda crappy at best, unfortunately, because I'd been talking it up to N for a few weeks now) AND it marked the first weekend in I don't know how long during our entire 4 years together that we did NOT order any food IN. Phew, that was a lot of emphasizing caps!

Around all the food adventures, we also managed to get out to a friend's baby's first birthday party, rearranged some furniture, finally unpacked the box marked "Simpsons Stuff" (I know, exciting, isn't it??), and hung a tiny bit more on the walls. The place is actually starting to look like a normal home, rather than a box depository.

My friends L and A also came over to check out the place and go for lunch. We went to Mani's Bakery on Fairfax, which had very good food but an inexcusably long wait-time between ordering and getting the food delivered to our table. Seriously, it took a full hour! I may go back for take out, but wouldn't sit down there again (that's an FYI for anyone googling Mani's for reviews. Hey, I like to perform a service once in a while.).

So, in conclusion, Sizzler, not as bad as you think; RJ's, worse than you think; Mani's, longer wait-time than you'd think.

Call me obsessed

Okay, so Eclektra got me addicted, ADDICTED to this site and now I can't stop chasing the poor cat around with objects to balance on her. I just had to post a couple that I'm pretty proud of. She doesn't look TOO traumatized, does she? A few more practice rounds and we may be ready to submit and get famous!

Damn, dude, where you been?

Oh wait, that's me. I've been...not blogging. Sorry about that. I wish I could remember anything even close to amusing that's been keeping me away from the computer, but it's most likely been TiVo buildup along with a dose of general laziness. Speaking of dose, I had a very weird reaction to the flu shot this year. I don't always get the shot, but because it's offered at work right when it's first available (sorry general public, health care workers get first dibs...even when we work in an office that doesn't come close to interacting with patients). Anyway, I got it because I knew I'd be traveling quit a bit in the next few weeks (oooh, that's something I can tell you about. Hold tight a minute.). So, I go with some coworkers to get the shot, both of whom are being a little bit pussy about the needle. I got mine first, at their request, and was all proud of not even feeling the thing, when I suddenly got a rush of... weird...throughout my body. I ended up at the employee health center for about 1/2 an hour. I guess some people get a nauseous, light-headed kind of thing from it, though I've never had that before. I'm not really a big believer in putting something foreign in your body to avoid the possibility of getting sick later, but whatever, I was peer pressured into it. Remind me of this incident when flu shot season comes around next year, would ya? Thanks.

So, we traveled to Bethesda, Maryland, for a total of 45 hours (approximately. I'm trying to make a point and am no good at math) for N's cousin's daughter's bat mitzvah. That 5-hour cross-country flight is brutal, let me tell ya, especially when you have to be in the middle seat and end up in Bethesda instead of Honolulu. But, it was good to see his family. I was totally gonna tell you about the party itself, but I've lost the desire. Maybe it was the three glasses of wine I just had with our teriyaki chicken wing dinner (you should see the typos I keep having to correct. By the way, I apologize for another drunken post. I mean, a drunken post. Not that I've typed drunk before. Like you'd care anyway, so shut up.). What was I saying? Oh yeah, the wine (I know, but I also wanted to tell you about the wine). It's from a box with a spigot. From Target. Seriously. It's...something. Actually, it's pretty good, I have to say, but maybe that's because I've drunk a few glasses already. It comes in cute little square boxes and there are a variety of options. You might just see a box or two at our housewarming party...which is going to be held...er, sometime.

Okay, so the other travel I'm doing is going to Chicago for my usual Thanksgiving Week Mom Visit. Apparently there's a feud between cousins about who's having the T-day dinner, so we might just end up eating Chicago pizza that night. N'll be home alone for the week, so make sure to check in on him.

I think we were still in recovery mode from our travel weekend last week, because the only real outing we had this weekend was to go to Target to buy Revenge of the Sith for $14.99. A hundred bucks later, we walked out of there with that, along with the Titanic special edition that was just released. We also got the R. Kelly "Trapped in the Closet" DVD, which we picked up from Best Buy. Ahh, R. Kelly. Anyone in need of a laugh is invited over to watch anytime (just give us some warning to clean a bit...and possibly order some chicken wings).