I really like the grocery store in my neighborhood. They sell lamb heads. They have four different brands of fuul medames, each with a different spelling. How is that not awesome? There's another grocery store, Mexican, a block north, it has more stuff that is awesome, too.

Seriously, though, we won't be having lamb's head for dinner anytime soon. We don't have a bone saw.

I measured my waist, chest, and neck yesterday. Apparently I'm approximately at 37", 46", and 18" right now. No wonder I can't button my 16.5" collars. The waist could certainly be more trim, I've been getting jiggly the last couple months and I'm certain my chest has been atrophying. I'm probably at about 225# at the moment. I'm going to visit that gym I said I would visit after work today, I'll call them up to ask about seeing the place and what their hours are. You do realize, of course, this means less time at home.

Sweet: I bought YNAB at a time that guaranteed my upgrade to YNAB 3, when it comes out, will be free. Hot damn. Budget software is good.

I really like Wind, Sand, and Stars.

Oh, good grief. On some other board, I had to correct some nonsensical notions about common law marriage. For foreigners to whom such a notion is, um, foreign, in some states in America, you can essentially marry somebody simply by living with somebody and representing yourselves as married to the outside world without having to go to the courthouse and get some document signed or whatever it takes to solemnize a marriage where you're from (some minor variations depending on what state you live in). It can be tricky to prove you've actually done this, but if you have, in these states, you're legally married with all the benefits of being married and you also have all the tricky bits about legal divorce to deal with if you ever decide to end it all. And all the other states in the country will acknowledge your marriage because it was legal in the state you got married in. However, there are some common misconceptions. One is that, after living with somebody for a certain number of years (seven, usually), you are considered by law to have a "common law marriage" and are screwed if you try to leave, because you will have to get a divorce. This is false: you can't be married without your knowledge. Another is that a common law marriage is really just cohabitation and that it is just as casual and can end as easily. This is false: it's a real marriage and it ends in real divorce. The only way around it is if you have a good lawyer who can argue that you never really entered into a common law marriage. It was a discussion about government benefits being extended to cohabiting couples in America and they were gravely mistaken. They believed that cohabiting couples got a variety of government benefits which they don't under the provisions of common law marriage, which is something other than marriage. There are, like, twenty things wrong with that last sentence. I hope they've been set straight now. Then again, IANAL.

Though, seriously, I don't see the appeal of "common law marriages". The small nominal sum you pay to get a marriage license and what-have-you is surely made up for by the assurance that you have the thing nailed down for certain. I would think. Given that I'm married and find having a marriage license rather convenient.

Oh, drat. I forgot to take my drugs this morning. Oh well. The thing about this is that the effect is cumulative, so missing once won't kill me. I think.

Did I remark here about how primitive NYC mass transit seems compared to $HOME_CITY? We have smart cards, for instance. They do not. How antediluvian.

I need to go eat lunch.