My joke last week about bad drivers in costumes? Totally poignant right now as i’m braving halloween eve traffic…

Still no love on the NYC photos. Yes, i’m lazy. I haven’t even finished unpacking, and you should see what a wreck my house is right now. Don’t get me started on the towering pile of unread mail that just yesterday reached critical mass and formed a conscious democratic order, elected union representatives, filed for incorporation, turned a smacking quarterly profit, and was promptly purchased for liquidation by Kirk Kerkorian in a hostile takeover. If only the pile of laundry was so highly motivated.

At work today i swindled Brian and Joseph into accompanying me on the short trek to seahawks stadium where, per a nasty rumor circulated via my email newsletter from Sturtevant’s, some sort of ski swap / expo / free-stuff-giving-away event was taking place. With the promises of free lift tickets, gratuitous stickers and scantily-clad women in ski boots and fuzzy hats fresh on my lips, we found ourselves at the entrance, our eager expressions quickly sullied by the stern, mannish woman demanding to see our tickets. Tickets?? We don’t need no stinkin’ tickets! Oh, apparently we do… and they’re 10 bucks. 10 bucks to be showered with propaganda by every winter sports company with the wherewithal to rent a folding table. 10 bucks to look at all the same gear that will grace every retail display all winter, priced slightly higher than elsewhere and then discounted back to MSRP to create an impression of savings. 10 bucks to “test drive” all the goodies we won’t have the money to buy. 10 bucks to elbow our way through the herds of abercrombie-clad, petouli-smelling ski yuppies for a chance to hit on the semi-pro snow bunnies who would rather be at Blackcomb than here, pretending we’re funny. Yeah… probably not worth 10 bucks. We passed, and met Tyler for bacon cheeseburgers instead. Bacon never turns you away for lack of a ticket. Bacon’s good like that.

Apparently monday is halloween or something. As i recall, i accepted an evite from Dave nigh on three fortnights ago, so i have a party to attend saturday night, and as such will need to un-retire some clothing from my sordid past and drum up some hideous costume. Other than saturday night, i expect a weekend chock full of car-fixing (having two just means they both break at the same time) and – if weather permits – throwing my camera in the air in a mediocre attempt at internet fame.

The holiday-on-the-horizon also means a guaranteed day of zero productivity at work on monday, as shrieking children covered in masks and plastic capes ransack the halls of our otherwise saturnine building in search of – what else? – free candy. Lest anyone accuse us of being another byzantine workplace, i’m sure the company will be writing off that day’s productivity entirely as employees traipse around in pimp hats and inflatable sumo suits (Seriously. One just walked down the hall in a pre-halloween demo) battling with the children for first dibs on the good candy. All in good fun, i’m sure, just so long as no one arrives dressed as hairy, grown-up, anime Super Mario Brothers. Don’t click on that link, i mean it. It’s pure evil. Blame Jason Cross – he found it.

And now i must depart all ye lads and lasses, so retire to your studies while i brave friday-night-before-halloween traffic. Here’s hoping all those vampires and Chewbaccas cut big enough eye holes to see the road.

Off to a good start today. A bottle of detergent fell off the dryer and hit me in the face…

I know i’m overdue for a big, fat New York recap, but i really just don’t have the energy today, and it will be better with pictures anyway. Although it is nice to be home and i slept very well these last two nights in my own bed, the break from everyday life afforded by my east coast visit was entirely appreciated and altogether too short. My brief rest on the sandy shore is over, and i’m back in the raging rapids spending much less time enjoying the scenery in lieu of trying not to drown.

At work the week promises to be very busy, a combination of playing catch-up from time away and the general busyness of a swiftly approaching software release date. Despite that, i took the morning off today, to try and tie up half a dozen loose ends that refuse to be wrangled into submission. The bodyshop gave me a $2000 estimate for the damage to my car, and while thankfully not my money, it will still consume my time and worrying energy. Afterwards i drove up to Marysville to retake the emissions test that my Z failed two weeks ago, and in a truly migrain-inducing manner, it failed again. Travis thinks my AIV’s are clogged, Jason thinks i have MAF grounding issues. Ian is going to help me install an S-AFC on saturday and try to tweak with it. I think it’s time to park it, let the tabs expire and use it as a place to hang laundry, because – let’s face it – i can’t afford this car, and if i sell my workout equipment to pay for a gym membership (something i’m considering) i’m going to need a place to drape all those wet shirts that heretofore decorated my bowflex.

Distraught with that and trying feverishly to get home and switch cars in time to make it to the doctor, where she will likely tell me that while i can stop taking the nausea-inducing antibiotics, i’m still on anti-acids and the oatmeal diet for another 5 weeks, i was delayed further by one of the lovely washington state patrol officers who felt it necessary to give me a speeding ticket for going 75 in a 60 (apparently going faster than the 15 cars in front of me, somehow, in a violation of several laws of physics). That’s a lovely $125 and a point on an otherwise clean record that i really didn’t need today.

I still have two more appointments and several hours of work to get through today, and when i get home i must unpack and make some sense of my ramshackle living conditions. Plus there’s those photos to go through and post. And i think i will also need a few shots of something stiff and some quality time with Grand Theft Auto taking my revenge on some virtual cops. So if you call me tonight and i sound drunk, and there are gunshots and sirens in the background, there’s no need to panic: you’ve just caught me in the middle of a therapy session.

Home! So good to be back!