Shopping with my stepmother, brother, niece and nephew was annoying. They ate lunch while I sat there. The only things available for me were Taco Bell and pizza, both of which I'd had the previous day (with leftover pizza later for dinner). I ended up having a Double D00zie for lunch. Yeah, nutritious.

Anyway, Barb was walking slowly, Allan was walking fast, and Dylan was underfoot. I finally just sent them on their way as I shopped for myself and the people on my xmas list. I actually shop more like Allan - zipping to and fro, occasionally distracted. I was able to get something for Jeff's dad and my nephew, but I have no clue what to get Allan or my dad. For Allan, B@ss Pro Shops is a fallback, but I really don't want to do that. I got him a gift card last year, and I just don't want to spend my money there again. He did get me a H00ver FloorMate after I showed it to him! I'm excited about the gadgets I'll be getting.

And then there's the two white elephant games I play - one at work, one with my silly friends. I may not participate in the one at work. I'm already not going to the lunch. I doubt I'd find enough food to justify the $20. If I do get a gift, it will be tools or knives or something to counteract all of the girly frou frou gifts that people bring when they should be bringing unisex gifts. Or a Ch!a Pet.

Update: Now the lunch is cancelled due to a conflict with the big boss's retirement lunch. Both are/were $20 with slim chance of anything besides lettuce and rolls for me, so I would have boycotted both anyway. Now my floor is having a 'cold cuts' lunch courtesy of the management team. Yay. My boss did say that they'd try to have something for everyone and that that was just 'thrown out there.' We'll see. I offered to bring in Tofurkey slices for myself.

As I sat here in the office this morning at about 6am, I heard doors slamming next door. That's par for the course around here. When we hear it, we say "Lover's spat?" or "Trouble in the love shack?" The guy screamed "Go to hell!!!", then slammed the door to his truck and took off. Less than a minute later, her car door slammed and she screeched out of there, too. I wonder if she chased him down.

I just paid $288 to have the circuit board on the furnace replaced. It started doing the same thing it did last year - starting up, trying to light unsuccessfully, cutting off. Last time they said if it did it again (after checking grounds, sensors, etc.), then do this. I hope that fucking fixes it. It doesn't do it every time, but it got bad last year before they cleaned the sensor and jiggled the wires. I wanted to take care of it before it got really cold. We might actually have winter this year!