On a lighter note: I just left lunch and saw a crowd of people gathered outside the restaurant. Union is blocked off between Front and Third because Captain Clueless, ahem, I mean President Bush is having lunch at The Rendezvous this afternoon as part of his visit to Memphis today. He's escorting the Japanese prime minister, who is apparently a huge Elvis fan, to Graceland. The crowd was standing around hoping to get a glimpse of the presidential motorcade as it drove by. I gave it five minutes and then went back to my office. Shelby County went to Al Gore and John Kerry in both of the last presidential elections, so I'm sure it really pains Bush to be here. The feeling is mutual.

"Some people need a rewind button that we can push and raise them all over again."
Someone said that during a conversation the other day. We were talking about rude, self-centered and generally unappealing behavior. That sentence has come back to me several times over the last few weeks after being totally shocked by the conduct of people I thought I knew better. I assume people are good. And maybe I'm too quick to excuse rude behavior early on, believing that everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt. The problem is that I'm assuming that everyone is operating by the same moral compass that I have. And that's just not true. But I'm learning, and my skepticism level toward people has really gone up a few notches recently. I don't want to believe that someone would use me so callously to get something they want, but when the evidence is clearly pointing in that direction, what else can I do but accept that that's the case. It's disorienting to go from assuming the best about a person to assuming the worst. It sucks. I try my best to live by two simple rules: 1. Do no harm, and 2. Don't be an asshole. I'm appalled when someone I know and stood up for breaks both of those rules in front of people I respect and admire. After you've vouched for someone, it's hard to sound credible saying "I'm just as shocked as you are." At least now I know better.

Conversation with my sister last night:

"Hello?"
"The Grizzlies just traded your boy."
"WHAT!?!"
"Yep."
"Who to?"
"They made a deal with Houston to trade Battier for the 8th pick."
"Motherf@#!$r."
"We picked some guy from UConn I've never heard of."
"I don't believe this."
"I don't understand the draft process at all. We have the No. 8 pick and J.J. Redding is still sitting out there and we don't take him?"
"Really?"
"Yeah, and how does Adam Morrison go higher than Redding? His form is terrible."
"Dude. I don't know."

Bless my husband for letting me watch the draft last night. Carney went 16th to the Bulls, who were actually picking him on behalf of Philadelphia. Then Shawne Williams went 17th to Indiana. Darius didn't get drafted, which is heartbreaking but not really surprising. I doubt he would have come back to Memphis regardless of the draft outcome. All this summer basketball action is making me anxious for November, when the Tigers kick off their season.

My favorite Tiger's big night is here. Rodney Carney, who dazzled us while wearing the No. 10 jersey for the Tigers during four seasons in Memphis, is predicted to be a lottery pick in the NBA draft tonight. Where will he go? I'm hearing a lot of chatter that Phoenix may trade up to take him. I would love that. After the Grizzlies ended their third ill-fated run through the play-offs, I watched the Suns' progress. Alas, it was Miami's year. And good for them. I'm still irritated that we traded away Jason Williams. I liked J-Will. Anyhoo, the Suns are a great team, and I hope Carney ends up somewhere good. We have two other players in the draft, Shawne Williams, who could also be a first round pick, and Darius Washington, who closed the door on another season with the Tigers earlier this week when he hired an agent. Not sure where Darius will end up, but I wish him well too. I enjoyed watching him play these last two seasons. I'm crossing my fingers that all three go in the first round. That would be too, too cool.

Paradise Lost

We're back from Florida. Here's a brief rundown of the vacation:

• Burned bits: Sunscreen is wasted on me. I burn no matter what. And I burn in odd little places like the tiny part of my scalp that is exposed by my part and the tops of my feet where my flip flops rubbed off my sunscreen (leaving stupid-looking Chevron shapes on my feet). Jesse's back burned on day two, but not badly. And we kept him well covered on Thursday so he came home in good shape.

• Directionally challenged: If we were in the car, we were lost. It started the minute we drove the rental car out of the parking garage. My brief glance at an atlas before we left Tennessee led me to think that we'd get on I-4 in Orlando, drive east to Daytona and then south on I-95 to New Smyrna. Except that there were no signs pointing me to I-4 around the airport. We asked for directions and were told to get on I-528 instead (the Beachline). And that went well enough but when we hit I-95, I had no idea where we were. I was still in the "go South to New Smyrna" mindset, and we almost ended up in Cocoa Beach. Other times we go lost: On the way to Sea World (that one was a doozy), on the way to a movie theater, on the way back to Orlando on our last day, etc., etc.

• Sea monkey: Once Jesse figured out that he was sharing the ocean with other living creatures, he wouldn't go near the water again. He was totally freaked out by the sea critters.

• Nice digs: The condo was great. We bought groceries the first night and ate breakfast and lunch at the condo. We had a great kitchen area and a washer and dryer. The balcony was fabulous. The beach was quiet. The bed was soooo comfortable.

• Ms. Gimpy: Mom twisted her ankle on Saturday, two days before we were supposed to leave, and it stayed swollen all week. But that didn't stop her from lugging luggage around and hoofing it around Sea World for 10 hours. But in my professional opinion as a professional know it all, that ankle should not have still been swollen a week later, and I told her that I thought she had fractured it. She got it X-rayed today. It's fractured. The doctor couldn't believe she'd been walking on it for a week.

• Shamu who? The highlight of Sea World was getting to "Dine with Shamu." The staff sets up a buffet in the backstage area of the killer whale exhibit and you get a behind the scenes (and up close) look at the whales and the trainers. This is where we learned that none of the whales are actually Shamu. We met the senior whale who "plays" Shamu in the Shamu show "Believe." I just accidentally typed Sham show, which is actually pretty fitting. But Fauxmu put on a nice little show for us, and it was cool getting to see him up close. The downside of Sea World: The hot, sweaty, stinky mass of people we were crammed up against in the park. Yuck.

And now, pictures:

Useless knowledge about celebrity gossip does come in handy, kids. I went to Tivia Night at the Flying Saucer last night with Ron, and the two of us placed second! We were the smallest team there and bested several teams with four or more players. We so totally rocked. Ron may have single-handedly won the game for us by correctly identifying Tanzania on a map of Africa. He's a geography nerd, cough, I mean, genius.

When I got home, Jesse was crashed out on the sofa and had drooled all over one of the throw pillows. Ah, motherhood.

Just call us the calamity family. Last Wednesday, on his way into swimming lessons, Jesse was hit by a door that was flung open, which very nearly broke his toe. He limped around for four days, and let me tell you that swimming is made more difficult when you're only kicking one leg. SkooterPie sliced his finger open this weekend while doing some manly construction stuff on his studio. Luckily, stitches weren't necessary. Then yesterday I get a call from Lindenwood that Jesse had been stung by a wasp. "Is he allergic?" they asked me. "Actually, I have no idea because he's never been stung before. But I'm slightly allergic, so keep an eye on him. I'm on my way." When I arrived, Jesse's ankle was puffy and red, but he was fine. "What's slightly allergic mean?" Jesse asked. "It means that I start to feel dizzy and sick when I get stung," I told him. It could also mean that I'm one sting away from full anaphylactic shock. My aunt is allergic to stings and didn't know until a few years ago. So what's my calamity this week? Canker sores. Three of them. Brought on by a really stressful time at work. I look forward to eating without any pain again in a few days.

Oh, and between alligator attacks, shark attacks, hurricanes, wildfires and now people getting run over on beaches, I'm not so sure that Florida is really the best place for a vacation.

UPDATE: Oh, wait. The story about the sunbather getting run over happened in California. Well, it's significant that I just assumed it happened in Florida. I suspect the whole state may be a hellmouth.

Wow, it's been a while. What can I say? Work has been kicking my ass. I'll break my self-imposed blogging rule for this explanation: Our biggest issue of the year publishes next week. It's a 100-plus page paper, of which 44 pages are my responsibility. My deadline was today at 5 p.m., so I've been a tad busy. I can't think of a whole heck of a lot that I would have written about over the past five days that would not have been work-related, so no loss. I'll spend next week catching up on work that I couldn't do this week. And then I leave for Florida. So blogging, as they say, will be light for the next two weeks. I'll post when I can. Cheerios.

Veronica Mars and Me

Because I had a weekend to myself, I took the opportunity to crack open the Veronica Mars season 1 DVDs that SkooterPie bought me. And that's how I would wind down my days, watching a kick-ass girl detective solve crimes and survive the hell that is high school. I officially have a girl crush on Veronica Mars.

Why would I need to wind down this weekend? Well, I was busy. I went to Italian Festival Thursday night and hung out with Teri and her team, eating pasta and talking. I should say her award-winning team. They took home the first place prize for booth decoration with their Venice Beach theme.

Friday I worked, obviously, and then met up with Ron and Bethany so we could go to an art opening. Although it's not something I would typically do without SkooterPie around, I wanted to go because the artist whose work was on display is Greely Myatt, and Greely's a cool dude. Yes, we named our cat after him. Then we had dinner at Young Ave. Deli, which was yummy.

Saturday I worked for a few hours and met up with Ron and Bethany again for dinner (at a new place, Garcia Wells Southwestern Grill) and for a movie. We saw "Thank You for Smoking," which was hilarious. Loved it.

Sunday I worked a few hours and then went home and got into bed with a glass of wine and watched a few more episodes of Veronica Mars. SkooterPie and Jesse were home by 5 p.m. Jesse was dazed from sugar consumption/DVD watching on the drive home. And he was filthy. I asked Patrick when he'd had his last bath. Turns out the answer was "in Memphis." So. Yeah. I didn't hear from mom and dad that Jesse looked dirty when they saw him on Saturday, but maybe they were just being nice. By the time I saw him on Sunday, Pig Pen could have given him some pointers on hygiene.

Jesse came home with a brand new bike from his Grandmary, and SkooterPie brought me some new towels that were an anniversary present from his mom. Jesse had a great time at their house, playing with Alia and running around like a little urchin outside. I'm glad they got to go, and I enjoyed my time to myself as well.

The kid and SkooterPie left this afternoon to spend the weekend with his mom in Cookeville. I have the whole house to myself for three nights.

!

But because I'm so behind at work, I'll probably be stuck at the office for much of that time. And it's not like I could relax at home reading my new Entertainment Weekly, or any other mail over the next few days for that matter, since SkooterPie has the only key to our mailbox after Jesse lost my key at the U of M track a couple of years ago. So....yeah. I'm locked out of our mailbox.

Tonight I'll be attending the Italian Festival as a guest of my friend Teri and her Italian Fest team. Should be fun. Don't know what else I'm going to do with myself. I do know that I will eat what I want, and eat when I want, and watch what I want to on TV, and sleep in the middle of the bed. And be a teeny bit lonely, I'm sure.