Gifts

Cardgrrl is so nice to me. She not only suggested and arranged for my recent visit, but once I got there she had two completely occasionless gifts for me. The first, pictured above, is a Pandora charm. Cardgrrl is not exactly shy about her affection for Pandora jewelry, calling it "the gewgaw equivalent of crack." (See her extolling its virtues here and here.)

I would have thought myself immune. But a hedgehog? That's just playing dirty, Pandora, capitalizing on a guy's inordinate fondness for the adorable little hedgehogs! Look at that cute little face! Look at those cute, itty-bitty feeties! I might actually have to repress a SQUEE here. It is, as my daily dose of excessive sweetness, www.cuteoverload.com, likes to say, just redonkulous.

I still don't know what I'm going to do with this thing, other than get all little-girl-squealy about it every now and then, but I sure like having it.

The other gift requires much less explanation. Since I always wear long-sleeved shirts when going out to play poker (because of frequently frigid card rooms), you, my faithful readers, would be unlikely to see this, if I did not show it to you here: