Mmmmm...

As a part of launching this new product, we’re rebranding one of the elements. This means that the previous acronym—FNA—will henceforth be known as MNA.

So of course I thought of this immortal Muppets song, which I believe is entirely suitable for a Dog Day Friday in the Year of the Pandemic. We need more Muppets!

You’re welcome.

Twofer

It’s been a while since I posted any of my vanity plate oddities. So here’s one I found at the local Trader Joe’s:

  

I mean, seems appropriate for a blue car.

The story here is that I was walking past this car to get to mine, and just as I was leaning down to shoot the plate, I noticed there was a woman behind the wheel. You do feel a little foolish when caught in the act, so I waited until she got out before saying that I just collect vanity plate pix and try to figure out the stories behind them.

We agreed that people who just have their initials are sorely lacking in imagination. And we were equally frustrated when we couldn’t figure out some plate content.

As it happens, the day before I’d been coming out of the Harris-Teeter and noticed a Mini Cooper idling by the barrier (grocery stores in Virginia frequently block off the pavement around their entrances so you can’t take your shopping cart to your car; I get it that shopping cart theft is a thing, but I have never fancied leaving my groceries unattended while fetching my car. You never know who’s going to spit in the bags). The plate was ‘N AVANT”.

I did not shoot a picture, but verified with the driver if the meaning was “en avant”, which is “let’s go”, or “forward” in French. It was.

The blue car lady and I both approved.

Actually, as long as I’m talking blue cars, here’s another:

Pairing

I have found that IKEA is an excellent source for candles. Their selection is not particularly broad, but it’s the only place I know where you can get 50 tealights for well under a fiver.

Some time ago—meaning possibly a couple of years—I bought these two candles and they’ve been sat on a shelf ever since.

Having run low on my non-tealights, I finally pulled them out last week. Only then did I realize how much they resemble a pair of…

Whatevs. They burn just fine.

Domestic affairs

We are indeed living in crazy times. Cadet Bonespurs spent the weekend playing golf and pretending to president while Republicans abdicated all responsibility for doing their jobs. Several shit-tons (sorry, not sorry) of ammonium nitrate blew away a goodly chunk of Beirut (a city in some country to which Bonespurs couldn’t quite put a name, even as he was insisting it was a bomb). Schools across the country have opened despite insufficient precautions against COVID-19, and cases are unsurprisingly spiking.

Me? I had the day off yesterday, and I decided to clean around my washer and dryer. I pulled out several hundred plastic carrier bags and several score of paper grocery bags. Dunno what I’ll do with the latter, but the latter are my trash bags. I don’t see why I should pay for “plastic trash bags”, when supermarkets used to give these away for free. (I wasn’t sorry to see that stop—I have several score of cloth tote bags from every tech conference and street fair I’ve ever been to. But now grocery stores have reverted to plastic and paper bags, so my collections are expanding again.)

But here’s the STOP PRESS news: I also found several articles of clothing that had fallen around and between the appliances. Here I was blaming the dryer for eating them, but that which was lost has now been restored. Time for the fatted calf.

Gratitude Monday: self care

Friday was my employer’s first company-wide “Self-Care” day. Meaning—except for essential staff (like some IT)—the entire company took the day off. No answering emails, no meetings, just step-away-from-the-device and take care of yourself.

My self care was the splendid joy of my yoga instructor coming to my house in person instead of via Zoom, and showing me a new pose where it’s possible to hurt yourself. (Half Moon, if you’re asking.) This way she could prevent me from doing same.

We wore masks, did not hug and stayed across the room from one another. (And if I can wear a mask during an hour of yoga, y’all can wear one to dart into the Piggly-Wiggly or wait for Jiffy Lube to change the oil.) I’m getting to like the Sun Salutation.

And then…we had lunch. Sitting at the far ends of my dining table, we ate salads and chatted about this and that. (I ran all the dishes and the cutlery through the dishwasher just before she got there, and I used gloves when I made the fruit salad.) It was the first time since March that I’ve spoken with someone in the same room not involving giving them my credit card for groceries.

Dear Lord—the sheer joy of carrying on a conversation face-to-face (across a distance, but still). Absolute heaven.

That’s my gratitude today—yoga lesson and lunch with a friend. It don’t get much better than this these days.