January 16-17

Jeepers, I can barely freakin' remember what I did on the 16th. Oh, wait, I started out with a follow-up appointment at my ear, nose and throat specialist's office. A doctor visit is an excellent striketivity, as you feel like you've accomplished something productive and important. It's even better if you find out you're probably not going to die from the ailment or issue for which you sought medical attention. Since I got a clean bill of health, I felt fantastic, although I did have a bit of a sniffle that I believe was unrelated to the tongue thing, as both Wife and Baby recently got over bad colds. Said sniffle has kept me out of the gym for a few days, by the way, and my impending stripping career may have to be put on hold. I went shopping at Trader Joe's where I bought some gnocchi for dinner. I then did the tax-related paperwork for the nanny and had lunch, a delightful turkey sandwich. After lunch I lay down in bed with a pile of unread New Yorkers and fell asleep for a long time. After Wife returned from work Baby wanted to go on a walk and we went "up a hill" and she showed Wife her balancing act on curbs, which is quite harrowing. I had twice-cooked chicken and some gravy for dinner, Wife and Baby had and liked the gnocchi.

On the 17th I had a lunch scheduled with a friend at 12:30 and started getting ready for it at about 8:31, right after the nanny arrived at 8:30. After changing outfits a few times I surfed the web for strike news and did some writing until about 11:45, then headed out for Le Petite Greek on Larchmont. It was quite excellent. I had grilled salmon because those fatty acids are supposed to work their way through your clogged arteries like brooms. Then it was off to Target to use two coupons that have been lying around, one for dish soap and one for any cleaning product. Apparently the powers that be at Target have decided that dishwashing liquid doesn't count as a cleaning product. This meant I had to spend one dollar more than I had anticipated, and the disappointment led to exhaustion, so I barely had the energy to stop at Ralphs to buy some Muesli, Lu butter cookies for Baby, and carrots and peppers for Wife. I also bought Dannon coffee yogurt for Wife, which was the only regular Dannon they carried. What happened to all the Fruit at the Bottom flavors? Now it's all, like, La Creme and Light N Fit and Totally Natural or something. After getting furious about yogurt I returned home and passed out. Baby wanted to go on a "huge" walk after having a snack of grapes. Dinner was like a trip to the Pacific Rim - lemongrass egg rolls, chicken shu mai, rice and broccoli. Read that the DGA settled, then saw a copy of the letter Michael Apted sent to the membership, which basically implied that the WGA negotiators were nitwits. Very patronizing.