Weekly Update

What, you didn’t really think I’d forget again, did you?

So, this week in Carolina news…

First and foremost, I jumped the gun just the tiniest bit in declaring the bathroom done last week. See, everything was installed and painted at the time… I just hadn’t taken up the masking tape. Well, guess what? A bunch of white trim paint seeped under the tape in a whole slew of places. And since I just ran out of the custom brown color that is on the rest of the wall, guess what that means? Yep, that’s right! Another trip to Lowes to buy an entire gallon of a color I need maybe 10 milliliters of. As I said to Shelly that night, if I could detach that room from the rest of the house and set fire to it, I would.

This past weekend saw yet another trip to Charlotte, for the second-to-last Christmas function (the absolute last will be when we exchange presents with Matt and Martha). On Saturday night, we joined the Kudas for an evening of pizza and birthday cake. The pizza was from Little Caesar’s; I can’t remember the last time I had that. I renewed my reputation for hunting down elusive sticks in their backyard (don’t ask). We also played a rip-roarin’ game of Catch-Phrase; towards the end, Shelly looked at the board and, seeing her team had only moved one space the entire game, declared that the scoring system “just isn’t working!” All I can say is that my team of Emily and Julius worked just fine, given that we won…

This past Monday, in rare Fitness News for the two of us, Shelly and I joined Fitness World, a gym within walking distance. I was able, just barely, to complete 20 minutes of vigorous jogging, and boy, did I feel it the next day. Hopefully this will help me shed the embarrassing amount of weight I’ve picked up the last few months. Hopefully my body hasn’t forgotten just what this exercise stuff is all about. I did go again just tonight, and did much better this time around, though my euphoria was tempered by the total emasculation of having to carry Shelly's purse into the men's locker room to store it while we worked out.

One further, humorous caveat about that. Carola tried to talk me in to joining her gym (she, by coincidence, joined one Monday too). I declined, citing the convenience of Fitness World’s location. Later on, in a conversation with Denise, Carola pouted that I wouldn’t listen to her, to which Denise replied, obliviously, “No one wants to get sweaty with a coworker.” She soon lived to regret her unintentional double entendre, as Carola started cracking up and I tilted my head and rubbed my chin, as if pondering the possibilities. “Oh, God!” escaped her lips in an exasperated groan.

In upcoming events, Shelly and I’s Valentine’s Day getaway to Orlando is looming. We’ll be flying down there on the 13th (this is the second Friday the 13th I’ve flown since starting this blog!) and will spend a day at Sea World and have a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner with Shamoo. Nothing spells love like watching the antics of a large, carnivorous marine mammal while you eat, apparently. Kidding baby! You know I'm looking forward to it!

So, how's everyone liking the new season of Lost? We're really into it, though my hopes of a night of Lost with the Hawkins' were dashed earlier, as Shelly cancelled my impromptu plans with Erika. Hmph.

Anyway, back to Lost. I'm really not a big fan of ill-explained time travel, but I'm dealing with it, since it is useful in explaining some of the island's past. I am a little perturbed that Jin is somehow time traveling with everyone too, though. Think about it- he was on the freighter, all the way out in the ocean, when the island moved. Yes, I know things 'around' the island went along with it (hence, the Zodiak with Daniel and company), but the freighter was something like 20 miles away! The helicopter with Jack et al didn't go with the island, and it was practically on top of the thing!

Shelly and I have some theories- I'll white 'em out for any who might not want to see:

1. The girl from the Others in 1954 who was holding Daniel at gunpoint last episode is a young Eloise, who is going to turn out to be Daniel's mother.

2. Miles is going to turn out to be the son of the doctor from the Dharma Initiative orientation videos.

You heard it here first!

OK, that's about all for tonight. Hope everyone's doing well, and I'll be in touch again soon.