Catching up

First and foremost, an update on the dog. One of my co-workers, MH, has a neighbor that recently lost a dog (hit by a car) & MH was going to see if she wanted Frumple. We had intended to take her to the animal shelter (Frumple, not MH) on Saturday but held off waiting to hear back. On Monday I find out that the neighbor had been away all weekend. In conversation it came out that this person has had THREE animals hit by cars, and that the longest she had any of them before the accident was four months. With that track record, I told MH, "No. Don't even ask her." I e-mailed Ralph to let him know & at that point we each secretly decided we were going to keep her.

Then came Monday night. In play, our other three dogs got her cornered--much as I imagine they did to poor Hoover last December--and Ralph had to go rescue her. We agreed that we could not keep her if she was going to be in danger from the other dogs & made plans to bring her to the shelter on Thursday morning, the shelter being closed on Tuesday & us having no way to get time off on Wednesday. Then lo and behold, we got a call from a woman who had called previously expressing interest, and she is coming by tonight to pick up Frumple!! I am so glad she's going to a real home (with kids even) rather than the shelter. It's a big weight lifted off me, let me tell you.

Got an e-mail from our friend MS last night. His group is doing two performances of his wonderful play, "Oedipus Rex," a 20-minute, musical comedy version of the great Greek tragedy, on Mother's Day. He wants Ralph & me to be part of the band again. I have to make sure that Ralph doesn't have other plans, and make sure I get my Faire clothes back from Lizard right away after Duh's wedding. Oh, and practice so that I don't suck. Hmmm, I think I have a copy of the music; maybe I'll bring it to work today & play at lunch.

Went to dinner at my FAVORITE restaurant in the whole world, George's Greek Deli, on Sunday night with Ralph, The Boy, and The Girl. I ate way too much: split a halumi appetizer with Ralph; a bowl of tomato soup so thick that when you take a spoonful out, it leave a little valley; half a combo-appetizer plate (kalamari, spanakopitas, dolmethes, and dolthes); and half a dessert that I can never remember the name of but looks like shredded wheat topped with chocolate sauce. YUM! Plus of course there were the leftovers for Monday breakfast. I did discover one scary thing, though; when The Boy signed his credit card slip, I noticed that except for being half the length, his signature is virtually identical to mine. Weird!

I also learned how much Harry Potter has been absorbed into our culture. I'm reading two books right now. In "Sweater Quest," the author makes a reference to Voldemort. In "Monster," one of the characters accuses another of thinking she's a muggle (the other character laughs and says that "Only muggles use the word muggle"). "Sweater Quest" is just OK, however I'm really enjoying "Monster."

Oh! There's a new "Daily Grind" in downtown Long Beach, in a retail space that has been many different places. Oddly enough, it is almost directly across the street from a long-established "Starbucks." When we went by after dinner on Sunday, I noticed that the DG was very busy & the SB almost deserted. Should be interesting to watch the coffee-battle progress. Not this weekend, though; it's the Long Beach Grand Prix & downtown will be jam-packed.

Might go to the Pet Expo this weekend; haven't decided for sure. We had planned on it, then when it looked like we'd have to take Frumple to the pound I lost the heart to go, and now that she's going to a home instead it sounds like fun again. We'll see.