Play on, playa.

I'm not even sure this is worth a blog, but I couldn't quite wrap my brain around this.

I went home on my break to eat and feed the dogs. I turned on the TV, and Jersey Shore was on, so I left it, because I'm not home long enough on breaks to actually get into watching anything.

Two of them were having birthdays. One of them (Pauly D) mentioned that it was his 31st. I actually had to stop and rewind Tivo to make sure I had heard him right. 31? SRSLY? THAT'S MY AGE. I looked the guy up on the Google, and sure enough, he's 31. In fact, he's a few months OLDER than me.

Now, to be clear, I don't really approve of any of these people, but FWIW, it's awesome that he's able to hang with all these early-to-mid-20s guidos/guidettes. It also makes me feel somewhat justified in my opinion that we (my friends and I) are at prime partying age.

A couple of years ago a friend commented that she wanted to go out and party (while we were in St. Louis) but didn't want to go to the Landing with all the "barely legals." Um...my 20-year-old self could only dream of some of the partying I've done in my late 20s/early 30s (thanks, derby). We're finally old enough to have a little bit of self control and to have learned where that perfect drunk stage is so we're not sloppy and stupid (unless we choose to be). Dance clubs should love us, and we shouldn't be afraid to love them.

I might also add he's one of the younger-looking ones in the house. Guess all that hard living really gets to some people. So play on, playa.

TCB

Usually while Trace is out of town I get bored. I also am not used to sleeping by myself and therefore don't sleep as well.

But this time, since I knew he was going to be gone for so long, I decided to make it a point to keep myself entertained, or at least busy.

Hence, the Great Clean of 2012. I figured if I am going to be up late anyway, I might as well be putting the time to good use. I started with the upstairs hall closet since it was in need of the least amount of effort. I have since completed the bedroom, kitchen, two bathrooms, and TV room. I still have four rooms to go. In one of those I just have to remove wallpaper border remnants, so that won't be too terrible. He's only been gone since Friday, but I feel like I've gotten a lot accomplished.

Things the Great Clean has taught me:
1. Underneath the crisper drawers in the fridge is NOT where the cool kids hang out.
2. Those steamer mops work pretty well.
3. I have more shoes than I thought I did.
4. Part of the effort of the Great Clean was to be able to allow our dogs to sleep with us. Yeah, they don't get it. They only sleep for like 20 minutes at a time.
5. I really, really like having a clean house. I guess for most people this would go without saying. I have always been sort of a messy person (except at work). But after a while the clutter really gets to me and I HAVE to take action. So I've been very careful to not set anything down where it doesn't belong, to put things away as soon as I'm done with them, etc. I'm trying to train myself to avoid recluttering. Hopefully my Virgo-ness will take over soon.
6. Cleaning until 4 a.m. has the added benefit of making me super tired, so I fall asleep faster when I finally do go to bed.


Since he's been gone, I've had the exterminator come for the quarterly spray, watched two movies I've been wanting to see, started a new TV series, taken the dogs to the vet, had a derby meeting...in the next day or two I'm going around and paying off some bills.  I also have been skating and working on a winning chili recipe.

So generally getting lots done. That makes me feel good.

Also.... I'm not sure if this is related, but it might be.... There are three loose pens on the copy desk. They've been there for weeks and it's really starting to bug me. Because I know they're not mine, but the guy who sits next to me never uses them, either. But I don't just want to move them, in case they ARE his. So WTH?

FedEx. Like a boss.

After trying to buy an iPhone 4S at six stores Tuesday morning, I finally gave up and ordered one from Apple that afternoon. And ever since, I've been obsessively tracking the order's progress.

The phone spent an excruciating four days stuck in "Processing Items." It finally shipped Friday night and has made steady progress toward home since then. It hopped around a bit in southeast China, then landed in Anchorage this afternoon.

In all my guesswork about when it was going to end up where and how long each step in the process would take, I visited the Apple customer forums quite a bit. I used to think I was the only one who obsessed this way about packages in transit, thanks to some minor childhood trauma that has made me an incredibly impatient adult, but as it turns out, these guys had me beat. And I tip my hat to them.

My visits to the forum introduced me to a site called FlightAware. It allows you to track domestic flights. Using this site in addition to the FedEx tracking page —

Let me take this moment to say how thankful I am this particular package is shipping FedEx and not UPS. UPS can go piss up a flagpole.

— I was able to narrow down which flight I believe my phone will be on as it leaves Anchorage. This assumes it will be on a flight that leaves tonight. It SHOULD be destined for Memphis, then hopefully my hometown! It's scheduled for delivery on Thursday, but with the type of progress it's making, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it may show up sooner.

And while we're here, why doesn't Apple EVER make enough of its products to stock its retailers? I mean really. SIX STORES.