Lauren is on the road again for work, this time venturing off to Anaheim for the National Products Expo West for five nights. Before she left, she cooked up 3 pounds of braised beef for me to make meals with. Such a sweet dear, that one! While she’s away, here’s what I intend to do: NOTHING. After the necessities like going to work, making sure the dog is alive, and basic household maintenance, I want to come home, sit my ass on the couch, and not do anything. So tonight, that’s what I’m doing! I’ve got a bottle of Appleton Estate rum, the Twins spring training game on MLB.TV, and Mr. Hound at my side. And that’s all I intend to do tonight and it should be glorious.

Several local friends–bless their little hearts–have tried to invite me to do things with them, assuming I must be lonely being home alone for nearly a week. Well, one friend has been PLEADING IN ALL CAPS for me to go Sixth Street-ing with him Friday night, not very interested in taking ‘no’ for an answer. I thank them all for their thoughtfulness, but… this chilling at home thing is nice for now.

This week at work I’ve tried something new–standing. I put a file cabinet on top of my desk and am standing instead of sitting all day. When I’m busy and doing lots of work I barely even notice. But when I’m not super busy and I focus on the fact that I’m standing, I find myself getting tired. I don’t have a tall enough chair to sit at my new desk and see the computer, so I’m left standing. I don’t know if there’s much of a benefit to it but two other co-workers have been doing it for months and have given rave reviews.

This week at the office has also been a little unusual. Not only am I already temporarily bumped up a level for three months while my manager is on maternity leave, but every other person at the office who I could potentially report to has been out at a conference so far this week. I found myself signing off on projects and helping train a new employee. It’s the first time I’ve had any sort of supervising power since supervising dozens of amusement park employees in 2005!

The car has been acting up again with a jerking feeling when shifting gears. I figured the transmission was about to go to crap, so I took it to a local shop for repair today. Fearing the worst, I was somewhat relieved when they called and said they couldn’t replicate the problem after driving around for 10-15 miles. So I picked it up and am back to where I started. I also drove it around for 10-15 miles tonight with no symptoms. Who knows what’s wrong.

I recently completed watching the entire series Louie on Netflix. I have recently been on a big Louis C.K. kick, watching various stand-up acts and his entire 40-episode series. That is the one stand-up comedian I would pay to see if he comes to Austin.

Speaking of comedians in Austin, I scored two free tickets to a taping of the Jimmy Kimmel late-night show on ABC, which is filming on-location in Austin next week during SXSW! So, be sure to watch the Kimmel show that night for me and Lauren on TV. Excited to see who the guests will be.

Finally, I have built most of the first of two farmhouse benches for the farmhouse table. Here’s what I’ve got so far.

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