Liese, I've got some houses for sale on my street. We're not total drop-ins, we email or call first, but... Cranky here, but I've got the weather and roads and insanity.

I love that another neighbor has called me from the road 2 nights in a row to vent.

God, i love my hood.

Gotta go to bed now.

I have tried some of megan's recipes and YUM. CJ really likes the pulled pork. I have a small crock pot and wish I could find a small cut of corned beef.

The cranky extends to Colorado.

Yeah. Hee. I am in my dream house, you are in yours! It's just that mine happens to be in the middle of the (gorgeous) high desert. Which comes free of people.

I realize I am a bundle of contradiction, because if people did just drop in, I'd be all People In My Space about it. But I can't help but miss it too. And it was a Hawaii thing, too. That happened all the time there. Not that I ever lived there. Just that when I visited, people were always stopping by to see my grandma or whoever.

Anyway. Leverage! And thanks.

Liese, one of the things I love about living in a rowhouse is that there is a healthy respect for personal space. We're on top of each other, regardless. So my neighbor who called en trauma route? Parked in front of my house. But didn't come to the door, even as I was talking to her. I waved to her on the way to the pool as she was going up her back steps.

It must be West Coast, because I have the cranky too.

Absolutely a West Coast thing, because I was cranky today. Spending the afternoon rummaging through a thrift store and scoring some good loot helped with that.

I just miss having people who could just come over and chill.

We encourage our friends to do that at House O' Reason.

I think I may have to tag this, despite the earworm.

If you keep the whitefonted bit, it's less earwormy. Not that it will help me, but I typed it, I deserve my brains dribbling out my ears.

I've really never had Drop In friends but I have had Call First and Then, Shortly After, Stop By friends and I miss those. Best here is P and, with kids, she's just way more structured. Means we hang at her place more. This is good as she has a better relationship with housekeeping and I don't mind playing with her kids.

OK, new podium peeve:

Gum chewing? Really?

Gum chewing on the podium? Oh, that's bad. I was not having a problem with it at the opening ceremonies (though Kristin was), but on the podium??? Come ON people!

I am envious of yummy slow cooker meals. I got to the gate at LAX with about 15 minutes to spare for food...only to find that my options were Starbucks, Burger King, and the newsstand. I ended up buying a Vitamin Water, trail mix, and some knockoff Pirate Booty. It was not a satisfying meal. Ricotta on bread sounds delicious to me!!

I am quite an extrovert, so working from home, traveling (and thus not really talking to strangers, and being in hotel rooms at night) has done something of a number on me. It's weird.

It was not a satisfying meal.

The salads at the Wolfgang Puck thingie at SeaTac are not bad.

That said, I've never eaten well in an airport.

Though the bars tend to be full of awfully motts-y people watching.

I am quite an extrovert, so working from home, traveling (and thus not really talking to strangers, and being in hotel rooms at night) has done something of a number on me. It's weird.

I think if science cloned us, smashed us together and made two people again, we'd be good at your job from a psychological perspective. For me traveling is full of strangers and for you it's not enough people. We'd be a grand hybrid.

Movie quote of the night death match.

In this corner...

"I understand you have underwear up your ass right now, but it beats the hell out of a shattered skull. Think about it."

vs.

"To be what? Someone who takes photographs of lutefisk to PROVE the nothingness of being? No wonder our son's so confused!"