Recharging in Chi-Town

After the insanity of last finals week, and the incredible unhappiness of the whole situation, I vowed not to stay around here and go nuts this finals week. So on Thursday afternoon, I packed my bags and headed out to Dulles, destined for Chicago. Fortunately, Southwest didn't give me the royal screwjob that JetBlue tends to, so I took off on time and landed early at Midway. After an hours worth of catching up on my work, I was met by Marie, and headed off to Costco.

Now, I love Costco, and I have been on some epic Costco trips (both with JTT, and with Mike and Caxton) but I think I may have met my match in Marie (in yet another way...). However, while my problem is attacking everything on a sample stand like I haven't eaten in weeks, Marie's weakness is planning. She'll see something (in this case, a wine opener and Tupperware for muffins) and decide that she REALLY needs this. My job is to be the Jewish angel on her shoulder and remind her that we already have a wine opener (though we did need muffin Tupperware). However, I was overmatched when it came to $4.99 DVDs, especially seeing as I saw them first. On the plus side, I now own 2 more Mel Brooks movies and Walk the Line.

The rest of Thursday night was spent in the company of two of Marie's best friends, who brought over pasta, and hung out with me while Marie was engaged in an impromptu phone interview. Impressively, I managed to stay relatively quiet throughout. Also, I learned that sugarcane liquor, bar syrup, grapefruit juice, and ice makes quite the combination. This would be my second drink to name (First one: Vanilla Rum with Cranberry-Raspberry juice= a White Stripe), but I have no thoughts. Anyone?

Friday, I got up nice and late, which is something I haven't been accustomed to around here. Made Cajun-style Catfish with Red Beans and Rice for lunch. I'd like to point out that the packaging on the RB&R described their product as "saucy." Now THAT just sounds naughty. Marie was recruited to play IM soccer for her MA program team, and I've become their unofficial ringer. So we faced off against the IM Indoor Champions, and were doing fine, at least till the lights on the field all went off. This led to a 15 minute blackout break, in which we mostly just stood around and chilled out until Athletic Services got around to turning the lights back on. Unfortunately, our momentum had been sapped, and we went on to lose by a solid amount. This was soon forgotten after a trip to the pub and to Goose Island.

Saturday was a day of lessons for both of us. The primary lesson was that forgetting that you Pam-ed a pan and left it on the burner will leave you with an entire apartment full of smoke. Marie also learned of my penchant for talking to the TV during hockey games, though its possible that she already knew that. Cafe Iberico for dinner, which needs to open a satellite restaurant here in DC, stat.

Needless to say (and especially with this kinda hindsight), this was exactly what I needed. What I probably didn't need to do was wait a month to post this, but at least it went up...

May all your hits be crits,
B