It's The Thought That Counts

* Today I received a birthday card from my company. Which was really nice, except for the fact that it was almost two weeks later. Oh well. At least I got a party four days after my birthday - the party was combined with that of another employee. Perhaps birthdays should simply become floating holidays. "I was born Octoberish."

* Incidentally, I'll be going on a cruise in early November. November 2nd is Election Day and I'll be leaving that same week. Which means I get to avoid the wailing and the gnashing of teeth when the Democrats take a hit in the midterms, as well as avoid one week of the mindless news cycle. Truly, this was a fortuituous trip. Furthermore, if one was really depressed about the elections - which I am damned well not - one could just get off the boat at a foreign shore and not get back on again.

* Ruth has volunteered - or is preparing to volunteer - to cook dinner for her best friend and our pseudo-goddaughter that live one state away. (Three people would have to die for such an outcome. Since the girl in question just hit double-digits, not very likely.) It's a very nice gesture, at the least, and guarantees that four people get a decent meal.

* Recently, we received some gifts in the mail from a married couple whom we hosted for a weekend visit. (Before our cruise departs, we go to Florida and attend their wedding.) There were some cute Halloween-themed mugs, coffee and cocoa, and...pumpkin-flavored gummi bears. Ruth thought that the bears tasted okay but she thought the texture of the candy was terrible. I had trouble with the whole concept.

* It appears that Malcolm, our black cat, likes fruit. Mangoes. Peaches. Grapes. Applesauce. Obviously, he can't eat human proportions - two grapes is a lot for him. I suspect that he's been leaving us a lot of "gifts" as a result - that's like high-fiber for a cat.

* The Chilean miners were rescued recently. I haven't paid much attention to the rescue porn that passes for news, as the miners seemed to be in fairly good shape despite the fact that they were several hundreds of feet underground. I'm glad that they got out - it much have sucked to be down there - but they weren't exactly starving, just horribly lonely and miserable. If this accident had happened in Appalachia, I suspected that the mine owners would have blasted the passage underground shut and told the government, "Miners? Who told you there were miners down there?"

* Work is holding a costume party on October 29th. I hate these bursts of planned gaiety - I think it's the curmudgeon in me. On the other hand, work is offering a chance on that same night to see the Atlanta Thrashers play the Buffalo Sabres at just $10. I thought that $10 was a bit much to ask (!) but Ruth and I have decided to go to "Blueland" as they call it. We'll let you know how it turns out.