Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Doing My Part for the Economy (While Earning Credit Card Points)

Today I didn't do any math or schoolwork.

Instead I went to the dentist for my six-month checkup ($180, as I don't have dental insurance) and was granted a six-month reprieve. Also went to the dermatology office for my three-month follow-up on my skin cancer ($30 co-pay) and was granted a one-year reprieve. And then I bought yarn and knitting-related stuff ($100), a fleece for my mom ($11 on sale!), two skirts ($55 -- couldn't decide on a color, so I bought two in the same style), a bunch of food-related stuff at Cost Plus ($25), and then dinner with The Topologist at the good Chinese restaurant ($36).

The great thing about the good Chinese restaurant is that they never got the memo about all Chinese restaurants in the US (especially in the suburbs) having to have pretty much identical menus, so they have all sorts of wacky stuff that I've never heard of before. Today I got some sort of crazy Chinese meatloaf that arrived submerged in a pool of brown sauce with hunks of bok choy floating around it. The Chinese meatloaf resembled an iceberg in that even though there was a lot of meatloaf above the surface of the brown sauce, there was about infinity more meatloaf beneath the sauce. This meatloaf was ginormous. And delicious. I have not googled it, as I am sure that it probably contains some sorts of meat products that westerners do not commonly eat. Or at least suburban westerners. The Topologist, who is a lapsed vegetarian, got spicy numbing fish, which was also very good. But not nearly as notable as the giant Chinese meatloaf. There is almost a quart of leftover meatloaf, bok choy, and brown sauce in my refrigerator.

Today was that day after classes ended but before exams started. Tomorrow I'll be back in my office meeting with students, doing end-of-semester number-crunching, studying for the statistics final, and staying out of stores and restaurants.