I pulled up to a stopsign in Costa Mesa (Tustin & 17th) with my window open yesterday. It was near the end of the workday at the quick lube place, and the workers were kinda blowing off steam, yelling at each other good-naturedly. One guy looked about sixty and worn and sunburned in a kind of Okie way. He was looking into the office and suddenly he yelled out, in the most gravelly whisky-soaked Marlboro-burnt voice I’ve ever heard:

WILL YA GET OFF THE HORN FINALLY SAM? YOU’RE LIKE A GODDAMN BROAD!

I didn’t think anyone still alive spoke like that. Is he in 1936?

I had a great dinner tonight. I don’t usually eat all veg (unfortunate dead animal addiction), but tonight was delicious: sautée of onion, eggplant, tomato, sweet red pepper, mushroom with asafoetida, cumin, garam masala, oregano, ginger. All over couscous. SO GOOD.

My local produce market, Growers Ranch, rocks my little world so hard!

Also a really nice Pepperwood Grove zinfandel. Very smooth wine.

But I am far too food-oriented. I am already thinking about pancakes I might make tomorrow.

At the black hole coffee house again tonight. BS’d with the staff for a while, stared into space. Went to the bookstore and bought a Bible translation I didn’t have (NKJV), a book about Vedanta, and the New York Review of Books. Enough to chew on for a few.

Went back to the bookstore and encountered Bave and Dethya and Ranger Dan. Was having an enjoyable discussion with them when the guitar player at the next table, who had been quietly noodling along playing chords, took a break and lit up a joint.

It was sort of weird and uncomfortable sitting there smelling his WEED as we talked, and wondering why he was doing that in public. When he wandered away, came back, and lit up again Bave finally had to go tell him that the smoke was making his wife sick (Dethya can’t deal with it, it makes her nauseous) and he finally stopped.

Great comment from one of the coffee guys: “Yeah, I bet he wanted to say ‘I just lit that up ACCIDENTALLY because I’m so FREE and EASY that I don’t even notice your social anxiety about HERB, maaan.’.”

Actually I just can’t stand the smell, myself. But it was weird. I wonder if he was half-hoping a cop would show up so he could be a martyr to hemp.

Came home and had a pr0k sandwich and a bowl of saffron rice. Tomorrow I’m on call so I’ll go buy vegetables and fruits at Growers Ranch and make a fruit salad maybe and certainly a big ole vegetable stir fry delight.

Dunno what I’m doing tomorrow night. I want to have BIG FUN though. Any suggestions?

I worked from home without permission today, but no one seemed to object. I think I am getting a wee bit of bad attitude. Just a wee bit though.

1. The crows have invaded my neighborhood. Literally a hundred or so of them hanging around going GRAWWWWWWWK all day. They’re fascinating, yet loud and annoying.

2. The I.T. departments at large companies are the last vestige of the old Soviet Empire.

3. It’s too bad that Saddam’s deadline falls on St. Patrick’s day. You know he’d rather be drinking green beer at Ba’athy O’Shea’s that night.

4. I want to be free! Like the bird, like the bee! Oh, why am I classed with the mammals?

5. I really really like this beer-cheddar bread I’ve been making. Like. Obsessively.

http://www.mcdonalds.com/countries/usa/food/nutrition/mcmeal/index.html

McDonalds is happy to introduce a new way to become a huge fat diabetic lardbucket.. the CYBER WAY!!!

I just consumed (virtually), a yogurt dessert, a small fries, and a big mac. 1180 calories. Please kill me now.

I await the Fatburger “Just Eat a Bucket of Chili already” flash movie or the Olive Garden’s “Dying of high blood pressure just like Mama back in Milano” java applet.

I don’t like being up doing work so late that I hear the paper hit the door.

Via jwz we have this appalling story: http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20030304_651.html

Great. Mall cops are determining our reality. Gulag, meet food court.

Due to the kind folks at culinaryparts.com I have a new bread pan for my machine, so I’m currently in production on a loaf of honey whole wheat flax bread. Mmmmm. It’s amazing how much easier this process is with a nonleaking pan in the bread machine.

Not only did everything technical break at my job this week, but several good people are leaving which makes me sad. All for good reasons (they got other jobs where they wanted to live, etc.) but the last bunch that left haven’t yet been replaced. You’d think that in this dreadful eConomy it would be easy to find good programmers, project managers etc. but apparently not.

Learn Braille Online?

I hope it doesn’t make your screen bumpy. Courtesy trinnit