Urban Dweller's Diary

Most of my life has been spent in rural Eastern Washington where the pace is, well, a little on the slow side. Recently moved to the big city and absolutely LOVE it. Here's a little snapshot of the new life.
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Showered, dressed, and headed off to work only to find the "Down" button for the elevator already pushed and no one in sight -- not a good sign. Took the stairs instead and passing through the lobby, noticed both the "Up" AND "Down" buttons were lit and the light above the elevator was on "10". Rushed out to my car, counting my blessings that I live on 4 and wondered how the little lady who lives on 6 is going to get her mail today.
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Afternoon radio traffic reports so dismal, stopped at a bookstore for a cup of coffee. Bought two books:

"I'm Not the New Me" -- hilarious memoir of a woman with weight issues (manna from heaven).
"Nice Girls Don't Get Rich" -- good advice for IWM (Idiots With Money) like me.
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I hate the thing I have become. You know those people who have their ear pasted to their cell phone while they drive? That was me tonight. Speed dialed the wrong friend and ended up talking forever, all the while having to squeeze in and around traffic with cell firmly stuck to my ear. I'm just happy no one flipped me off. Great to get caught up with my buddy, though!
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Elevator working again but I was still on the phone and had to just wave to "Jen from upstairs." Whispered to say "hi" to her equally nice and fun husband, Bob. Greeted neighbor Dave (he's frigging brilliant) who was coming back from his favorite downtown restaurant. "Enjoyed an expensive meal," he said, "You have to spend your money somewhere or someone else will get it." He's the best. Loves red wine, books, and good movies. Ask him about "Psycho."
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Got to our favorite pizza place for dinner and it was packed full of (very noisy!) Sonics fans (Key Arena is a couple of blocks away). The game started in 30 minutes, so we went to the used bookstore to kill time. Among our HAD TO GET books:

Short stories by Flannery O'Connor (our friend Mark suggested them)
Science fiction by H.P. Lovecraft (Tom's been wanting to read him forever)
"All About All About Eve" (Tom's been on a Bette Davis kick lately)
James Whale biography (again, Tom loves him)
Chick Lit book called "Weekend in Paris" or something like that (por moi)
Fifty-cent book entitled "Musicals" (Again, for me. See previous post about auditions)

The bookstore houses three cats and we can't have pets in our building, so we try to squeeze in as many head scratches and rubs as possible. The grey stripe was very lov-ey, the black one was sleeping, and the orange tabby is recovering, so we left him alone.
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After dinner, ran to Bartell's Drugs to pick up the NEW Star Wars dark chocolate M&Ms (in both plain and peanut). Hope this isn't just temporary -- they are SO good. Zipped downstairs to Larry's Market and bought bananas and strawberries. Shlepped everything home while Tom walked funny. He said his pants were falling down. Offered to help. Not much enthusiasm.
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Stopped to pick up beer and got to see Emma the sweet and friendly Corgi. She was visiting the mini-mart with her owner. LOVE HER! If Tom gets a male dog, he wants to name it "Mr. Bond" so he can say things like, "Sit down, Mr. Bond" and "Come here, Mr. Bond." Cracks me up!
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Home in time to post a blog entry, watch "The Apprentice" finale (who cares who wins?), and hit the sack. Thank God the elevator is working again.