Inside joke

Presenting .... the original Sage Risotto.

(If you get why this matters ... you get it.

If you don't get it .... well ... it was some cheesy goodness spiced up with Jimmy Dean sausage and washed down with a zesty Chardonnay. And that's all you really need get.)

Dateline: United Airlines 541 12/22/09

Ah, air travel at Christmas.

The predictable delayed connection through

the great black hole of the Midwest,

Chicago O'Hare.

(Fog.

Something about a low ceiling and limited landings.

Your typical cluster-f@#$.)

Although, had our departure not been pushed back 90 minutes,

we would have missed taking off into the sunset.

Heading west from Logan, 4:45 p.m.

The bad news ....

I was supposed to be in Minneapolis about 20 minutes ago.

The good news ....

ostensibly, I'll get there yet tonight.

Merry merry.

The more things change...

This I can live with.

December 20, 2008

December 20, 2009

The good news, though,

is this year I'm flying out on

December 22 instead of December 24,

possibly precluding the normal

travel hell deja-vu / Christmas Eve in Logan affair?

One can hope.

Saturday (so far)

Sleeping in until 12:15 p.m ...... necessary.

Braving the 20-deep line at the Family Dollar Store on West Broadway, all for the sake of cheap dishwasher soap .... grateful for survival.

Realizing it was inadvertantly wise to have parked on a Non-Snow-Emergency Route when a Snow Emergency has just been declared in a neighborhood of Snow Emergency Routes .... priceless.

Realizing soon after a drive to Target at the South Bay Shopping Plaza for the sake of cheap, bulk cat litter and food is a necessity, not an option .... inevitable.

Realizing that giving up a prime parking spot to hang out at Target with the 800 other people who had the same idea ..... headache-inducing.

Realizing that once I get home and find a new parking spot, I must stay in all night and make Christmas cookies and drink wine and anticipate a snowy day tomorrow that includes a dear friends' open house followed by a date with a man I had a first date with just on Wednesday, but which went well enough (including a deal-breaker of an unexpected goodnight kiss at the Copley Square bus shelter) that we needed to set a second date sooner than later .... nice.

Very nice.

Now I just have to a find a parking spot .....

Basic algebra

First, let's say you sleep on the same side of the bed every night.

Then, let's say you have a cat who likes to sleep on the same side of you every night.

(Do also factor in habit of said cat to never jump on bed directly from floor; he must jump onto nightstand before climbing past your face to settle his massive rear end against your hip.)

Then, add the first really cold night of the season, a night where you might choose to light a votive candle in the candleholder on the nightstand next to your face because it cozies up the place.

Knowing this, please calculate the odds that when you climb into bed, said cat will jump on the nightstand and catch on fire before leaping onto the bed, causing a brief vision of a charred bed and cat skeletons and the phone call the police will make to your parents in Minnesota, informing them that their daughter made it to 36 without knowing how to put 1 and 1 together.

Oy. Oy, indeed.

Need for Speed(o) VII: Dénouement

Since we're 4 days and a full mindset past this august event, I'll keep my reflections brief.

(Ha! again.)


1) People who run can drink a lot. I've never seen so many folks slugging back Long Island Teas at 11 a.m. while at the same time exposing 98 percent of their completely ripped physiques:

Gives credence to the twin adages that alcohol contains performance-inducing carbohydrates and that I'm not the only one who runs primarily to eat and drink whatever I want.


2) A lot of folks I know read Boston.com. And wanted to know about this race. Because a lot of folks I know directed me to this link as early as late Saturday afternoon:

It pays to make friends with the Globe photographer, because a professional wouldn't put a bad picture in his paper.


3) The cold really was more tolerable than you might expect. With the wind chill the air felt like about 5°F.

But a scarf and arm warmers helped. A shot of Grey Goose did, too. It also helped, once on Boylston and huddled in a clump like so much cattle, we jumped up and down en masse for 10+ minutes screaming "Spee-DO! Spee-DO! Spee-DO!"

Even if it caused wicked-cramped calf muscles and endless armpit views like this:

I mean, I shaved.....but hey.

4) Sometimes naked flesh is sexy. Sometimes not. From the middle of the pack, this was my view for most of the run.

Proves that even folks with chutzpah and defined abs are human in their underwear.