02.19.02 - 2:07 p.m.

My new watch is a very loudly ticking watch. Either I will get used to it or it will drive me to the brink of insanity.

I should be refreshed after my special bonus Monday off, but alas, I am more depressed than ever to be back at work. The only inherently good thing about being here is all the free high-speed internet time. That is wonderful; everything else is shite.

If you poke Oreo and he says "Brrp?" then you know he's ok. Apparently Dan had this thing about poking Jess when she was young to make sure she was still alive and making noise, and I guess it extends to the cat. Dan was such a cute kid! He wore bunny suits! He is still adorable, but more in a rugged hunk of man meat way.

Kerry got her first real taste of Jersey this weekend when I took her down to Dan's rents' house for the Unofficial Kevin Smith Red Bank Tour. She liked it. She loves suburbia. I like Dan's hood too, I like his big tubby kitty and I like all the food-eating we do when we're there. This time we went inside Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash, where I had to violently restrain myself from buying a cute cartoon Chasing Amy t-shirt. We took pictures of ourselves outside the Quick Stop like the hardasses that we are, and pictures sitting on the front stoop like the whiny little Banky and Holdens that we also are.

Dave had foodgasms over his favorite salad at the Bistro - the pear and Roquefort salad, which was indeed tasty but I have had better at other places. I won't tell him that, though. The salad makes him so happy. We sampled the fine wings of Ichabod's, where Jess tried a martini from their new Mini Martini Menu(!), went into diner coma, and had a tasty breakfast at Edie's, the Pauline's of Little Silver. I even made Rice Krispie treats for everyone.

And after all that, Kerry and I stopped at the A&P on the way home and collectively bought $130 worth of food. How do we do it?