Going the distance

I got up early this morning and ran nine miles, which, while I don't keep track, I'm certain is the farthest I've run at one time since college. Why would I do a silly thing like that? Because in May, I'm doing this.

Holiday Cheer

So over-indulgence was the theme this Christmas. Stuck around here to see how the Italians do Christmas; turns out, they eat. I was going to head up to Rome to try and catch Midnight Mass at the Vatican (we were going to have to stand in St. Peter's Square since we couldn't get tickets to get inside), but around noon on Christmas Eve my landlord came by and invited me up for dinner that night. So I scrapped the Rome plans (sorry, Pope) to go experience a nice Neapolitan Christmas Eve family dinner. You may have noticed that in my previous descriptions of eating with Antonio, Patrizia, and the family, that they tend to give me a lot of food and cause me to be in great physical pain by the time I leave to come back downstairs. This was no exception. Apparently seafood is the big Night Before Christmas here, so we ate it for three-and-a-half hours. It was great, but they just kept giving me more and more. I did make their night, though, when I brought up their presents (both from myself and from my parents). My parents are apparently trying to give them a lifetime sugar buzz--all kinds of good old-fashioned American sweets. I think my parents in that one fell swoop might have actually topped the amount of sugar that Antonio and family have given me over the last 18 months.

Christmas dinner was also quite good--I hosted a bunch of friends from work for dinner here after I realized how many of us were going to be around during the holiday (because nothing is sadder than eating a 10 lb. ham and drinking a bottle of wine by yourself). We had about 12 or 14 people stop in over the course of the night; I cooked up the aforementioned ham and some sweet potatoes, and everyone brought some great stuff to eat (and drink) (and drink and drink and drink). It was really a nice way to get together and spend the holiday in the absence of actual family (although actual family did have a good time talking to each other and playing with our new webcams on Christmas night).

Big business sucks

I just finished watching "The Smartest Guys in the Room," which is apparently a very famous documentary about the rise and fall of Enron. It made me throw up in my mouth repeatedly.

Also, the pomegranate should be renamed "crack fruit."

Merry Simulated Christmas!

"Laura" came down to visit this weekend before she went back to her family for Christmas, and we had a lovely time. Friday night we hosted our office Christmas party at my house, which was a lot of fun. I had the place all nice and decorated for Christmas, including a pretty decent-looking tree. (Unfortunately, the only way I know how to string lights is the super-anal-retentive way my dad does it, where he goes up and down every individual branch with the lights rather than just draping them around, which I tried but just didn't look right, so I needed 400 lights for a little 5-foot tall tree.) One of my co-workers and his wife brought some really good cheese, and when he told me at the end of the night that he was leaving the leftover cheese with me I assumed he just meant the stuff that was cut up on the serving plate. But no--I now have like four pounds of cheese in my refrigerator. Yum, yum.

Saturday we fixed my sink--it refused to drain properly. Poured Draino in there, took the plumbing apart, and finally had to go to Leroy Merlin (basically an Italian Home Depot, except that given the name it's probably not actually Italian) to buy some new pipes and some super European-style Draino, which got it working again. We also went downtown to Christmas Alley where they sell more Nativity sets than you've ever seen in your life. They also happen to be the largest (self-contained) Nativity sets you've ever seen in your life. Very impressive.

Yesterday we had "Simulated Christmas," since we weren't going to see each other on the actual day. It was very nice--got up, went to church, came back and had brunch, and then opened presents. I made out quite nicely: got some outstanding Italian cookbooks (which will serve me very well here, but even better in law school, I think, when the only Italian "cuisine" is at the Olive Garden) and a very nice, fashionable, trendy European-style zipper cardigan. Good stuff. And then we had a nice dinner of Cornish game hen (my contribution), sauteed spinach, squash, and homemade cranberry sauce (all her contributions).

Follow me!

So this week I'm out of work (sort of--I went in at 4 and worked until 8 yesterday evening) to take the Navy's "Transition Assistance Program" class. This is basically a "how to get out of the military and survive" program, where they cover everything from how to write a resume to Veterans' Preference for jobs to how much wine the Navy will ship back for you. Yesterday we took the Meyers-Briggs personality assessment (I know the abbreviation is "MBTI," in which I think the TI stands for "Type Indicator," but I don't really feel like looking it up right now). Last time I took it was about 10 years ago, and I was an ENTJ, with a fairly weak E and a fairly week J. (If you want to know the types and what they mean, feel free to Google it; it's too involved to explain here. Besides, I get bored unless I talk about myself, so that's what I intend to do here.) Turns out this time I was a very strong ENTJ, with the E and J scores being much, much more pronounced than before. So it turns out (from www.personalitypage.com which is one of a thousand sites with the same info) that "ENTJs are natural born leaders. They live in a world of possibilities where they see all sorts challenges to be surmounted, and they want to be the ones responsible for surmounting them. They have a drive for leadership, which is well-served by their quickness to grasp complexities, their ability to absorb a large amount of impersonal information, and their quick and decisive judgments. They are "take charge" people." Apparently I'm the same type as MacArthur and Napolean. Who knew? Of course, the descriptions were all spot-on about the failings of this type. "They tend to complain a lot about comparatively small matters." "Little details can get lost in pursuing the big goals." Stuff like that. Apparently I'm also going to make an overbearing spouse and parent. Well, on the bright side, "The ENTJ has many gifts which make it possible for them to have a great deal of personal power, if they don't forget to remain balanced in their lives. The are assertive, innovative, long-range thinkers with an excellent ability to translate theories and possibilities into solid plans of action. They are usually tremendously forceful personalities, and have the tools to accomplish whatever goals they set out for."

Explain to me why this gets to be its own country?

Took a road trip this weekend to the Most Serene Republic of San Marino, which is a tiny little landlocked city in Italy, a little south of Venice on the east coast and about six miles from the water. It's a classic medieval city, built on a giant hill, with a palace and giant watchtowers and keeps and battlements and a billion shops selling crossbows and the whole nine yards. It was actually really interesting. There are no border formalities, but it is indeed it's own country, having maintained independence during the unification of Italy in 1880-something (you'd think I'd know that by now). One of the nice things is the lack of sales tax, meaning lots of great stuff like inexpensive leather and alcohol. But really, it was just great to walk around and explore it--the old city is very small, about the size of Montelpulciano (mentioned in a post September of this year, but I'm too lazy to link it right now). Highly recommended as a side trip if you happen to be in central Italy anytime soon.

Your Greatest Fantasy

Now that football season is about over, check out the folks at www.fantasycongress.org. Sheer genius. And if you really want to play, create an account and under leagues search for "The Centrist Beach Party." Click on it to join, and when it asks you for the password type in (of course), "Buffett." Keep in mind the lame duck session is just for practice, shits and grins. The real competition starts up with the swearing in of the 110th in January.

The Centrist Beach Party, of course, is the name of the third party I'm going to start up someday that's going to sweep candidates in all across the nation. Why? Because centrists get elected. And because everyone loves a beach party. Our slogan? "Just like you...only better."

Because I've gone insane

So I've been getting back into running and being healthy and all that sort of thing. I promised myself that if I was back up to doing 20 miles a week by the end of December that I would sign up for this, so since I am, I did.

Christmas shopping...

...is a pain in the butt. Went downtown yesterday, and it was an absolute madhouse. Managed to find a present for one of the three people I was looking for. On the bright side, I did buy a small nativity set for myself...about four inches in diameter, made out of handcarved wood with some moss sprinkled on and plastic figures hot glued on. And the best thing (which the seller didn't show me until after I bought it)--it has a button on the bottom you can press and it plays "Jingle Bells." Just what every nativity scene needs.