Another Friday! Last week at this time, I was nervously anticipating leaving here to go first to Dr. Jacob, then to Mike West’s retirement party in Holbrook. I didn’t get done with Jacob until after 4 PM, and I had to fill up my gas tank before going anywhere.

Jacob seemed pleased with my latest numbers, but said it was nearly time for me to go for new blood work, and set me up for tests within the next month or so. She gave me a new prescription for cholesterol medication since what I’m taking now only brought me down to 190. I was in the 150’s with my former cholesterol medication! I weigh a LOT more than I should, but I’m not going to tell you how much. And the nurse told me I’m only 5’3” tall! When the hell did I shrink? I thought I was 5’5”!

Mike’s party was fun. I drove there via the Long Island Expressway, getting caught in two traffic jams that necessitated crawling. Mapquest had me making a wrong turn, too. Thus it took me nearly an hour to get there, but I managed to arrive only 10 minutes later than 5 PM. I was proud of myself, but ended up changing my clothes in the car! I nearly got caught by a couple of the guys who arrived at the same time I did, but they passed by my car seconds after I’d hastily wriggled into my black velvet pants.

Gary commented on how quiet I was. When he was in the bathroom, everyone was arguing over who DIDN’T WANT to drive Gary to work during a snowstorm (apparently he’s pussy-fearful of driving himself; Mike was driving him in last week’s snowstorm when they got into an accident). When Gary emerged from the bathroom, I said, “Hey, they’re all arguing over who’s going to pick you up when it snows!”, making it sound like everyone WANTED to be his bad-weather chauffeur. Gary dropped his hands to my shoulders and said, “What about you—do YOU want to do it?” I pointed out that Massapequa Park isn’t really anywhere near Centereach, where he lives. The man is just so weird! But he was very nice to me, offering me soda, hanging up my coat, stuff like that. He was the one who had arranged for us to go to this restaurant, called Treo, which is located on the grounds of the Holbrook Country Club. I had Caesar salad, salmon, fresh mashed potatoes, crunchy veggies and an assortment of desserts, including chocolate covered strawberries—yum!

Marge, Mike’s wife, was there. We hadn’t seen each other in years, and she was so sweet. I was one of the few who got up to make a little speech to Mike, and I had to make mention of the punchline of a joke I told him and John LaF on one of my first days there: “It gives me great pleasure. . .” I talked about Mike’s liver transplant surgery and how I used to try to catch leaves falling from the trees in autumn down by the dead end when I took my walks—if I caught them, he’d be OK. I caught them, so even when it looked like he wasn’t going to make it, I assured him he was going to be OK—and he was. As usual, when someone I know as well as Mike retires, I feel both sad and jealous, and this was no exception!

When I asked how I’d go about getting home via Sunrise Highway instead of the LIE, everyone began speaking at once, but I finally got directions, and managed to speed home more quickly than I’d gotten to Holbrook from Hicksville. I even got in some quality time on the computer, since Dan wasn’t home from his date with Mike yet.

Speaking of dates, I’m seeing Sharon tonight. It’s going to be short, because Marty’s coming to do our taxes. I think, now that we’re done paying off the house, we’re going to need new ways to shelter our money.

As it is, we’re caught in the new mire of paying our own home, school and village taxes. So far, without realizing why, we’ve incurred 112 dollars in penalty fees! Ain’t post-mortgage life grand? Shit!

Speaking of Sharon, do you know what she caught her husband doing? He pulled off the top of their shower head so he could stick the hose up his ass for sexual pleasure—and it makes him shit in the bathtub! Sharon was going crazy trying to figure out why the bathtub was smelling like poop, and now she knows! She fastened the shower head more tightly onto the hose, and when Tom asked one of his sons to bring him pliers, Sharon ordered her son NOT to—and her husband NOT to do that disgusting thing anymore! Her husband, however, insists he didn’t do that! Poor Sharon is scrubbing the bathtub and going out of her mind wondering what else her addled husband is going to claim he isn’t doing!

Tuesday, I went to see Tracey, as usual, but the office front door was locked and there were no cars at all in the parking lot. I waited until 3:25 to see if Tracey showed up, trying to recall if she had told me we wouldn’t be meeting that day, but couldn’t remember. I was just as glad to go home to my computer and work on the dean_sam Live Journal.

Dan’s been very happy at work, doing the Customer Service thing. He has stories of nasty people, but he said he loves getting up and going to work in the morning. I wish I felt the same way! Yesterday, I was so very tired, I worked a straight six hours, went home, let out the dogs, went to sleep and napped until 3:15! I could simply not keep my eyes open! With no SUPERNATURAL on the CW, I watched an ep on DVD instead. I love it with no commercials! They’re bringing reruns of the show back April 4 and new eps back April 24, Brad’s birthday! Cool, huh?

Hope all is well with you and yours, my friends!

Love, Robin