5 Things on a Friday: It’s Officially Christmas Season

I'm actually excited for Christmas this year.  I think that marks a certain amount of personal growth.

This is how I plan to commute to New York City this month.

5 Things on a Friday: Black Friday

Happy Black Friday, folks!  I assume you’ve got the day off, and I do, too.

Are we shopping yet?

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Thanksgiving, a day of family, friends, and joy and also, of course, a time to reflect on the blessings in our everyday lives.  This year in particular, I feel like I've been richly blessed.

I am thankful for:

Thanksgiving Notes and Memories

I had a dream this morning.  In it, I was taking a road trip with my grandparents, as I did innumerable times over my summers as a kid.  I woke, remembered that it was Thanksgiving, and thought about how much I wanted to talk to my grandparents.  I made a mental note to call them later.  I thought about this for several minutes before I remembered that my grandparents are gone, that they died several years ago, along with my parents and pretty much all of the rest of my family save my wife and my kids.

Sally, Hannah, & Emma at a New Hampshire wedding this past summer.

I rolled over and put my arms around my wife, let the light of early morning comfort me for the few minutes we had before it was time to get up.  Sally taught an early fitness class this morning, and I went with her and put in about forty-five minutes in the pool.  I can't say that I swam particularly well, but even mediocre swimming is often enough to put me back on an even emotional keel.  Such was the case this morning.

5 Things on a Friday: Black Friday Edition

It's Black Friday, and I don't mind telling you that I ate too much last night at dinner.  It was worth it.  We had tons of Sally's family over, along with Hannah's best friend and the best friend's mom.  That's a total of thirteen people!

With that many folks, I thought we might struggle to feed everyone.  However, we had a seventeen pound turkey, at least two full trays of stuffing (including one gluten free!), a whole roast pork loin, and tons and tons of other stuff.  We wound up eating much less than half of the food we prepared, but as Thanksgivings go, this was a good one.

Grill Your Turkey (Part 1): Brine

At this point, you will need a turkey.  I hope for your sake that it is already at least partially thawed.

We started thawing ours yesterday in a giant pot full of cold water, changing the water every two hours.  In roughly twenty-four hours, we got to a point where the turkey was ready for work, so I suppose that if you start right now you might still make it.  Granted, you're looking at a couple of midnight wake-ups to change your thawing water.  But I think it can be done with a bit of diligence and determination.

15 Reasons to be Thankful this Thanksgiving

1.  We’ve all got our health.
This was not a given.  I found myself in the hospital in August after a spider bite.  The back of my leg became infected with an antibiotic-resistant form of the streptococcus bacteria, and it took several rounds of antibiotics and four full days as an in-patient to clear it up.  Not fun.  But I’m better now, and I’ve been slowly but surely working my way back into form in anticipation of the coming triathlon season.

Sally and I are both over 40, and we’re both in good shape.  This puts us markedly ahead of where my parents were at our age, and I don’t take that lightly.

Thanksgiving Pics: 2013

Ten pounds of turkey, raw and in the pan.

Five Things on Thanksgiving

Five things I’m thankful for on Thanksgiving, 2013:

1.  My Wife.  

Sally is a beautiful woman, which is something that I’ve always found amazing.  I don’t think of myself as a particularly good-looking guy, but I am somehow married to this brick house of a woman, and it amazes me.  Every single day.  And, oh by the way, Sally also has a Master’s degree from Columbia University, and she teaches fitness classes at the local L.A. Fitness.  

I mean, seriously… what are the odds?