This Week in My News

In this week's episode we have diseases, parties, races, delays, in-flight emergencies, and more. Take your pick; we've got it all. It's been awhile since I've posted b/c, as some of you may know, I went back to the States to run the Philadelphia Marathon. Well, things didn't go as planned, but you'll soon find out enough about that.

Thursday's trip home was uneventful. I caught the bus at 7AM, barely, after I had to go back to the flat to pick up my passport. How stupid would that have been to get to the airport without it? Lucky me someone's always looking out for me, and not like some stranger with candy, either. At the airport I picked up a copy of some photography magazine, which turned out to be quite good. It's called "Practical Photography" and is at a level that I can understand, and it contains Photoshop tips as well. The flight was, well, okay.

Okay if you don't count the screaming kids (including the ones that kept rapping me on the head). One day I'm going to create N.K.A. (No Kids Airline), and everyone will fly it. Everyone except kids, that is. And to those that would complain, know this: I wouldn't pay to hang out at your daycare facility, and you wouldn't pay to bring your kids to my bar. Anyway, the flight was a bit late, and the Customs guy was an ass, asking us to form a single line where clearly a single line wouldn't fit, then he says to me, "Proceed." Who talks that way anymore?

It was great to be home and see Ozzy, and my friends. We went to the hash later that night. At least, we went to the bar, and it was a blast. Probably had a wee bit too much to drink, though, considering that my head cold had turned into a chest cold. Oh well. No worries. Between the tequila shot at My Brother's Place and the shot at The Flying Scotsman I was feeling quite good when we went home. Too bad I wasn't paying attention b/c we ended up in Vienna and nearly out of gas (the truck was even sputtering) when we rolled into a gas station. With a cop car parked there. Oops. Good thing Kristen was okay to drive. And the car was empty. Just in case.

Friday brought some well-deserved quiet time, and some Harry Potter movies (the first 2). I'll tell you all about those later. Then it was off to Jared's to see him and the family. And pick him up for happy hour at Dr. Dremo's. Good food, and good friends, make for good times. Try the fish wrap. Skip the salad.

Saturday I packed up my gear and left for Philly. It's not easy driving over in the States again. I'm not talking about the different sides of the car, or the road. I'm talking about the speed. I kept looking down and noticing I was doing over 90. Oops. The hotel appeared to be near nothing. Nothing except mile 7.5 of the race. No big deal. Until they lost one of my 3 reservations. But I kept my patience and ended up saving $70 on one of the rooms, and $30 on parking passes, AND I didn't have to check out of the hotel rooms until 3PM. That aughta teach the hotheads out there. Then it was off to find some dinner. The only place around was a Chili's nearby. Turned out to be a BIG mistake. First I agree to try and fit my family in a booth, which gets a bit crowded. Then we get stuck with a lousy waitress. This is quickly followed up by poor food. And how do they make it up to my mother? The send her a $75 gift certificate to Chili's. Why would you want to come back to a place that upset you? Really, what a load of rubbish. Maybe they'll get it right next time. Well, I excused myself early from dinner and went back to the hotel for some of the third Harry Potter movie and some much-needed sleep.

Sunday morning came quickly. Race day. A 2-mile walk finds Kristen and I at the race start, and at the end of the line for the port-a-jons. I knew I should have used the alley a mile back. Oh well, I make it through the line with a minute to spare, but can only make it as far as the 10-minute pace group when the gun goes off. As if it wasn't going to be hard enough to qualify for Boston without having to weave through traffic. Oh well. I felt okay for the first few mile, but I knew "okay" just wouldn't cut it, and by mile 13 I was fairly certain I didn't stand a chance. The cold had taken too much out of me. I came through the half-way mark about a minute down, so when mile 14 came up, which is right near the finish, I stopped. I'd rather be disappointed and able to walk than disappointed and on a stretcher. There's always tomorrow (it's a figure of speech, folks, it'll be more like next year). After I gathered the family we went out for some Mexican (I needed some landscaping done) , food, that is, and then it was back to the cars to head home. It was great to see everyone, but it was also good to look forward to some relaxing in my own bed. Then we hit the traffic. Had I been paying attention I could have skirted it, but I was watching my rear view mirror making sure Kristen was keeping up. Oh well, it only delayed us about an hour and I pulled in to my house way past E on my gas gauge. But I was home. Well, sort of. Thursday night I had agreed to Vince to sell him the house. So it's only my house for a little while longer. But that's a good thing. And it was a good night.

I got to sleep in Monday morning, which was way nice. But when you're still on UK time sleeping in isn't much later than 9AM. I kept busy with some work while Kristen went out and started the shopping for the party that evening. Then it was time to prepare the food, ALL of it. Man can that girl shop. Good thing she enjoys it so much, AND hates me in the kitchen. Worked in my favor as I only had to pop in occasionally and taste something. It left me more time to play with my NEW camera! What fun! But what a complicated little device. It's going to be great learning how to use it. Twice the megapixels (8MP) as my last one, and at least twice the features.

The party was a blast. It was so good to see everyone, including people I hadn't seen since my beach trip in May. Then we ran out of beer. Seems my roommate and his mates had a bit more over the weekend than they originally thought. But of course, as always happens, the moment I sent someone to the store to buy some more to replace the keg, the party started to wind down. Oh well. Leftover beer isn't really a problem at my place, and neither is leftover food, though there wasn't much of that to worry about.

Tuesday, as usual, was a bit depressing. You're all alone, a bit hungover, preparing to head back to England, AND you're still a bit ill. So, what do you do? Well, have some wine, of course! And it works, until you get to the airport. It's hard enough getting through security sober let alone inebriated. And then your flight is delayed, while you're sitting on the plane. And then, a bit into the flight, you don't feel so well. In fact, you feel lousy. You're a bit under the weather, a bit dehydrated, a bit underfed, and a bit drunk. None of these things is good at 35,000 feet, where the air, AND your blood, is already thin. What happens next? I don't know. I passed out. Not fell asleep. PASSED...OUT. Well, that's already a bit embarrassing. Then they administer oxygen. And bananas. Good thing they were cute. Anyway, I spent the rest of the flight under the scrutiny of the flight attendants. Didn't get much sleep either.

The flight finally gets in Wednesday morning, over an hour late. I had already resigned myself to missing my bus, so when I made it, things seemed to be looking up. Until our driver turns out to have epilepsy. Well, not really. But I would've believed it the way he worked that bus. At one point he even stomped on the brakes so hard as to send me out of my seat and down the aisle (I was at the very back seat, which looks directly down the aisle). But at least he got me back to Cheltenham in one piece. I quickly made my way home, and into bed, where I remained until this morning. I did take a break or two to watch the third Star Wars film and grab some food, but that's about it.

Today I called in sick and have spent the day catching up on work and such. I also owe reviews on the first three Harry Potter films, the third Star Wars film, and "Bewitched" and "The Wedding Crashers" too. But I'll get to those later. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.