Oh, and here are a couple of other things that went down while I was back east:

• One of my co-workers crashed his bicycle on Saturday during a race or a marathon or something and has spent several days in the hospital suffering from a severe concussion.
• And my corporate overlords started replacing those Flavia coffee machines on every floor with these nifty gadgets from Starbucks that actually grind fresh beans on demand for every cup they brew. I’m not the biggest fan of Starbucks, but my lord, this stuff is such an improvement over that vile “astronaut coffee” I’ve been suffering with for three years. I no longer have to leave the office to get a decent cup o’ joe.
  Of course, the downside is that I no longer have to leave the office to get a decent cup o’ joe… hm.

In any event, you see what happens when you leave town for a couple of days? Good thing I wasn’t gone four days; we’d have cats and dogs living together, mass chaos!