South of Sunnyside

Kim and I took the Harley out for a short ride to Centerville. On our way back, we passed by the Frosty King in Sanger, which either offers a decent bargain on DRINKS, or one hell of a markup.

Either way, we’ll consider this a sign fail.

It’s 10:23 a.m., but this has already been an interesting day. Let me tell you about it:

Con: I woke up with a food hangover. Yes, there is such a thing.
Pro: It was because Kim and I had an unbelievable meal last night, spanning almost four hours (more on that later).

Con: Because of the food hangover, I slept in.
Pro: I found coffee. Granted, it was at Starbucks, where they seem to brew it fairly regularly, but I’m not worried about such details.

Con: In trying to open the door to my office, I broke the key. In the lock. Our locks are stupid like that.
More con: The maintenance worker made it worse by jamming a screwdriver in the lock.
Pro: The jeweler across the hall has experience…um, breaking in to things?…and was able to open the door with a coat hanger. With a coat hanger.

Con: Because of the position of the key, I still have to foot a bill from the locksmith.
Pro: I work for myself, and have ruled that under such circumstances, a mid-morning beer is acceptable. (I’m not saying I’ve opened one, but it’s an option.)

Con: It’s now 10:29 a.m. I still have several hours before the Grizzlies game tweetup.
Pro: I have approximately two hours less until the pre-game festivities at Milano. That is, if Kendall will let me in after calling the restaurant out on TasteFresno and MindHub.

To the woman who turned up your radio and left your screaming baby strapped in the car seat, with the car running and the windows down, while you picked up your pizza from The Hut: thank you for the lesson in responsible parenting.

Every time my wife’s family gathers for a Sunday afternoon meal, one of the kids—it’s usually Kim—says something inappropriate that dramatically changes the mood in the room. Every. single. time.

Today’s Father’s Day lunch looked to be no different; Kim’s brother started the discussion before lunch was served, by questioning their mother’s visits to the tanning booth (evidently, all the kids have been warned about the threat of skin cancer and forbidden to tan). That conversation died quickly, so it looked like we were in for a normal meal.

We talked about movies.

We talked about vacation.

We talked about work.

And that’s where we took a wrong turn. In discussing work, we learned that Kim’s brother is facing a potential furlough at work, after a series of layoffs. That led to a discussion about furloughs, and I tried to lighten the mood by saying that my company was considering furloughs (see, I own the company, and before last week I was the only employee…).

To that, Kim responded: “Screw your company.” She’s a bit jealous that we offer such perks as Call of Duty timeouts and afternoon margaritas.

Her mom, unusually quick on her toes, explained, “Kim, I think you already do.”

Evidently, I blushed.