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Rain is back! During the brief passage of the hurricane, we receive a lot of rain, so EL turned off the sprinkler system. Yesterday, the lawn guy came and it was hot and sunny... look like the dryness returned for a stay and so we reactivated the sprinklers. This morning... rain. It always works that way. I am really lethargic today. I feel like I need more rest or something. I just can't get into the day. I've been busy with work since I arrived, but feel two steps behind. Something is going on here. Some key middle management are all mysteriously out of the office. Usually this means some meeting is in progress that ends in no good. My cell phone woke me this morning at 6:30. I had convinced myself that the snooze button was getting tight from lack of use and this morning was the morning to exercise it's range of motion. My initial thought was that it was work calling, but it was a friend calling from vacation in Florida. What anyone would be doing up at 6:30 on vacation eludes me... unless you've been up all night and haven't gone to bed yet... anyhoo, at least it wasn't work. It's interesting to me how our definition of friendship matures as we age and life changes. When you're a small child or even through adolescence, friends are a tight knit group that require frequent direct contact and proof of continued loyalty. If someone is a "friend", you spend time with them and form alliances. Their non-friends are your non-friends or else your not a true friend. If you go a week or two without sharing the friendship-time, your friendship is questioned. As the definition of responsibility is clarified with life discovery through high school and college these type of friendship criteria become impractical to life relationships and eventually, usually, we all come to embrace the true meaning of friendship. Most of my friends these days are closer to my heart than they've ever been yet ironically geographically further from me than in the past. I spend time with my friends with seemingly growing infrequency, yet we have great relationships that will last our lifetimes. Friends should not be burdened with constraints of time and distance or tripped up by material trivialities. This friend with whom I've not spoken to in several weeks is comfortable enough to call at 6:30 in the morning... from another state... on vacation... just to say hello. Friends like that are really appreciated.

SHIT!

Ok. I'm in tears. A small portion of one of the wasabi peas that EL put in my lunch just went into a portion of my body directly adjacent to the inside of my mouth that was never intended for wasabi to go. FUUUUUUCCCCK! I think I might die.

Anyhoo, I've put in a whopping total of about 8 hours worth of after-hours/weekend work in the last 4 days or so, so I think I might leave early today. Being a salaried IT worker has it's down sides sometimes... no extra dough for OT and getting comp time is more difficult than surviving a summit trek on Everest naked. I need some wasabi killing coffee. Ciao.