Oog. Hillery’s BBQ for lunch makes for a sleepy afternoon.

Things are pretty mellow at work today – a lot of joking around, and a definite feeling that it is Friday. The only drawback is the knowledge that I have to face Friday traffic on the way home. I swear, Monday starts out decently enough, but by Friday people brains have liquefied and the concept of “driving” must not be high on their list of priorities. On Fridays my commute home can easily bounce from the normal 50 minutes up to an hour and a half or more.

So, my tax forms are winging their respective ways to Raleigh, Springfield, and, um, Kansas City (the latter for federal). North Carolina gets $300, Illinois is giving me back $37, and Uncle Sam gets a whopping $2,400. It’s not a big surprise – that’s what happens when you live off your 401(k) for part of the year. The good news is that we have the money to cover it, though it leaves us a bit thin for the next few weeks.

Unfortunately, it sounds like Dan isn’t doing too much better (and I hope he doesn’t mind me speaking for him). Still running a fever, still feeling crappy, and very few real signs of improvement. He’s got a doctor’s appointment in an hour or so, and hopefully we’ll get a better idea of what’s up, or at the very least some better ways to treat the symptoms that have been beating the crap out of him for the last five days. Obviously, we’re not really going to be too social this weekend, but that’s not bad – a quiet weekend at home (like we’ve been trying to have for the last two weeks and somehow failing 🙂 will be good for both of us. I’d like to do some good cooking as well. Between work and commuting, by the time I get home each night I’m usually pretty tired and cooking anything more than a limited menu is often just too difficult to do. I hate that, because I do love to cook; I love to explore new recipes, new cooking methods, and new flavor combinations. Maybe as the year goes on I’ll be able to do more Cooking-With-A-Capital-C, fun dinners for friends, that sort of thing.

I hope everyone has a great weekend planned! I leave you with some important words of advice: Look Up More!