My weekend....

was pretty good actually.

Hannie, of Hannie's Musings (see link, side bar), came over after I suggested that we watch The Departed, a movie she didn't see despite it being there at her house at one point, and one that I wanted to see but wasn't sure about (Scorsese...Nicholson...oh yeah!). Ever since Titanic, I've been a bit soured on DiCaprio. I'll say that he's a good actor, but a bit over-exposed. I HATE Titanic with a passion, a 3-hour movie that could have been trimmed to 1 hour 45 minutes and lost none of the story. I could go on, but I'll save it for another blog. Anyway, long story short on this movie: watch it, it's good!

So, she shows up as I'm getting out of the shower (having just finished the second half of a marathon house cleaning session), so the girls meet her first. I hope like hell they don't start grilling her. See, she'll be the first girl I've seen since splitting with the ex, and I really don't need her or any other girl I hang out with getting treated like they are suspects in last nights bank robbery. I tell my oldest daughter not to do such a thing, and she says "Don't worry, Dad, I won't." Apparently, we have differing ideas as to what being "grilled" means. While my oldest is questioning Hannie, my youngest is being rude by staying in her room. When I ask why she didn't introduce herself, she says "You told me not to come out of my room until it was clean", which I did say. However, this would be the first time she actually stayed in her room. If you have kids, you know how it is. Or maybe you don't.

So, after awhile, the kids are off and it's just me and Hannie. Let me tell you a little something about Hannie: she will steal your bandwidth and sleep through your movies. And while this is a true statement, it should also be noted that she was under prescription medication during the visit, so she has an excuse. For the sleeping...just kidding. After the kids left, we went out to a mexican restaurant called Mazatlan. It's the best mexican food in town. Then, we went to the store and then to Starbucks.

A little something about Starbucks. I know I'm from Seattle, and maybe that means I should root for them or something, but I don't. I hate Starbucks. Not just Starbucks, but all coffee places. I always seem to catch some sort of coffee snobbery hell from the people working in these places. How jacked up is it that I catch hell from a girl working her way through community college who's probably never been outside the state, much less to Italy, when I ask for "large" instead of "vente"?

I want a large coffee, is that so much to ask? No, instead, I have to get the damn wording correct. Remember when it used to be "coffee" and "coffee with shit in it"? Now, you can't order "coffee". No, now you have to order a "Cappacino-mochachino-Al Pacino-latte-grande-vente-expresso". Why? And why are these people getting bent out of shape over coffee? Isn't there bigger things that are wrong in the world worth worrying over? But I digress.

So, we go home, her with her peppermint latter and me with a Chai Tea (which is damn tasty, let me tell you), and we start watching movies. Here's the movies:

Clerks 2, The Ringer, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (sounds like a porno, but isn't), Employee of the Month (Dane Cook. YAY! Jessica Simpson and Dax Shephard, ugh! though admittedly, the last two were actually pretty decent), Sin City, and The Departed.

Part way through the Departed, Hannie had to leave due to a storm that was rolling in, but she left saying she had a good time. Although, it's kind of hard to believe your guest had a good time when they're sleeping through most of it. I figure I'll have her over again when she's not medicated, and then see. If she falls asleep then....