Great Line From "Monk"

"I was born naturally but I was raised cesarean." I love that line. Saw it on a repeat Friday night. I miss that show. Even though at times you'd have to roll your eyes at some moments, it was always fun to watch.

There are some great shows on now. My five favorites:

1. The Middle
2. Big Bang Theory
3. The Office
4. Criminal Minds
5. Harry's Law (new show -- it's fantastic)

I am, however, not as wild about Criminal Minds as I use to be. They are letting two of my favorite characters go -- JJ and Prentis -- and it has moved away from the psychological aspect to more and more violence. I hope they can recapture the original intent. I also like Project Runway and Modern Family.

If I could bring back five (recent) shows I'd bring back:

1. 24 (duh)
2. Monk
3. Flash Forward
4. West Wing
5. Homocide - Life on the Streets / Law & Order (the original) -- it's a tie. (Hey it's my game I can make or break the rules if I want.)

If I could bring back five "classic" shows I'd bring back:

1. Carol Burnett
2. The Muppet Show
3. Golden Girls
4. Cheers
5. Mary Tyler Moore

How about you? What shows do you love and miss?

I'm A Yankee Doodle Tax Payer

Once again the work fairies didn't show up to do my work while I was gone. I'm going to have to put this in their permanent record.

This weekend I do my patriotic duty by filing my taxes. And hopefully the government will do its patriotic duty and return some money to me. I keep being told I should take more deductions on my payroll taxes so I don't have as much taken out but I really look forward to a big pay day at the start of the year. I know the idea is that I would take the extra money each check and use it wisely but I know myself well enough to know I would spend it on things like insurance and mortgage payments. I'm such a wild thing.

Other than that my weekend is going to be pretty quiet -- I hope. Freckles may have some wild notions about parties and keggers. I think she's been calling her boyfriend Wally and trying to set up a meeting. I should have never gotten her a cell phone of her own.

Back In Minnesota

Glad to be back and so glad to have Freckles snoring next to me at night. She had so much fun with my friend Mary and her family -- especially with their dog Wally. I took her soft-sided kennel over there and the other day when she was in there, and Wally was on the outside running around, she ripped her way out of the kennel. I'm so proud of her -- she's usually so quiet and complacent -- it's nice to see her show that spunky side I know is hiding underneath that cute face.

The flight home was uneventful -- no broken plane or hungry pilots to delay our departure. I did, however, find a little note in my suitcase when I got home that it had been opened and inspected by the TSA. I hope they enjoyed looking through my dirty clothes. What a hoot. I can only imagine the comments!

Well back to the office. I'm sure there will be a big welcome home celebration.

Another Day of Sunshine

Here I am sitting at a table waiting to welcome people to our exciting seminar. The lighting in here is meant to make you fall asleep and there is a vent right above me that is blowing cold air on me. Of course this means I will fall asleep and freeze to death IN CALIFORNIA -- oh the irony.

I'm ready to come home. I don't like business travel -- you never really feel comfortable. I miss my dog and my bed and my dog and my car and my dog and my couch and my dog. Did I mention I miss my dog?

Last night we went out to dinner and a lot of wine was consumed by others. That seems to be a big thing here in CA. And they talked about wine a lot too. I guess I could have talked about what happens when you drink too much wine but that might not have been appropriate.

Probably no post tomorrow. I have to be on a 6:30 a.m. flight --- but you never know what I'll do. I never know what I'll do. Stay warm. It's going to be 70 degrees outdoors but about -32 here at the table.

Fun in the Sun

Good morning from California. I'm here for work, really, until Wednesday -- I have to catch a plane at 6:15 a.m. if that makes you feel less jealous of me.

The highs are going to be in the 60s today. I may actually thaw out from the last few days at home.

I had an interesting plane ride here. The plane was suppose to leave at 9:15. When I finally got through security I saw that there was a delay until 10:20. So I thought I might as well go to the gate and wait. While sitting there the gate keeper announced that the reason there was a delay was because the plane was "broken." I'm not sure that was the right way to put it but that's what she said. And they were bringing us a new plane. After that announcement the gate keeper at the gate next to us announced that the plane to Sacramento was being delayed because there was a fuel leak. At this point I'm thinking I would just go home.

Well around 9:50 we get an announcement that the broken plane has been "fixed" and we will be boarding now. I'm wondering if the wings will have duct tape around them or something like that. Well while we are all excited to finally get going the next announcement is we have to wait because the pilot is off some where having breakfast. Oh brother.

Well thankfully other than that the trip was smooth and I landed in all this sunshine and warm weather. Sat outside with some friends yesterday afternoon. That was sublime.

But today I have to work ... oh yuck. But I can walk outside and get some sun. Now I just have to hope there's no earthquakes.

Too Cold To Think

This is what I looked like when I woke up this morning.

Well I'm getting my money's worth out of my electric blanket. I guess I won't be doing much sunbathing today.

Even Freckles doesn't like to frolic outdoors.

It's too cold to think any more. Hope you stay warm.

I just discovered a great thing about taking Freckles out for a walk in this cold ... it makes my home feel so warm.

I Can Hear You

What the heck am I doing up this early????? Oh that's right I have to be at work early. Bummer.

I would like to make an announcement to all people (including me) who have cell phones:

WE CAN HEAR YOU

I was in the Skyway the other day and I heard this woman saying:

"I think I should go in and have it looked at. Last night I took my pants off and showed it to my husband. He said he didn't know what it was but thought it looked infected."

Of course now I'll never know if "it" was infected. I hate that. I know of instances where people have overheard conversations between a lawyer and a client in a coffee place or on the bus and the person was on the other side of the case. How stupid are you? There is no cone of silence that comes with the cell phone.

I also saw at work someone busily looking at their phone who got on the elevator, never pushed the button for the floor they wanted, and rode up to my floor before they finally came back to reality. Then he says to me "Where am I?" I replied "Earth."

Okay off to work. I hope I can remember to get off on the right floor.