Chilly, spending madness
A cool front blew through this weekend. This morning it was in the upper 40’s brrrr.. Of course this doesn’t compare to the one to two feet of snow our former stomping grounds received. I saw many Facebook comments ranging from “Love the snow” to “This f’ing sucks” Let’s just say both Ali and were quite glad to be in SW Florida this weekend instead of SE PA.
So after work Friday I picked up my mom. She agreed to come help us with the race we had to time Saturday morning. When I woke her out of bed before 5 am Saturday morning I don’t think she was real happy with her decision.
It was cool by south Florida standards with temps in the lower 60’s with a steady wind. By the way mom and Ali reacted you would think we were in Canada. Both of them were very cold once we got to the race site, even with dressing in warm clothes they were both freezing.
I told mom we could use her help but I did not have a specific duty pegged for her initially since we never know exactly how many volunteers are going to show up. Well the race organizer for this race is also a track coach so he enlisted a lot of kids to help. For a little while mom was just sort of hanging out until I found a good niche for her which wound up being the go between for the day of registration table and Ali who was doing the data entry. I introduced mom to a bunch of people from the running club and she was talking to a few of them which I was happy to see. I think it’s good for her to get her into more circles of people than just the old ladies at the pool.
Ali originally had planned to not run this race since it is a hill course. Ali has attributed some knee issues she had in the past to running inclines. Well when her two running buddies showed up at the race it was enough to change Ali’s mind last minute. I took over data entry with about 15 minutes to go.
This was a 5 mile race so I had plenty of time to get the timing equipment up and running. Mom sat with me at the finish line as the runners started to cross. She found it interesting watching the variety of people cross the line spanning many ages, running styles and quirks. The timing went flawlessly. The only issues I had were some last minute changes to the awards and some woman that won her division that somehow was registered as a man. Luckily I am familiar enough with the new timing software to be able to handle most issues like that quickly. It is also a good thing that we are on the new software because to correct some of those same problems quickly with our old software package would have been a nightmare. Ali turned in a fantastic time for the run, especially considering the course had 17 hills. I am really impressed with how far she has come with her running in a relatively short period of time.
I had a very awkward/embarrassing moment after the race. The race director made a request for me to make a last minute change to the awards like I mentioned. He was thrilled I was able to accommodate him so quickly and unexpectedly threw out his hand for a handshake .
Jeremy is well aware of my handshake dilemma. What is the dilemma you ask? Well let me try to explain. I have a real problem determining what handshake method a potential shaker is going for. I have always done almost exclusively the traditional, thumb at 90 degree variety. When someone comes at me looking for any other sort of hand interaction it throws me for a loop.
Well like I said the race directors handshake was unexpected and I didn’t glance down to see what type of handshake he was going for. I guessed it was the cool, thumbs at 45 degree angle variety, a method I am not very good at. I guessed wrong, he was shooting for a conventional shake. Our hands collided awkwardly and I quickly tried to readjust but it was to no avail. First my fingers were clenching his palm and then it migrated into a weird wrist grab. It was embarrassed by the incident and said “Your welcome” as I jogged away, acting like I had something urgent to attend to. So the lesson here is if you meet me, just stick out a fist so we can bump, it’s way easier.
On the way home both mom and Ali were hungry and I wanted coffee so we stopped at Dunkin Donuts. We got home later than normal for a race so we were a bit worried about the dogs but there were no disasters waiting for us, yay. I immediately dug into my various post race duties like transferring the data to our home network, updating the club web site with the results and putting the various equipment away. After icing her knee, Ali quickly retreated to the bedroom for a nap. Mom laid down as well. I decided to go napless as usual.
I headed outside and worked on a number of projects with the dogs as my companions. I kept busy for a few hours while the women rested although Mom was doing more resting than napping. I took a cute picture of Sadie sleeping on the bed with mom.
Once everyone was up we got ready to go out for a belated combo birthday dinner, late for me (16th), early for Ali (22nd). We went to Carraba’s but instead of going to my favorite location in Naples, mom suggested we go to the one in Bonita since we were dropping her off after dinner. (Mom always is thinking of the way we can unload her the fastest)
When we pulled into the parking lot there were NO SPACES at all. I fully assumed we would be waiting forever to sit. The only hope I had was Carraba’s shared it’s parking with the next door Outback, perhaps this is normal?
So after parking in the IHOP parking lot a few hundred yards away I headed inside and met up with Mom and Ali who I dropped off at the door. I was pleased when I saw there were not a ton of people waiting and even happier when Ali said the projected wait was only 20 minutes. We arrived around 6 so we had a full hour of happy hour 2 for 1 drinks which I liked. I took advantage by drinking four Miller Lites in rather rapid manner, I was feeling a bit happy.
While we were waiting I decided to snap some action shots for Facebook. i think this one turned out the best. It’s not easy shooting quality pics with the 3G’s shitty camera in low light.
One of the things I don’t like about this particular Carraba’s beside the cookie cutter layout that all of the newer locations use is the number system they use for people waiting. I much prefer when you are handed one of those devices that vibrate and flash when your table is ready. For some reason this location instead hands you a piece of paper with a number on it. This requires you to constantly keep tabs on the LED on the wall, waiting for your number to flash up there. It annoys me enough to make me not want to go to any place that uses such a system.
Our wait was probably closer to 30 minutes instead of 20 but it was fine, I didn’t mind hanging out while I did some people watching. We sat down and were greeted by a nice kid waiter named Mitch. He was polite, attentive and friendly, which is everything you want. Since it was a birthday meal I went extra crazy and besides the bread and minestrone I normally eat, I also ordered a calamari appetizer that mom and I munched on. By the time the main course arrived I wasn’t very hungry at all, half of the meal came home with me in a box.
We didn’t opt for the birthday person spectacle where all of the wait staff comes over and sings, preferring to keep Ali and my birthday a secret. To be honest I didn’t even really think of it until we were in the middle of our meal. We all enjoyed our meal and we headed out to drop mom off. Mom said she actually had fun helping with the race which I was happy to hear. Hopefully we can have her tag along for some of our other races. We told mom we would see her again soon, Thursday to be exact for her Christmas visit.
Sunday morning Ali opted to skip spinning because she had so much to do. I had to laugh when I came back to the bedroom to find her buried back under the covers. 🙂 I headed outside into the brisk air to knock out a few to do’s. Once of them was to start up the Moto Guzzi to let it run for awhile. I had tried to start it on Saturday afternoon but the battery was too low to crank it for very long. I charged the battery and then tried to start it again Sunday.
The bike started up but it didn’t want to stay running without my baby sitting the throttle. I used the cruise control to keep the rpm’s up above a non-stalling level. I let the bike run for a good 15 minutes. I want to try to run the bike every week to prevent the carbs from getting gunked up. My dad put a lot of work into getting it running again, I want to make sure it stays in that condition.
After finishing up outside I headed inside to work on a few things. Ali had started in the kitchen on Christmas cookies. It was the start of what would be a very long day in the kitchen for her. She made the cookies, banana bread and made the dogs vegetables. She was in the kitchen for hours.
The Eagles game was bumped back to 4:15 because of the snow from Saturday. The Eagles have been on a surprising hot streak lately. What a far way they have come since losing to the Raiders, the low point of the season. They have put together a 6 game win streak that has them sitting pretty. I would have NEVER figured they would be 10-4 in week 14, never. They took care of the Niners relatively easy. If they win next week against the Broncos it could set up an awesome final game against the hated Cowboys.
Wow did you see the end of the Steelers/Packers game? Wow the Steelers caught every break possible during that final drive and the catch to win it with time expiring was reminiscent to the Super Bowl last year. Could it be the spark that saves the Steelers season? I doubt it.
Over the weekend I dug into a couple of my new Wii titles, Wii Sports Resort and Punch Out. I like both of the titles a lot. I was able to get to Great Tiger in Punch Out before I took my first loss. I am using Wii mode instead of traditional controller mode which I may do better at. I haven’t tried all of the games in Wii Sports resort yet but so far my hands down favorite new event is Ping Pong. The realism of the movement is fantastic. You have the ability to put vicious top spin and back spin on your shots which I LOVE. I have to dig into Wii Fit Plus yet.
On Sunday while I was at the store getting cookie ingredients for Ali I went on a mad gift card buying spree. This is the normal pattern for Christmas shopping for me. Once you are in the final stretch before Christmas there is little to no logical thoughts about the dollars that are spent, I just want the task of Christmas present buying to be COMPLETE, just like my infamous weekend to-do lists. We are practically done, all that remains is one more purchase.
I am looking forward to my short week followed by 6 days off. During the time off I am hoping to erect a pull up station in my backyard. I have ambitions of hosting the first annual 300 challenge in January on my property. It’s always good to have a home field advantage.