A post in which it is a quiet Friday

This one kinda snuck up on me.  It's been so peaceful here this week (by and large) I just kind of drifted up on it. 

I had an interesting case come up at work today.  I usually don't write a lot about work, I'm a 'work to live' kinda guy, but this was unusual.  We had a Canadian fraud case (they will extend credit to just about anyone, apparently) where the perps were actually arrested.  That almost never happens in the US, because computer fraud is considered a 'victimless crime' by law enforcement (it is non-violent, and the victim is a large corporation - there are no politicians stumping about the money that corporations lose on fraud), so they generally bat the jurisdiction around like a shuttlecock until the victim gets tired and goes away.  But the RCMP actually caught these guys, and good for the mounties.  But one of the guys had a prior arrest in Florida for male prostitution, of all things.  One of my industry contacts sent me the mugshot, which of course I wanted to see.  He wasn't a bad looking guy, but I don't think I would have paid for sex with him.  Hence the change of occupation, one guesses.  Just in case you are interested, I'm posting the mugshot:

I spent some time comparison-shopping for new pans today.  It just so happens that the GreenPan I got from Target is one of the really good ones.  I want to replace my 8" and 10" saute pans also, but it's going to be quite expensive.  I couldn't even find a good deal on eBay. 

I gave up on improving my mind today.  I have tried each year for the last several years to read Absalom, Absalom!  I got further this year than I ever have, but it was a frustrating and confusing experience.  I read some of the online synopsis, which said that the narrator's voice would change three times.  I read on in hope that the next voice would be more intelligible.  Then I skipped ahead in the book to find that all three characters apparently spoke in nothing but incredibly labyrinthine run-on sentences.  At that point, I just gave up.  I wasn't enjoying this, and wasn't understanding much of it.  So I quit.  That means that the genius of Faulkner remains a closed door to me, and that apparently I am not as smart as I would like to think.  That's vaguely depressing.  But I'm relieved not to have to try to puzzle out another one of those endless 'sentences'.  I can't imagine how you could teach that book to students and then expect them to write well. 

My movie finally shipped today (yay!).  It should be here on Monday. 

It was Gail's birthday at work today.  Instead of birthday cake, they brought in a cheesecake selection, which Gail told me to take home.  Weakly, I agreed, but got rid of some of it.  There were only three pieces left, and they were tiny grocery-store pieces.  Which I will share.  Yeah, right. 

I didn't call anyone or go anywhere tonight.  I couldn't decided what I wanted to do, and then it just got to be too late.  I hadn't really planned anything.  It used to depress me to spend a weekend evening at home by myself, but it doesn't bother me so much any more.  Plus I was tired from the week.  I did finish the cheesecake.  I found the motivation for that. 

I had ended up at loose ends in part because Eve had recruited me to help serve at the rehearsal dinner tonight at their place.  I loath weddings, and really had been dreading it.  I was also expecting at least two reminder messages today about coming to their place tonight.  But not a peep did I hear, which was very odd.  As I left work, I finally bit the bullet and called her.  Surprisingly, she said she didn't need me, really, and I didn't have to go.  I felt like a kid let out of school.  It's kind of a shame I didn't make better use of the evening. 

I used to go to Miss Kat and Dana's house every Friday night, but that got to be too much for them, I think, although they were much too nice to say anything.  So my strategy now is that after I see them one Friday, I try to give them the next week 'off'.  I try not to wear out my welcome, and remember that my friends aren't obligated to entertain me. 

RBL are out of town this weekend, and we'll all be in Savannah next weekend, so I'll have a whole weekend with the gang then.  That will be nice :)