What what?

Tyler, a VP Account Manager at work, used this phrase in a mass distro email this morning. Cracked me up. Anyhow. So I think I've got a cold sore...on my chin! Ew. Gross. I gross myself out. Hopefully it's a PMS inspired zit. Funny how desperate my hopes get in light of pure evil.

Today: woke to my charming, gentle "Marimba" iPod alarm at 6:30AM and grabbed my stuff, stuck in my contacts and headed to the LES for a swim. 7 laps today. That's 770 yards or 704 meters for you non-English folk. I've decided that on the day I swim 10, I'm going to order steak and eggs from this Spanish (Latin) place I used to frequent circa 2000. AND I caught the bus to and from the subway--amazing. I know, it's ridiculous that I don't like to walk the few blocks between the subway and the location of my 'work out' but the walk is hot and gross. The bus is air-conditioned and, well, still kind of gross, but not as gross. And faster. And since I have an unlimited Metro card, virtually free.

Arrived at the office a bit before 9 to witness the sparse crowd of early birds--all five of them. (I shared this with Pam, my roommie, today to her astonishment.) Rinsed my suit and goggles and swim cap and hung them on these convenient hooks right by my cube to dry. And made friends with the guy who is the company's Controller. I've always wanted to meet him. And my freelancer's cube is situated right across the aisle from his office. So one day last week, this guy was walking into his office but I didn't notice him and Mr. Controller says a big: hello, to which I instinctively respond with a comparably volumed: Hi! And then, when I saw the guy who Controller-man was obviously greeting standing in the doorway, said mock-shyly: Oh, I thought you were being friendly. So TODAY, Mr. C is at the kitchenette when I am brewing my morning tea and he is getting water (or something, guess I'm not too observant--could never be Psych, darn) and now that we have this mutual embarrassment, I ask how his commute is and blah blah and say, btw, my name is Irene. He told me his name, which of course I already knew.

Anyway, stealthily read my bible as I don't punch in until 10AM and eat Ezekiel 4:9 Flax Seed Cereal + Maple Brown Cow yogurt + blueberry mash. Apparently, Ezekiel doesn't hold up as well as the granola I had last week. Oops. (I find it comedic that the Food For Life people don't continue with the rest of the chapter because--astute marketers that they are--they don't want the word 'manure' on their packaging.)

[My volumes of rambling prove what someone told me once (was it Linsey?): the more you talk to someone, the more you have to say.]

Um, meetings, continue copy deck update, email, etc. Lunch was a sandwich from this Italian place (booth, really) in Chelsea Market that I adore. Chicken and thinly sliced grilled squash on a crusty bread. And today, there was a bit of jalapeno snuck in at the end that was so tasty I had to share with my colleague about it during a status meeting when I should have been paying attention.

Met Patricia, we became friends on a mission trip to Detroit back in 2005, for dinner. She suggested Baluchi's and we started walking up Broadway. At 55th we both thought we'd passed it and became unsure about its location. I stopped a woman and asked her and while she didn't know, she enthusiastically texted Google to find out for us and shared. Not only did she stop on her way home but she also explained how to do this: text "Baluchi NY" to 466453 and in nano seconds, our way was made clear (it's on 56th). My brother-in-law had taught me this about a year ago when I was in the back seat of their minivan wedged between my nieces and their carseats and he needed an AT&T store en route. But I forgot. So this came in handy later in the evening, after a nice meal of catching up, when we wanted to find the Jamba Juice that I was pretty sure about being IN Whole Foods, just not 100%. And, as I brilliantly surmised to Patricia, it's either there or it's not. After I got a 16 Peach Perfection and she got a 16 Mango something, we sat by the fountains in Columbus Circle and chatted and prayed. It was a lovely lovely evening. Patricia recalled that we once sat for a long time by the fountains at Brooklyn Museum of Art. Traditions. :)

Ok. So then I came home and planned with Joyce her potential visit. And got a message from Amy (shout out for reading!) about another possible meet up. So yay! I like seeing friends and looking forward to seeing friends. It makes me happy. Tomorrow is breakfast with Alex, my first voice lesson(!), and dinner with Martine. No thunderstorm forecasts are going to get the best of me!