Things not going as planned

Train canceled. Rerouted, waited for a bus while our train came, had the real French cafe experience while we waited for another train. Took the train to a college town that was not our planned destination. Fry Guy and the Hamburgler had to eat so they went to McDonald's. I went looking for a hostel and it was full, so was much of the town. We finally found a 2-star joint and took it. Hamburgler found it creepy. She went back to the train station to get Internet while Fry guy and I went to find me some grub. I found a good restaurant that served three courses. Fry guy left me to go get Hamburgler from our designated meeting spot. I waited forever at dinner. Fry guy didn't return after the Chevre Chaud and well into my cassoulet. Hamburgler was nowhere to be seen. I was a little freaked. I was then told that she'd had some run-ins with locals, fell down, broke down in a hotel lobby, and just ran into Fry guy as they were circling our hotel. I wasn't loving it, but I downed my three scoops of awesome ice cream and went back to the crap hotel. Bam. A zillion hours later we made it to Barcelona.

Fry guy and I went to Guell Park- totally Gaudi. Then we all went to an apartment joint by Gaudi. It was pretty cool and had a neat looking roof-top terrace that rain prevented us from visiting. We walked to Rita's for some good food. Thanks guide-book. I finally found some vegetables after surviving the day on bread and lunch meat. We rambled down the Ramblas and returned to the hostel where our room is next to the common area and it's loud. Go earplugs. Maybe next time we should camp. I'm ready to go home.

Vendredi, the bulls
No fondue.

Today was largely about sampling and relaxation. I suppose my run was not so relaxing, but after that I read extensively about Julia Child's life in France. That lady was a character. It was bright and sunny out and I rotated through reading locations from the roof deck, to the bedroom, to the library, to the dining room and back again. This went on most of the day.

It was our last day in France and we started to grab at all things French. For late breakfast, we sampled items from the patisserie. The Nutella on a sugary hole-less doughnut-like substance was pretty solid. As we walked to the bull fight, I nabbed my first crepe of the trip, Nutella again. We decided to dine in after the bull fight and whipped up steaks, pasta, frozen veggies, and bread and olives. We topped it off with leftover chocolate tart and venietta(?).

Enough about the food, what about the bull fight? I have mixed emotions on the bull fight. It wasn't quite as exciting as I remember. I was about eight at the time, so perhaps my memory has grown fuzzy. There was a lot of showy posturing and downtime. I suppose it's also possible that my tastes have changed a bit in the last 23 years. There was a certain elegance to go along with the bloodshed. Although, I did find it strange how much running from the bulls seemed standard. Perhaps we needed a reminder of the speed and power of the bull. We were pretty high up and the fighters made a dangerous sport look mostly easy.

We saw a matador make his debut in the hometown Arles arena. It was interesting to contrast his style with the far more popular fighter who followed. The hometown boy had trouble finishing off his bulls and elicited some whistles of disapproval while El Juli's strikes were deadly and brought out the white handkerchief waves of the fans. (We found out later this was a plea to give the fighter the bull's ear due to his fine performance.) The blood was at times gushing and hard to watch. One fighter who enjoyed taunting the bulls, miscalculated and nearly got gored which gave the crowd a fright. Another missed his mark and seemed to trip. There were moments of excitement and tension for both fans of the matador and fans of the bulls. I think it was clear that people respected the bulls and yet I had moments where I was repulsed by the display. Those moments passed when I thought about my forthcoming steak dinner.

We closed out the night with the instant slideshows of the digital age and a final toasting of French wine and beer. Tomorrow brings the last of bread for breakfast and a day of travel and separation. We'll make our return to Barcelona (or so we thought).

Birthday plans and beyond
We flip-flopped our plans at the last minute and purchased tickets for a train as it pulled away from the station. Eventually we made it to Marseilles, where we again did not rent bikes. C tried to leave the rest of us behind on public transit, but we found our way to reunion at the port. We tried to go to Chateau d'If (famous thanks to the Count of Monte Cristo), but it was closed due to weather. We assumed wind as it was a bright sunny day. Marseilles was a happening place, but we headed by the island of If and went right on to the island of Frioul (I think). We hiked a bit, had some great looks at If and Marseille. I couldn't believe how far it stretched along the coast. It turned into a good day. To keep the string going we headed out for dinner and quickly found that no one was willing to seat us. We gave up and headed to the street vendor's steak haiche and fries sandwiches. They were surprisingly delicious. We'd planned ahead and had a delicious tart for dessert.

We woke up early to return to Avignon and rent bikes. My patisserie self control was now shot, so I had maxi coco for breakfast part deux and just finished off a sachristine before recording these events. We took the bus to Avignon, showed up to rent bikes within the given time to do so, and still the bike shop was closed. ARG. We ended up renting city bikes from a kiosk called VeloPop. It's like smart bikes in DC or other card-based bike rentals. The bikes are tanks, but they got us out and around in Avignon. We cruised the Rhone and later crossed the bridge to ride on an island in the middle of the river. It was a gorgeous day and time well spent. We then separated for shopping adventures. I found a great store, but couldn't quite bring myself to spend 80 euros on a rustic French clock. I saw some tie-dye yarn and a shirt for the sandwich- it said, "My other shirt with awesome graphics is in the laundry."

Tonight, fondue?

Day Mardi

We bounced up before eight and noticed immediately that sunny France was not looking so sunny. The bike riding plans were put on hold. This was the Europe of my childhood and I wasn't going to let a little rain stop me. I left for a run immediately after breakfast and returned in the rain. Then came the thunderstorm. Maybe it was good we weren't riding, but I was still bummed. Arles is not big and we were reaching its activity/shopping/tourist attraction/Roman ruin capacity. We had lunch at a cafe. I chose the plat du jour which was fish. It was a risk, but I needed to take one. The fish was supposedly sweet. It wasn't candy fish, but it wasn't fishy-fish either. I'd write about the kind of fish, but I could neither understand the waiter nor read it on the chalked-in blackboard menu. Fish it is! I survived.

After some false starts, C and I made our way to Avignon by train. It turns out Avignon was a temporary Vatican City some time ago. The cool thing about Avignon was its wall. There's something about a town inside a wall. It seems important. Avignon was pleasant enough, pretty even, in its views of the Rhone river and the famous bridge that no longer spans the gap, Saint Benezet's Bridge. I took lots of pictures and am extremely pleased with my camera. Avignon tested my lens though, as much of the scenery was pretty far away and I needed a little more zoom, or a telephoto lens. I was prepared for my limitations though, so for now I'll return to the arty pictures and when that doesn't work I'll use one of the filters like fish-eye.

I stepped up my French game a bit today, in a sense. C burnt out at the train station and I could tell she'd had it. We couldn't figure out if the train was headed back to Arles or not and we weren't really in the mood to go to the wrong place. Finally after bouncing around between signs, I went up and asked the ticket agent if he spoke English. I asked in French. He responded in English, "very badly". We got through it and on to the right train. Later I snuck off to do a little shopping excursion. I knew what I wanted and said "I want" in French, but then had to resort to pointing. I had no idea what the clerk was asking me when she wondered if it was a gift. The French pretty much fell apart there and her English came through. She was extremely polite and switched back to French to complete our transaction. I mostly stood around bewildered.

Tonight, BC arrives by train (we hope). More adventures tomorrow.

Day lundi

Another lazy day for us. We meandered around town and passed by the ampitheater, the St. Triomphe church and Hotel de Ville. We ate couscous for lunch and meandered some more. We traveled through industrial Arles to try to find a bike rental shop, but came up empty. We ended up tossing the disc in a field nearby. On the way back through town, we shopped hungrily at the monoprix (Arles' answer to WalMart) and made dinner at home. Arles is the sausage capital of France and we added some sausage to pasta for dinner. It tasted great and we're turning in early to try to discover morning in Arles tomorrow.

Another day in Arles
We lost some time to daylight savings and some more time to a desperate need to sleep. By lunch time, we were ready for breakfast. C went out to get bread, jam, and Nutella to go with our tea. We spent the day meandering about town, past the arena where we'd later see the bullfight and through the forum/square/thing. We again had trouble finding a restaurant who wanted to serve us food on our schedule. We finally settled outside a cafe and proceeded to order every salade on the menu as we conversed away the afternoon. It was very French and relaxing, but for our English tongues. We went to the grocery store to gather dinner on our own terms and ended up with bags and cans of food, including steak in some very strange packaging, frozen legume mixtures, and a can of lentils. I designed that dinner, merci beaucoup.

I went for a run along the Rhone and felt great. I was bounding off rocks and hurdling gates as I ran past the sheep and the water treatment plant before turning around at the goats. The goats were loud and I was actually a little frightened of them. I was running on my toes as I think I'm gearing up to go barefoot. It may be a placebo effect, but I swear it engages the big muscles and makes me feel faster.

It took three of us and lots of effort to get the grill going on our rooftop terrace for dinner. I can't even blame the brie, wine, or darkness as a distraction. It was simply poor fire skill at work. We finally got things cooking and turned out a fine meal. Bed has come quickly, but then it would since I hadn't left it that long ago.

Vacation
The first few days of the trip were spent in full travel mode. I took those jet-lag pills, but I'm either too tired to notice them working or they didn't work. There was a trans-Atlantic flight to London. I actually did some sleeping since the entertainment system was on the fritz. In Heathrow, we hit up the yotel (probably pronounced like hotel, but I preferred the pronunciation that more closely mirrored the high pitched singing in the Alps). The yotel was the comforts of a cruise ship on dry land bathed in purple light. We were packed in like a can of those smelly fishes. As far as hotels connected to an airport go, the yotel is definitely the best (and only) one I've ever stayed in. From London, we flew to Barcelona. I have no idea what happened in Barcelona except that I vaguely recall some dinner, a hostel, a walk, and some attempts at Spanish that went nowhere. There was an Amazing Race-style event that C and I attempted at her urging. Somehow my train got walloped by her bus. I have to wonder if it was rigged.

To add to the international intrigue, my pocket was very nearly picked on the public transit system. Fortunately, I felt the shady fellow trying and failing to scratch my passport out of my pocket. It was pretty awkward and unnerving, but a good wake-up call.

Then came a new day with a lost lens cap and a train ride from Barcelona to Arles, France. I think the train ride in Norway spoiled me. There were some nice moments where green rolling hills dotted with country houses and towns were part of the vast landscape in front of the snow-capped Pyrenees, but there were also a fair number of industrial buildings with graffiti on their backsides. I mostly took to reading "The Yellow Jersey". The cover calls it the greatest cycling novel ever written. I'm afraid if that's true that I'm finished reading cycling novels.

That night, we lounged around our home for the week long enough to turn a leisurely dinner into a rush to get back to the train station to meet another reveler/traveler/our conversational sherpa. I ended up alone in the restaurant waiting for l'addition (the check) and alternately trying out half-remembered French phrases on my self and straining to hear the couple speaking at the nearest table. I may have napped too long today because as the clock rolled past bedtime, I got my second wind.

Shamrockin'

Thanks to public transportation, I was early to the St. Patrick's Day 8k. The city was relatively quiet and grey thanks to possible rain and the lost hour of daylight savings time. I considered a number of warm-up options, but finally settled on walking the course in reverse for a while and then starting my run in that direction before turning around to warm-up on the last mile to focus my finish. It was a perfect temperature for running, a bit cold for standing around, but just warm enough for the single layer during the race. I wasn't very nervous. I had a few flashes of pre-race jitters and I had to slow my warm-up down, but for the most part I was calm like Pennsylvania Avenue on this Sunday morning.

The race had a team element, like the 10k in December. Many participants from that group returned and we added in some new legs. We'd gone from Team Shiver to Shiver Me Shamrocks, ShiMeSham for short. People seemed genuinely excited to be together. I had trouble focusing on both racing and socializing, but I managed. MB helped me coax the team into a warm-up. I had us go through a similar route including the little out and back down 10th street that extended the finish just a bit. It was a strategic warm-up, but we didn't communicate it well enough and so still left a few people surprised.

The starting line was packed with green-clad runners. We stood and chatted as we waited for "Go". I again had trouble focusing on the race and the chatter, but found something soothing about being around so many familiar smiles. We were a ways back in the pack again, but it felt right, like we should stay with the team rather than forcing them out of their comfort zone or splitting apart.

Go. We went, slowly at first, weaving our way through green human traffic. There were four of us together who had similar goals. AS was the wild card, younger and faster than the rest of us, but he fell in with us for the early part of the race. MB, PJ, and I all had designs of running 5:50 miles and holding that over 8k. PJ moved first and we dodged and weaved trying to follow. He seemed to be moving fast and I worried that my pacing was poor or I wasn't having a good day. I had to let him go a little bit and found that I wasn't moving as well as I'd thought. I had a first mile split of 5:57. I was in a little hole, but I figured it was as much the slow start as anything. After we climbed the hill near Columbus Circle and turned back, the four of us began to bunch. MB and I traded the lead a few times while still passing people at a good clip. The advantage of starting back is that passing people goes on for long stretches. We chewed through another 9 minutes that I barely noticed or remembered. I didn't see a two mile marker or much else. Only the sounds of a few clapping hands and the light thunder of hundreds of shuffling feet remain in my memory. AS silently made a move. He looked silky smooth and was made smoother by my awareness of MB's labored breathing. I looked over at MB and offered up an encouraging word as I strode after AS. I crossed the 5k mark at 17:56 (18:03 by the officials). I tried to do calculations in my head, but had to settle for a general awareness that I was nearly on schedule and maybe a bit ahead. I was still near AS; MB and PJ weren't far behind. As we approached the four mile mark, AS began to pull away. I offered up some encouragement and lost a few steps, grabbed a drink and lost a few more. AS was out of reach with less than a mile to go.

In the territory I'd warmed up in, I looked at the 23:04 on my watch and called on the couple of mile-repeat workouts I had done. I knew I needed to run as I'd finished those, preferably in the low 5:40s and definitely under 6 minutes. I made my move, which after looking at some time charts, seems to mean I didn't slow down. We made the turn on 10th and I looked back to see MB gaining. After being unable to hang with him in the 10k, I really wanted to edge him out in the 8k. He propelled me forward. My other goal was trying to track down all the green. I wanted to beat everyone in that hue. I may not have succeeded, but I came very close. I chased a guy in a Clark jersey, but I couldn't quite catch him and finished in 28:41.

I pause from the narrative for a moment to try to determine how that could be. My original goal had been 29:30, just a few seconds per mile faster than my 10k time. My adjusted goal had become 29 to 29:10, about 10 seconds per mile faster. Here I was at nearly 13 seconds faster per mile. I believe there were a number of contributing factors, both the workouts of mile repeats and the presence of AS as well as the team, the temperature, and general success with my new eating plan and the use of an energy gel before the race to fight off hunger. Based on various race time calculators from the 10k, I should have run about 29 minutes*. I like to think it was more than just a good day.

Back in the race, MB came in ten seconds later and PJ soon after. We cheered on the others and returned to our chatting. I was pleased with the race and the results. We thought that third place as a team was a possibility after our fourth place finish in December. The decision to stay for the awards was made and it turned out to be a good one. Not only did we win prizes in the raffle, but we also picked up three age division awards; I snagged second (Update: Now third, apparently they lost somebody) in the 30-34 category (after removing the four who were in the top ten, so really I was sixth). That meant a gift certificate and a new green shirt! The winning wasn't over though, as they announced the team victor and that team was Shiver Me Shamrocks. Jubilation ensued. Our top four (including at least one of the other gender, our captain SM) averaged 30:06. The second place team averaged 30:45. We were in very good shape and quite pleased. We gladly accepted the trophy and vowed to take to the streets again.

*I've never used a calculator like this for anything but curiosity, but based on my times for various events last year the thing matches up well. Only that mile really throws it off. This 8k is a little off too. Maybe good things are coming.

What's green and awesome?

When I was talking about moving in to a new home with new roommates there were people that said I was silly. It was time to go from one roommate to none they implied. It was time to strike out on my own and find my own way. I admire and support independence, yet, I resisted. At the time, I thought it was a general resistance to change, but now I've come to believe that I understood something about me that I couldn't verbalize.

That something: Pickle jokes.

What's green and goes slam, slam, slam, slam?
A four-door pickle.

Not pickle jokes specifically, but the joy that comes from having someone there to laugh at pickle jokes. So much of day to day life ends up being about separation. Everybody has their own screen to watch their own shows or do their own work. In this big city, we pass by people without greeting because the greetings become too numerous or an invitation to unwanted attention. Even in a full world, community can be as hard to come by as parking.

Roommates are community. They'll sing commercial jingles on request. They'll make up religions or talk in the slow drawl of an unfamiliar America. They do this because time and triumph has accumulated. At first, it may have been a shared support of a team on Amazing Race or a book review. Then came the snow that wouldn't stop and then the Winter Olympics and Apolo Ohno-related screaming. It was trying new things in the kitchen- beef wellington, chopping the frickin' garlic, or the infamous melk turt through a straw. The victories would not win wars, the setbacks did not crush souls, and always their paths crossed unloading the dishwasher, watching TV, or calling it a night. Chatter turned to conversation; conversation turned to silliness; silliness turned serious; serious turned to reality. Television. And regular old reality. Still they were there. Floating in the brine of a three story town house, co-existing at unusual angles with too many futons.

What is green and awesome? Pickles. Roommates.

Some days happiness is so simple

My plan worked perfectly. If I announced to people that a group would be out throwing the disc, then people were bound to show up and throw, right? I didn't actually know for sure, but I was hoping and it worked today. It was a little chilly. The wind was blowing, sometimes even gusting, but people were throwing. I didn't need to be there. For a moment I wondered if I was even welcome. Throwing becomes a lot like practice when coach shows up. It's a bit like the boss ruining happy hour. I tried to blend in and stay quiet.

The numbers dwindled. Then there were four of us. Two pairs throwing as the light broke through the clouds for a bit and shone down on the lawn to be. At first, I just threw with my partner. She's been playing Ultimate for a semester, is fast, has good defensive instincts or at least a great reaction time and really seems into the game. She was throwing up wind and struggling some. I couldn't just sit quietly by any more. I started to to try to offer some tips that might help her throw, particularly in the wind. She took them and adjusted almost immediately. The results were startling. Within half an hour, we'd easily added ten yards to her forehand and backhand. Her throws looked smoother, flatter, and like an Ultimate player's. The evolution was so fast and made me so proud. We worked a little on her footwork and she was absorbing tips like a sponge. I tried not to get too giddy, but the reason that I keep showing up washed over me as the sun ducked back behind the clouds. Helping somebody get better at something is an awesome feeling. I don't know that I could have such an immediate impact on others, but I wonder if I need to find time for more individual attention for everyone. It might be worth it. Today, it was worth it many times over.

Animal, vegetable, protein powder

My new nutrition plan, my new culinary exploration, my new grocery shopping on the edges of the store, my new eating experiment near the month mark. In some ways it is coming easier. I turned out a meatloaf-like meal last night without a second thought. I continue to use items that I'd never even heard of before in large quantities. Flax meal is like candy. Egg whites are liquid candy. Man, I like candy.

I dig what I'm eating. I feel good about the meals I'm making. They taste right and healthy. I feel good and strong. I'm working at it, sometimes multiple hours an evening. I know there is room for improvement, but I sense that the fruits, the vegetables, and the real stuffs that I ingest are way better than my previous canned existence. I'd like to explain this feeling in grand terms, but I am unable. Just last month, I continued to feel like what I was cramming in my mouth was wrong. It was sustaining me. It was filling me up. I just felt like I needed to do better. I don't know where that sense came from, but it was repetitive and gnawed at me. Now, better is what I'm eating. I've found it and that's awesome. I've had to go out of my comfort zone to do it. It has taken planning. It has taken a bigger chunk from my wallet. It has taken blending, chopping, slicing, and some humility as I've had to admit that I don't really know my way around the kitchen at all.

Globally, internally, it feels good. This inner glow breaks down in two important ways. First, I get really hungry. There's no way I'm not getting the calories I need, but I still crave food. I'm eating more meals, more complete meals than ever before and hunger still strikes like a baseball bat to the back of the knees. I think hunger is more mental than I'd previously realized. That hasn't helped me control it yet, but I'm going to start working on it. The second breakdown is with sugar. When I eat sweets, I lose my mind. Sugar tastes like magic. It makes my tastebuds do the triple jump and follow that up with a hundred meter dash. I want to grab handfuls of it and rub it languidly in my beard like I'm in a sugar shampoo commercial.

Those feelings are really hard to control. For now, I'll continue to sugar shampoo and host track meets in my mouth, but I hope to master these feelings and the hunger soon. If I can do that and sustain my momentum, I will be doing well in the next month.

The last two top ten lists

I've been putting this off, but I think it's time to finish what I've started. The first of the last top ten lists is a dedication from Nerds vs. Dorks which I'm grateful for because I am struggling mightily.

The final top ten list is a list of career moments/events in the last decade. I've had this list since the beginning, but I'm a little reluctant to admit that I have a job, let alone a career.

10. Extending my temp job
9. Allocation
8. Having an office built around me
7. Working as a ski lift operator
6. The PM revision
5. Surviving
4. Getting hired
3. Helping people help people
2. Getting a promotion
1. Getting vested

That's it. We're moving on to the next decade.

A list of things I've done today
I haven't been to work in 3.5 days. The list of things I'm doing to occupy my time has started to get more interesting. I have
-re-threaded a drawstring in a pair of shorts using a safety pin, but not very effectively.
-sewn on a button.
-made my own hummus.
-cooked chicken.
-made a blueberry protein shake for now and one for later.
-made (poured maple syrup on) sugar on snow.
-made quinoa.
-shopped for a camera.
-watched the final episodes of the mini-series Tin Man starring Zooey Deschanel.
-shoveled snow.
-washed dishes.
-written a blog post and a list (in progress).

It's not even 6; the garlic in the hummus is stinging the upper part of my mouth, there's a book of short stories calling my name (rather softly), a workout, and high winds still to come.

and I feel fine

There's a low constant hum that covers multiple city blocks. It's like a heater struggling to start, or a snow-blower running low on fuel. The euphoria of Saturday when snowball fights reigned and passing neighbors smiled in amusement has been replaced by a white-grey dread. People no longer bound out of doors and down the middle of the street bending to form a snowball or a ready-made sno-cone. Now they trudge. They've bundled a little tighter. The bright colors of winter wear seem a little muted. Playing in 20 inches of snow with the hope of missing work dancing on the falling flakes is replaced by shoveling 10 more inches with the flakes flying horizontally. The weather and the city's accompanying emotion have gone from Lady Ga-Ga inspired party dress to the long walk of shame home. That walk seems to grow longer with each hour. The questions of where will we put the snow? and what do you mean the snow plows have stopped due to dangerous conditions? don't seem to be real. How can they be?

We still have power. Others have lost theirs. At the risk of being too dramatic, I can't help but wonder how fragile we are. I can't help but think about global warming either. Could this be a harbinger of things to come?

I read the newspaper stories about young neighbors taking care of their older neighbors and I talk to my friends who have shoveled driveways and pushed cars out of snow drifts. The spirit of community rises in these situations. Could this too be a harbinger of things to come? It seems just as likely.

Super Bowl commercials

Once again I'm late to the Super Bowl commercial reviewing party. Heck, John was reviewing them live. I've read a few reviews, given it some thought and decided only a few are even worth mentioning. I may be getting old and crusty, but this year's crop of commercials was pretty sad. The jokes weren't funny. The sex wasn't sexy. The animals were kind of weird and the babies were a bunch of milkaholics. What gives? Further, why did so many ads with similar themes/gimmicks air together? Bad luck?

-The Tim Tebow ad was nothing. This commercial has defeated us because it entered the conversation long before it aired. I bet 75% of the audience would have missed it had we not heard about it for a week. Too bad, so sad. public relations-1, personal politics- 0.

-The Google ad was quaint, quiet, engaging, interesting and darn good. Google is verb. Google is life.

-My favorite commercial was the Kia Sorento ad. I haven't seen this ad on any of the lists. Dude. This ad had a sock monkey on a jet-ski. It had a robot doing the robot on the dance floor. It had the toys in a slow-motion Reservoir Dogs walk. If toys think the Kia Sorento is cool, then it must be cool.

Wait. Am I being sarcastic? Yes, but I still really liked the ad.

Doritos? Bud Light? The Hangover on wheels with a whale? Whatever. Until $2.5 million brings us together again next year...

6 more weeks of winter

I'm lucky to be alive. I've taken up a nutrition plan and therefore cooking that involves more than a can and a skillet. This is all well and good and time consuming, but it means that I'm putting knives to use like never before. I am not properly trained in knives. In the last 10 days this has not been more evident than while attacking an avocado last night. Compounded by my lack of patience to achieve the proper soft ripened green mass, I recklessly attacked a poor avocado. The thing about an unripe avocado is that it is far from defenseless. What it lacks in technical ability it more than makes up for in hardness. I peeled and I poked. I sliced and I chopped in a near fruitless effort, all the while narrowly avoiding slicing, dicing, and generally ginsu-ing my own fingers down to the bone or perhaps beyond. Today at work I touched skin that had obviously been cut, but hadn't bled.

After a long struggle with an avocado and the laughs of my flatmates, I finally gave in and tossed my guacamole to be in the blender. It chopped most into a fine green mess, but some avocado chunk remained. The recipe did say to leave some chunks for texture. What says texture like 1/4 of an avocado uncut by the spinning blade of a blender?

More kitchen adventures to come.

Trying on a different life

I'm listening to somebody else's records in somebody else's home. Somebody else isn't here, but I'm settling in. I went to the books first and scanned the shelves. I looked for the books I'd read and the books I want to read. I looked for a connection to my interests, then I looked for a pattern. My efforts were not so concentrated as they sound, but as I scanned the shelves I tried to put together this person that I didn't know. How was she like me? She had "Men are from Mars.." How was she different? Dorothy Parker, financial success for women, feminism, I soon lost track. This was not my literary double. With my head tilted, I then scanned the titles for books that I wanted to skim. I found "Why Men Love Bitches."

I switched from Zeppelin to Supertramp.

At first the records seem more accessible than the books. Perhaps, this is a function of their weight and the commitment they require. Why Men Love Records? Unable to focus, I moved to the DVD collection, but found nothing that I needed now, certainly not "Bridget Jones' Diary". v. much no, thank you.

Supertramp turns to Bruce Springsteen.

I made another lap around the house, arms tucked behind me like a speed skater, though my walk and my eye were more like those of the art student. I studied the pictures and paintings, the candles and saucers on the mantle, the clutter of existence. Every object told a piece of story I didn't know. One wall hanging held my eye. The top was a vibrant red hand print on a black background. On an Indian tablet below the precise lettering of an elementary school student proudly proclaimed the recess skills that every child wanted. The confidence of the young student echoed in the confidence of the thick wooden frame.

Springsteen became Aretha Franklin.

I returned to the records and pored over them. I feel like a man lost in another time. I have nostalgia for a life I haven't led. My studies again follow a similar trajectory as I look for the intersection of familiar and interesting. The familiar are less widespread when I realize that my reference point for record collections is my parents'. A few records overlap, but much of this collection veers closer to the days of CD, or at least cassette tape. I begin to pull records from the shelf. The other records close the gap and I lose track of the exact location. I'll slide the sleeves back in as best I can and hope my host is not like Rob of "High Fidelity" organizing and re-organizing the collection by major life events.

I open the sleeve and pour the black grooved disc out. It feels so delicate. The delicacy is compounded by the fear of damaging someone else's property. Has age made records more brittle? I suspect they've always been brittle and delicate, that's why my dad severely limited my handling privileges. Holding my breath, I move the needle without shaking or scratching. The record spins on and then crackles to a start. There's something violent and satisfying about starting a record and finding a groove.

Then it stops.

More Aretha.

A bit of catching up, sans the final top tens

The time between 12/31/09 and 1/1/10

Escorted like the privileged class, dining on cupcakes, and sipping champagne, we waited on the eleventh floor for the ball to drop. We were a party of seven pressed against the windows. Parties of more or fewer calmly raged to the right and to the left and in the conference room and down below. The famous ball of the square of time that marks the passage of another Seacrest/Clark moment was but a nose-press and a glance away. When the countdown came and the fireworks spewed in our general direction and then right at us, the ball began its descending wave to nine before disappearing in a cloud of ten. Saliva was exchanged in a passionate plea to the universe to improve. Ten could make us better and brighter, but for now only the remnants of lip balm and its oddly shaped headgear advertising remained.

The bag tax
My fair city has passed a law. I'm sure they do this all the time, like it's their job. This law is different. This law has had an immediate positive impact on my day to day life. Washington DC has made plastic bags five cents. Some folks are flipping out. The paper detailed the story of a woman who drives to a state next door (where they pay a higher food tax) to avoid the fee. It makes no sense. I've been known to make no sense, but this time, I'm relishing the bag tax. It encourages behavior that I support in a way that isn't completely prohibitive. The best part, however, was the immediate culture shift of my grocery store checkers. Instead of immediately cramming my food into a plastic bag, they now turn to me to ask if I have bags or if I'm willing to pay the five cents. I am no longer stuck stuttering with my re-usable bag in my hand while a checker buries my food in plastic.

There are challenges. I don't usually have my bag when I go for lunch time take-out. The produce bags are five cents. I try to get by without them and I wonder if there is a suitable alternative. The morning paper (as if there was an evening one anymore?) comes in a bag adding a cost to an industry that could probably do without losing its last eight subscribers. I'm ok with all of this. Grocers are reporting bag use has been cut in half. The five cents on that half go toward cleaning up the muck in the Anacostia River. I'm lovin' it.

Lost in the aisles
While I'm thinking of the market, I should mention my most recent shopping experience. I'm working to improve my nutrition and I've found a plan that seems pretty reasonable, though not without its bumps in the road. My first challenge was grocery shopping. I took the pre-made list to the store and quickly realized that I couldn't find anything. I was cruising the outside of the store rather than the processed food haven I've come to count on. Life outside of the can is far different. I wandered wide-eyed and bordering on frantic as I searched and found quinoa, but failed to find steel cut oats or oat bran. I spent more time buying fruit and vegetables than I usually spend at the store. I won't even begin to discuss the challenges I've faced in the kitchen.

That'll have to do for now. I still want to write, but I find that I want to do a lot lately.

Top 10 lists continued

Top 10 movies
1. Lost in Translation
2. Bend it Like Beckham
3. Lord of the Rings
4. Love Actually
5. The Notebook
6. Once
7. Walk the Line
8. Spirit of the Marathon
9. The Family Man
10. Mulholland Dr.

Top 10 (non-Ultimate) trips
10. Providence,RI
9. Boston, MA for Marathon spectating
8. San Francisco, CA
7. New Orleans, LA- first work trip
6. Door County, WI
5. Hays, KS
4. Iceland/Norway
3. Grand Canyon- hike
2. Grand Canyon- mule
1. Paris

Top 10 Ultimate trips (maybe? I'm mixing trips and tournaments here)
1. Columbia to Sectionals, Dallas, TX in an RV
2. DC to Edinboro, PA- Something Frozen, met CUA
3. Columbia to St. Louis, MO- First tournament
4. Winter Park St. Louis to Baton Rouge, LA- Mardi Gras
5. DC to Atlanta, GA (including the panic attack at Arby's)
6. KC to Fayetteville, AR- Harvest Moon
7. Winter Park to Lawrence, KS for Fool's Fest
7. Columbus to Cleveland, OH- No Surf
8. Columbus to Washington, DC- Choptank
9. DC to Boston, MA for ? Invite (which I didn't actually play in, but I was on the roster)
10. DC to Wildwood, NJ and back in many years including the Kelly Clarkson performance and the Jersey cop experience

I'm interrupting my top 10s to bring you the straight lists from 2009.

Movies I saw in 2009
1. Run Fat boy Run
2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3. Tropic Thunder
4. Outsourced
5. Hamlet 2
6. The Dark Knight
7. 10 items or less
8. Cooley High
9. In Bruges
10. Brian's Song
11. Calendar Girls
12. Love and Other Disasters
13. Taken
14. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
15. Get Smart
16. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
17. Bella (sort of)
18. Coraline
19. Employee of the Month
20. The Watchmen
21. Just Friends
22. Much ado about nothing
23. Baby Mamma
24. Now we know
25. Chalk
26. National Treasure: Book of Secrets
27. Milk
28. Adventureland
29. Waiting for Guffman
30. Sweeney Todd
31. Pineapple Express
32. Happy Go Lucky
33. Frost/Nixon
34. Up
35. Ghost Town
36. The House Bunny
37. Star Trek
38. Bedtime Stories
39. WordPlay
40. The Proposal
41. Passengers
42. The Wrestler
43. Happy Accents
44. Last Chance Harvey
45. Fanboys
46. 500 Days of Summer
47. How about you
48. Henry Poole is here
49. The Time Traveler's Wife
50. Doubt
51. 17 Again
52. The Savages
53. Die Hard: Live Free or Die
54. Whip it
55. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
56. Valkyrie
57. Bigger, Stronger, Faster
58. Eastern Promises
59. I Love You Man
60. Defiance
61. An Education
62. The Hangover
63. Away we go
64. Up in the Air
65. Sherlock Holmes
66. The Informant

Books I read in 2009
1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and other Jazz Age Stories (started in '08)
2. The Five Dysfunctions of Team
3. The Hand of Fate
4. Tell no one
5. I love you, Beth Cooper
6. Drop Shot
7. The Woods
8-10. 28 Barbary Lane
11. Watchmen
12. Small is Possible: Life in a local economy
13-15. Back to Barbary Lane
16. Change your questions, Change your life
17. Soul Thief
18. Blindness
19. There's no Place Like Here
20. The Road
21. The Accidental Tourist
22. Sway- The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
23. Schulz and Peanuts
24. The Last Lecture
25. Time Traveler's Wife (re-read)
26. Eavesdropping
27. Her Fearful Symmetry
28. Juliet, Naked
29. Dead Sleep
30. Possibly Strongly Opposed (online)
31. Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress
32. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
33. Micromessaging
34. Dara Torres: Age is just a number
35. The Inheritance of Loss
36. Run Fast