A Lazy Weekend

Jeff and I have been on our own this weekend. Leah is in Tennessee with her mother. I hope that it is going well. We've had one report that being in the house is odd, since so much has been sold and the house seems to be largely closed down. But back in Lewisville at the house of perpetual autumn, not much has been happening. Jeff bought a database program to help us manage our massive DVD collection. We have about 600 titles, I think, and it's nice to have something to help us manage it. You see, we don't have regular TV, so we watch DVDs when we want to plop down on the sofa in the living room. Jeff has been working on this database since Thursday night, so he has barely left the apartment. He showed the database to me today. It's pretty impressive. It's based in Access 2007 and has all kinds of built-in linking capabilities and search features.

I went out yesterday to do a few quick errands. I drove to Plano to go to the mall there (The Shops at Willow Bend is much less crazy on weekends than our mall here in Lewisville) and get some items at Whole Foods. I ended up buying a bunch of munchies that largely have been eaten solely by me. Jeff had leftover pizza on Saturday night, so I dug into the chicken salad, cheese, green olive tampanade, hummus, and dohlmas that I brought home. He didn't really want any of it today, so I dug into it again, this time having some delicious tuna salad instead. We also have some pimento cheese spread made with smoked gouda cheese (completely yummy, but definitely a treat and not a regular purchase).

I have discovered that I love dohlmas, which consist of rice wrapped in a grape leaf and soaked in olive oil. I've had them at Mediterranean restaurants and they are completely yummy. Jeff thinks they look disgusting, and they do look a bit like slimy pod things, but I think they are delicious. So when I buy them, I get them all for myself.

This weekend, I have also been re-reading the mysteries I have of Joseph Hansen. Joseph Hansen wrote a series of detective novels with a refreshing twist: they had a gay main character. My gentle readers might be asking, "Scott, what's so refreshing about that?" My reply would be that these books started appearing in 1970, and it was refreshing at the time. I have three of the books: Skinflick, Gravedigger, and Nightwork. There are many more, so I believe I'm going to start tracking them down. Dave Brandstetter is the main character. He is an insurance death claims investigator. He is older, attractive, intelligent, perceptive, and resourceful, and his homosexuality is presented merely as a fact. Dave has relationships and they are discussed honestly. He's not a prissy queen; he's just a regular guy. He's not perfect either. But the reader roots for him and cares about him. These books are set in Southern California and they are very evocative in terms of time and place. Over the weekend, I have re-read Skinflick and Gravedigger, and they were gripping reads.

Tomorrow, I plan to do some minor schoolwork and do some email cleanup. I'll make calls to friends and family on Labor Day. Otherwise, it will probably be another day here at home. This coming week is going to be busy, since our LMS Manager is on vacation and I get to fill in for her and keep up with my work. It's usually quite hectic when she's gone, so let's all keep our fingers crossed that nothing disastrous happens. :-)