[sigh] Gotta love the fake sugar.

Speaking of fake sugar, Jamba Juice has come out with some new smoothies with a low fewer calories. Seeing that each of those heavenly frozen blends is something like 700 calories each, being able to get a sub-300-calorie Jamba is a good thing.

Yesterday I tried out the Strawberry Nirvana, and I give it a couple of thumbs up. It�s a good strawberry-banana, and the fake sugar taste is barely noticeable. I looked up info online, and it merely says that the smoothie is built upon a low-calorie enlightened base.

With my luck, the low-calorie enlightened base is made of goat saliva -- definitely not vegan.

Speaking of things that aren�t vegan, apparently pesto sauce is made of cheese. I had no idea. While at Walgreen�s to get cash and some DC, I checked out their lunch section. Among the sandwiches and overpriced and droopy fruit cups was this pesto pasta sprinkled with a little bit of cheese (that I easily picked out) and yummy-looking red bell pepper bits.

Now that I�ve finished eating it, I googled its ingredients. Dammit. I was really trying to go completely clean this week in preparation for beating Benito at this race.

Speaking of this race, training is going pretty well. I ran four times last week, including a leisurely four miles outdoors on Saturday. I ran pretty well, keeping a nice and easy pace, walking when need be, and not battling the wind too hard to avoid wearing completely out.

When I came home and checked online, Weather Bug reported that I was facing 25 mph winds in my �hood. Taking that, the warmth, and my lack of water along the way into consideration, my per-mile time wasn�t too shabby.

Speaking of things that aren�t too shabby, I had a pretty good weekend. I went out on Friday night to see this band play. Whereas I would usually rather spend a Friday night at home with the cats rather than see a band, I was there to meet the drummer. Happy�s now seeing him, and she wanted me to approve of her shag.

The band was actually decent, we managed to leave that part of the bar soon after their set, and we hung out where they had my cheap beer of choice: Miller High Life.

Yeah, baby. I may look all Cristal and caviar caliber with my new J-Lo ring, but give me The Champagne of Beers� anytime.

Speaking of the J-Lo ring, Benito, Happy, and all my other friends who saw me thought it was spanktacular. Benito mentioned that it was mesmerizing.

Speaking of Benito (and things that are mesmerizing, that sexy bastard), I hung out with him this weekend too. After my long run on Saturday, we went to the �burbs to look around Ikea for ideas for the new place. A case for his collectibles (signed stuff from when he was in the press, not his porcelain dolls and doilies) was selected but not decided on, and lots of furniture moving went on in our heads. His place is coming along nicely. It�s almost as if it�s a J-Lo ring in and of itself.

Almost.

We stopped at the mall while we were in the burbs, and we both acquired clothes from Express� crazy sale. Being afraid that I�ll have to go interviewing soon, I picked up a pair of sharp-looking black slacks. They have absolutely no trace of cat hair on them whatsoever, and I hope to keep them that way.

(Unlike my jacket, which is a lost cause. I actually had a homeless man picking hair off me on the el the other morning. Other passengers shot me looks that said, �Why are you letting him pick hair off of you?� My returned glance said, �Because I�d rather him pick hair off of me than pick my pocket.� Amen to that.)

Being a recent ex-suburbanite, he knew of all the places to eat in the area. And instead of making a treat for this city girl of the familiar Bennigan�s, Chili�s, or TGIFriday�s that is unavailable in the city, we ended up at a sushi buffet where I could read what was in each and take as many as I wanted to try without feeling badly about not liking something that was on my place.

Everything was pretty good, and I found that throwing on a bit of wasabi and soy sauce makes damn near anything taste pretty good.

So after dinner, we California rolled (har har) ourselves back to his place. The unpacking continued.

We got rid of three more boxes, put together a table, and I stacked stuff as much as possible, creating a pathway through each room.

Speaking of pathways, they�re really like hallways. And recently my apartment manager left a ridiculous note under my door about the hallway I live off of. Apparently he thinks my Xmas door hanger makes the hallway look �muddled� and is asking that I take it down. He�s left two notes so far -- each only differing by the date at the top left corner. Jagbag.

I considered asking to renegotiate my rent since my original thought when I signed was that it included the outside of my door. Then I considered leaving him a note saying that I thought the furniture in the lobby was �muddled� and should be removed immediately. I even considered finding the craziest wrapping paper I could to wrap my entire door in an outward show of defiance.

However, none of this was to be. I got another note under my door saying that the painters were coming and would need me to put all of my stuff inside. I�ll give the tardling manager a hard time, but I�m not gonna fuck with the painters.

Speaking of fucking, um... No, I�m not going there.

Speaking of not going there, Happy just called to see if I could fill in on her volleyball team tonight. And since the game is a mere 20 minutes from starting, this is not to be.

More importantly, glancing at the clock showed me that I�m here entirely too late and that it�s time for me to get to the gym so I can get home and rest a bit.

Speaking of rest, hope you get plenty tonight. I�ll see ya tomorrow. �