That's why I'm so hopeless about making coffee at home. I've been considering switching to the basic pour-over method just to make things simpler, but then there's still the whole issue of having the coffee ground properly.

I've been filling a small feeder with mixed birdseed for the little sparrows and chickadees that nest in the bushes near my front door. I switched to just black oil sunflower seeds because they were dumping so much cracked corn on the ground, but they're less excited about that. So much for trying to give them a treat. Of course, one of the reasons I'm feeding the birds is to give the cats something exciting to watch. They'll still stare at the birds in the bushes, but they're much more interesting when they're flying around.

That sounds like fun!

Black cats are the best!

I think the Christmas tree hat is my favorite!

Good luck!

We have more problems with the delivery services than the retailers themselves. FedEx in particular likes to deliver our stuff to various random neighbors. We frequently find ourselves cruising slowly through the neighborhood to see if we might spot our missing packages on other people's porches.

Dweezil Zappa tours playing some of his dad's music with a lot of his dad's old bandmates and other fantastic session musicians. We saw them perform a few years ago and it was amazing.

Ha! Dr. Jones needs one of those.

It's a fine public service you're providing for our feathered friends.

I like it!

Poor Charlie! Scrubby, scrub, scrub!

I have two good Indian restaurants near my office, both of which have buffets at lunchtime. One is directly across the street within walking distance, but it's tiny and usually packed with people. The other requires a short drive, but it's really good and makes some of the best chana masala I've ever had.

I've become quite the coffee snob myself. I tend to favor varieties that are described as "earthy" rather than the ones they call "bright" or "fruity." It impresses the baristas anyway.

I think I have something in my eye...

You'll do fine! Companies always give the new employee a little grace period to get up to speed.

What an interesting story! Thanks for writing it down for posterity. :)

That kind of thing is really fascinating. Maybe my dog could save someone's life.

I have decided that I'm going to hire a new cleaning service once my new job starts. But I will definitely not go the Groupon route to find one.

I'm still reading, of course! I'm happy to read anything you decide to write.

That's great! I'm at a new job myself, so I'm behind on my blog reading. Good luck lining up something else soon.

Poor Kizzy! I'm sending him healing thoughts.

You win for the STP reference in the title. :)

Way to go, Rita! I like a 5K as much as the next person but I'm leery of the ones with obstacles because I'm afraid I'll get hurt. You totally rock, even if you did trip over a stick. ;-)

Woohoo!