So, to summarize the second half of May: shaking my head a lot at myself; shaking my head quite a bit at other people; muttering, "Man, do I still have a lot to learn," and thanking God for the resources to keep on with the learning.

The very end of the month was nice: I hit "send" on a large deliverable just before 1 p.m., and then the BYM and I headed to a pool party that included beer, burgers, jello shots, and an assortment of Southern divas in fine form:

Guy in pool, about to start another round of football-throwing: Ladies, you might want to watch out - I can't guarantee I'll get them all.

Spicy: You're not the one who'll be in trouble. The guy who throws it, on the other hand --

Guy: Look out?

Spicy: That's right. For a short, fat girl, I'm mighty quick.

[Maybe you had to be there. She really does go by "Spicy," and she was wearing a red, white, and blue tiara with stars like antennae.]

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In the stack of clippings from the NYT:

* a Q&A with bartender Doug Quinn. (His response to what to do with strawberries: "Get yourself a lot of ladies and a lot of Champagne!")

* handmade ghetto rims being compared to snowflakes. There's a poem or story in that...

* the red clay at Roland Garros is mainly white limestone

And on that note, it's time for me to head back to laundry, indexing, and number-crunching. (Federer currently down 1-2 vs. Soderling, but Schiavone and Dementieva won and Berdych dominant so far vs. Youhzny, so it's mostly been a great morning results-wise...)