Concerts, dancing, apple stores, catnip and more!

Happy Halloween, everybody! Today I can finally say it without risk of harassment from Mr. TheMad, I guess. =) Those great pumpkins are shriveling up on the porch, but damn it, I’m lighting them one more time tonight.

Thursday night’s Nine Inch Nails concert was just the best time ever spent at a concert, as far as I’m concerned. Friday night we stayed in and tried out a little of my new DDR Extreme 2 game, and discovered a need for yet another new mat. Saturday we had a great lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen which has now surpassed my Atlanta Bread Company love for best sandwich ever. They are definitely going on my places we should go more often list.

Afterwards we hit the crazy-busy Apple store in Lenox. Egad, it was a chore just to get close enough to the iPod accessories for the crowd, but I managed to pick up a dock and a sleeve. Of course, I managed to pick up the wrong dock, we realized, after the sales lady gave me 20-questions before she rang me up. See, I picked up a dock in a white box that said “dock” in black letters. I needed the dock in the black box that said “dock” in white letters. Exact same writing and image on the front, but if you look at the image on the back you can see different connector options. Both fit my iPod, both are the same price, but she swore I needed the other one. Whatever. Ring me up.

Then we managed to kill the rest of our Saturday at a cookout at the home of Mr. TheMad’s boss up Alpharetta-way. Nice house, amazing grub… steaks and giant chicken breasts, with much in the way of good company and alcohol. I now have a recipe for a “caramel apple martini” to add to the list of stupid martini recipes I love. We didn’t exactly know how long the cookout was supposed to last, since we had tossed around the idea of going to see History of Violence afterwards, but once the brews were flowing and the poker chips came out, we were in for the long haul.

So we opted for a movie on Sunday instead. Beforehand we managed to get up to Frye’s for another dance mat and to gander at their selection of iPod goodies, which were… meh for the one I have. If you have a nano, though, that’s your store. History of Violence was worth seeing. At times it seemed too slow or deliberate but it was also intense and a little hard to watch. We enjoyed it, though. Funny looking back now that our movie choices for the weekend were to see that one or Wallace and Gromit… talk about opposite extremes.

We also managed to find time to hit the PetCo for some cat-spoiling. Picked up some recommended items to use to try to manage their territorial- marking issues, and also some herbal-prozac-type stuff to add to their water for a while to help “mellow” them out in their fighting. While we were at it, we picked up a couple of catnip toys, since neither cat has ever been exposed to the stuff, and we thought it might be one more way to induce some happy-together playtime with them. So, we spent Sunday night sprinkling cat nip on their scratch-posts and in the little new toys and watching them love everything and drool everywhere, while they stared at us with their big whacked-out eyes. That stuff is definitely the kitty-crack.

Today I’m just happy to report that I finally don’t feel like crap anymore. This nagging head-cold that’s been bothering me, pretty much since Wednesday, finally seems to be managed. Slept well, up and out to the Hallmark bag sale and making bank deposits, and now actually working down this to-do list for work at a decent pace. Even time for a recap.