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My regular weekly pattern involves going to Von’s on the evening of my first day back in San Diego to buy items for lunch and dinner for the rest of the week. I almost always want a bottle of Sierra Mist Free, and occasionally I need a 12-pack of Diet Coke. My needs for the week are quite modest so I take a basket around the store rather than a trolley.

For the last few weeks, my soda items have become quite expensive when purchased singly. But if I want to “buy 3, get 2 free” then it’s a steal. But I don’t want to carry 5 bottles of Sierra Mist or 4 12-packs of Coke around the store with me. Yes, I could drop everything and go get a trolley but I don’t need one for my 10 items (or less), and I don’t want all that in my fridge.

It’s very annoying.

Oh, a Friday video…. I love this version of Cameo’s Word up by Willis. You can buy it on the iTMS, but here’s the only video clip I could find, from the episode of CSI that first turned me on to it.

• Just back from the ER having another abscess drained and removed. This one was right on the back of my bum and had become very painful so I decided I couldn’t wait for my doctor appointment on Tuesday. The guy today was very good – gave me a good shot of morphine in advance (head so buzzing right now) – and I didn’t feel anything like the discomfort of the last one. Got some new, improved, antibiotics and we’ll see if I can resist becoming Boil Boy.
• Last night was the Sony Christmas party at Petco Park. Sony knows how to throw a corporate bash, thats for sure. Plenty of free booze (domestic beers though, ugh), different food stations (burgers, sushi, tempura, and so on), and a great gift giveaway (which I swear was rigged as I hadn’t heard of any of the winners, but I wish I had won the 56″ Bravia TV).
• Had planned to go see the dead sea scrolls today but I decided that I really needed some more quality ER time so we came back early from San Diego. Waiting for me in the mail was a letter from the INS – my oath swearing ceremony is Dec 14th. So I will turn both 42 and American on the same day. Bummer is that we have a hotel booked in Sedona for that weekend so we’ll have to make a much later start that originally planned.

If Opr*h can have one, then I am sure I can too:

Hmm.. yummy indeed.

Been falling down on this for the last couple of weeks, and to be honest you might ask why I bothered with this.

Were it not for the fact that my current Verizon contract doesn’t end until Feb ’08, it’s a fair bet to say that I would have an iPhone now. So until recently I’ve been pretty sure that come mid-Feb I’d be in the Apple store like a salivating dog but now I’m not so sure. The biggest problem is timing: the iPhone 2.0 is unlikely, I would guess, until the spring/summer of next year. So I’d be in the familiar Apple trap of buying something I’d come to regret in a few months – no GPS and no 3G makes Paul an unhappy consumer.

Now there’s no guarantee that I’d be able to even afford the new iPhone, of course, and to be fair Brawley isn’t exactly awash in 3G coverage, which then flip flops me back to the idea that perhaps iPhone 1.0 is adequate after all? Or maybe the idea is to get an iTouch and a new phone with the Google Maps with My Location feature on it, and call it good?

I hate Apple Buyer’s Remorse.

After 10.5 years of living in the USA, today I was approved for citizenship of this fair country. It’s not a done deal until I stand up with 1000 of my closest Mexican immigrant friends and swear the Oath of Allegiance but the INS today decided they don’t mind me having one of them shiny blue passports (it will look real nice next to my shiny red UK one).

They were running behind with the interviews, or at least my officer was. The other officer was going through them real fast so my 11.45 appointment didn’t start until 1.15 and all the while people were coming in, being interviewed and leaving. Very frustrating. But the lady was super nice and when she saw I was English said that this would be the quickest one of the day and it definitely couldn’t have been more than 15 minutes.

She verified the paperwork from my application, had me sign a bunch of photos and forms in my neatest joined-up handwriting and then gave me the civics test. I’ll give you the questions in case you want to play along:

• Name the state capitol of CA
• Who nominates the Supreme Court Justices?
• Who is the governor of CA?
• What colour are the stripes on the flag?
• Where is the White House located?
• What year was the constitution written?

I then had to write the sentence “I bought a blue car today”. She said she would spare me the insult of having to read something to her.

And that was that, she shook my hand, said I had completed the final step in becoming a citizen. In 1-2 months time I’d hear about a date for the oath ceremony. It’s too bad you can’t just take it there and then, I’ve no real interest in big pomp and ceremony but it looks like I have no choice. But, unless the approval review turns up some mistake in the paperwork, my days of dealing with the INS/USCIS are finally over. Unless that is my father or sister wants to immigrate……

Couldn’t even beat Croatia to save their lives, it’s almost enough to make me want to cheer for the Scots.

Woke up this morning covered ankle to neck in a rash, never have I seen such a thing. Doctor says I am allergic to one of the antibiotics I took, in particular the Septra, and, surprisingly, the allergic reaction usually starts after the meds are taken, not whilst. I have some steroids that may help relieve the redness (it doesn’t itch – yet?) but basically I’m stuck looking a little like I escaped a leper colony for up to 3 weeks.

Note to self: future doctor visits, let them know I am allergic to sulfa.

As I approach my 42nd birthday I am reminded of the wise sayings at the time of my 40th, that everything would go rapidly downhill from there, health wise. It certainly seems that way this year. It took 3 painful weeks to recover the vasectomy, and recently a week of pain from the boil, followed by a week of discomfort from the lancing. And now I have a real painful lower back (I’m guessing the kidneys are out of whack from the antibiotics). I bet my San Diego neighbours can’t remember a time they saw me able to walk without looking like an old man.

Well, I certainly feel like an old man these days.

My building is part of a free community wi-fi but for some reason my macbook has never been able to see it reliably enough to connect to it. My work VAIO has no trouble, even my Dell Axim can do it, poor macbook cannot. Fortunately, some kind soul nearby has an unsecured wireless network that the macbook can see and I have been using it ever since I canceled my cable modem service.

But…. post-Leopard install I have noticed that the wifi network now always appears with a very weak signal strength since the upgrade, and is almost useless. It could be coincidence but if this continues I may have to stop using the unsecured wifi in my building and pay for cable again (shudder). Or I suppose ditch the macbook ?