Everyday I Write the Book

It's a miserable day here in the Boston area. Tropical Storm Noel has dropped some rain and high winds on us, so it's a good day to stay inside. I used the opportunity to work on my NaNoWriMo book. I got about 1,500 words done today, for a total of nearly 4,700 in three days. Not bad for a guy who hasn't done this since the late '80s. Briggy's been doing it, too. Hope I can keep it going.

I've managed to go about a week without eating any candy (with the exception of gum, which I'm not counting because you don't actually eat gum). There is so much friggin' candy around here right now and it's extremely tempting, but I'm trying to hold out.

Speaking of candy, the girls gathered in yet another haul Wednesday night when we took them out trick-or-treating. It was a nice night, about 50 degrees and dry. We just hit four dead-end streets (including ours) in the neighborhood. It seems to be the night we meet or see all the neighbors that we wave to throughout the year.

Mmm...nougat:

• Real bummer of a story out of the U.S. Olympic marathon trials in New York, where top-ranked runner Ryan Shay collapsed and died today while running the race. He was only 28. No word on cause of death yet, but it's shocking because this guy was a truly elite athlete. Scary. It casts a pall over tomorrow's NYC Marathon, although the moving story of our friend Lauren was documented in a New Jersey newspaper. She's running New York tomorrow, a year after having to go through a double mastectomy. She's a great runner (she ran NYC in 2005 when I did and finished in 3:34) and I'm sure she'll kick butt tomorrow. [Post-script: Lauren finished in 3:31. Wow! Congrats to her.]
• With the Red Sox hangover pretty much over, everyone around here is gearing up for Super Bowl 41.5, aka the Patriots-Colts game tomorrow. Both teams are unbeaten and dominating opponents all over the league, so it should be a good one. My prediction: The Pats by 10-14 points. [Post-script: The Pats won, but only by 4 points. It was a classic nailbiter, as they trailed 20-10 going into the fourth quarter before Tom Brady rallied for two TDs to win it. Nice!]
• Ah, Dog, who's going to do the bounty hunting now that your show's off the air because you're a racist? Anyone got the number for Colt Seavers?