Forget lunch. Forget the IMs. Forget reading Internet news sites for a quick break.

Parenthetical side note:

(Okay, so I did read the Drudge Report once today. Bush asked that the negative ads on Kerry being run by independent groups stop.

Edwards apparently thinks this isn�t enough.

[sigh]

One question: Why hasn�t Edwards (or Kerry) asked that Michael Moore-types stop with their partisan opinion-throwing and fact-bending?

It�s the same sort of bashing, so get to talking about how you want those to stop too!

All right. Off the political soapbox now. If Bush�s camp does something retarded, I�ll certainly rant against him too, say lay off my guestbook unless you can tell me really and truly how the vet�s book and the MMoore movie differs.

Oh yes. And then I�ll tell you that you�re wrong... So why bother really?)

I work-work-worked all dang day, and it simply flew by! Whee!

Similarly, the weekend also flew by.

Friday night I was a sleepy girl, so I merely had dinner and a beer with Happy and my friend who was in town for the week. I was in bed by 11 for some much-needed rest.

Benito said he�d be over around noon on Saturday, so I got my stuff together and myself all cleaned up by then. Knowing that his noon isn�t the same as everyone else�s noon, I took the time from when the real noon struck until he actually showed up to get a bunch of housework done.

Washing, drying, folding, and hanging of laundry. Washing a load of dishes. Dusting everything. Wiping all counters and mirrors in the bathrooms and kitchen down with cleaner. Scrubbing both toilets. Sweeping the entire house. Mopping the entire house. Cooking lunch. Watching half of a movie.

Then along came Benito-noon, and we left. We ended up at Target and the grocery store, and we encountered a guy offering to do some body work on Benito�s car.

As back story, Benito has a car that was in very good shape when he lived in the suburbs. However, in the few short months since he�s moved to the city, the car�s outer condition has gotten worse and worse. Parking lots and street parking are brutal in Chicago.

There�s this one panel on the passenger�s side where someone scraped their car along side his. Parking lot bangs and bruises and scrapes have officially taken over his cute little car.

So this guy drives by and says he fixes that sort of thing for a living and was wondering if we�d want the work done. $170 is a decent price for this work, and he says that we don�t have to pay until the work is done and we�re happy.

So we let the guy follow us to a busy street near Benito�s house, with me on my cell phone the entire ride trying to find out more on paintless dent removal. By time we pulled into our street parking, I was an expert, thanks to a Google-happy friend.

We left him to get to work as we put the groceries in the house. In order to pay the man, we�d have to go get money from the ATM down the street. So ten minutes after we left the man, we�re walking back by and see that he�s got the panel back on the car and his tools all packed up.

Benito has four areas of damage from the asshole in the parking lot, and the man ironed out one of them. The smallest of them, of course.

Basically, his work was useless. It looked hardly any different than it did before. And when we voiced this, he said that he�d cut his price down to $140.

Yeah, friggin� right.

The price dropped more and more, and we heard about how he�s just trying to make more money to support his kids.

Boo hoo.

Anyone who knew anything about paintless dent removal knows that anything with a crease can�t be fixed that way. Three of the four parts on Benito�s car were creased. I asked about this beforehand, and we were assured that it would be fine.

In sum, don�t tell lies about what is possible and then try to guilt your way into getting over $100 for 10 minutes of non-work.

So, yeah. We left in the still-banged-up car for where the house actually was, and that was that.

Some sushi snacks. Some zoning out on the Olympics. Some rushing around to get ready.

We met up with his best friend, his girlfriend, and others at a nearby restaurant. Dinner was tasty, but the few Blue Moons made me sleepy instead of giggly. I held out for as long as I could, and I went to sleep pretty quickly that night.

On Sunday I woke up early as I usually do, and Benito surprised me by getting up fairly early too. We walked to a restaurant he always talks so well of, and we finally had frushi -- sushi made with fruit.

He eventually dropped me off at home that evening after we spend the rest of the afternoon watching Olympics and lounging on the couch.

A major highlight of the weekend was getting another JoPrize. Benito is the KING of fabulous JoPrizes, and this one was spectacular!

He had two bags of super-sparkly confetti waiting for me!!

If any of you just rolled your eyes or are confused by this, you have apparently not ever thrown confetti at someone.

Here�s how it works:

(1) Drink a bunch of Diet Coke while watching the Olympics so you have to pee every commercial break.

(2) After peeing, sneak into the bedroom to get two handfuls of confetti.

(3) Walk back into the living area, and tell your boyfriend that you have a surprise for him.

(4) Throw one handful of confetti in the air and shriek excitedly. Let the confetti fall.

(5) Repeat with the other hand and with the excited shrieking.

I swear, this never gets old.

Granted, Benito will find shiny metallic-looking fish-shaped pieces for months to come. He�s a good sport like that, to smile at me when I mess up his house. It�s reason #149 that I think he�s great.

Just wait until his birthday this Thursday. I�ll have to open the second bag with the metallic cakes and candle shapes inside. He�d better change the vacuum cleaner�s bag before I come over on Wednesday night. �