on the page... Stacey Richter's My Date with Satan ...this definitely garners a few looks from friends.

in my cd player... The Spinanes... Strand ...I'm so into Rebecca Gates this week... I'm listening to "Lines and Lines" over and over...

a christmas story... We gathered to watch the classic last night... squeezed in at the last minute due to everyone's hectic schedules... I love this movie and how I know it by heart and how we quote it randomly all year long.

first impressions... So... Yesterday Todd had one job to do... bring hummus to my apartment for the festivities. I even wrote him a little note to remind him and pinned it to his shirt. It said, "Hello! My name is HUMMUS." Imagine my delight when I found him introducing himself to the new girl in our group, being serious for five minutes about what he does here, and wearing this name tag.

in my comment field... "INFORMATION GLADLY GIVEN BUT SAFETY REQUIRES AVOIDING UNNECESSARY CONVERSATION" Sign on the trains in San Francisco

gas station offerings... According to Todd, three things they sell in gas stations: cigarettes, salsa, and breath mints. Not hummus. Instead we had a plethora of salsa last night.

todd demand... LA Michael called to tell me that after reading about the games we play at work, he wants Todd to be his friend. He understands that while these silly games are outrageous and random, we're not making ANY of it up. We really do those things almost every day.

list provocation... Julia studied up before meeting Todd and tried to get him to talk about all the things on his list... it really wasn't hard.

lunch rush... Right now Todd's pressuring me to go to lunch... nothing new. If I had the time I'd go back and realize that almost everything in this column is about him and that's almost as obsessive as the picture of Douglas Coupland I have framed in my apartment... but Indian buffet is calling and Todd is passing out. He only likes to read this when it's about him anyway.