Now, I've passed onto a mature state where my weekends are so boring, I don't even need alcohol to forget them. And I can share them with you. Truly a triumph of Web 2.0.

The big event Saturday was Porsche-girl's birthday party at a nearby stable, it was a horsie party. Mrs. Ha nearly drained the Windstar's gas tank dry, and she forgot to tell me the brake light was on, and we had the normal lack of preparation, so with 20 minutes to get to the party, we had to buy a gift, wrap it, find the stables and hope not to run out of gas or hit something. We made it, barely.

What is it with girls and horses? Five year old is crazy about them, and most of the workers at the parties were teenage girls. I'd tell lonely horny IT guys to get a job at a horse stable, but the only RAID I saw came in a can. Their thigh muscles would probably crush a skinny IT guy anyway.

Five year old liked to see the horses, but was bummed that she wasn't invited to stay, and was too young anyhow. I told her we really needed her for a special mission, which was to pick up Girl Scout cookies. Off to a western suburb we went (after filling up with gas and DOT 3) to get ten year old and Porsche girl's cookies, they filled the back of the minivan. Then, a relaxing time at Starbucks as Mrs. Ha studied and I read the local alternative weekly.

At the ten year old pickup and cookie drop off, I asked for a slice of birthday cake for five year old. I didn't realize it was ice cream cake, it ended up sitting on the counter all night and really harshed five year old's mellow.

And that was Saturday, I was in bed by 11ish, too exhausted to stay up.

Sunday was nearly as momentous. We had a last minute rush to get the girls ready for Christmas pictures, then Mrs. Ha and I had brunch, hit the Goodwill, and then a bookstore.

I found one book that looks promising for my arthritis, Strong Women and Men Beat Arthritis, it even has some ways to alleviate arthritis, via exercise and diet and supplements. I need to eat less chicken and red meat, and more veggies. We do eat chicken about 4 times a week. I hope this helps, my leg strength has decreased by half during this latest flareup, based on my Cybex sheets at the Y.

Speaking of the Y, I think library_girl is now swim instructor girl at the Y. I'm not great with recognizing people, but they look similar (aside from jeans and a sweater vs. one piece swimsuit), have the same name and nice ass.

Speaking of the Goodwill, frequent eidetic readers may recall me picking up a copy of TMBG's Severe Tire Damage (not to be confused with Severe Tire Damage, the first band to play live on the internet, PARC has it's privileges). I played some of it yesterday, I reckon this is all the TMBG I need, since it has that sun song, the particle man song, and that Istanbul song.

Later Sunday night Irish_girl and her baby came over, while Mrs. Ha was at bird lady across the street. We talked a bit, I even got to hold the baby (two months maybe) a bit though ten year old tried to monopolize it, but it's not the same as holding your own baby.

The local utility is scheduling a power outage for the wee hours of the morning on the 9th. This is unfortunate, as this is the week where Mrs. Ha must get up in the wee hours of the morning. My parents have a battery powered alarm clock, and I need to see if our Coleman lantern needs propane or mantles. We'll have to pregrind our coffee, too.

I'd bitch more, but our hot water heater and stove are gas, and people in third world cities like London survive very well in spite of rolling blackouts and power outages. I just need to remember to grind our coffee Wednesday night.