Back To Work After Thanksgiving
12/2/2

The firemen have left but the electricians are still trying to figure out where the smokey smell and occasional smoke is coming from. They do have the power on here (at work), and thus I�m able to write this. Yeah, the building is smoldering. But the big deal is that there�s no coffee.

After enough firemen cleared out, three whole trucks showed up and the guy in the SUV, I went to make coffee. I pulled out the filter holder thingy and was about to pull the old filter out, but someone had already done that and actually had cleaned the thing. Odd.

I put a filter in the thing and then reached up and grabbed the Tupperware thing that holds the current coffee. It was empty. �What the heck?� A fireman hanging around looked at me and then smiled when he understood the situation.

We were out of coffee.

But here�s the rub. We had two cans of Maxwell house, the big cans, sitting in reserve and were almost out of grounds in the Tupperware, if memory serves, on Wednesday. Now, the two cans are gone, and the Tupperware is more empty than it would have been if people were just scooping it out. I pointed this out to the director when he was milling around when the firemen were still here.

The director and I are in agreement. The �no coffee� situation is a bigger deal than the fire.

I, however, though never being a boyscout, am prepared. I could have had Folger�s Instant Latte �Straight Up Latte� or Taster�s Choice International Coffee �Caf� Vienna Sugar Free Fat Free�. And I tell you, that Caf� Vienna is a truly amazing diety thing. That�s what I chose to make.

And that�s it. Oh, I guess I could talk about Thanksgiving.

My mother was in a bad mood. This flavored the entire weekend. Mom didn�t want anyone to have fun and did her best to stop any fun. However, I did have fun playing cards with Dad and Aisai on Wednesday. Thanksgiving I had fun going out to get coffee with Corey. I asked him what the fun to drive on roads were and we tooled around for about an hour. This included me letting him learn how to drive a stick shift at the new high school near them. We also went out again to get a paper, but took a slightly more direct route home. Played cards with Corey and Kelley that evening and then when Star Wars Episode 1 came on Fox, my mom hightailed it back to the hotel. Corey and I stayed up to watch the whole thing and then he showed me Bryce4.

Friday, there was no food at Kelley�s. Aisai managed to get the last seven micro-sausage balls (sausage micro-balls?) before heading out shopping with Mom (who�d gotten Chick-fil-A on the way over) and Kelley (who sounded like she ate cereal before Aisai got out of the shower). They didn�t get any food before they got back at 2 p.m. for Aisai and I to drive home. Meanwhile, that whole time, I was hanging out with Dad and we hoped that Corey would get up in time for us to do something with him. Nope, he just woke up in time to get to work. Dad and I watched the end of Aliens (which Dad had not ever seen) and then took the dogs on a walk.

The dogs. Now that�s one of the best things about this weekend. Ginger is a nice old dog. Very polite. Gracie is crazy, but a little scared. And they both like to play and to cuddle. Oh, it was nice. However, my mom liked to scream at the dogs. Conveniently, the dogs, knowing they had done nothing wrong, just thought that she was like that, a screamer, and to be ignored. Wise dogs.

When Aisai got home at two, we hit the road, got some Taco Bell, and drove home. We didn�t do much that night. Saturday, we slept in a little and then did some shopping. We also set up the Lord�s Supper for Sunday and then just watched all the backlogged TV from our absence, and then Trading Spaces. Sunday, we went to church, ate at Logan�s Roadhouse with Christine and Aisai�s mom, and took an unexpected nap. In fact, it was Christine who woke us by calling from Wal-Mart asking what kind of candy I liked. They were getting stocking stuffers. I couldn�t think since I had just woken up, and it was 4:30, when we should have left for church. We have the pm worship at five since the old people don�t like to drive at night (plus it doesn�t interfere with the TV shows, but there aren�t any good ones on Sunday anymore).

After PM worship, we ate at Pizza Hut with friends. The service was terrible again. I�m not fond of Pizza Hut for this reason. And the waitress made a �yuck� face when I ordered my taco pizza. What�s with that? But we still gave her a good tip even though she wasn�t really around to fill out drinks and stuff. Corey gets only $2.50 an hour when he�s a waiter, and though I always moderately overtipped, I�m making sure to overtip now on a regular basis.

And there you go. Today, I woke, came to work, had a fire so small it was detectable, but unlocatable, and had to do the instant coffee thing.

This afternoon, the plan is that I work out for the first time since I sprained my wrists. Then we go to Kemp�s flooring where they have a sale on laminate flooring. Aisai should call the CCAI about some questions we have on the application for adoption. Then we go grocery shopping. After that, a walk. After that, I hope there�s time for me to watch some of the Star Wars Videos I borrowed form Christine.

Man, when will the �first three� come out on DVD?