Dog days of summer. (no dogs).

Going to ignore the Olympics again. I've gotten out of the habit, though it was a tradition in my family growing up. It got way too sappy and manipulative, for me.

Linda has mentioned that she'd like the watch the ice skating, but since neither of us are paying attention, that may not happen.

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Still stuck at my weight. Despite being good. The Fates are Bitches, I should've said.

By the way, it's calories in, calories out. That's it. All the rest is magical thinking.

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My wife let slip a spoiler in Dances With Dragons (Game of Thrones 5th book), and then tried to cover it up with evasions.

But had a customer in a couple of days ago, who confirmed the spoiler.

I howled. His face turned red.

Come on, people! Not everyone reads a book right away!

Meanwhile, I've been fending off spoilers about the Batman movie. Our schedule keeps putting off the viewing another day, but we'll probably see it this weekend.

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I'm trying something new this second half of the year. Trying to stick to budget.

By this, I don't mean playing around with when I order something, or when I pay for something.

It's very easy to pretend I'm making a profit by not ordering evergreens, but the evergreens will eventually be ordered, so that's an illusion.

It's very easy to hold off paying a bill for a week or two, but that bill will eventually be paid, so that's also an illusion.

As a result, my savings aren't currently spectacular as they have been in summers past but they are more Real.

By the way, I'm assuming that a lot of corporate reports of results do exactly those two things, so always take them with a grain of salt. They wait for the moment to dump all the negatives -- some excuse -- and meanwhile extend and pretend whenever possible. Just saying.

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I can't believe all the talk about school starting up I'm hearing already. It isn't even August yet! Come on, let me enjoy the summer business a little longer!

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Found a phrase I came up with a few years ago about the "real estate market turning the corner." I think it's original, and I kind of like it.

"The real estate market has more corners than a M.C. Escher drawing."

Of course, someone probably has probably used it, already. There really seems to be nothing new under the Google sun.

I was watching a documentary last night, and the narrator talked about a "crownless king" and I said to Linda, "That would make a great title to a book."

Googled it. Someone has already used it. Doh.

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Not a scintillating series of observations. Hey, it's dog days of summer....