Falling Down

I shorted myself on the post the other day. I totally fell down while walking to work Wednesday. I turned my ankle from stepping on an errant rock, went down on my hands, then rolled over onto my back. I didn't break anything, luckily, but it was one of those "Shit, I hope nobody saw that" falls.
So I went to LA. It's true. For My wife's 30th b-day, she wanted to visit her sister. We had a great time. I'm hoping to post pics of us doing a duet of WHAM!'s Careless Whispers when my laziness subsides, but private room Karaoke rules.
We also went up into Wine country. Not Napa, but the Paso Robles area where Sideways was filmt. I didn't like that part of it so much, because I'm not much for wine, let alone Reds (Save for Chateauneufdepape). Also, I felt like I should be golfing more and buying golf windshirts in colors like moss, wine, ocean and taupe. At one point, I laid one of these shirts over my chest and asked my wife in a very loud wife if she'd seen my dick meds. Y'know, my Cialis.
We also went to this place for lunch called the Madonna. Apparently, we missed some sign that said "You must be at least Seventy to Eat Here". It was crowded, so we sat at the lunch counter that was made entirely of copper, so I struggled to enjoy my sandwich while inhaling the copper drip stink usually found only in panties. I could almost feel myself getting old in there. Yeesh.
I did try and buy a dynamite grape juice at a winery though.
Whilst in LA, I got to go to a bar owned by Shepard Fairey, the artist behind http://www.obeygiant.com/main.php the Andre The Giant-based phenomenology art project Obey Giant. Also, I got the privilige of having breakfast with my good friends Karen and Rob. That was probably my personal highlight. Especially since all my gifts for my wife were misreable failures.
Luckily, I had an ace in the hole: a surprise party. Yes. I pulled off my first surprise party, and from LA no less. Complete with the yelling "Surprise" as she entered a full room of people. It was a smash success, and the catering from Cafe Amici in Westmont (or maybe it's downers) was tops. It was such a great party that Kiki puked!
So, in a total surprise move, the seller of the Lisle house we want categorically accepted all the things the inspector wanted fixed about the house. It looks like I'll be a Lisle resident once again come 7/26. Speaking of which, still no bites on the house we're trying to sell. I'll tell you what, if you buy my house and mention you saw it on my blog, I'll give you $500 at the closing table. Think about it.

For your Holiday Weekend Enjoyment

Kiki and I are wild about the Safeway Select Honey Mustard BBQ sauce available at Dominick's. I have a bottle I plan to bring to you, but wanted to let you know in case you're sauce shopping this weekend. It's great on Ribs and Chicken. Also, if you get a chance, go to the website of the View and grab Star Jones' Rib Rub recipe if they haven'taken it down already. It's good and Spicy. Cut back on the Cayenne if you're not down with spicy.
As a side, skin a couple zucchinis, and then cut them in half and quarter them lengthwise.
Place them on foil and drizzle with Olive Oil and Fajita Seasoning (Yes, Fajita Seasoning). Wrap the foil up tight and leave on the grill with whatever you're grilling for like 10 minutes. Thank me later.

Crap, y'all. So Much Crap.

Sorry it's been so long.
I ripped it up in LA for a while for my wife's b-day. Private room Karaoke rules.
The guy categorically accepted the things we asked him to fix before we buy the house.
Miette is a doll. Here's a pic from her first birthday.
I'm off to Michigan for a small-town Forfa July.
AMERICA.

A Lawyer Joke that isn't funny

So we had the home inspection on the intended new home yesterday. In the interest of time, I had my wife scan it in and email it to me, and I forwarded it onto the attorney to address the found issues. Here is the string of emails that followed:

Zach--I do not want to go through and print off each attachment. Please have your agent fax over the inspection report as well or let me know what pages are involved.
Bob

C'mon, Bob. For your fee you can't print 11 pages?
Just kidding. However, I don't have the report in front of me, so I can't tell you which are the important pages. If you can forward it back to me, I can pick out the important pages on my blackberry. Otherwise it will be after midnight or tomorrow morning.
Zachary M. Thompson

[I felt obligated to say "just kidding" even when I wasn't]

Actually Zach, kidding or not, printing off each page requires going through photo wizard and about 5 steps for each page. I am not doing it. And while on the topic of fees, the fee for this buy is $400 plus a $50 exit fee for the aborted May deal. anyway back to the main topic, please copy the report and fax it out to me.

Thanks, Bob

Bob,
Please send me an invoice for the $50 for the aborted deal. I will not need you for the current one. The invoice can be sent to:
Zachary Thompson
XXX---XXX
Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely,
Zachary M. Thompson
So, I fired him. I scrambled and found another attorney this morning who'll handle it for me. I am of the opinion that he could have handled this waaay better, and balking over some steps to print a document is paltry compared to his fee. I am his client. Even the mega-high-powered attorneys at the firm I work for wouldn't treat a client like that.
Am I wrong?
Even if I am, send me good thoughts. I really want to be DONE with the house hunt!

The Prodigal Son Returns?

Well, looks like we're getting a house in LISLE. The place I dwelt from 1980-1998. I still kind of can't believe it. It still may fall through what with our track record so far, but I have a feeling about this one.

180 lbs of green-eyed soul!

Some videos for your Friday.
Last night, Gnarls Barkley played Crazy at the MTV Movie awards. They and their whole band played in Star Wars costumes. They might me my favorite band of all time now.
The Dusty Rhodes 3-dvd set went on sale this week. I have blogged about Dusty before. He is amazing. See for yourself.

Time to meet your Freshmaker! (TM)

They're handing out Mentos downtown today. I once ate so many fruit ones in a day that I got a sore on my tongue.
They're still awesome, though.

Stop mucking about

And sign up to be an organ donor!
http://www.lifegoeson.com/

Rage in the Cage

Have you guys heard of this Intermittent Explosive Disorder? It's a new "disease" that something like 22 million Americans have. People who suffer from it apparently fly off the handle something like 43 times in their lives.
If it's real (If not everyone gets pissed and breaks something from time to time) then I have it. I used to have a real bad temper when I was a teenager. (TeenRager?) I broke my hand hitting a wall and TWO aluminum softball bats by repeatedly hitting them against trees until they broke. I also punched and broke my windshield once.
Does that make me sick?
Is it sicker to internalize that frustration?
The real quetsion is how quickly they can get a drug to market to "Combat" this "Terrible Disease".
On a related note, ECW returns full-time this weekend. ECW was a federation that completely revolutionized Wrestling. It was at once sloppy and elegant, and always extremely violent. I am excited that it's coming back, but can you have ECW without the Dudleys?

The third time's the Charm?

Hola, Amigos. I know it's been a long time since I rapped atcha, but things hain't been custard-smooth in Thompsylvania.
The three legs of my stool, work, home, and Improv, have been extremely challenging.
Not in that order, Work has been a daily shitstorm. Honestly, none of us can believe how busy it is. I sink in balls-deep every day, and leave with a bunch of tasks left unfinished for the next day. It seems like I am forever trying to do a million things at once, and never fully completing one task. It's disorienting, to say the least.
Improv has been another tilt-a-whirl of activity. My Beloved Hot Karl is not supported in ComedySportz' space after July 1, so I'm scrambling to find us a temporary home. There are some excellent possibilities, but I just want it done. I want the Ink dry on something so I can stop thinking about it. (Insert soundbite from Braveheart here, "I know it's hard; being a leader is".
My third leg is amazing in terms of its swings. (Go ahead and take that out of context)
Miette is growing leaps and bounds and is a charmer just like daddy. She says bye bye now when you leaves and waves in her way which is like her grabbing tiny grapes off of a bunch. It melts me every time I have to leave.
Kiki is three days from DONE with school, and then gets the summer off. Boy am I jealous.
We are also 11 days removed from our anniversary, and 14 from her 30th birthday. I have NO IDEA what to get her.
We have a bid on a THIRD house. Hence the title of this email. It's in Lisle, the town where I grew up. I have mixed emotions about that, but the place is great. When we were leaving it, I was picturing the email I'd draft to my High School Friends if we got it…