U-S-A!! U-S-A!!

Didn't end the way I wanted it to, but fun nonetheless.  I will have an extreme dislike of Sidney Crosby from now on.

Spicy

Celebrating a weekend with no meet.  Love those malbecs, the spicier the better.

Knockout!

Since it was finally a nice day in Atlanta, we decided to have some fun at practice and end with a "knockout run" -- last runner to cross the line each lap is eliminated.  Fun for everyone, including those running it.  I think.

Live 75-85

I'm always in the mood to listen to Springsteen.  But some days I need to listen to Springsteen.  And the best way to listen to Springsteen is live and loud.  5 LPs of life-affirming rock.  Perfect.

NOLA

First time in New Orleans, and unfortunately it was about a 30 hour stay.  So I didn't manage to get everything in, but did make the most of my time there.  I'm posting several pictures in rough chronological order of the day.  I may add more of the food pictures later after my stomach has settled down.

Louis Armstrong

You know you've hit it big as a jazz musician when you have an airport named after you AND I've seen two statues of you within 35 minutes of landing in a town.

Short trip ...

means an easy packing job.

Antica Posta

Grilled octopus salad, osso buco, prosciutto, and maybe the first actual, authentic mozzarella from buffalo I've ever had ... so many animals, so good to eat.

Our Hero

Paul finally claimed his rightful spot among the Emory school record holders with an 8:38 3k, featuring a 2:48 final kilometer.  Afterwards our captain was poised to lead us into UAA battle!

Chez Dobrasz

Our esteemed chef prepared a wonderful buttermilk fried chicken, Australian smashed potatoes, and homemade ice cream

Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

Tommy lines up for the final rep of his day.  No one else had a workout, so it was just Tommy and some 1k's out on the track today.

Mine Field

Thanks to the snow and rain, the last few days on Atlanta roads have resembled an obstacle course.  This sinkhole in the Phidippides parking lot is a great example.  Matthew is happy to demonstrate how large/deep this sucker really is.

Early Mornings

Two straight long days at Emory means early wake-up calls.  The pay-off, though, is getting to go to New Orleans next week to see Becky and Ben.

Axis & Allies

Guys Night:  The Dork Edition

Bella's

Possibly my favorite pizza in Atlanta.

Snow Day!

So we got snow in Atlanta again ... and it was real snow!  Not sure how they managed to get THIS much snow, but I was impressed with the artistry.

Long Distance

This is what a school-record Distance Medley Relay looks like 1,000 miles away.

Consigliere

If Lydiard is the Godfather of distance running, then Vigil has to be his consigliere.  He's great because he has the educational background to back up his methods, because his runners are incredibly successful (only perfect score in NCAA Cross Country Championship history -- 4 second spread!), but most of all because he willingly shares everything he knows every chance he gets.

Roommate Advantages

A definite advantage of having a Nabisco sales rep as a roommate.  They can't compare to the real thing, but at 100 calories, who cares?

Driving in the ATL

The streets of Atlanta are always a bit of an adventure.  This gentleman makes a good example.  At this particular intersection there are two left-hand turn lanes, and nothing else.  Those lanes feed into a two-lane road.  I'm first in line on the right-most left-hand turn lane.  He is positioned to my right -- where there is no lane currently, and where there will be no lane once he makes the turn.  In 30 seconds he will be screaming at me because I don't let him in.  Bonus points for him 1) driving an H2, 2) having a goatee, 3) talking on his cell phone throughout this entire event.

To-do list

The last couple weeks the to-do list has pretty much just been getting longer.  But tonight I managed to make time to read some more of "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running," which, by the way, is really good.

Super Bowl

I was too lazy to make Super Nachos, so we opted instead for the Trader Joe's frozen-food-sampler-smorgasbord.  Not quite as good -- but good enough for sure.

Chick-fil-A's worst nightmare

and I must say they handled it beautifully.

Moonshot

Who says American ingenuity is dead?!  Caffeinated beer!  Just bizarre enough to try.  Not bad, either.  Special props to including 69 mg in honor of the moon landing.

New wine

Paired very nicely with Kettle Chips ... and I really liked the label.

KT Tape

This was the highlight of my day ...

Sequestered

Since I wasn't able to watch the season premiere of Lost from the beginning, I had to hide in my room while Jared watched it, and then watch it in full after it finished.

Another go-round

Today marks the start of February Album Writing Month ... 14 songs in 28 days.  Because of other obligations, etc. you'll note the pages are blank, but falling desperately behind schedule didn't stop me before and it won't now either.