Birthday Presents

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Tabitha and Scott.

Subject: Billy's Birthday Present

Me and Tabitha were milling around the apartment when someone knocked at the door. We don't get a lot of visitors at lunch time on a Friday, so we were wondering who it could be. Tabitha was closer, and less lazy, and answered the door. On the other side was a woman we'd never seen before.

“Umm. Hi. Can we help you?”

“Yes, hi. I'm Rosemarie.”

“Billy's Rosemarie?”

“I like to think of myself as my own Rosemarie, but yes, I'm dating Billy.”

“It's nice to meet you, although I didn't expect to meet you until tomorrow night at the party. Billy said you were coming right?”

“Yup, I'll be here. That's actually the reason I stopped by. We've only been dating a little while and I'd really like to get him something for his birthday, but I really have no idea what would be good.”

“Well you came to the right place! Come in! Sit down! Can Ann get you a drink?”

We sat and discussed what to get Billy. We ruled out anything shopping related, gift cards and the like. We came up with a couple of options, and settled on Rainbow 6: Las Vegas for the Playstation 3. Billy had been meaning to buy it for a while, and hadn't gotten around to it. That's when Scott came home.

“Hey guys. Look what I got for Billy. That new video game he's been wanting.”

“Aww shit!”

“What a greating! I feel so welcome here.”

Scott squints at Rosemarie. “Who's this gal? She doesn't look like Sara.”

“Scott, this is Rosemarie, Billy's girlfriend.”

“Is the party now? I thought it was tomorrow night? The beer isn't in the fridge yet, Tabitha said I had to leave room for regular food until tomorrow night.”

“Well you left chicken and the milk on the counter so you could put the growlers on the top shelf.”

“You know warm beer just isn't as good.”

“I think that's my cue to leave. I'll have to go with one of the other items we discussed. Thanks for all the help!”

To Scott, “Save me some of that beer!”

“Nice to meet you! See you tomorrow!”

Rosemarie leaves.

“So she seems nice.”

“Yeah, definitely.”

“She had me at 'Aww shit!'”

The Thrifty Six

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject: The Thrifty Six

“Wow. We all spend a ton of money this week. Maybe we should take it easy for a little while.”

“Isn't that why we went to that bar with an open bar special Friday night? To save money?”

“Well yes, but if you factor in the cab ride we took home because we were too lazy to walk to the subway, and the massive amounts of food we ordered at the bar it ends up being more than we expected.”

“I also splurged a bit too, buying things I probably shouldn't have.”

“What did you buy?”

“Well there was Harry Potter, and then I realized I didn't own the first three books, I'd only borrowed them to read from my sister, so I bought those too. Then I saw the new Jeffrey Deaver book and bought that also. It was a bit more than I should've spent.”

“I wasn't great this week either. I went and bought myself some new clothes for work. I went a little overboard though.”

“I had been wanting to buy a new game for the Playstation, but I couldn't decided between Rainbow Six, the Bigs, and something else so I bought all three. I then coupled that with a really bad week of poker, I just couldn't catch any cards.”

“Should've used a bigger glove.”

Ann groans. “My schedule's thrown off still from working at Catalina's and I find myself eating out way more than I can really afford. Coupled with the bar and everything else It's putting a damper on my bank account.”

“You guys should really take some money management classes or something.”

“You didn't overspend this week?”

Scott hangs his head. “Actually..I lent Mitch some money. He was very convincing, but of course it didn't work out.”

“That Mitch. He reminds me of Edward Norton's character in Rounders. I spent too much money this week too, but I couldn't help it. My sister needed to go to the doctor, but she didn't have insurance or any money. I doubt she'll pay me back.”

“Kerri's sick? Anything serious?”

“Nothing serious. I don't remember the specifics, something about a cough and bronchitis I think.”

“Well, that was good of you to pay for her. Who knows, maybe she will pay you back.”

“Maybe. I'm not hopeful though. So we're going to be thrifty and take it easy this week then?”

“Yeah. Let's try to cut down on the expensive stuff a little.”

“10 cent wings at ..”

“No!”

“How many beers did you have last time we got cheap wings?”

“Three..or four..I don't remember. I guess you're right. So you're cooking tonight then?”

“Why don't you cook? You never cook!”

“I'll cook. I just hope you like frozen pizza.”

“How appetizing.”

“I'll cook.”

“That's alright Scott..I'll do it.”

“Don't like my cooking?”

“Do YOU like your cooking?”

“Haha! Burn!”

“Fine. I'll just lay here and nap on the couch until dinner.”

“Don't strain yourself or anything.”

“What are you going to make? I'll help.”

“I don't know. Grab that cookbook and we'll pick something.”