Girlfriend: Did you see this article about scientists turning peanut butter into diamonds?
Boyfriend: Yeah, I saw that. It was pretty interesting.
Girlfriend: But don’t you think if you push on anything carbon based hard enough it’s going to turn into a diamond eventually?
Boyfriend: (Snickering to self) No.
Girlfriend: Why not?
Boyfriend: Because no matter how much pressure you put on me you’ll never get a diamond.

Editor’s Note: Heavy sigh.

Netflix has added the Office (US version) seasons 1 and 2 to its watch now lineup. I really love the show, but it’s not a show I watch consistently, and I’m not sure I saw any of the first season at all. So this week, left all alone with no boyfriend in sight, I dove right in and started watching them. I finished season 1 in one night, but there are only 8 episodes or so, and last night around 130 I finished season 2. I am now totally obsessed with the show, and I desperately wish I worked in an office like that. Specifically I wish I had some crazy co-workers to keep me occupied and effectively distracted from working. Unfortunately, my only co-worker is just dentally impaired, which although seriously distracting at times, is not exactly the same level of fun as forming office olympics, or coming in to work one morning to find your desk in the men’s room. But alas, a job is a job.

I’ve now formed a hypothesis that the faster you watch a show the more obsessed with it you will become. For example, the first TV show I ever watched on DVDs was season 1 of the Sopranos. I believe these DVDs were purchased as a birthday gift for my uncle, but instead somehow we figured we could watch them. So after watching season 1 in about 3 nights, we had to go out and purchase all other available sets and now we all have to watch the shows and comment on them obsessively. I’ve heard similar anecdotes from people who have watched entire seasons of 24 in a single day (ouch) or everyone who had to get caught up on Lost by watching all the DVDs. In my opinion, it’s a simple matter of instant gratification. If I didn’t have to wait an entire week, or in some cases several months to find out what happens next on Lost I’d be so happy, but at the end of the day all the suspense would be gone.

On my radio station, one of the morning DJs has never been a Grey’s Anatomy fan, but finally succumbing to peer pressure he decided to watch the first seasons on DVDs and then catch up on episodes available online and what he has recorded on TiVo. So, this poor man is going though the entire emotional train wreck that is Grey’s Anatomy by watching a few episodes a night, while the rest of us had a week’s break to restock on kleenex. I don’t think I could handle that…but sometimes you just need a great cry…and certainly Grey’s Anatomy has many of those moments.

On some shows, like Lost, it probably makes sense to watch the shows rapidly just to not miss the subtle hints and clues that I feel I miss sometimes. But either way, I think the best way to become a hard core, die hard fan of any show is to watch a few seasons on DVD, get caught up and totally obsessed then wait patiently for any new episodes to appear.

Since it’s summer and all the good shows are in reruns I have plenty of time to begin a new obsession (aside from Harry Potter in July) and I’m open to suggestion if anyone has any recommendations. Of course, you must be prepared to have in depth discussions with me after I’ve finished catching up. That will be my one stipulation.

It’s been a while since my last post, so an update is needed. Last weekend was our anniversary and this past weekend I went to Katy to visit my parents for the weekend in honor of Father’s Day. After work on Friday Josh and I went to our favorite “we’re exhausted, let’s have dinner” location Kneaded Pleasures. They have good sandwiches, baked potatoes and delicious vanilla cupcakes. Josh was leaving for vacation with his family the next morning and I was going to Katy that evening so I’m glad we had a chance to say goodbye. By the time I got to Katy Friday it was only 9, but I was totally exhausted. Work had been crazy that afternoon. Just as Larry was walking out the door at 430 he gave me approximately 5 hours worth of work to do by 10am Monday morning. I got some done Friday, but had to come in early early Monday morning to do the rest. Yay fun.

Saturday morning with my parents was rather lazy and unproductive. We sat out on the patio and commented on the birds in the backyard. Some of you might not know this, but my parents are a little bird crazy. Their backyard attracts so many birds, it can be a bit scary at time…and they all start tweeting around 6am, how joyful. They’re fun enough to watch and there are always big fat ones to make fun of, but it’s a lot of birds. That afternoon we were going to see Spamalot, the Monty Python movie loosely based off of the Holy Grail. It was absolutely hilarious, there were parts in the first act that had the entire audience laughing uncontrollably. The second act was equally funny, but as is the nature and intention of all pythonesque productions it totally lost sight of any plot that might have been developing and replaced it with very hilarious musical numbers. The cast was great, and the songs were quite clever. Some of them will be familiar to the more fanatical Python followers, but they all fit in really well. It was a really great musical, and perhaps the best I’ve seen in a long time.

After the show, I experienced was is to be known as the best meal I’ve ever eaten. From now on, whenever anyone asks, it will be the meal eaten that evening. We went to Cafe Le Jadeite, which is in River Oaks I believe. From the decor and some of the menu selections this restaurant might appear, initially to be of an Asian persuasion, but ironically enough, my meal was distinctly Italian in nature. For the first course I had a poached tomato stuffed with imported mozarella cheese, mushrooms and herbs, served on top of a bed of linguini with parmesan shavings and drizzled with olive oil. If you know me, you know that I love tomatoes, cheese and pasta…so I was basically in heaven. From first bite, I knew this would never be matched by anything I could possible consume. I gobbled that up pretty quickly. For the second course my dad and I both ordered the osso bucco. I’ve actually never had that particular dish before, and I don’t think I will be able to order it anywhere else now that I’ve been spoiled by this meal. It was absolutely perfect. My mom had scallops with some sort of crab and apricot sauce which she devoured with equal passion. For dessert we all shared the dessert sampler which was four of their desserts in a small portion and some ice cream. It was really nice to top off a rich meal with these very delicious desserts, and just a taste of each was enough to know that we should have saved more room. We polished off our meals and our 2 bottles of wine and were extrodinarly happy customers. One of the nicest aspects of the meal was our waiter, who was really helpful, made good recommendations and actually took his time to make sure we had a pleasant experience. No one offered us blazing nachos or margarita madness specials (see my recent post about Bennigan’s). If I could ever afford to eat here again, I would in a heart beat. It was that good.

It topped off to be an absolutely perfect weekend, very relaxed and I think a good time was had by all. Unfortunately for me, it was back to work on Monday morning (at 7 no less) to begin a slow, but not totally unproductive, week.