Marnee Thai

Went to the downtown incarnation of Lotus Thai (which is over in the Target Mall, whatever it's called), namely Marnee Thai, in the Ashley Mews building, just south of Main and WIlliam. (Whew, that was a long, comma infested sentence.)

Still working the liquour license, so nothing to drink but Thai Iced Coffee, etc. Otherwise, an identical menu, in a smaller, much more pleasant venue. The views leave something to be desired: the BP gas station or the DTE local office. Kitchen not quite as fast and one or two items might have been a touch overcooked -- otherwise, a near replica, food wise, of the suburban food, and a more relaxing place to eat. And they were doing well, seemed like. 3/4 full at 8:30 on a Wednesday night, several other couples after us, and 2 or 3 walk-in take-out customers. All with no booze license. Maybe this will work out for that silly development, finally, and actually accomplish the extending of downtown by another block south. After all, Leopold Bros. is down there in the valley, just another two blocks' walk, and a block past that is the old Ark locale, where Susan Chastain is moving the Firefly. And both of those places have PARKING, for God's sake, as do the immediately nearby sidestreets (as we well know, since we used to live a couple blocks up from the Ark, then the original Main Street Market.) Now, if we can just keep global warming from flooding Allen Creek and making a lake out of Fox Tent and Awning's parking lot, maybe the Downtown Development Agency can actually claim a win, for a change.

But don't bet on it.

Dogs are Literal-minded

Wednesdays, we take Coney to a doggie day care place, partly so she gets
some extercise and partly so, as an only dog here at home, she stays socialized
and friendly with other dogs.

Yesterday, we all left the house to implement this policy. I got into the
passenger's seat, and Linda and Coney were still out in the yard, browsing
the fresh, green crab grass (Coney was, not Linda.) My car door was still
open, but the back door wasn't. Linda said, to Coney, "Are you ready to get
in?"

Apparently she was, since she leapt -- not crawled, but leapt -- into the front
of the car, into my lap, all 65 pounds of shepx. It took, oh, a good two to
three minutes to sort this out, in between the hilarity (I was laughing
uncontrollably) and the knowledge on Coney's part that there are biscuits in
the glove compartment, but that her usual place to receive one is in the back
seat.

Guess you had to be there.

Nothing Earth Shaking

Last MRI was as positive, when someone who knows what he's doing looked at it, as the previous one. Basically, tumors in head gone, good.

We have also, however, backed off on the steroid that I was taking, down from a big 'ol 40mg 4 days a week to 1mg, daily, just for the fun of it, far as I can tell. This has its interesting aspects, since while I was taking the big dose, I never, ever, got anything resembling a headache. Now, it's possible to get one, and I'd gotten used to being immune, even to things like slighly misadjusted glasses frames. Bugger, back to reality.

What's next? We haven't really decided -- a different drug, probably, but not clear which or how. And once I can successfully navigate more than 10 or 20 steps without a crutch (a physical one -- my psychological crutches are far, far too deeply ingrained), I'll be back at work, physically, instead of just virtually as I am now, a mere wispy voice on the phone, demanding compliance with standards.

Meanwhile, it's Sunday night, and that starts with "S" and that rhymes with "don't mess," and that means "rawfish." Time for our weekly religious observance at the shrine of hamachi and others. Yum, can't wait.

The following appeared in the WCA news in 2000, when the original Sweetwaters cafe' on Washington was my morning stop, before work, and I used to hear a lot of this kind of thing.

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AND SPEAKING OF AFFIRMATIONS

Ann Arbor: Overheard in the cafe this morning: two women (regulars, who I suspect of being public school teachers) -- one says, "It's one thing to LOVE your dog, but it's something else to LICK your dog." Her friend gives her a completely emotive, between the eyes, I'm really listening to you look and says, "Mmm-hm." Minutes later, they were discussing sushi and giggling.

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