ok, first blog-style post in a while.

i got up in the afternoon and took a shower.

the night before i had acquired some coffee (the famous Buzz blend; i have connections... ), so i decided i wanted to go and get a grinder. knodel told me a burr grinder was the way to go if i wanted to grind the beans for both espresso and coffee, which i did: i already have a home espresso machine (though i havent really gotten around to opening it yet) and i was planning to get a coffeemaker soon. he also tipped me off that i should get a gold coffee filter, since in addition to just saving on buying paper filters, it'll let the coffee's oils through.

since i have shopping alone, but most of my friends were either out of town or at work, i called my friend lyndsey, who's just moved back into the area. she was free, so we drove up to the mall. no f-ing around for me; i went directly to williams-sonoma. i'm rich, you know. :) actually, i just know they have the good stuff there.

i ended up with a nice krups burr grinder. the display model was white, but when i made an offhand joke about getting it in black, the lady actually had one in stock in black. sweet. i also got a gold filter, the basket kind. i still didn't own a coffee maker, but i figured i'd get a cheapo $20 one at target or something, thus the basket-style choice. after some quick food at the food court (i sure like chick-fil-a fries, even though i can't eat much of the other items, as they all caontain meat), lyndsey dropped me off at home.

i watched a couple episodes from michael moore's the awful truth. i own the second season on dvd, and i haven't gotten around to watching it all yet, so i'm working my way through it. it's not bad overall, but it's a bit dated and nowhere as good as his films, i think. i'll probably get rid of it eventually, in an effort to keep my dvd collection from getting as needlessly huge as my cd collection.

january fairy called me and confirmed our plans to see star wars episode iii later that night, so i went online and finally tried out movietickets.com, which i've been seeing ads for in the theater forever. the ads are annoying, but when we got there and i put my credit card in the automated box office, it spit out the tickets no problem. incredibly painless. i hate to say it, but i recommend using them, despite their annoying and ubiquitous ads.

so yeah, we saw it. i won't go into too much detail, but i will say that it's by far the best of the newest three. nice and dark, and definitely not for kids, which is weird, because it seemed episode i was a kids' film. it was good to see the stupid "i've got a bad feeling about this" line knocked out of the way early on. ewan mcgregor does a great alec guinness impression, and was definitely one of the best parts of the film, as was ian mcdiarmid. of course, as with the other two prequel films, there was a host of miscasting and bad acting, much of it left over from the other two. sam jackson just doesn't fit as a jedi, and hayden christiansen just plain ol' sucks. as usual, ebert and i agree, so check his review for more.

we'd consumed a ton of caffeine and sugar before the film, so afterward, we took the time to head to meier so i could pick up a coffee maker. as i mentioned before, i intended to get a crappy $20 one, but i noticed a cool-ass hamilton beach coffee maker with a thermos instead of a hotplate. i was excited; the hotplate is what makes diner coffee taste like diner coffee, and so it's to be avoided if at all possible. i splurged the $60 and picked it up, though i didn't realize that it's also available in all-black (without the chrome). oh well. :)

we did the steak & shake drive through on the way back, which was good; it'd been a long time since my fast food from earlier. :) actually, i don't eat fast food often, so it doesn't bother me too much to hit it twice in one day.

at home, since i was still awake, i put on 2001, which i'd started a week or two ago but fallen asleep on. i also broke out the vodka. i had a slight bit of the ketel one citroen left, so i drank that and opened my new botle of grey goose le citron. the difference was amazing; i loved the ketel one, but the grey goose le citron was fantastic.

andrea called to chat, as she's in chicago this weekend interviewing for jobs. it was late (after 4am), but i was still up, so we chatted for a while. then, while on the home phone with andrea, laura called the cellphone to tell me she'd won $800+ dollars at the casino. i told her that in light of her newfound riches, she'd be taking andrea and i out to dinner. :)

after the chat with andrea, i went to bed, as the sun was already up. no problem; my bedroom is completely dark when i close the door.