I said to K last night, "Hey, do you know what tomorrow is?"She gave a bored sigh, and said, "On March 15 in 44 B.C., Julius Caesar was stabbed 44 times in the Roman Forum. Each one of the co-conspirators stabbed him once, so that they would all have an equal share of the blame. The day is commonly known as the Ides of March."
Uh, yes. So here's a tip: Never ask someone about the Ides of March who's just taken her midterm in Ancient Roman History last week.
So, Ides. It was also the birthday of my Grandma Sadie, who's been gone quite some time now, 45 years this summer. How old would she have been? Really, it's anybody's guess. Like many other of the immigrant women of her generation, she lied about her age when she came here so as to appear younger to potential husbands, and they all got screwed when Social Security came in. Either they had to go with the age they had claimed and miss out on a few years' worth of payments, or they came up with the proof they always denied having and admitted to their husbands how old they really were.
When I got up this morning, the Internet was down. I turned everything off, unplugged, replugged, rebooted, and finally called the cable company. While I was listening to their message about there being a temporary loss of service in Bizarro Town and several others, it magically came back. I guess they didn't expect me to get up so early, but the Hubs had been up earlier and was off to work already, and I'm sure he didn't get to check email before he went.
Then I started putting this entry together, and the website where I host my images was down. Tech support, it doesn't work; tech support, they fixed it; tech support, it still doesn't work! But it was back on when I got back from my train run, hence, Grandma Sadie, above.
The train. Now this was an event previously unknown in the history of mankind. An Amtrak train pulled into the station two minutes early. I even got to see K find a seat before the train pulled out, since she got a window seat right in front of where I was waiting on the platform for the train to pull out. I hope she gets a cab that easily at the other end.
Then I thought, Hey, it's a weekday afternoon! Costco will be empty!
(Are you finished laughing yet?)
What is it with that place? Parking was awful and the lines were long inside. All I really needed was the lifetime supply of olive oil, which lasts a month or so here, but I picked up The Incredibles DVD for a good price, as well as a few other items. There should be an express lane at Costco, ten items or less, just for me. I don't have the patience to stay there for longer than it would take to buy ten things. Of course, while I was on line, I remembered two or three other things I could have gotten, but totally, not worth losing my place and going back for them.
I forgot to mention yesterday, my nephew, who has been writing stories for a national sports wire service for the last few months, got his first byline yesterday. I guess that makes him an official sports reporter now. I am so excited for him and proud of him. He's just the best guy.
So K is on the train headed back to DC, and R is coming over for dinner and Lost tonight. Do you think they're afraid to leave me alone?
