From the Floor Boards Up

Werd up. Just getting a quick post up early Friday morning as the girls enjoy the reopening of our guest room. Since my last post, the sheetrocking was finished and then the dudes came in and plastered both that room and the bathroom walls and ceiling on Columbus Day. Deb's brother Matt and his family will be coming for a visit this weekend, so we've got the room presentable. Deb painted the ceiling this week, but we'll wait until later to paint the walls.

I'm enjoying the best part of marathon training, which is known as the taper. I ran 22 miles last Sunday relatively pain free (just a little hamstring tightness) and now I'm cutting back on the mileage in the last three weeks to the race. Hoping to heal up a bit before the big day, but I don't feel too bad right now.

And boom goes the dynamite:

• So I had my 20th high school reunion last Saturday night up in Portsmouth. It rained like a mofo all the way up there. The turnout wasn't as good as the organizers had hoped; only 57 out of 100+ showed up. But it was a good time. I thought people looked surprisingly good; maybe the folks who didn't decided not to go. Deb spent the whole time hanging out with the husband of a classmate of mine, commisserating on their outsider status. The following day we went to the wedding of a friend and former coworker, which was held at a beautiful mansion in Manchester. A busy weekend.
• You know the world's a mess when the terrorists start going after the poor Smurfs.
• For Motley Crue, it's been the best of times, it's been the worst of times. They've had success on their reunion tour, but the band members have had a tough time of it. First Vince Neil tears a calf muscle on stage, now Tommy Lee almost gets blown up by the pyro.
• How would you like to go to a wedding and then find the band replaced by the original members of R.E.M.? Granted, it was one of their guitar techs who got married, so you knew the guys would be there, but still...
• Well, the NHL season is just over a week old and the changes have definitely generated a lot more offense. It's not like every game is a 7-6 barnburner, but the increased emphasis on calling penalties for obstruction have led to a lot of power play situations and better flow. Ironically, the higher number of penalties mean more stoppages in play, but generally, the games move along much quicker so far. We'll have to see if the officials keep calling penalties the same way all season, but I like what I see. I'm still not totally sold on the shootout, but the product is definitely better.
• The Red Sox and the Yankees are both gone from the MLB playoffs, which no doubt bums out just about everyone except the folks in Chicago, Anaheim, St. Louis and Houston (and anyone who's sick of the Sox and Yanks). The second round so far has been marked by a truly horrendous display of umpiring, as the White Sox were basically given a gift win in game 2 that evened the series instead of seeing them going down 2-0 to the Angels.