2004-02-23

An excellent way to show your support; I just sent some money that way. It would rock if every single couple waiting in line to get married in SF was given flowers, dontchathink? Also, Desi sent me a link to this picture, and I followed another link to this wonderful set of pictures.

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Hey, look! A couple of the guys from The Bachelorette have their own web sites. Todd, who was funny as hell, is here, and Ryan M. (that cute guy who couldn’t shut up) is here. Can a Trista and Ryan blog be far behind? I think not!
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I just started on my first packet of Seasonale last night. This means, if my calculations are correct, that I won’t be having my period again until mid-May. You have NO idea how thrilled I am by this, folks. I’m going to save a fortune on tampons, that’s for sure. I do expect, however, that my body will be confused as hell in a few weeks. I always start retaining water about a week before my period is due. The pill I was on is monophasic (a steady dose of hormones throughout the course of the pill, rather than triphasic, in which the hormone level changes through the course of the pill), which means that there’s no reason my body should do anything to prepare for the onset of my period until the Sunday comes when I don’t feed it a pill at bedtime. But I’ve been on the pill for several years, and I guess my body has adjusted well enough to know when to start retaining water. I’m going to estimate that it’ll take an entire year for my body to completely adjust to the new regimen, but that’s okay with me. Better a confused body for a year with only 4 periods a year, than an unconfused body and 12 periods. Oh, don’t give me that look. Y’all KNOW you love it when I talk about my period!
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Lately – say over the past few weeks – Fred has started pointing out SUVs that he thinks he’d like. Because I’m pretty good at reading the signs, I had a feeling that we’d be shopping for a new SUV sometime soon. Finally Friday, we started seriously talking about it, and decided to do some looking around over the weekend. Actually, what we talked about was trading in his Jeep for a new vehicle, but I came up with a better idea: trade in my Jeep, since it’s in worse shape than his, PLUS we owe less money on it, and his Jeep could become mine. Which means that I’d get a Jeep that is in better shape AND has a kick-ass stereo. Saturday morning Fred headed out to check out an SUV that had the look and price that was within our range. He called me on his way home to tell me that it was “ugly as hell” and that he was no longer interested in it. Saturday evening, at my suggestion, we got Subway for dinner. After we ate, we went to another dealership, where we all piled in to another SUV and went for a test drive. The verdict? It was okay, but he didn’t love it. (He asked my opinion, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s his opinion that counts, since he’s the one who’ll be driving it) It’s only a 4 cylinder, and after driving an 8-cylinder Jeep, it was a big difference. We got a printout from the salesman showing the different payment options, Fred told him he wanted to think about it, and we left. We spent a good part of Sunday driving around looking at different SUVs, unmolested by salespeople, since most car places are closed on Sundays around here. We stopped at a dealership near where Fred works when a particularly cute SUV caught his eye, and they happened to be selling a yellow Beetle. The door was unlocked, so I actually sat in the car and got a feel for how comfortable I’d be in a Beetle. It was amazing how much room was in that car, especially the dashboard. (No, this is not a story about how we went to look at cars for Fred and came home with a yellow Beetle for me, unfortunately!) This morning Fred went to test-drive an SUV he really liked, and he reported back to me that he really, really likes it. He’s going to go drive another SUV at another dealership later this morning, but the one he drove this morning has 6 cylinders, and the one he’s going to go drive later is only a 4 cylinder. I’m pretty sure he’s going to call me this afternoon and tell me he signed the papers to buy the 6 cylinder SUV. This is absolutely the most adult thing we’ve ever done, shopping around for an SUV. Before, we’ve always said “Hey, let’s go look at cars!”, and ended up coming home that very same day with a new (used) car. This whole test-driving and thinking-about-it thing, the running the numbers to see what the payment would be, the seeing who’ll give us a good deal? Never done it before. Sad, isn’t it? What’s even cooler than Fred getting a new SUV and passing his Jeep on to me, is the fact that THAT Jeep will be paid off, or close to it, in about a year. And then? And then, my friends, it will be time for me to get a new vehicle. A car. A SMALL car. Possibly a yellow Beetle. And I’m willing to wait a whole year to get what I want. Will wonders never cease?
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I love these little bitty birds. Finches, aren’t they? Spanky, checking to be sure the back door is still open. Such a pretty boy. ]]>