Oh, I was zooming downhill now.

We were all together except my oldest, cruising down a blue run at Okemo.  Maggie and my youngest had gone ahead, but I was staying with my daughter.  I had finally let go a little of that restrictive speed-fear, and was going pretty fast.  Realizing that my 8-year-old daughter would be hard pressed to keep up, I decided to hockey-stop and see where she was.

The moment I began to slow down, she yelled “Dad! What are you doing?”

Because, well, my daughter had been following me the whole time.  Reducing HER speed so she would pace ME.  When I slowed, she cut right and zipped past.  And that’s the way it was the rest of the day.

I am officially the worst skier in the family.

Love to all. Even you, the lady who wouldn’t bag, and couldn’t get the credit-card-swipe thing right.

…that’s some weird-ass internet access.

Greetings from Ludlow, Vermont. I hopped into my car in Westchester NY at 5:30pm, and jumped out of the car in Ludlow at 9:10pm. No stoppin’, no peein’, no food.

My Aunt and Uncle have a house here that they gave us for the weekend. It’s pretty much exactly what Maggie needed - a skil weekend in Vermont - and she’s super-excited.  She, her mom, and the kids came up yesterday. I came up today straight after work.

A little while back, my Uncle told me about this house’s electric heat… how it’s metered in this weird Vermont way that charges a whole month based on peak usage… so, remembering that, I decided to pre-empt any guilty feelings I might have about the heating expenses by calling the Ludlow electric company and make a payment to their account.  The Ludlow Electric rep I talked to was really funny and interesting.  She was really good about the privacy issues involved… letting me make a payment based on name and address, but not giving me any details on their usage or costs.  The only thing she did was say “Oh, that’ll definitely cover a month.”  (We’re only here for three days, but we’re gonna totally spike the peak usage, that’s for sure.)

My Aunt and Uncle are will kill me for paying the bill, but I feel better.

Anyway: I’m really bushed.  Apologies for the lack of clarity.  Hey, is “concision” a word?  If it isn’t, it should be.  Night, folks. I love you all in mostly appropriate ways.  And a few inappropriate ways. But I’ll get over those.

Love to all.  Even you, the Minivan driver that wouldn’t get over it.

I’m totally home alone tonight.  Kids are away, Maggie’s away.  Dogs are away.  I have the cats, I guess, but… it’s not the same.

What to do?

Love to all.  Even you, the real estate guy who seems so, so sincere.

Instead of flaming off the excess anger I’m feeling at the moment… covering topics ranging from home/money to business/money to business to fatherhood to parenting to husbandhood to sobriety, I’ll just post this IM I just had. Basically, my main recruiter was talking with a very nice, very talented candidate who really talks for way too long. She had upwards-revised her salary requirements by 10k, after having discussed it with us in detail. Being in a bad mood, I decided to fuck with my recruiter by saying her inappropriate things.  She started laughing, and turned away from her screen.

I normally do NOT talk this way to her. I am on the right.

Love to all.  Even you, the Multi-Billion Dollar Ad Agency that hasn’t paid their bills in 110 days and counting.

Okay, NFH.  There’s your proof that I can sort of pretend to dress up.  I didn’t even Photoshop out the zit.

Love to all.  Even you, chemical tsunami.

I just posted a series of comparative advertisements to see which pull best.  Some of them are very straightforward:  “Expert represention for interactive professionals,” etc., but my personal favorite uses the headline “100% Suck Free.”

It’s sort of a tip o’ the hat to BBedit’s Registered Trademark, “It doesn’t suck.”

Anyway:  yesterday was insane, today promises to be the same.  I’m in a suit, which is strange.  And now, my train is about to go underground for the last leg to Grand Central Station.

Love to all.  Even you, creepy leg spreader.

Lord, please help me not elbow this lady in the face for crashing down into the seat next to me AND a sizable chunk of the seat I am in, bashing my laptop with her oversized purse TWICE (I have a teeny little MacBook… it’s well into my airspace), reading over my shoulder, and then carrying on a loud-ass conversation with her friend. Oh, and her fur coat is heating ME up, since she’s crammer her ass into a seat that, sadly, is too small for her.  In fact, Lord, I pray that you give her every happiness I’ve ever asked for myself.  Thy will not mine.  Argh.

Love to all.  Even you, lady.

Love to all. Even you, Sy.

My wife is a wonderful woman. Warm-hearted and pretty, intelligent and caring.

She just… well… she just tends to hit cars. With our cars. Usually when they are parked in our driveway. Remember my Miata? She hit it four times. Twice in the same week. Usually, she hits one of our cars with the other car.  Today, she hit her brother’s car.

It’s just what she does, my Maggie. She hits cars with our car. It’s her way.

She was worried that I’d be really mad. I wasn’t. I laughed. I said:

“A lot of guys have to live with a woman who’s a complete bitch. I just have to live with someone who hits parked cars in our driveway. A lot.”

I consider myself lucky.

Maggie’s Mom left for home today, as scheduled. She got in the car with my brother-in-law to head back to Long Island, to pack up her things, get her car, and come back to our house. Maggie is worried she won’t come back. I think she’s right. I’m more worried she won’t pay me back the $12,000 I paid for rehab. I need that money back pronto. I think the chances on both are 60/40 in favor of her doing the right thing.

Maggie is stressed. Too stressed for me to get annoyed that she hit another car in our driveway.

Love to all. Even you, the interactive strategist who might be too arrogant to hire.

Worst customer service ever:  Dice.com.  (No link, because they suck donkey ass.)

Best customer service ever:  webmail.us (Big link, because they rock.)

That is all at this time.

Love to all, even you, “Jill D.”