Random thoughts for a Wednesday afternoon:

• I brought my mom into the 21st century this past weekend by upgrading her original Bondi Blue iMac to from OS 8.5 to OS X. While the whole transition was a little hard on me, since I couldn’t swear too much while doing the install, it seems to have made things much more pleasant for her. She’s not really what you’d call an intensive user — she pretty much checks email, gets stock quotes online, and does the occasional bit of word processing — so the interface change isn’t causing her much grief. She just thinks it’s prettier…
• A little identity theft is an annoying thing. We’ve just determined that someone has been charging her Sprint phone to our checking account. Actually, it’s not such a big deal, as we’ve already closed the account and will be filing a police report shortly just for the record. In fact, Bank of America’s lack of any discernible customer service has made it an even easier call for us to move our money to a local credit union, so maybe there’s even a good side to it all…
• Why is EVERYTHING so much more convenient here than in The City of Doom™? It’s even easier to get a doctor’s appointment here; there’s none of that “six to eight weeks for a new patient appointment” bullshit you seen in SF.
• Is it just a coincidence that during the very year Mark and I moved here from California (where such things are commonplace), Charlotte experienced one of its hottest, driest summers ever AND suddenly began having some of the highest gas prices in the country? Just curious…

Sorry. I think I accidentally posted a half-finished article I was working on last week here for a few hours this afternoon…

I’ve just submitted my first article for paid print publication. So am I officially a professional writer now or do I have to wait for the check to arrive before I can make that claim?

It’s not really unusual for me to hear the occasional train whistle here, although it’s also not really a daily occurence. But this morning, I’ve been hearing them almost contsantly for the past hour or so. Either it’s the world’s longest train or there’s a major railroad traffic jam in downtown Matthews…

I’m happy to report that I’ve found my new favorite pizza place in Charlotte. The hands down winner is Mellow Mushroom, which is a small regional chain based in Atlanta. The pizza is quite good, but I’d still go there even if it tasted like baked cereal boxes topped with shredded newspapers. Whycome? Because of the salads. They’re absolutely amazing. As the hubby said last night, “They must top them with opium or something”…

Me like. Thanks to Joseph for pointing this one out…

And on the subjesct of food, remind me never again to make the near-fatal mistake of visiting a Shoney’s breakfast buffet on a Sunday morning. Blecch. Nothing like clawing your way through a long line of ill-mannered rugrats only to wind up with a half-empty plate of severely nasty food. God, what was I thinking?