Full Metal Lunchbox

 
This is going to be a quick post because it's nearly midnight and I have to get up tomorrow morning to run Shamrock Shuffle.  I must admit that a small part of me had been hoping that oncoming thunderstorms would force cancellation of this event and thus cover up my complete lack of training these past few weeks--or even a simpe day-before warmup run.  But (sigh) looks like I have to go through with this one.  Wish me luck!

On a happier note, Denise and I have been living together for a week now, and we are getting along terrific.  Thanks to our new storage locker, Denise's ceaseless unpacking, and the reorganization of my closets, we have managed to comfortably fit us both in my tiny one bedroom apartment.  Amazingly we never trip on each other, and I'm really happy she's here!

As many of you know, Denise's moving here was a complicated affair that involved two separate flights to Minneapolis in one week, a broken car (left behind in MN), a police adventure in a redneck motel, a long rental truck drive, and lots of moving of boxes.  And somewhere in the process I caught a yucky cold.




Here is a picture of us at Melting Pot, where Denise took me for a surprise dinner the other night to celebrate our new jobs.  It was my first ever fondue experience!






Actually, Denise's move to Chicago and my yucky cold were only two of the three distractions that kept me from taining these past two weeks.  There was also three of us quitting Chase at the same time: me, Jay, and Mark.  Needless to say, there were lots of celebrations going on in a short period of time!





Here Mark says his special goodbye to Chase.  

Good luck Mark!  Good luck Chase!








Jay and I celebrated our departure from Chase with a party at Jak's Tap.  Our favorite former colleagues all came by to celebrate with us, but that didn't stop Jay and I from getting away for some self-congratulatory cigars.









Our friend Don Julio was also a big part of the celebration!









Denise kept an eye on me, helping me home when the cigar smoke and alcohol fumes finaly overcame me.





--

It's after midnight now and I'm still working on this blog entry.  I still have to fold laundry and get to bed soon so I can get up tomorrow and run that race I'm not ready for.

I was going to post my mp3 playlist for tomorrow, but the sound of Denise's electric toothbrush in the next room is reminding me that it's time for bed.

Good luck to everyone who is running, walking, or cheering tomorrow.  See you in the beer tent at the end of the finish chute!