I was looking at the Saucony website for information on new shoes. No, I haven�t run enough in the recent days or weeks to have worn out my shoes already... I was just looking for the heck of it.

Anyway, you fill out this form about your style, and the site tells you what shoes to buy based off your needs. I was stumped when I came to over-pronation and the pictures they had there.

It looks like people wear out the insides of their shoes and end up walking on the insides of their feet. I, on the other hand, wear the heck outta the outsides of my shoes and end up walking on the outsides of my feet.

Sex and the City

Why didn�t anyone ever correct me when I always said �Sex in the City�? Up until this point, I had no idea.

I just finished watching all of Season 4. Although I�m pitifully behind (please quit the snickering), I know pretty much everything that goes on from here on out. Charlotte with Harry and a pretty ring. Miranda back with Steve. Carrie back with Big. Samantha still out having fun.

I previously knew a few in-betweens, namely that Carrie was with a guy named Aidan. When Aidan quickly came and then went, I was confused. I really thought there was a lot more to their time together -- not in a relationship-y way, but in a time-on-the-screen kinda way.

I asked Mick awhile back why Carrie and Aidan broke up, he said it was because she was a twit. Based on her past relationship behaviors, I believed him. And when I got to the part where she screwed around with the married Mr. Big, I definitely believed that she was a twit. A mean, jerkwad, poopy-pants twit who deserved everything she got.

However, when the third disc revealed that Aidan and Carrie got back together and then parted again, I think this is the one time in all four seasons that I�ve seen that she didn�t act like a twit. Don�t get married if you�re not ready. I think Aidan is the jerk for insisting that they get married. She was honest with him, and he tried to push the issue.

Boo hiss, Aidan! You may be hot with your now-cut hair and your muscles, but shame on you for making Carrie feel badly about being honest with her and you! BOO!

It�s All Smoke and Mirrors

With risk of alienating a bunch of people out there, I�m sick of inconsiderate smokers. Stop it, stop it, stop it! You do not need to light up on the stairway of the train. You do not need to stand near the bus stop. You do not need to do it as you�re opening the office doors to go outside. You do not need to do it six inches from the door. You do not need to do it while walking down the sidewalk with your twelve friends, walking hand-in-hand so I can�t pass your stinky, toxic asses.

You want to do it in the smoking section of a restaurant? I�m all for ya.

A bar? Get it on brotha.

On the sidewalk? Just let me walk around you!

Right outside your office building? Just stand away from the doors, please.

No enclosed spaces. Nothing too congested. Not in places where there�s a large gathering of kids or old people. Never in that nasty smoking room in the office unless you�re 86 years old and named Flo. (She could very well be 46 and just wrinkled beyond belief from taking her breaks in that room...)

In sum, have some common friggin� courtesy.

Thank you very much.

Addition

Please don�t smoke on the lakefront path. Everyone there is exercising. It�s just not very nice.

Thank you, again.

More House Stuff

Yesterday I did the walk-through on the condo. It was neat to see the place without that guy�s stuff, knowing that mine will be there before ya know it.

No, it�s still not sunk in yet.

And frankly, I don�t care either. It�ll sink in when it sinks in.

Even More House Stuff

I use a bank that�s so large that they have ATMs in the tree�s canopies in the rainforest�s uninhabited regions. Somehow, though, there is not a single branch in Chicago.

Usually this isn�t a problem since I have direct deposit from work, both eBay and Amazon throw my loot electronically, and very few people write me checks that require that I mail them to Dallas for depositing. When I need cash, there�s always Walgreen�s. Instead of a $2 ATM charge, I get a wonderfully bubbly Diet Coke instead.

In the year that I�ve lived here, there have been no problems with my closest bank branch being in Racine, Wisconsin. That is, until I got into this condo-buying dealio. Apparently people with access to all of your accounts don�t trust a regular ol� personal check when they want you to hand over enough money to feed about 8,732 starving children so you and your Hambone (minus Ming) can live somewhere with an extra bedroom and bathroom.

The problem with obtaining a money order is that you need to be in-person at your bank with your ID in-hand or you need a large sum of cash to take to another bank to prove that you�re good for the funds. In the case that your closest bank is in Racine, Wisconsin, this is rather difficult.

I managed to talk the nice folks at the money-taking agency that I should be able to write a personal check equivalent to what I made my first year out of college. They said as long as it cleared in time, they weren�t going to be poopy pants.

A check was written. Said check cleared. Proof that said check cleared is now sitting in my email account in the form of a microfilm read-out.

Go technology! Go bank whose closest branch is in Racine, Wisconsin!

Although the money-takers are all cool with taking a big ol� personal check, they won�t take the final closing costs in anything other than certified check form.

I called the big ol� bank for help. Help, help, help!

On exceptionally friendly guy on the banking-by-phone line (they�re all exceptionally friendly) assured me that I could get my daily limit raised to allow me a chance to use my ATM to get enough cash to pay for the closing costs.

When I got said limit raised and went to the nearby just-as-large bank that isn�t located in Racine, Wisconsin, their friendly folks assured me that such a transaction wouldn�t go through.

Now nearly in tears out of frustration (I didn�t mention the part about how I feel like I�m doing everyone�s job who�s involved in this fiasco, see examples below*), I�m IMing with Benito as I have my bank on the phone.

The man, bless his heart offered to get a money order from his bank in case mine didn�t go through. Apparently he trusts my checks more than the money-takers do. However, in an exceptionally sweet case of �If I save her ass, maybe I can touch it,� my big ol� bank once again assured me that the crap should go through and then gave me instructions for the other big bank.

Being a generally friendly and outgoing person, I know how to get things done with others. I went into the local bank I had just left, laughed that my bank swore it would work, and that I�d like their help proving them incorrect before I called my bank (their big ol� competitor) and acted all belligerent. Everyone got a good laugh, and they got all serious and shit about proving my bank wrong.

Apparently my bank was right. With dejected looks on their faces, they printed me a money order.

Hurrah!

Now all I have to do is make it to the closing, barring any oversleeping or that a freak tidal wave from Lake Michigan takes out half of the city.

13 hours and counting until I own me some planet.

* Things I�ve Done that I Shouldn�t Have Had to Do Since Deciding to Buy this Condo

(1) My realtor forgot to call the other realtor when I had my inspection, making it take an extra hour. Since that goof, the other realtor has called me directly instead of going through the intermediary. He had both my cell and my work phone numbers in his cell phone, and he�s used them quite liberally.

(2) My broker forgot to call me when all of the loans were approved and went through. I sweated for four days before I finally called him and said, �Hey, we cool?� Other than that, he�s been golden.

(3) My lawyer�s office won�t call me back unless I leave three messages and sound like I�m crying on the third one. They at least offer big apologies and are really nice about it.

(4) My bank is in Racine, Wisconsin, so I have to call them twelve times a day to come up with creative solutions to getting money switched around and available. I also have to call them twice for everything, just to make sure that the last person didn�t lie to me. No one�s lied to me yet, but I�d be completely screwed if someone goofed. It�s worth it for me to call twice rather than handle the issues that might occur from the incident.

Where�s Waldo?

I don�t know where he is, but I�m still at work. It�s 7:25. I�ve had well over a liter of Diet Coke today, and I�ve got the shakes. I need to get me some dinner before I get into the four projects that I swore I�d get done by the end of the week.

Seeing that as of yesterday I had to work 14 hours before the end of the week and I�ve cut that down to five hours as of right now, I figured I should try to work as many of those hours as possible tonight to prevent myself from having to go into work tomorrow.

I just wrote out a to-do list with said projects, and I wrote in loopy cursive. I only write in loopy cursive if I�m caffeined up. Whoo -- Lotsa caffeine running through my veins.

Come to think of it, this entry will likely be all over the place. Hope you were able to follow.

Good dad and brother flying thoughts at 7 a.m. CST, house-buying thoughts at 9 a.m. CST, and painting thoughts at 12 p.m. CST.

Have a great weekend y�all. I�ll likely not be online until Monday when I go back to work. �