Festivus

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 10.5% BF

Reading: Medieval History: The Life and Death of a Civilization, by George F. Cantor. Verdict: awful, so far. It's a 60's-era college textbook; I got it at The Quadrant (coffeeshop & used bookstore), thinking it would be a good way to fill the gaps in my understanding of that time period. I just keep reading and going "that's not right!" or "what historian would say that?" Very Kennedy-era viewpoint -- if I read "rose to leadership" one more time I'm going to toss it out the window. I guess I'll put up with it, absorb the facts & see if my disagreements with the author won't at least sharpen and develop my own opinions.

Meantime, I also picked up Carpenter's Gothic by William Gaddis. Pretty good so far, but I'll probably put it down until I finish The Recognitions -- and that's been on hold until I get through Caesar's Civil Wars, which I finished today. By the way, something I didn't catch with Gaddis the first time around: he's actually pretty funny.

Hurting: I was going to go skiing this morning, but I woke up and my legs were killing me -- I did Janna's annual Christmas 5-Mile Run (or Bike) and Party, and I chose the "run" option. I've been running lately, but that's about double my typical distance. Better get used to it... (Went for a short ride on the singlespeed later in the afternoon, just to open up the legs a little.) I guess I did better than Brian though: he brought his bike for the event, fell on ice and apparently cracked a rib. I didn't stay too long after the run, even though Janna put on an incredible holiday meal, because their dog was really bothering me.

Went to Which Brew to say hi, also goodbye to one of the barmaids who got "a real job" and would be relocating to Philly. It was her last night on the job. Ran into another friend who poured out a tale of woe -- she got married in the summer to a much younger guy (another friend -- uh oh), and was now having serious "buyer's remorse," basically over maturity issues. This could be bad, could become several different kinds of ugly... all I'm looking for is a good time... so I went over to Porters' and then to Taco Bell (damn!).

One last thing: I posted some miscellaneous photos over at flickr.