Goodbye Happy Hour #1

We celebrated my office mate last night, wishing her well in her new job, where she'll be a traveling software sales chick for a gigantic company in a completely different industry. It will be a big change for her!

Next sendoff is Crystal. Bah.

Now that I'll be alone in my office, I want to put a really pretty, low wattage lamp in there, instead of using the big fluorescent lights every day. Several people just use the light from the windows and don't turn on the overhead lights, but I find that most of my tasks really need a bit more light than the window provides. Lamp shopping time!

In other news... this is happening in Toronto and NYC--
David Byrne: Flying the Flag for Colour Guard

Pretty darn cool!


Saturday 9: American Pie (1971)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In the lyrics, Don McLean refers to having once been a paper boy. When you were a kid, what job or household chores did you do for spending money?
My parents didn't pay me to do chores. I got an allowance and did chores for free! And never complained. Heh.

2) Them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye. What's the last drink you ordered?
New Mexican Martini with the gang last night at Chuy's

3) He drove to the levee but it was dry. When is the last time it rained where you are?
Yesterday around noon, it rained a teensy bit.

4) When McLean was working on the song, he wrote the lyrics out in long hand. It took him 16 pages of lined notebook paper. Today it's a laptop/smartphone/tablet world, and Sam can't remember the last time she hand wrote anything longer than a sign on her front door that read, "Bell broken. Plz knock." What about you? What's the last thing you wrote with pen or pencil?
For the last three weeks, we've been doing QC on one of my studies. It is a process of endless paperwork, and I have to review every single audit report for each patient, then comment by hand and sign the report. My hand was killing me within the first ten minutes. It's funny how quickly your hand hurts when you write after not writing much for so long. The last thing I wrote was "Ready to scan" on a Post-It, since the reports are done. Yay!!

5) McLean's most recent CD is called "Addicted to Black," in reference to Olivia in The Twelfth Night. Quick! Without looking it up, name another character from Shakespeare.
Hamlet. Is using a title character cheating? Okay-- Mercutio.

6) Don was born in New Rochelle, New York, which was named one of The Best Walking Cities in America by the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA). What about your neighborhood? Is it easily walkable?
My neighborhood is endlessly walkable, with sidewalks on every street and walking trails through the greenbelt.

7) In 1971, the year this song was popular, Walt Disney World officially opened. Have you ever been to DisneyLand or Disney World?
I've been to Disney World twice- once with Jeff for our first anniversary and once when we went with the Angs and took the kids, when Lauren was 5-ish.

8) Also in 1971, Mattel introduced Malibu Barbie. This doll was a "sun-loving California girl" and had a distinct tan. Have you ever used a tanning bed?
No, but I did one summer of Mystic Tan at the tanning salon. I got tired of it though.

9) American Pie is also the name of a 1999 movie. Have you seen it?
Of course! "This one time... at band camp..."