gigglechick.com

a lot going on right now - hence the lack of posts, plus the arrival of my summer cold began on tuesday and today (friday, technically yesterday) was the first i was back to work after leaving early on tues.

i have to get up early on saturday because i have the carpet cleaner guy coming in at 9am (just to freshen things up a bit)

anyway ----- HOPEFULLY i will remember to "Rabbit, Rabbit" first thing in the morning.

i forgot to rabbit rabbit OR tibbar tibbar for june (and it was my birthday month *sniffle*)

found out a few days late that Mandarin Meg died the other day. for those who have no idea who/what i am talking about, Mandarin Design was my go-to site if i needed help with code for borders/boxes/colors/whathaveyou.

so, as i was clicking around my semi-semi-pruned blogroll (thanks to all who are helping by the way! you rock), i clicked on brykmantra.com and read the news about meg.

sheesh.

too many bloggers are starting to pass away. acidman the other day, who i didn't read often, but knew of him. last year, dori of no bra required (her husband wrote the last entry in january) and mike wolf passed. kinda weird to think about bloggers dying, eh?

anyway.... so... well... don't forget to rabbit, rabbit.... and hey hey hey - let's be careful out there, shall we?

Ah, England, ya' made me proud anyway - great game (well, you know. could've been better, but still fantastic - a man out and you guys still forced portugal to penalty kicks. and no beckham for most of the game. )

makes me proud to be half english (i know i push the irish a lot, but... bennett. english.)

okay - at one point i was rooting for france to beat brazil ONLY because i wanted to see england whoop them, but i am back to rooting for brazil to go head-to-head with portugal. at least all players will speak the same language.

anyway. raising a pint to the brits.

okay so here's the deal. luckily I have my mac to work on somewhat.

first off, let me preface this with "i do NOT have my startup disk for my dell dimensions 4600 PC"

that said.

once upon a time, there was a fair, naive maiden who went to Best Buy to get a Western Digital MyBook 250GB external hard drive thing to back her files up. She paid about 200 gold dubloons for this piece of equipment.

once she got back to the tower in her castle, she installed this device onto her machine.

keep in mind - over the past week, the Blue Screen of Death Dragon had visited her and threatened her - this is why she went and tried to buy protection and back up her files.

this magic MyBook - touting the ease of installation - never quite got off the ground... and 10 minutes after our heroine hooked it up, again, it was the Blue Screen of Death Dragon who visited her.

Alas, he was not alone.

With the BSoD Dragon was its bastard half-brother, the UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME Stop Error Troll.

The evil cackling ensued, and the maiden was no longer giggling as she was known to do throughout the land on prior occasions. This time, sobs could be heard throughout the kingdom and on the telephone, as she attempted to call some GeekKnight in shining armour. Unfortunately, the GeekKnight and his squad did not want to help the maiden for under $200 if she brought her parcel to Ye Ol Best Buy where she had purchased the MyBook one hour prior. So, since she just handed over a chunk of cash to Ye Ol' Best Buy she hath no money to buy a Geek to help her.

Ye Yadda Yadda Yadda....

A Knight named Pylorns attempted to help but could not.

Somehow after restarting the machine over 25 times, the maiden was able to run some sort of symptom tree - which is still running.

Hark! There is word of failure:

** IDE Disk - Read Test **
No additinal sense information
Test Results: Fail
Error Code 0F00:0244
Msg: Block 49406037: Uncorrectable data error or medi --------- the message scrolls offscreen and our Maiden cannot read it since the mouse doesn't work during this test.

"IS THERE A KNIGHT - or KNIGHTRESSCHICK - OUT THERE IN THE KINGDOM WHO CAN HELPEST THOU?!?!?!?!? HELP!", screamed our fair, stupid, naive, non-techy maiden from her tower.

remember, our maiden dost not haveth the startup cd because whilst humorous, she is definitely not organized.

please. help. shoot a comment here.

WILL THERE BE A HAPPY ENDING TO THIS TALE???????

*** fair maiden is letting the symptom tree run and is going to the patio bar at the Union Landing so she doesn't sit here crying***

so I am sitting here in the dark.

huuuuuuuge storm tonight.

i'd gone to the union landing with my cousin kerry and we were out on the patio when the skies went all gray.

I said to ker, "do you think it's going to rain?"

ker said "nahhhh I think it'll pass"

then I walked around the corner of the restaurant and saw the extremely black cloud and lightning.

see... the reason I was so concerned about the weather was because I left the top down on phooka about 5 blocks away.

I started to run towards my car.

luckily a cab was turning into the driveway of the UL and I had him hightail it to my aunt's house where the car was.

charged me $5.00 for 5 blocks.

anyway. my aunt drove me back to the UL where it began to downpour.

I no sooner got under the awning when a huge crack of lightning busted a tree that came crashing through the awning and the lights went out.

lights were out for about 15min there. no one got hurt from tree.

I called mom to check in on her and she had no electricity since 8:15. thus leaving her without the oxygen generator.

I just got home about 45 minutes ago. still no power. and the wind picked up the new grill and busted it into about 20 pieces (i'm really upset about that because I built it with my dad)

so we're sitting here in the dark.

I am just hoping that there was a power surge that bitch slapped my PC so that it stops with the unmountable boot volume error thing.

did I mention that I forgot to rabbit rabbit OR tibbar tibbar?

::: plunked in on my treO:::

no power.

::: plunked in on my treO:::

okay. there was a huge truck with bright lights that just let off 10 men in hooded protective suits and carrying flashlights. now they're roaming the neighbourhood.

okay. no protective suits. still scary though.

no electric.

::: plunked in on my treO:::

power.

::: plunked in on my treO:::

hey all still in the fat off. let's weigh in on wednesday. between my machine dying and the holiday, i can't quite get things going for the last week

and about the GREAT BLOGGER FAT OFF CHALLENGE that's supposed to begin next week.

i want to get things running for it. just with all the crap that went down and the fact that i think fixing this machine is going to run me upwards of $1000, i might be pushing this back a week. will let you know. things are effed. really effed.

in case you would like to take pity on me and throw me a buck or 12, here's the tip jar - which, in this case is being called the "IN LIEU OF FLOWERS, PLEASE SEND $$ TO THE GIGGLECHICK PC MEMORIAL FUND":

i emailed Monmouth Computer this morning at 4am then called them at 9am.

the guy, dan, just came here - took a gander at the deadly blue screen screaming UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

said "yep, i'm gonna have to take it in"

he said it should take him 4 or so hours and he charges $70/hour.

he says that he should most likely be able to get the thing up and running without having to hunker down and do a data recovery thingamabob (i'm paraphrasing here) - although he'll slap stuff onto backup disks for me.

cross your fingers, clap your hands, say some prayers, think good thoughts. this would be way cheaper than i thought it was going to be (of course he said that if there's an issue with the hard drive that's a different story)

the PC might be better by the weekend. (dang holiday getting in the way of everything. did i mention i am working today?)

hope he doesn't find my porn stash.

hey. weigh in for the GBFO - sorry i don't have access to the source file for the grid right now since my PC is in the hospital

CLICK HERE TO POST THIS WEEK'S WEIGHTS

my buddy keith here at work sent me this link to this game... it's kinda fun. go smash some ice walls.

okay folks - in "honor" of the hostage situation that NJ is being held under, i've created some NJ - Sorry, We're Closed T-shirts, Magnets, Stamps, Buttons, Baby Stuff, Mugs, etc etc etc...

go ahead. get 'em before the 7% sales tax goes into effect!

UPDATE:

a hearty thanks to 95.5 WPLJ in NYC and the Scott & Todd Big Show for giving a plug to my site and my goods (when i say "goods" i mean the shirts/etc etc)

imagine the satisfaction of sending your taxes in next year with one of these puppies on the envelope!?!?!

so, i am still waiting to hear from the guy about my PC ... in the meantime, i went to bestbuy and bought a gateway notebook laptop.

my first laptop :}

so, now i can sit on the couch while i work on stuff - woo!

hoping to hear from the PC guy.... i have a buttload of freelance crap to do on there. right now am watching seaon 2 of "Rescue Me" - reeeeally happy that denis leary was nominated for a best actor in a drama emmy

that said... i've gotta watch my show!

well, amanda congdon has left rocketboom . i liked her and love rocketboom. so, since they are without a host for the pod/vidcast thang, i sent off an email to hello@rocketboom.com

Hey there -
Just wanted to drop a line (most likely one of 129,070,245 messages you'll have received)

Love Rocketboom. Thought Amanda was great.

BUT, if, by chance you're looking for a new host - who is a stand up comedianne, web designer, chunkier chick than Amanda, has a following on http://www.gigglechick.com then, feel free to give me a shout!

All the best-

Erin Patrice Bennett

http://www.gigglechick.com/erin/blog

PS - hey, couldn't hurt to ask (well, until you shoot me down with some sort of scathing, sarcastic remark.)

heh. there you go. just hand me some makeup and some tshirts that have cool sayings on 'em and i can swivel in that seat... and deal with hatemail for replacing her... whattay'all think? drop rocketboom a line and tell 'em

hmmmm youtube's already got a nominee for the replacement gig.

and i was THIS close (holding thumb & index finger .0003mm apart) to buying a videocamera to start my "audition"

just because this kid is so damned cute.

okay screw it. the fat off is STILL going to happen THIS MONDAY!!!!!- EXCEPT now (thanks to the info from Laura) we're going to do it through sparkpeople.com --- IT IS FREE TO SIGN UP.

Get a Free Online Diet

PLEASE ---- WHOEVER WANTS TO GET IN ON THE GREAT BLOGGER FAT OFF CHALLENGE, SIGN UP.

click "my teams" and then do a search for "gigglechick" ---- join the great blogger fat off team

and we WILL start on MONDAY --- so join up, slap your info in (i am thinking that we're not having teams of 5... this will be a frigging free for all - the reason i was having teams to begin with was so that i didn't have to bitch at everyone and chase them down individually each monday night - instead i was going to have a "team captain" - now this will be much much much easier for EVERYONE!!!!)- sorry that this glitch happened. stupid time constraints and dead PC combined to create the Perfect Storm

THIS WILL BE MUCH BETTER ---- we don't have to limit it to 50 (we'll see how we fare and how the weigh in thing works out. i haven't had a chance to look into every detail of it.. SO sign up and let's get started!!!)

GUYS, YOU ARE MORE THAN WELCOME TOO - it's not just a uterus-type of whojiwassis here.

IMPORTANT - WEIGH IN INFO ----- weigh in and select JULY 10 as the date you are saving your measurements and weight for

more fatoff stuff. [IF YOU HAVEN'T SIGNED UP TODAY, DO SO BY MONDAY IF YOU WANT IN ON THIS]

so, what we (in the GBFO) have to do - is post our weights to our profiles - then in your "My Spark" section, at the top leftish area (under the my spark logo) click "Edit my Spark Page"

on the next page (your spark page) you will see on the right side of the page:

"Edit Messageboard Profile / Change Profile Image / Edit Weight Loss Ticker"

click that.

feel free to add stuff to all the sections...

what i want you to do is at the very bottom of the page. where it says WEIGHT LOSS TICKER

check off the "yes show the ticker" box

then select a "ticker" icon and background.

THIS will actually show your progress throughout the FatOff.

post your start weight and goal weight (i added my goal weight as 135 - i know that that will not be reached in 3 months - feel free to post your 10% goal or whatever you choose. up to you.)

this way - when we post to the message boards in the Great Blogger Fat Off Team thing we'll be able to see the progress from start t finish.

bear with me as i learn more about this sparkpeople.com site.

okay --- since it starts tomorrow, are y'all psyched? so far we've got a bunch of members in the team.

i still own thefatoff.com ---- which i may set up a blog there instead of the grid (still deciding)

you guys cool with the fact that i did this through sparkpeople?

i think it'll be fun - PLUS, there are tons of other message boards - i won't get jealous if you post on those. as long as you come back to the GBFO team and don't leave.

cool?

ALSO!!!!!!!!!!!

in case you want to post your body - without posting a photo of yourself - on your profile, there's a site called MyVirtualModel.com...

what to do:
go to that site plunk in your measurements (height and weight... and then your hair/eye colors, etc) then it will show what you "look like" --- mine was frightening. but whatever.

right click on that image, save it to your desktop (or wherever you want) then upload it to the pictures in your sparkpeople profile.

i did my weight now. BUT - so i could visualize a bit better and be motivated, i also did a virtual model of my 140 goal weight. i look kinda hot... well, not kinda. but hawt (and i hate spelling it that way but it was necessary)

okay - all in the fatoff you HAVE to check-in and post your weight (even though this is the start week.)

CLICK HERE to go to the WEEK 1 OFFICIAL CHECK IN thread on the great blogger fat off message board

anyway... back to non-fat off chatter... hopefully, today i will be getting my PC back. was hoping to get it back on friday, but the guy was backing up my data (i have over 250,000 files. that's why i was trying to set up the external harddrive last week.... you know, the thing that helped kill my computer.

so i am going to have him help me set up that stupid thing today when he drops my machine off at the office.

what else?

my cousin matt and his wife dawn, their new baby allyson was christened yesterday. had the party for it on saturday which was nice. man it was hot outside though. took a ton of big headed baby photos (where i was about 3 inches from the kid's face.)

am gearing up for this saturday. jim's performing at the borgata in atlantic city (which is now open) and i'm taking my friend cathy to it and he's set us up with a room there so that'll be fun (i am thinking that it's inevitable that i will hit on a $10million progressive machine and have a great weekend!)

that said. i have to skidaddle and get to work.

well hey there. so, here i am, sitting in front of my monitor - with my lovely PC back in action...

PROBLEM.

i'm color blind now. no, no, i don't mean my actual eyes - i mean my effing machine is not allowing me to see "millions of colors" --- it used to - and my monitor is a fancypants one that supports crazy colors.

yet, when i go into my settings > display > color crap ---- all's effed.

another thing - i cannot for the life of me get the fonts and the screen size back to the way it was (believe me, i've tried. i feel like frigging Goldilocks who's not happy with how things are right now.)

so - for the first tiem ever, i busted out my phone and dialed SHUMPY to see if he could save my life (see, as a web designer, using 3 effing colors is NOT what you might call "good")

so he's trying to help.

i also shot an email to the guy that fixed my machine (and charged me $463.75 to bring it back to life last week)

the most colors i can select is "Medium" ------ medium.

i am trying to design this other comedian's site and i thought that the image looked fine and dandy last night then i checked it out on my other monitors and it looks like i created it with vomit.

but i digress.

i know shumpy is trying to help - BUT if anyone else out there has an idea as to what the eff i can do to get millions of colors BACK onto my machine (windows xp) please let me know.

in the meantime, i am trying to redesign the guy's site on my mac. ah eff it, maybe i will just do all my graphics on the mac and then code the shite out of things on the PC.

HELP!

UPDATE : UPDATE : UPDATE

shumpy sent me THIS LINK HERE and i installed the driver for my M992 monitor... so far, I can see again...

still slightly sketchy, but the colors are much better.

Thanks SHUMPY!!!!!!!!!!!!

really quick. just got back from losing half my shirt in the casino... but a bunch of you forwarded me this link today. you rock! thanks.

will discuss more tomorrow!

http://humor.about.com/b/a/257630.htm

sweet!

QUOTE FROM ABOUT.COM REGARDING JimGaffigan.com:

Welcome yourself into Jim's textbook-perfect comedian Web site. Not much pleases me more on the Internet than entertainers, especially the witty ones, who realize viewers crave streaming performance material, amusing text equivalents, extras, and a warm sense of interaction.

::: plunked in on my treO:::

hey there Fat Offers! just a little reminder to head over to sparkpeople and enter your weight ---- enter it on the Great Blogger Fat Off board here AS WELL AS entering your weight in your profile (go to your MY PAGE and hit Weigh In)

so far a lot have lost this week. good stuff.

i lost 2 pounds myself. it would've been more (i know because i checked on friday morning and i was down 5 pounds.) but i went out with kerry on friday night to Pete & Elda's Pizzeria and ate an entire XXL plain thin crust pizza by myself (so did kerry. so don't judge!)

this act gained me a free t-shirt that announces that I am in the Whole Pie Eaters Club! woo.

in any event, i am down 2 pounds, so i will take that!

okay... that podcast that i was interviewed for a couple of months ago.... well, it's up on josh reynolds' site and on his Laugh Riot podcast site

• here's the direct link

so, eh, be gentle - i was nervous as heck. i don't think i answered one question completely. he's got his stand up and also a singer guy on there as well, but i'm in there.

but now it's out there.

so go and leave a comment on his site. please

[and if you hate me, well, get in line. i've taken the first number]

(he does have a good voice. doesn't he?)

oh so tired.

*a-HEM*

okay. eh... at the risk of sounding ever-so-ladylike....

i am sweating like nobody's business right now. seriously. disgusting.

"gee. why? how? what's wrong, GC?"

i just got done doing 30 minutes of leslie sansone's walk away the pounds walk & kick workout

it's great. except i will be pinin' for the fjords soon because of this thing. LS is okay... i yelled at her a little during the dvd - a few "oh COME ON! stop!" and some other choice words... but then there's this perky amazon woman to the right of the screen (blond, flip curl doo, smile) who is NEVER EVER EVER EVER in effing synch with Leslie (*i'm on a first name basis with leslie now that i've called her every name in the book tonight)

so this chick (blonde/pink/smiley --- her name is actually Mary Kay) is always either out of synch or is doing reeeeeeeeally exaggerated movements - i seriously was thinking of duct taping a slab of cardboard to the one side of the teevee so i couldn't see her...

anyway... besides the fact that i can't breathe and i am melting and i am calling Neary's tomorrow to order up my own casket just in case i do this workout again.... i feel pretty good.

[Disclaimer: Okay... a little background. I am Roman Catholic. Never have gone to any charismatic church stuff. I am Irish & English and enjoy my personal space - meaning a radius of about 4 to 6 feet - I am not about to mock it... so forgive me if the following comes across that way - I had a good time... it just was, well, different and, dare i say.... scary.]

So, my cousin Kerry is leaving to go home to the Keys tomorrow morning - so my mom, my aunt judy and i went to kerry's church up here... in this area it's the Shore Christian Center...

we get there - lovely place - apparently everyone knows everyone etc etc etc.

the service begins and it's a bunch of teens (with emo haircuts) rocking out in a band - with an adult guy singing lead christian music... okay... a little loud... i haven't had coffee yet... but nice... everyone is clapping their hands in time to the rhythm... i try - i'm not warmed up yet.

about 20 minutes of singing into it, then they pass it over to the pastor dewey fella who starts going on about some conference this week and blah blah blah - fine... no biggie, for some reason i thought that after 20 minutes of that chatter that we were probably headed home...

then there was about 5 minutes of more christian rock music... and kerry leans over and says "oh he's going to start his sermon now"

eh.........

okay... let go. let god, right?

the pastor starts doing his thing (a low key steve martin/Leap of Faith gig) and everyone's standing... erm... okay... well, i don't want to be rude, so i am standing as well... they say to greet your neighbour - I, Miss Catholic, am used to the usual "peace be with you" nod or handshake then move on...

chick next to me grabs me and hugs me... eh... oh my god. wasn't expecting that.

then the preacher starts yammering about Jesus or God (one or the other - odds are.)

chick next to me starts speaking in tongues.

TONGUES!

i do not mean idle chit chat like "please jesus help me get through the day" --- but "gibbledy gibbledy jesus bleeble bleeble" etc --- i am paraphrasing here.

she's RIGHT next to me... and then i hear about 5 others in the crowd doing this as well... everyone's hands are up and all that - i am standing next to kerry - kinda inching closer to her for a little protection...

bring on the music again... mixed with the preacherguy --- mixed with the tongue people --- music starts...

all of a sudden - Tongue Chick GRABS MY HAND AND STARTS LIFTING IT TO THE CEILING

okay - um... did i mention that I am a repressed Irish Roman Catholic girl? you are lucky if i clap or even sing to the point of hearing me.

now here i am with the TongueChick LATCHED ONTO MY ARM --- i freeze.

now, i go along with it, so as not to be rude, but she was hurting my arm (i had done some dvds yesterday with a lot of upperbody exercises and my neck and arms had been killing me)

so then she GRASPS MY HAND TIGHTER AND ENTWINES HER FINGERS --- crap.

my arm tries to play opossum and not move... not gripping her hand back - i am not trying to be a jerk, but touchy feely crap is not my forte... and this was starting to freak me out and get me panicky.

i know, i know - i was in church - but, please.

she's swinging my arm hither and tither, i am looking at my cousin and aunt and mom with eyes pleading "HELP!" but all i got in response was a little laughter...

TongueChick starts bumping her hips into me while having her way with my arm... ow. ow. ow.

I am not your plaything lady... yet, i don't want to be rude and pull my hand away or just stand there ---- so there i was with my hand being hijacked and my body forced to move and dance (i don't dance.)

the only thing i prayed for at that moment was for the music to stop and the preacher to force us to sit...

and finally after what seemed like 45 minutes (it was about 5 minutes. FIVE MINUTES OF BEING VIOLATED) the music stopped and he started chatting again...

and Tonguey Magee started up her blather chatter under her breath again... then all of a sudden i nearly jumped out of my seat because the guy in front of me screamed

"YES!!!!"

i think i wet myself out of fear at that point... okay - breathing returned to normal - pastor was going on about the word "yet." in a sermon - and that was nice all of a sudden guy in front of me points up and screams "AMEN!!!!!!!!!"

he must have done this about 45 times after that and I was shellshocked and kept flinching each time...

then it was time for more music and standing and i think i was pretty much hiding behind kerry at that point after inching closer and closer to her so the TongueChick wouldn't accost me again.

then they were pulling people out of the crowd to go to the front and be saved and get a free bible and then a guy was running around with a microphone with people singing....

Other than all of that, it was nice.

But, I think I will stick with my "low-key, don't ask don't tell, hey you 6 feet from me in the pew here's a peace sign let's sing Amazing Grace" kind of Roman Catholic Church.

I am exhausted

okay Great Blogger Fat Off folks -this is the Week 3 Weigh in...

so all of you on the GBFO, go now to the thread i set up to post your weight

this week i lost 4 pounds (woo!) for a total of 6 pounds in 2 weeks. it's funny how writing crap food down can help - well, that, and the fact that i did my leslie sansone WATP dvds a LOT this week (did 2 miles last night...)

anyway - those in the GBFO, go. git. weigh in.... post like i showed you how please

BY THE WAY: have been looking for some sort of ipod walk/run training thing - i may have to look into this thing more...

so, wednesday night, i was walking out of work to my car and i saw from a far that there was a piece of paper sticking out of Phooka's windshield wiper.

it can't be a ticket.
i draw closer.
crap - it's notepaper folded up - this cannot be good.
it can only mean one thing... phooka's been slammed into.

right?

i walk around him and inspect him for damage.
curiously enough, there is none.
so i take a deep breath and open the piece of paper.

TO THE MINI COOPER DRIVER/OWNER:

I saw you pulling out of the parking space/lot yesterday after work (about 5:15). Not knowing if you worked here or were just visiting, I didn't say anything.

But, when I saw your car in the parking lot again today, I had to assume that you either DO work here, or you are a repeat visitor.

Regardless, it gives me a chance to say what I didn't get a chance to yesterday - namely...

...CUTE CAR! :)

Enjoy cruising with the top down. I'm jealous - I only have a sun roof :(

then he stapled his business card to the note (good irish name)

interesting, eh? i should attach a video camera to the phooka to see who steps near him from now on...

on ANOTHER interesting note...

I've got a date tomorrow night. Been chatting with the guy (different guy than the note one) for over a week now - see, friends at my old job are playing cupid and thought that this guy and i would get on nicely. So far, the fella is witty as sin and not too bad on the eyes either :}

So he's coming down tomorrow and we're gonna go do something...

In the meantime, tonight must be spent finishing this redesign for another comedian - gotta crank this one out and get it up and running soon.

Oh, and watch conan tonight if you're home.

oh my goodness.... had a fantastic date last night -- see, here's the skinny, ex-co-workers at my old company said "we have the perfect guy for you" and set us up - coincidentally, he sits at my old desk. and we've been emailing each other for the past week and a half... we'd sent photos and stuff and i was pleased

anyway - fast forward to the date....

awesome awesome time...

he's really cute!! AND - get this... his hair... brown with just enough red in it to kinda have the sun make it look red hee hee hee

first off - he drives up in the miata (excellent, by the way - not the Phooka, but still nice)

he said "close your eyes, i come bearing gifts"

okay... so i close 'em... then all of a sudden i have this heavy item in my arms....

he says "open your eyes - I've brought you shrubbery!"

he did! he brought me effing shrubbery!!!! awesome! I shall name it Roger.

okay he ALSO handed me a beautiful bouquet of flowers --- awesome, but the shrubbery, how brilliant is that!!???

we went to the Union Landing and had a few beverages and yapped - very cool, very at ease... then we meandered forth to the River House...

had a few more beverages - we were seated inside and had sushi... we took forever to order from the regular menu because we were yapping so much... just a grand time.

the poor waitress kept coming back and asking if we were ready ---- we couldn't decide, the filet mignon looked good - except, well, i'd had filet mignon thursday and friday nights - so, eh, we got silly and ordered more sushi and ordered grilled cheese off the kid's menu (heh, i know. we were goofy)

ShrubBoy™ at one point was saying something and moved his arms and the empty Bass bottle went flying off the table. The folks in the restaurant began to clap - I, not wanting him to be embarrassed, and also because i enjoy attention and applause, stood up and took the bullet for him by raising my arms and doing a little bow thang... yes, i looked like an ass, but whatever, no one there knew who i was.

so a few moments later i went into the ladies' room.

and i was washing my hands and a girl said "excuse me, is your name erin?"

(so much for folks not knowing me :)

yep - and i was looking at her trying to figure out if i knew her - nothing was popping into my head

then she said "do you write gigglechick.com? love that site, read it every day"

so Mel, thank you! (mind if i call you mel? i had a couple of beverages and cannot remember if you are melanie or melinda. i apologize) but it was really nice to meet you!

okay back at the table we're finishing our grilled cheeses and this time it was my turn to knock something whilst yapping... except this time it was the little basket on the table filled with a candle and sugars

i just gave a little wave to the crowd this time as they cheered.

so, from the river house, we trekked down to the inlet.... and went for a walk on the beach

okay, perhaps a little kissyfacing was had on said beach.... good stuff... good smackeroos.

we had a 12 hour date. neither of us wear a watch - we thought it was only 11pm and it was actually 2:15am... and ShrubBoy™ has an hour and a half drive home... so -- i drove back to my house (we'd left his miata and taken my mini last night) and well, we may have locked lips a little more. then he was on his way...

hee hee!!! good stuff, first date i've been on since last august.

really incredible kickarse date.

gotta run. gotta go plant Roger now.