Went to Perkins today, while M's car was having the engine light checked at the transmission place. (when we got back, the mechanic said, "I cut the wire to the fuse", and on the way home we asked each other whether he meant he had just cut the wire to the engine light and voila, solved the problem) Last time we were at Perkins, M asked for two vanilla lattes and they gave us sugar-free vanilla. Which I hate, I can't stand the taste of aspartame and it gives me a stomach ache. They are so stunned there, now, I want to ask them if I can go make my own latte, M said the shots today poured for 2 seconds. Should be 18-20 seconds... The woman working seemed perturbed that M was specifying NOT sugarfree vanilla for me, (he always speaks up for me) and that he questioned whether it was one shot, after watching her pour both the two second shots into my latte. She said, "yes, one shot". She gave me my latte for free today, but she was pretty abrupt about it. I want to say to them, when I go in there and it's All New Staff yet again, "look, I'm not trying to be difficult, but I ran this place for four years and you're not using that machine properly". Last time, also, Al, who we sold the shop to, was there, and he asked me what one of the nozzles on the cappuccino machine was for. I showed him which button ran it, and told him it was for hot water for Americanos. Don't know how they've been managing to make Americanos, if they didn't know that. For crying out loud, it's a $20,000 cappuccino machine, you owe it to yourself to learn how to operate it.

School will be starting again soon for everyone. I think M is going to come with me on the first day, to Simon Fraser, so that we can go for lunch and hit the art gallery downtown Vancouver. Kids are either nervous (Kirsten), unconcerned (Ian), or excited (Rachel). Ian had hoped to skip grade five, but it seems he won't be doing that.

I was standing at work watching the Olympics, and I happened to mention to one of the customers that I didn't understand synchronized swimming. I told him it looked to me like cheerleading underwater. He agreed, and said that he was marvelling at the number of bizarre things being called sport in this Olympics, and that he was waiting eagerly for hide-and-seek to be added, because he felt he could definitely qualify.

Rachel has tried to make easymac in the microwave without adding water, and the resulting smell is on a par with burnt gymshorts.