YES. Gentlemen, behold! There are leather patches on my elbows. I am unstoppable. I think I am now officially a Republican liberal arts grad student now that I have entered the Academy. The Academy of People with Leather Patches on the Elbows.

NO. I walked by the cafe downstairs on the way in: the Russian girl was there again. I can be stopped. Which will win: Russian coffee girl or leather patches on the elbows?

A startling new development which will certainly lead to my demise: I decided today to get coffee, being mildly curious about whether one of the German girls was still around. When I came into the shop, I heard the guy in front of me chatting up the new (?) clerk...

I started inviting people over for Sunday evening. I started planning what I'd have. Eggplant "caviar", maybe some stuffed mushrooms, then just some cheese and meats with bread, some dessert stuffs. Something besides popcorn to eat during the movie if we should have a movie. I was going to make some mozzarella balls wrapped in prosciutto, but then I thought that I can get from the grocery store this thing with is essentially mozzarella and prosciutto rolled together, so why not just stick with that? I think I still need more. Oh, and this ham inside a pineapple thing. Might switch diced prosciutto for the ham. I'm on a prosciutto kick.

But I never got around to posting it and then navigated away and, well, oh well. So I'm watching the Key to Time series. It's a bit campy. I'm doing so because all of it is available on the Netflix Watch Instantly. Anyways: what other series should I watch? I'm probably going to watch a bunch of the Dalek stuff after this, but I'm open to suggestions.

Inside: advice on appetizers needed.

Had difficulties because I didn't know the password, so I had to call my roommate in Hawaii so he could reset the password for the account with the ISP.

This will someday happen to me: http://www.nataliedee.com/082608/i-love-you-cheerio-but-all-good-things-must-come-to-an-end.jpg

I don't remember much, just waking up with the taste of ginger in my mouth every morning.

Alas. Things aren't so bad, though. I didn't get it in Milwaukee. I did, however, go to the liquor store. I made a Dark and Stormy when I got home. I also picked up some stuff from an end-of-bin sale. Got some cheap cachaca and some whiskey (McCarthy's Oregon Single Malt Whiskey, aged 3 yrs), $6 off and $15 off respectively.

I really am going to kill something. I fail it. Either that or I had too much caffeine.

For serious. Honestly, this is stupid to do without SPSS or something. It's stupid to do with it, but not as time-consuming, idiotic, or pointless. I have other stuff to do. It won't add anything to the presentation.

Inside: serial killers, quick breads, and potlucks.

So, in the end, I didn't deliver what they wanted, but they're fine with that (at least, I declare them so) and I'm gravy and I went and got coffee. I'm going to a potluck tonight, different set of hosts, so I haven't been completely blacklisted from the potluck circuit, it seems, even if I estimate that I am still persona au gratin with that one circle.