This weekend is the big football game between my former hometown team, the Buffalo Bills and my new hometown team, the Baltimore Ravens. It is the only game this year that I will root against the Ravens – out of loyalty to my origins, and the fact that 33 Buffalonians are descending on the area, some of whom are tied to me via blood. And you know what they say is thicker than water- your football team loyalty. So for this weekend, I forego the purple and gold of the Ravens for the blue and red of the Bills.

The only real festivities outside of the actual game itself is a happy hour tonight at City Limits Sports Bar in Baltimore that I am kind of hosting – before I dash off to work the front gate at, you guessed it – GoatMan Hollow. So if you’re in the area of downtown Baltimore between 5 – 7 pm stop by City Limits, have a beer and say hi. (See bar web site for address – www.clsb.com) and meet some of the folks I am related to. Really, they’re nice folks.

For the more adventurous, come by GoatMan Hollow – directions on web site. I’ll be there from about 7:30 pm ’til closing.

Yesterday was what I call an “Overhaul Day” and since I am a mere a week away
from 40 – you can probably understand why it happened. For those not in the
know, an “Overhaul Day” is when I go to the professionals who do things to me
that sometimes feel ucky, but make me look wonderful, and other times, the things
they do they feel pretty darn wonderful and make me look even more wonderful.
Yesterday was a three shot overhaul.

First, I visited my orthodontist to pick
up new sets of aligners (ongoing overhaul, estimated time to completion – July
2005) which since mid-August have been virtually pain free. So while it once
was in the ucky feeling => working on looking wonderful category, it has since
moved to the feels not too bad =>working on looking wonderful category.

Second stop was to Cortney – originally, I was only going to get my haircut.
But, I had some time to kill between overhaul numbers 2 and 3, and so did she.   So I indulged in a little color, too.

ME: “Let’s make the base a little darker- not a lot, but give it some depth.
Seems alittle too one color.”

HER: “Yeah, you’re looking a little washed out. Do you want to go towards
red or dark blonde?”

ME: “Dark golden blonde, but not too dark. I still want a lot of lighter
golden blonde highlights. Oh, and I want to keep my hair long, so don’t get
scissor happy…”

HER: “Okay.” And off she went to mix up my new colors and I went to change
into a smock. An hour an half later, I was shampooed and looked up from the
strands in my eyes to see darkness – brown darkness. But it might have just
been the lighting. We didn’t bother to dry my hair since overhaul #3 would have
messed that up.

So I was off to Overhaul #3- not quite convinced about the color of my hair,
but confident in Cortney’s ability to make me look good. Last stop was to
see my facialist, Mary Jo. I always walk out of there glowing and smooth and
slathered in essential healing seaweed lipids. Afterwards, I went home, and
basked in my newfound wonderful skin, and cringed at the half straight, half
frizz-curly not blonde hair on my head. Granted, the styling left a lot to be
desired, and I fretted over it all night, as only someone as vain as me can
do.

This morning I dried my hair straight. It still looks like brown hair with
not enough highlights in it. Sometime soon I am going to have to remedy the
less than enough highlight problem – ( I already have kit at home- hooray!)
but its probably not going to be this week.

I’ll leave it to you – what color is my hair? First
“in person” query was disheartening – Karen says “brown.”

I say: “Fooey!”

Today as Delegatrix and I went for lunch, we went through the stairwell connecting
the office to the cafeteria and at the bottom landing the air was heavy with
a magnificent perfume. It was the heady scent of what I thought I had purchased
a few weeks ago, but alas, I only ended up with Eden,
instead of this paradise. The magical smell pervaded the entire cafeteria, and
throughout our lunch, I remarked that I had to discover the name of the
scent so I could grab a bottle or 2 for myself. It was beginning to drive
me crazy – what was that scent and who was wearing it? We scanned the room for
the likely elegant woman who would wear this scent. BIG SURPRISE – No real candidates stood
out.

Our luck changed as we were leaving the lunch room and passed close to what
had to be the source of the heavenly scent. I debated with myself and Delegtrix
whether to pursue the name of the olfactory obsession that had gripped me almost
continually for last 45 minutes. Finally the urge to know its name overwhelmed
any rational thoughts I might have had and I turned around and approached where
I hoped my olfactory delight resided.

The source definitely was someone seated at one of two four top tables situated
next to each other. So close to my precious- did I have the courage to approach
complete strangers and ask about their fabulous perfume? Hopefully, the wearer
would be flattered that someone went out of their way to find out the name of
their perfume. So with that mind set, I approached the first table. The women
were deep in conversation, so I had to interrupt and apologize for my intrusion.
I explained that I had been overtaken by the wonderful scent one them were wearing,
and I hoped they would share with me what it was.

To say they were perplexed was an understatement. No, none of them were even wearing
perfume. And then it seems a light dawned and one of the women turned to the table
next to them and pointed to a man in dreadlocks with a bull-like nose ring and
announced that the scent I was seeking was GASP! emanating from him, a man! Swallowing a whole pound of irony and sarcasm, I queried
him about my latest obsession, and it seems indeed, he owns a lot of different perfume oils and this morning
he had been playing mix master. To add insult to injury, he couldn’t even tell
me what exactly he had mixed.

Arrgggghhh! Foiled by a man with a penchant for perfume – what is this world
coming to?

Forgive me if I seem obsessed with my 40th birthday – it is a mere 12 days away – and I think most people will agree, it is a major milestone in one’s life, if not a ready cause for beginning that mid-life crisis you’ve been saving up for all these years.

Anyway, while listening to Good Morning America, I discovered another entity turned 40 this month, just like me – Milton Bradley’s game of skill and silliness – Operation. On the Hasbro web site, you can even play an online demo of the game. What fun! I’d forgotten that you operate to remove such maladies as butterflies in the stomach, a wrenched ankle, an adams apple and his funny bone. Recently, there was a contest to add a new ailment to Cavity Sam, and the winner was “Brain Freeze” where you must remove the ice cream cone lodged in his head.

Just like me, Operation just gets better with time. Delegatrix joked that they were going to come out with a women’s version, called Plastic Surgery Operation. Oy! Just what I need! So happy anniversay Operation – here’s to another 40 years!

Every
once in a while I run across something that really strikes my fancy and I get
the wants, as in “I want to own this” or “I must have that…” This doesn’t
happen all that often, but when it does, it makes me examine why I want what
I want. In this case, its a print
by dog artist Ron Burns. I know, my birthday is
coming up, and you’d like to get me “something”…and this would be the perfect
little “something”…except for the price tag- $600 for a Gicleé print.
Yeah, I know, fat chance. So, I’ll content myself with swiping the image from
his site, posting it here (with full credit given to the artist) and dream.

Cute little dog, no? Dog lovers out there can see why I’m so infatuated with him, right? His name is Ollie and he’s featured in the current Humane Society’s 50th Anniversary
print campaign, which is how I discovered this newest object of my desire. Turns out
the artist is pretty hot looking
too.