It Sure Doesn't *Feel* Like August

Man, what a beautiful day we have in store out here in America's Playground today. It's been hot as hell for awhile, and yesterday the wind kicked up and blew all the residual heat out of the valley. Last night when I went to work, it was down to 79 degrees--and breezy. That was pretty nice, since usually it's still about a hundred degrees when I roll into the casino at 1:00 am.

And it was even better this morning when I left--clear, sunny, breezy, and the ol' thermometer said it was 71 degrees. Feels like San Diego, almost. It was so nice that I took the truck for a bath, and instead of just going to one of those drive-thrus like they have at most gas stations, I took it to a self-service place and attacked it with a big foamy brush and a high pressure hose. And the change machine that took my five-dollar bill and converted it into quarters sounded like one of those old-school slot machines, before they invented the ticket-in doohickey. Very nice.

The first thing I did when I came home was to turn off the A/C (well, it's on autopilot and wasn't running anyways, but it was still warmer in the apartment that it was outside), and then opened up the windows and turned on the fans. It won't last long--it's supposed to get back up to 90 today, but this morning, it's wonderful.

If I'd known it was gonna be this nice today, I would've just waited and done all my running around now instead of doing it all yesterday. I couldn't put it off any longer, though--the truck needed an oil change, a rotation and balance, and an alignment. That's what I spent most of my afternoon doing. I didn't get much sleep the night before, and by the time I got home, I was dead tired.

Instead of banging around the kitchen for my dinner, I ordered a deep-dish Chicago-style pizza from Pie Town. Oh hell yeah--so good! Of course, it's no Grimaldi's, but that's an apples-to-oranges comparison (but gooey deep-dish oranges!!!). I also got an order of their 'house recipe' wings, and damn, they are oh-my-god good. Best I've had since I dined regularly the smoked offering at Papillon's back in Mesa, Arizona ten years ago. First of all, the wings are from huge steroid-era chickens, and then they're coated in a mixture of mild sauce, teriyaki, and BBQ. Of course, I prefer 'hot' wings, so I could go for a little extra zip, but these were damn good. And of course the pizza is the best Chicago-style I've come across out here. And the fact that they bring it to my front door, well, that's just gravy on the mashed potatoes of my happiness.

I had another long, but good, night at work, although I was seriously draggin' ass by the end of my shift. I don't know how you people manage to work eight hours a day--I suppose I have a bad case of part-timer's disease... But like I said, no complaints here. They can chain me to the table like a galley slave if they want to, and I'll row all week.

Today, I have no plans. I'm on-call for the next couple of days, but since I have so many hours already this week, I doubt I'll get called in unless it just gets crazy-busy, so I'm guessing I'm free tonight. I may head over to the 'M' and play in their 6:00 pm tournament and flirt with the little blondie with kooky hair, or I may just stay home and dork out in front of the TV and watch all of the Shark Week shows I've recorded these past several days. I don't know.

As for right now, I'm gonna work my way through a pot of coffee, one GRITS cup at a time, and curl up with the latest adventures on the high seas with Captain Aubrey and Dr. Maturin.

Mikey