Week in Review

[kate_nepveu]

I never really caught up on my sleep from the dog being sick and the prior stressful week, so this week was very sleepy at work—a lot of cleaning up minor (but necessary) tasks, trying to get back in gear. (I had a nightmare this week where I was doing the same bench trial that ended last Friday, and it was going just as badly, but in front of a packed courtroom. I didn't realize it was still bothering me . . . ) My general blah-ness was exacerbated by the weather, which abruptly took a turn into late fall. I hadn't yet built in "time to scrape frost off my car" into my morning schedule . . .

The dog is recovering well from her infection. We let her out of the kitchen on Wednesday and she was most excited.

We had a very weird day yesterday. Friday night, I answered the phone and was informed that we'd been selected for a free carpet cleaning. After determining that it was an attempt to sell us a vacuum cleaner, but that it was nevertheless a free carpet cleaning, I said okay. It was a very long process—almost three hours, I should have asked about the length—and the salesperson was obviously new, young, and nervous, so I felt really bad that there was just no way that we were going to spend $1400 on a vacuum cleaning system at the moment (if ever), no matter how nice (it was a Kirby). So I went between guilt and pleasure at having a clean carpet afterwards—until I was distracted by finding previously-elusive house stuff: glass fireplace doors, off-the-shelf and therefore not $700; and a towel rack and shelf unit for the bathroom.

Of course, in the middle of the shopping, we got rear-ended at a stopped light. It wasn't the guy's fault—it was very slippery, just before then we'd locked up our brakes to avoid hitting the cop stopped in front of us. The car got dented (the other guy's was worse), and we have slight headaches/sore necks today, but no real harm done.

Very weird day, ended on another weird note with the DVD of A Mighty Wind, the latest mockumentary by Christopher Guest. I only laughed out loud twice, I believe, but I don't regret the 90 minutes spent on it. They are really astonishingly deadpan.

Today Chad's folks left their dog with a neighbor and came up for dinner, which was nice. Emmy was thrilled to meet more people who give her toys and treats. They commented on how quiet and calm a dog she is, at least compared to their young, purebred, field-line Labrador Retriever . . . We also determined that Chad and I really do have zero-sum football karma, as the Pats pulled it out over the Titans, against my expectations, at least, and the Giants lost their field-goal kicker and the game against the Dolphins. (Also, go Red Sox!)

I did get a bit of reading done this week, finishing Endless Nights and reading Paladin of Souls, which on first gulp is very good indeed but deserves a slower digestion, which it will get this week because Albacon is next weekend. Indeed, I should go and do that.

Comments

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear the pup is better!

[kate_nepveu]

She has a follow-up tomorrow but I'm sure she'll get a clean bill. If anything she has more energy than before, making us wonder if maybe she had a low-grade infection for a while . . .

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

Good news on the dog. I'm also reminded of Arde Mayhew's appalled reaction when he learns that Miles is like that all the time.

(Also, go Red Sox!)

Heh. I TiVo'd both weekend games for a friend. I didn't really watch, opting instead to try to catch up on RASFF and RASFW (I'm so behind on RASFW), but it was entertaining to hear his reactions. This led me to catch a few of the more bizarre happenings.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

So where in Mighty Wind did you laugh out loud ?

[kate_nepveu]

Once when the Town Hall manager smacked the fussy son/organizer on the top of the head, and once that I can't remember.

Oh, and at the DVD outtake of the press conference question about rap.

[orzelc.livejournal.com]

Yep.
Not as much of it as there could be-- the DVD's for Spinal Tap and Best in Show each contain just about another whole movie worth of scenes that they didn't end up using-- but there's some good stuff. Eugene Levy talking about Canadian rap being the best bit.

[lcohen]

i've been bopping along thinking that i am doing fine without a DVD player, but an extra movie's worth of stuff for spinal tap might just be the thing that gets me to reconsider.

[kate_nepveu]

It's mostly darker stuff than made it into the final version--portraying the characters in a less sympathetic light.

The commentary tracks are hysterical, though--the band does it in-character, from the point of view of however many years out.

[kate_nepveu]

There's about 8-10 (?) extra scenes, plus the full footage of the old TV appearances for the bands (clips of which were seen in the movie proper), and some other stuff. As Chad said, not as good as DVDs of other Guest movies, but still amusing, and strongly highlights the improvisational nature of the movies (no script beyond characters and scene-setting, is my understanding).

[larabeaton.livejournal.com]

The car got dented (the other guy's was worse), and we have slight headaches/sore necks today, but no real harm done.

And you call yourself a lawyer. Sheesh!

[kate_nepveu]

Hey, I've worked in a personal injury firm--that's why I know there's no case here.