I’ve already been reprimanded for lack of posting lately.

This morning, I write in semi-anger since someone registered me for Classmates.com yesterday. It wasn’t me because I didn’t touch the computer all day. But I had the confirmation email in my inbox today and had to go ahead and cancel that membership (”if you received this message in error…”). Grrrr. I opt out of any mailings that come with any other membership and use a separate email account for signing up for things that might end up spamming me - and this had my high school name listed. So it seems that it was a sentient being doing the dirty work.

Yesterday, I spent the bulk of the day with my friend Theresa. We went looking for a few things, not the least of which was a dress for me to wear to her wedding. I found one - a medium brown shade called mink (her wedding colors are blue and brown, and I’m the minister, so I can sort of coordinate with the wedding party), cut on a bias with some little fluttery sleeves and a little bit of beading near the neckline to keep things interesting. However, the only one they had left in my size (or any size larger than a 4, for that matter) had a few beads missing.

I figured I could get it online or at another store location; well, online they’re sold out of most sizes since I guess it’s a slightly older style (not old enough to discount, but not new enough to reorder). Now I’ll have to drag my ass into another store and see if they’ve got it. Otherwise, I might go back to the original store and see if they’d give me any % off since I’d have to go buy beads and resew them onto the dress for it to look good and not like I’d worn it to five other weddings and never bothered to care for it.

Also in the category of suckage, I got up kind of early yesterday so I could FINALLY go to the lab center and get the blood tests that the endocrinologist ordered up for me. I went to the one that has Saturday hours. I walked in and there was a line out the door, into the hallway and down the stairs. The waiting room (which could seat about 40 people itself) was also totally full. I looked at the sign-in sheet just to see if there was an error, but no. There were about 55 people ahead of me. So I turned around and decided to drive to another location slightly farther away. I fired up the navigation system in my cell phone (since I had a street address and a general idea of where this place was) and headed on up. I got to the address. The lot wasn’t empty, but it wasn’t full. I walked over to the directory of where the different offices are located and looked for room or suite 3, which is what my piece of paper said is the address of the lab center. #3 was a cardiologist. Hrm. I walked around, looking to see if there was another side to this place, or another wing. Nope. I called the phone number on the sheet of paper. No answer.

So, I got back into the car, pissed off as hell, and drove home. Theresa came by and we went out for brunchy/lunchy yumminess and then did our shopping. That made things much better, but the day started off in rotten fashion.

On Friday night, I watched a really great documentary called “Wordplay” - about the New York Times crossword puzzle, Will Shortz and his puzzle constructors, famous puzzle fans and the national crossword tournament. I watched about five minutes and thought, “This is great! I think my sister would want to watch this.” It wasn’t easy to sell her on the idea, but when she realized there was nothing good on TV, she relented and said, “OK, fine. Turn on that crossword thing.”

About five minutes into it, SHE was asking me to pause it while she went to get something from her room and then settled in on the couch to watch it. And when people walked into the kitchen and started talking, we were both shooshing them and pausing and rewinding to catch what we’d missed in those two seconds. It was good stuff; of course, one of the things I used to sell her on the idea was Jon Stewart’s appearance in it. But that’s the hook - the whole thing is really well-paced and engaging.

To catch up some more, on Wednesday I took the day off from work as one of my comp days for working last weekend. I had no idea what to do with myself after my planned things were done, so I drove around for about an hour, trying to figure out what to do that wouldn’t require me to spend too much money or tempt me to spend too much money out of boredom, and that I could do for several hours. The answer?

Hang out at a bookstore.

I’ve never actually done that by myself. I worked in a bookstore for 5 years. I’ve shopped in the bookstore that my sister works in. I’ve gone to bookstores with friends to help them look for/research things, so we’ve sat down with a few books and chatted while looking. But I’ve never gone into a bookstore by myself, sat down with a book and a cup of tea, and just read books for a few hours. And that’s what I did.

I read a book about marketing (the one on the left here - “Punk Marketing”) that was really interesting and entertaining, and that I might also buy for work since it was not like the usual marketing book one finds and would be a good tool and resource, I think, for when we get stuck in a rut of thought.

The Borders I went to had a mini Paperchase store inside. Paperchase is a British stationery and gift company. Borders has partnered with them and they sell a decent selection of their products in selected Borders stores. Which is AWESOME. I have their journals and pens and planners and stuff, and on Wednesday I bought a really cool totebag/shopping bag that’s great for carrying stuff to and from work. It’s PVC coated canvas, and I got it in this fun colored stripe pattern. I went back on Friday and got a matching mini-cosmetic bag AND an ID/train pass holder. I absolutely ♥ that stuff. I want to go back and get the lunch box, but that’s just overdoing it. They’ve got awesome iPod cases, too. If you want to see if there’s a Paperchase location in a Borders near you, they’ve got a store guide/locator.

I had some more interesting contemplative thoughts yesterday, but I’ll write about those later once I remember what the point was.

I’m going to go eat some breakfast. Maybe I’ll make some cinnamon and brown sugar french toast if we have the appropriate bread. If not, cereal is fine.