Long Weekend

Last week was brutal. I had auditors in town in the early part of the week and was working 14 hours a day while they were here. I am travelling all this week for work and I decided that I deserved a day off, so I took a personal day on Friday.

Earlier in the week I had made a deal with the manager of Home Depot to buy a hot tub they had on the floor for the past year. I negotiated a great deal but when I showed up Friday morning to pick up the tub they tried to "renegotiate" (read: increase the price). I spent the better part of two hours trying to get them to honor their original deal. While I was waiting around the contractor's desk for the managers to decide if they were going to be gentlemen, I struck up a conversation with the DeWalt sales girl, who was working their booth. She was cute, if I saw her in a bar I would probably say "Eh, she's OK", but after a few hours in the Rhode Island Ave Home Depot she was starting to look like Heidi Klum. Her perfume was really the kicker, I kept getting whiffs of it was she walked around and it was really sexy in contrast to the normal BO and pressure treated lumber odors that permeate the store.

After what seemed like another hour the manager returned from the back of the store and said I could have the tub for the price I was promised, so I paid and waited another 15 minutes for a forklift. While the clerks were prepping the tub the manager appeared again and told me that the manufacturer had gone out of business and that he could not get me a cover as he had promised. He also said I would not be able to get parts if the tub broke down. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. My car was parked at the loading dock and the forklift was getting ready to lift it up and put it on the trailer. I told the manager "No deal, I want a refund", what good was the tub to me without a top or parts? I was considering asking DeWalt girl if she wanted to join my friends and I at a party to break in the tub, but that apparently wasn't going to happen. I got a refund and returned to my car (another 20 minutes).

As I got in the car some old guy came walking up to my truck swearing and waving his arms. He called me a "fucking asshole" for parking where I had. I was on the phone and wasn't listening at first, but I guess my car blocked the dock and kept him from getting a load of lumber put in his truck. It was a dick move, I have to admit it. As he got to my window my dog, who was in the back of my truck, went ape-shit at him, barking and growling. She did not approve of his aggression and was going to bite his face if he got any closer. After what I had just been through I was considering doing the same to him. In the end he walked away so I started the car and drove off.

After the Home Depot escapade I was exhausted. I finished up some stuff at my place, drank some beers, and went to bed.

Saturday I met three buddies for crabs at one guy's house, then we headed out in Arlington. As usual I drove instead of taking a cab or the metro, so I had to keep it under control so I could make it home.

We went to three or four bars in the Clarendon area. At one bar one of my married friends chatted up a mediocre blond girl. When she looked away for a second he caught my eye and made a "layup" gesture to me and waved me over. She was from out of town and, as promised, was a layup. However, I was unimpressed by her and decided she was more trouble than she was worth, which is unusual for me. I generally pluck low-hanging fruit like her, but I wasn't in the mood for what was sure to be a lot of mind-numbing chit chat, and a lot of convincing to get her to come home with me.

I'm in a phase (I believe it's temporary) where I am only interested in very skinny, very tall girls. Oh, and they have to be gorgeous. I have been this way since I got back from Argentina, where this is an accurate description of almost every female I saw. I realize this sounds shallow, but I can't change what I am attracted to.

In the end my buddies and I made our way to some diner at 2am where I housed two chili-covered hot dogs and a mound of fries. We left the diner and I dropped everyone off at their houses and went home.

At the diner I was confident that the spicy goodness of unidentifiable pig parts and chili were a far better choice than a slightly over weight blond from Atlanta, but as soon as I got home I regretted not taking her with me. There was nothing I could do at that point so I watched TV for an hour and called it a night.

I spent some tim on the bike on Sunday. I rode to The National Harbor to see what that was about (very strange, it's like an artificial town, it should be in Epcot), then ran out to Mount Vernon, which is always a nice ride. It was hot as balls on the bike, so I cut my ride short and went home.

I hit the road tomorrow for North Carolina for a week.