and

It's Mr. Giles in the driveway this morning. Through the miracle of 4-second exposures and a little Photoshop, I was able to make the photo look like the sun was actually up, but it wasn't. This is my gentle way of letting you know that I won't have good daylight photo-taking opportunities until the weekend.

Deb and I got to the dealership right on time for our appointment, and Deb saw the MINIs up close for the first time. "It's so small. Is yours going to be that small?"

Yes, honey. She's used to me being a size queen, I think.

My regular salesperson was out with the flu, and her replacement wasn't quite as familiar with the car and the runthrough as I would've liked. The guy who handled the finance papers part of the deal, John, reminded me of the Gary Cole character in "Office Space."

Us: "Hi, John! We're so glad to be here! We're thrilled to be handing over many thousands of dollars for a car that could fit into most walk-in closets! We're just so happy!"

John: "Mmmmm ... yeah. So ... sign here ... and here ... and here. Yeah."

But, it wasn't long before I was headed home. It drives like a very exciting dream. The steering makes me wet.

Deb and Jake spent a lot of time in the hot tub after work while I looked over the owner's manuals, and then I got into the tub, too. Sara was taking a short pre-work-night nap. Took the girls out to Cowtippers for dinner. And when I say "took them out," I just mean that I drove, not that I treated everyone to dinner. My wallet suffered such a rip yesterday that I think I lost part of my ass in the bargain. My credit union now owns my ass.

Driving home�definitely a Ripper trip�we hit the highway and I dropped it into sixth gear, announced that we were in sixth gear, and started making power grunts. Jake: "Look how big her dick is getting! Here, let me hold it to one side so you can see." Hrnk. She's so right.

Things are still feeling a little weird between me and Sara after the family meeting. It'll get better. This is the first time she's ever been really pissed off at me (as far as I know). There was a time when that would've really scared the living shit out of me. But I know that everything will be okay again someday. I was wrong, and I apologized. Things feel better than ever between me and Jake. At least from my perspective. She's my new best friend since I called their house to tell them about the A&E two-hour "documentary" on cleavage, even though it was Deb's idea to call. Jake really appreciates cleavage. That documentary was like a two-hour boob show. We could always use more of that.

I had a hard time sleeping last night. I think my new coffee shop habit may be affecting my sleep. There's a new shop called Cool Beans near work that I've gone to almost every day since they opened. The Barristas, Ponch and Lana, introduced themselves to me after about the 3rd day. Really nice.

But, I was up at about 4:00 a.m. this morning. I don't have much trouble falling asleep, just staying asleep.

Tonight I'm going to escort Anat to Cliterati. Deb was going to go, too, but she's bailed. She said she could use a quiet night home alone. She didn't get much sleep last night either. Anat promises she won't keep me out too late and that we can make fun of the over-academized feministas. I sure would like to hear Deb read one of her stories there some day, though.

Okay. Time to do a shred of work. The IT guy let me know today that the web-spying software that management implemented still isn't working quite right, but will be in about a month. He can't stall it any longer. That will be a sad day.

One last note to Mulher and Mopsie, you chicks are nuts. Lovable, but crazy as bessiebugs. Or is it betsy bugs?