De-fused

I did not have a good morning. For starters, it was killer hot today, up to the upper 80s-lower 90s and humid as heck. I made the mistake of running the vacuum on the same outlet as the air conditioner. Suddenly, the TV, air conditioner, and vacuum cleaner just shut down! Not everything died, though. My cell phone charger, which is plugged into the outlet by the window overlooking the park, was still working. Everything in the kitchen was on (including the fridge). I called Andrew; got his wife Linda, who was sick at hone. She said she'd talk to Andrew when he got off of work at 12:30.

I was just about ready to leave for work at that point anyway. I had to go early and make a really quick stop. I finally ran out of contacts. I meant to hit America's Best and order more yesterday, but I forgot my money. The traffic in the Audubon Crossings Shopping Center was really bad, but I did manage to get over to the America's Best/Pep Boys building. There was no line, and the order went fine.

Thanks to the traffic in the mall, I was almost late to work. Work was very busy for most of the afternoon. It's the beginning of the month, which means a lot of people just got government funds. The weather must be getting on people's nerves. We had a lot of grumpy or obnoxious customers. One woman threw an absolute fit when I wouldn't help her bag her cake box "just right"...which involved covering it with a paper bag, then two layers of plastic bags, then tearing more plastic bags in half and tying them around the box so she could pick it up easier! Gee, why didn't she have the teenager who was with her carry the box if she couldn't do it? All she did was whine about being in a hurry! She might have gotten out faster if she did less fussing and more leaving.

Thank heavens my relief was the middle-aged woman who prefers to work late and is almost always on time. I had a few things I wanted to pick up before the heat gets really nasty. I ran out of milk this morning, and I'm almost out of cereal. The Acme's having another good sale on Quaker cereals; I decided to try the new Honey Nut Oatmeal Squares. I bought things to make pudding pies for me and for Dad's house on the 4th of July. They were having a good sale on Domino's Sugar.

Thankfully, the electricity was back on when I got home. I turned on the air conditioning and ran the shows I'd tried to run this morning. Lauren and I were writing a story with a circus theme, so I did three circus-centered show episodes as I had coconut-crusted tilapia and salad for dinner. Uniqua, Austin, and Pablo are "The Best Clowns In Town" in The Backyardigans' second season. Ringmaster Tyrone doesn't agree, especially after they make him lose his train! The trio try to make him laugh and get him to his circus at the same time.

The Big Top is a lot more dangerous for GoGo and the other Tiny Toons in the first season episode "Saw Dust and Toonsil." A greedy ringmaster has stolen mystical beasts from Wacky Land, including GoGo, for his circus side show. Babs and Buster try to free the creatures and get them back home before they fade away. Meanwhile, Plucky just wants to get into show business.

A circus also proves to be a dangerous spot for Max and 99 in the second season Get Smart episode "The Greatest Spy On Earth." Max and 99 pose as reporters to ferret out the ringleader of a gang of jewel thieves and find out where they hid their stolen diamonds. With a midget dead and a monkey, a strongman, and a half-man half-woman on their list of suspects, would you believe Max and 99 are going to have to work fast to avoid end up being human cannonball fodder?