My weekend has come back to me.

Forgive me. I need to be vague in case someone from work ever stumbles upon this blog. I think the details of my assignment were given "off the record." So, I don't want too much documentation.

Just two days ago, I was told that I would have to drive somewhere two hours away from Phoenix because a VIP might/might not be there. I would have to sit there from 8 a.m. until sundown, like a policewoman on stakeout, waiting for this person to make a move. Even if it's something as mundane as stepping outside to take a breath, I'd have to call and ask if that was worth a story. Now, I actually wouldn't have minded if this had occurred on the other 100 weekends where I have no social life. But this just happens to be a weekend where I have not one, but two (yipee), friends coming to stay with me. One of them can only stay thru Sunday afternoon. And I had RSVPed yes to a friend's Easter dinner party. So, this whole "assignment" pissed me off royally. The idea I have to give up my weekend and rearrange all these plans and leave visitors to find their own way for a story that may/may not happen. I mean, why not give me a brick wall and I'll bang my head on it several times?! Same thing.

But, this morning at work, we got word on the record that this person was staying put abroad for the weekend. I didn't dare believe it. I was ready to do a jig if that was true. Several phone calls and e-mails later with "sources," I was told the stake-out was canceled. HALLELUJAH!!! But I still have to be "on call" Sunday and can't really drive too far away from Phoenix on the off chance this person shows up. But heck, that beats getting up at the crack of dawn! And now I at least have Sunday morning and most of the afternoon to visit with my friends.

It really is a Happy Easter. A cupcake I made for the occasion below. It's graham cracker cake with chocolate ganache, chocolate shavings and Cadbury mini eggs.

One 'Idol's' loss=a work victory

OK, I'm sure today sucks for David Hernandez, the former stripper who just got the boot on "American Idol." But a part of me is relieved because that means I won't have to cover his rise anymore. It was bad enough that there were two people from Arizona in the top 12. So, basically, the lazy part of me is glad because his exit means less work. Hey, I'm only human.

Glutton for punishment

For some crazy reason, I signed up for another half-marathon. I'm nuts, right? Well, the PF Chang's people sent me a coupon for $15 off the San Jose half-marathon on Oct. 8. So, yes, my 'ooh, what a deal' bargain hunter side came forth. I guess also, I want to repeat it in San Jose, my 'hood. The Phoenix one was so anti-climatic as I saw nobody I knew after. Any way, wish me luck. I have no idea how I'll train here. In Phoenix. In the summer. Yikes! What have I done?!

Work is going fine. I can't go into too much detail about what stories I'm pursuing. I can say that all "American Idol" stuff falls to me. I'm really starting to hate that show. J/K. Well, sort of. Last week, we were caught up in the "scandal" that one of the Arizona-based contestants used to be a stripper in a gay bar/club called Dick's Cabaret. Funny enough, the place used to be down the street from the homeless shelter I volunteer at. So, my boss was like "How do you know where this place used to be?" Everyone thought the homeless shelter was just a ploy to hide the fact that I secretly frequent gay strip clubs. The whole urgency of this thing was ridiculous. At one point, I was on the phone with one of our photographers trying to help him figure out where the place was. Later on in the day, I was looking at AP's photo Web site where photos go to once they've been captioned. Stupid me said really loud without thinking, "Oh, a photo of Dick's just moved."