Game of life

I'm sitting in bed and watching postseason baseball. A respite. Sort of.

Tonight I was watching Roy Halladay's gem for the Phillies when our TV started acting weird. The picture turned distorted, sort of like those bubble cams on the jumbo trons at sporting events. I tried changing  channels to see if others were projecting the same distorted picture; they were. ... A few moments later, there were sparking sounds. And then something burning. I rushed to the TV. The smell was worse. The sparking  noises were increasing. I promptly unplugged the TV.

Of course. It's been that kind of a week. It's cursed.

Work stuff had me up until 1:30 a.m. last night ... Phoebe vomited after supper, again ... And she's been waking  up in the middle of the night each of the last three nights. She's got crawling out of her bed and feeling her way up the stairs in the dark to our bedroom down to a science. Then, after we give into serving her some milk (there's tantrums and a couple more hours of lost sleep if we don't) she falls asleep on her blanket at the foot of our bed. Which is kind of adorable.

I got my haircut today. Everyone noticed within five seconds of seeing my face after the trim -- which meant it must have been shaggy. (I almost didn't get it cut because the longer threads provided a good stress reliever when I needed to pull on something.) I also received multiple quips suggesting I was enlisting in the Army. Even Phoebe, ever-observant, noticed as I picked her up from the daycare and strapped her into the car seat, saying "Daddy, you got your hair cut!"

Worst of all, I lost a boat load of documents and resources Monday morning when the flash drive I use for my work went corrupt. One minute I was saving a photo to the drive and everything was fine ... A few minutes later I tried saving a document to the drive and it wouldn't save. Everything was gone. In a flash, you might say. And I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Because, no, I didn't have a backup.

Oh, by the way, Monday also was anniversary day for Kates and I. Seven years. ...

We celebrated by leaving Phoebe with our friend Gina for the night and going out on the town. We met our realtor to take a second look at House No. 31 -- the beautiful historic mansion that's out of our price range. We've been told the owners are desperate to sell and might be willing to give us a deal. ... We're pondering and researching scenarios.

For dinner, Kates and I hit the finest restaurant in town. We filled up on pita break and humus, Caesar salads; Kates went with a gyro; I went for the sirloin with mashed potatoes. And there was alcohol, of course.

Did you ever imagine we'd be celebrating our anniversary this year in The 'Ville? I asked Kates.

Both of us laughed. These days, laughing is especially good.