Some surprises and other boring updates

A few things to note:

• I am apparently clueless. I walked into the post office yesterday to mail my grandmother a little package and saw a sign saying that the postage rates had gone up to 41 cents per 1-oz letter as of May 14. "Yikes!!!!" I thought. May 14th was over one week ago, but I have been walking around mailing letters with the old stamps! I haven't gotten anything returned yet, so maybe they have a "grace period" of sorts; in any case, I was mad at myself for not being more ontop of this! Were the notices all out while we were still overseas? Much like daylight savings time, which I have almost missed a couple of the past few times, they need to have a better way of "spreading the word." Maybe I just don't follow "news" well enough. In any case, I was trying to recall if I'd tried to mail anything really important in the last 7 days or so. I couldn't remember. It's a good thing I haven't gotten around to mailing out real thank-yous (except to Hans/Rachel... tell me if it doesn't arrive! I'll send another!). So for all of you who were about to drop something in the mail with a 39 cent stamp, WAIT! Get an accessory two to go with it! :)


• I am almost ashamed to reveal this, but I will anyway. If you were to come by my apartment at around 4:00 yesterday afternoon, you would have seen something you wouldn't have thought was possible! I was dumping things down the drain and in the trash. Now, I've had to do a tiny bit of this at a time over the last couple of days or so, realizing that there was no way I could realistically use the condiments-- quarter- to half-full bottles of marinade, dressings, and other sauces and perishable spreads--that were in my fridge. I knew Lesley would sympathize and, ordinarily, would offer to rescue some; however, EVB already dumped all of her stuff on Lesley before she took off for Florida, Chicago, and beyond, a couple of months ago, so I knew even Les didn't want or need any more (they are also moving to their new house(!) later today and probably don't want more things to box up). But Erin couldn't care less about that waste, which left me bummed and with a real dilemma if you know about my anti-food-wasting policies. I had used up a bunch of salsa earlier in the week on some salad, figuring it (tomato-containing) was somewhat healthy, right? I had a little bit of apple to go with the tons of peanut butter in the jar. But, honestly, what was even I going to do with 3 different kinds of oriental stir-fry sauces and two jars of miracle whip? I don't think I could drink them. They aren't jam. So, slowly and wistfully, I performed something of a mass funeral and got rid of about 10 different bottled substances. :( Not even an imminent save-the-leftovers potluck gave me hope that someone would want to have some Soy-vay sauce (from Trader Joe's; excellent if you haven't tried it!), fish sauce, or caribbean jerk marinade for dinner, although I did set aside some things like an unopened bottle of lime juice, an almost-full bottle of boysenberry syrup, minced garlic, and grey poupon mustard that I just couldn't bear to see go to waste, to hopefully have Ebby take home with her from Wendi's party. Luckily, she did! Score. Let's just hope she didn't dump them as soon as she got home and that she wasn't thanking me just for show :)


• Will it be Blake or Jordin?! Idol results come on tonight. At the Jones' yesterday in celebration of Wendi's birthday, we ate some leftovers (and generated more, as Ronnie brought by some pizza!), played a pretty pathetic partial game of trains, and then ended up watching American Idol. Although most of us are rooting for Blake (I had to switch allegiances after my Sanjaya got voted off! Wendi even called in to vote), Jordin did sing better last night. We'll see. I don't really have the patience for the "drama" that surrounds the two-hour drawn-out Wednesday results show, but may tune in for a bit, at least for the final result.


• Packing: goes quite well. I've been doing bits at a time-- the luxury of having a whole week to do it. It's kind of depressing though, with everything off the walls and boxes cluttering up the living room. I was moping about quite a bit on Sunday, but have recuperated. I'm going to help the Joneses move today and then the Kits tomorrow, to avoid having to do my own stuff :) Is anyone going to be around next Monday to help me? :) The only bad thing, though, is that I'm actually accumulating stuff. Lesley let me go through her reject-clothes yesterday, and I came away with a bunch of really cute tops and dresses. It was like going shopping! But now I have to find somewhere to pack them away. Hmm.


• Most boringly, my research manuscript: is revised. I met with the statisticians on Monday and with Robin, my advisor, yesterday to discuss some of the changes the reviewers suggested making. I have amended it and, pending Robin's approval, will be able to resubmit this today or tomorrow and, ideally, get it published sometime soon! That will be a huge weight off my back and quite a relief.


• Epiphany: It's easier (and better!) to avoid direct goodbyes by just saying "see ya later." Wendi and I have both agreed that we have consciously been trying to say things like, "I'm sure I'll see you before I leave," etc.... to avoid the weighty "good-bye (not sure when I'll see you again)" hugs and whatnot. She apparently has done this in the past; this is my first time trying this strategy. Although I did give genuine goodbye hugs to Summer and Katie last night, so far, this is a good plan. There have been no tears yet. I'm trying to keep it that way.