It's over. It's a fact. Accept it.

You know what people on H_____ Lane? It’s time. It’s three days before the official start of Spring. We’re in March already, it’s St. Patrick’s Day for Christ’s sake. You are driving with your windows down, all the daffodils are blooming in your yard and you aren’t wearing a coat to work. Don’t you think enough is enough? I know you’re attached, I know you probably don’t even notice it anymore but we all do.

For God’s sake, take down the damn Christmas wreath with the big, red bow on your FRONT door.

Thank you.

Timing really is everything

At about 11:00 AM, and after much internal debate, I decided to get up and go downstairs to grab another cup of decaf coffee. I also decided to take the eight flights of stairs back up to my desk. As I opened the door onto my floor, and while trying not to pant too heavily, there was a rather dashing man standing there. Hmm... cute and VERY familiar. “Uh, T____?!?!?” HOLY SHIT!!!!!

T and I worked together at The Firm about 7 years ago. We would grab coffee during the day with some other associates and we became good friends. He introduced me to his wife and we became good friends. I went to their wedding and they listened to my dating horror stories. Every month or so we all would go grab dinner as a group with a few other couples. He left The Firm to begin a lucrative career at a consulting company doing M&A work, some of the other Associates we hung out with left too andI left to start the job I currently hold. But we all got together for the group dinners. Then about 4 years ago I moved to Cincinnati and we fell out of touch.

When I go thru my contacts list in Outlook he and his wife’s names are there taunting me and making me feel guilty that I haven’t gotten in touch to let them know I’m back. Every month the guilt is there but the excuse of, “it’s been such a long time…” kicks in and I get back to doing what I was doing. But there he was. In my building. WHY?

Seems he just started with my company about 4 days ago. Correction, he works for the sister company that I steal office space from so I don’t have to live in Cincinnati. It also seems that he is now a big head-honcho Senior VP guy with a huge corner office (yeah, and I'm still in the same position.. sigh). We caught up for about 15 minutes and then he had to run to a meeting. Before he ran we managed to catch up on the basics. He and M now have two baby girls. He fell out of touch with another of our dinner regulars but keeps up with the others but not as much. I am just so happy that I ran into him. And I’m so happy to have a friend back that I haven’t talked to in ages. I’m also thrilled that I now have a friend to get coffee with at work. I was getting a bit lonely here. Oh yeah, and he’s as chatty as I am. I’m not sure I’m going to get much work done…

Oh the guilt!

Apparently George the Jack Russell likes to give me a little heart attack every now and then. Last night I pulled into the driveway and after I opened the door for him and Lucy the Lab to jump out of the new car, George hit the pavement, hard, and collapsed. After a lovely two hours at the vet it appears that he tore his cranial cruciate ligament. Question, if it’s his KNEE and not his SKULL why is it a cranial cruciate ligament?!?!?

So, George will be getting surgery… again. This is the second surgery in 6 months. Six months ago he had double cataract surgery since he was pretty much blind. Now this. The guilt is overwhelming. Why did I need to get a cheaper car that is WAY too high for him to jump out of? It's all my fault. Of course the Doctor said he could have done it jumping off the couch too so I'm not to blame but we all know that, as dog owners, we always blame ourselves so it is all my fault.

Of course one of the benefits of living in Philly is that we have the number one everything. He had his double cataract surgery done by the number one veterinary ophthalmologist in the nation and I got a referral for an excellent orthopedic surgeon who specializes in torn ligaments. I know I’m lucky to be here and have them available but I don't want to actually USE them!!!! There goes my tax refund check!

We go in on Monday at 2:30 for his first appointment with the surgeon. Until then he’s on bed rest (HA HA HA, a Jack Russell on bed rest!!!) and is on some serious pain medication. I will be going to my Doctor for Valium later this evening. I will take my Meds with Vodka and George will take his with wet dog food. And, of course, our long weekend vacation to Virginia next weekend to go hiking (all of us), chase deer (the dogs), read (me), play Frisbee (dogs) and eat (all of us) will be postponed. What a great birthday present for the little guy. He turns 8 tomorrow.

Spring has Sprung

Yes, it’s a beautiful 60 degrees outside. Yes, it was almost 80 here yesterday and bordered on being “hot.” Yes, my crocuses are shooting up in the yard, the daffodils are starting to bloom and the billion tulips that I planted last fall now have about 6 inches of growth. Yes, it’s all beautiful and makes me want to start working in the garden. But no, all this doesn’t mean it’s Spring. What means it’s spring is that the Fruit Cart Lady is back.

All over Philly, and in other big cities, the sidewalks are filled with food carts serving up heart attacks and caffeine jolts to those who want their entire meal cooked in a 3 foot by 4 foot metal cart. In fact, I always marveled how they could actually create so many different foods from one little cart. It was an organizational freaks dream. They can make cheesesteaks, hot sandwiches, cold sandwiches, breakfast sandwiches, have 8 different choices of bread and have soft pretzels, cocoa, sodas and chips all in that little metal box. Unbelievable. They stay out all year long and shiver in the winter and roast in the summer. They never take a day off. The only exception to the food cart every day, all-season work schedule folks are the fruit cart people. And, no they’re not some new tribe found in the hills of Borneo.

When I used to work down at 7th and Chestnut there was a fruit cart there and now that I’m over by 35th and Market there is one over here too. Ahhh... the fruit cart. For $3.00 you can buy a “large” (which really means it’s ENORMOUS) container of freshly chopped up fruit. You can have them make you a “fruit salad” or you can choose your own mix from strawberries, honeydew, cantaloupe, fresh pineapple, grapes and , sometimes if you’re lucky, mango. All this and then they hand it to you in a bag with a fork, a napkin and a banana. For $2.00 you can have a “small,” which feeds a family of four nicely, and you still get the banana. It’s the best deal in town. But only from mid-March to late-September or early-October. I guess it gets too cold in there to chop and wash the fruit and using a heater wouldn’t really work too well unless you wanted jam.

So, today as I was making my way back from a short stroll I stopped dead in my tracks. How did I miss it when I left the building? Who cares, the Fruit Cart Lady is BACK!!!!! So I bought a large, told her how much I missed her and am now trying not to get fruit juice on my keyboard.

Yeah, the bulbs are nice and all but they just can’t compete with the Fruit Cart Lady.

Who got whacked? No, no, don’t tell me

No, for the umpteenth time, I did NOT watch The Sopranos last night but I TiVo’d it so please, please, PLEASE do not tell me what happened. BUT, does anyone know where I can download a synopsis of the last season because it was so damned long ago I forget what the hell was going on!

Proud User of Snail Mail since 1974

I just mailed in my tax stuff to the IRS and the State of Pennsylvania. I’m getting a nice chunk of change back so I can’t wait for the cash to hit my bank account. Yes, I still mail in my taxes. It’s not that I don’t WANT to file electronically, I do, I really do, but my accountant of a billion years doesn’t do it. GOD KNOWS WHY NOT. And yes, it sucks, but I trust him implicitly and I’m way too scared to do my own taxes and file them online myself.

I will attempt doing electrical work in the house, I will play around with power tools but I do not want to attempt anything with the IRS. Amazing since I work in Finance, but true nonetheless. I do not trust that I won’t fuck up something so totally that they will repossess my house and take my $7.00 in savings and haul me off to prison. And we all know I wouldn’t wind up in Martha Stewart prison, I’d wind up in some scary prison being somebody’s bitch and I’d never see my dogs or drive my new car ever again.

So, I’m back in the dark ages mailing in my tax forms and waiting for the money to be directly deposited in my account. Of course now it will be like a little present. One day I’ll check my account and instead of seeing $1.34 I’ll see the new flagstone patio I want to put in, or the new shed for the yard, or the new sideboard for the dining room. I almost think it’s better this way.

Yeah, you’re right, who am I kidding. It’s me and I’m all about instant gratification. This is KILLING ME.