Heather also keeps an excellent weblog of freebies and dealies, featuring tons of free junk (some of it useful, some not) you can get on the web. I think that's where I got the free mayostard sample link from way back when. Unfortunately, the mayostard (actually, it's Hattie's Super Sauce, but it fits the definition of mayostard) site is down right now, so I won't link to it again.

(The mayostard thing comes from an old Mr. Show sketch. "Seems I'm always spreading mayostard, mustardayonnaise...and time.")

Hmph.

Yesterday I had a grand battle with my Mac. The old lumbering beast came back from the repair shop after two attempts. Apparently, the problems were caused by a virus.

"A virus?" you ask. "On a Mac?"

Yes, apparently. I don't know where it came from or how it got there. But it got there, and it did weird things to the machine. Apparently (I was on vacation when all of this happened) it would just take random files and put them in the trash. Not good.

So the computer tech guy got rid of the virus and reinstalled OS 8.1. That would be great, but he didn't save any of the old system files, so now all of my bookmarks and 3 1/2 years worth of saved email is completely gone. Thanks, computer guy!

I spent last night being frustrated by that damn computer, which kept freezing every time I tried to do anything. I finally got it to the point where it would work for a long enough period for me to reinstall the software for the G3 processor I added to the machine last year. It's doing better now but I still want a new computer.

Ray kindly offered to burn all of our correspondence onto a CD for me. When I told my co-workers about this, they giggled and said "oh, he is so sweet and nice and thoughtful!" and I blushed slightly and said "yeah." And he is.

Boys, if you want to make a girl think that you are sweet and nice and thoughtful, offer to burn your collected email correspondence onto a CD for her. I work with all types of women and they all thought it was really sweet.

You might be wondering why I'm so mushy about Ray lately. It's because I spent a very good week with him and I miss him a lot and I want him to know that I miss him a lot. So there is your explanation.

And, mark my words, there will be a journal entry within the next day or two. A nice long beefy melodramatic one.

I've never had a cavity, so it will likely just be the usual X-rays, cleaning, and lecture about how I really should get my wisdom teeth pulled. I refuse to get them pulled. I know they don't fit in my mouth and they make my teeth scrunch together, but I don't like the idea of getting them yanked. Besides, getting them pulled isn't necessarily going to make my teeth straighten out, so what's the point? They don't bother me.

And hey, I'll get a new toothbrush, and that's pretty cool.

I was thrilled to find this, which is a list of all the pricing games on The Price is Right. My personal favorites? The mountain climber game, because I love to see the little yodeling guy fall off the mountain, and the safe cracker one. The Race Game is good too, so's the one where you get to write a check.

Ray likes the big wheel on the Showcase Showdown. Brian likes Plinko. I like them all. Even Danger Price.

This excellent TPiR FAQ will tell you everything you need to know about the show, plus plenty of stuff you didn't really care about.

And you can talk about it in the forum, too!

You are my dearest and most darling classic rock boy. I like you better than all other boys put together. When I was watching Big Brother last night and a couple of the people were talking about The One, I laughed and though "But I am lucky, for I have found The One, and his name is Ray." You are the cutest boy of them all. I like the way you smell. I have fun with you, except when you are picking fights with me and calling me an elitist because I am but a lowly indie rock girl.

I would so totally hit that.

Nanette

heads up -

pitchfork redesign in immediate future. your scoop.

over & out.

Odd, because I neither read nor link to Pitchfork. Why on earth did they think I cared? I am, of course, assuming that this spam came from Pitchfork, home of some of the most godawful music reviews on earth, and not this Pitchfork, home of livestock.

Comiskey Park had a Subway sandwich race with a sandwich, a pop (or soda), and a bag of chips. They would have ballpark employees dress up in the costumes and run the race. A couple of my friends did it, that was kind of funny. But not as funny as a sausage race.

Dinner was delicious, I bought some CDs at Reckless, and karaoke night at the Marigold Bowl was totally hoppin'. Thanks to Nathan and friends for showing up and providing such excellent entertainment. (Nathan, you almost made me like that Doobie Brothers song!) Roxane's rendition of Pat Benetar's "Heartbreaker" was a high point of the evening. I didn't get to sing because I was too chickenshit to sign up early and I spent a bunch of time fussing about what I wanted to sing.

For some reason, I kept singing "Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas last night. I think it had something to do with the fact that Kansas was playing at Taste of Chicago and I had heard a commercial for the show on the radio on my way into the city. I knew two lines and Matt knew two more so I just kept singing those parts over and over again.

After the Marigold closed, the party moved to Matt's apartment. The evening ended with a 5 AM screening of the classic Heavy Metal Parking Lot...thank you, thank you Hellsbelle for alerting me to the existence of this amazing film.

Today, Colin and I headed over to Taste of Chicago. The weather sucked, it was hot and sticky, and the crowds were awful, but the food was great as always. And tomorrow, I'm back to work, so I'm also back to my regular update schedule. Yay!