Week of Feb. 13-19

Monday: First order of business after vacation: sleep in. This I dutifully did until about 9 Am, when Tiger went back to his usual morning wake up call. I spent the first two hours of my day watching women's Olympic curling. I sure hope Olympic curling is more exciting and faster paced than recreational or amateur curling, because this had an almost narcoleptic level of excitement. Also, I still haven't figured out the point of curling, which you'd think I could decipher after 2 hours of observation. What I did learn is that the United States has a rather attractive women's curling team complete with a set of twins, while the Norwegian winters must be a little harsher on on the Norse ladies, but it does make them better curlers. They schooled us 10 stones to 6. Actually, I don't know if a 4 stone difference counts as a "schooling" in the world of curling, but a loss is a loss just the same. Also, I made burritos for dinner. That's not really relevant to anything, but they were delicious, especially with home made guacamole.

Tuesday: I am convinced that people at work are determined to crush my spirit. I don't think it is out of spite, I truly don't even think they know that they're doing it, but every day I see a little bit more of my previous day's hard work undone by what can only be explained as sheer incompetence. I think my time could be better spent if I just walked around with a stick and gave anyone doing something stupid a good, sharp whack. I would actually volunteer to do that for free. For dinner I made pounded chicken breasts rolled with prosciutto and fresh mozzarella and baked in a wine sauce. It was good, but there's plenty of room for improvement.

Wednesday: Work. Same as yesterday. Actually, I spent pretty much all day building a lobby display to celebrate Italian days at work. If you go to my store, take some time to marvel at the manic attention to label orientation and the robot-like precision of the rows of cans. Of course, by the time I post this blog, the display in question will have been under siege by the maurading deal-hunters and will no doubt bear no resemblance to the carefully crafted monument to Italian cuisine I have created. For some reason, we had a TV playing Bambi II, which I watched about three times in a row before I finally had to turn it off, lest I take up deer hunting myself. This, in turn, was replaced by the Aprons video which is supposed to be a substitute for an actual Aprons chef. Unfortunately it is on a 18 second loop before it starts to play again, and there's not even the benefit of getting free food at the end.

Thursday: Fourth day in a row at work, and nothing relevant happened. I did manage to rack up 38 hours at work, which will equate to a nice, fat paycheck. Also, I have tomorrow off, which I plan to make full use of.

Friday: My day off, and time for a much needed hair cut. Good old Bill, always gets the job done. He's been my barber for just about as long as I've had hair to be cut. Those of you who have known me for a long time know that I have had the same hair style since sixth grade, but even so it seems to take Bill a little longer each time to come up with the same results. This time around it took just a shade under two hours. I've been watching the Olympics all week, and while I have plenty to say about them, today I just want to address the fall Lindsey Jacobellis took in the final run of the Snowbard Cross, specifically the heat she took from interviewers afterward. C'mon people, she'll relive that moment every time she closes her eyes, she doesn't need any help from the rest of us. Her fall was actually rather unremarkable, I've wiped out with more gusto than that. The difference is that I didn't get back up and win an Olympic medal.

Saturday - Sunday: Back to work, again. And again, nothing spectacular to report. For this reason, I have decided not to differentiate the days for your easier mental digestion of this installment. On Saturday night Uncle Chuck came over for some London broil, which was delicious. Also, Katie spent the weekend filming a student film in the valley, but I invite you to read her blog for full details on that adventure.

Winners & Losers

Winner: Chuck Norris for having his own bizarre cult following that tell jokes about him. Not jokes at his expense or anything, but jokes featuring him. My personal favorite: When the Bogey Man goes to bed, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.

Loser: Anyone who walks around with their Blutooth wireless headset perminately installed in their ear, whether or not they're on a phone call. These people need to rupture their balloon of self-importance, because leaving that thing bolted to the side of their head does not make me think they are so ultra important that they might recieve a call to action at any moment, it makes me think that not only are they too lazy to hold a phone to their head for the entire duration of a call, but that can't even muster the strength necessary to take the ear piece out after the call is over. Get over yourselves.