Slipping (Into Something)

So here we are in October, a month I've always enjoyed. The temps get a little crisper and cooler, the colors change. The days start getting shorter, which isn't as enjoyable. The Halloween hype starts earlier every year; some folks had already decorated their homes a few weeks ago. I've always been a big fan of Halloween, too, especially when I used to go to Halloween parties. Putting together a good costume is fun. Nowadays, it's all about the girls, but my office hosts a Halloween party for the employees' kids, so I usually slap a costume together for that. Not sure what I'm going to do this year. As with most things, it's decided very last minute.

Fall also means the start of the NHL season, at least for me. The season starts this weekend with four games in Europe: The Lightning and Rangers play two in Prague, while the Senators and Penguins play two in Stockholm. Then the rest of the games start next Thursday. My fantasy hockey draft is tomorrow night. I'm prepared for the Leafs to suck especially hard this year; they've dumped a lot of salary and captain Mats Sundin still hasn't decided if he's coming back, so they're assuming he isn't (seriously, make up your friggin' mind already, pal). There's an argument that they should just tank the season in order to get a high draft pick again, but it's hard for me to root for my team to lose.

The baseball playoffs are poised to end in four sweeps: The Red Sox, Rays, Dodgers and Phillies are all up 2-0 in the best-of-5 series. I tried to stay up and watch the Sox last night, but I was so tired from the week, I only made it to the 7th inning or so. I feel bad for Cubs fans, who felt like this was their big chance to get back to the World Series; the Cubs have stumbled badly so far and Manny Ramirez has just been mashing the ball for LA.

Pass the cider:

• It may be 13 years too late, but OJ Simpson was finally found guilty. Well, it was for armed robbery and kidnapping of some sports memorabilia dealers he thought was ripping him off last year, but at least it's something. Geez, you'd think the guy would be satisfied with getting away with the crime of the century (last century, anyway) and just live a quiet life out of the limelight. Guess he just likes the attention. He'll get plenty of attention where he's going for the rest of his life.
• So, like a lot of people, we watched the Biden-Palin debate Thursday night and it wasn't the unmitigated disaster I expected. She didn't freeze in the headlights or say something too stupid, and he didn't have any gaffes or get in attack dog mode. Of course, she didn't answer a lot of questions, preferring to focus on getting her folksy "hockey mom" vibe going, all the while keeping a grin plastered on her face and peppering her responses with phrases like "doggone it" and "you betcha." Biden tried to portray himself as a man of the people who goes to Home Depot and the local gas station all the time, but I'm not sure if anyone bought it. But he did hammer away at McCain repeatedly, rather than attack Palin, and that was smart. Now the focus turns back to the people who are actually running for president.
• Happy birthday to Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham, who turned 59 yesterday. The man's a musical genius, but is seriously underrated in my opinion as both a songwriter and a guitarist.

Goodnight Bad Morning

Back home and chillin' on a Sunday night. After attending yet another successful birthday bash for my nephews (this one with a Star Wars theme) and consuming generous amounts of birthday cake, whoopie pies, candy, and Sam Adams Octoberfest (I think I found room for dinner, too), I got up early this morning and met Matt's buddy Joe for an 18-miler. It was cloudy and very muggy, but the rain held off. I saw several deer during the run, but fortunately no bears. I felt pretty good and we met up with Matt for the last two miles; he was finishing a 10-miler of his own. Joe's training for New York in early November, and Matt will likely do the half in Philly while I do the full marathon. Got cleaned up and we hit the road by 11:30. Amazingly, we made it through the entire four-hour trip without stopping for a single bathroom break. I don't think that's happened in a long, long time.

Last night, my good buddy OJ attended the Built to Spill/Dinosaur Jr./Meat Puppets show at the Orpheum. I had purchased the ticket a few months back, scoring second row center seats, and was very excited for the show, at least until I found out we'd be away for the weekend. Fortunately, I was able to find a good home for the ticket with OJ, and he says the show didn't disappoint. His review mentions the last time I saw BTS, which was in 2001 with him and Doobs about a week after 9/11. It was a great show and also a weird time to see a show. I also had a ticket to a blues fest featuring the great Buddy Guy at Harborlights (now the BankBoston Pavilion or something) on September 12, but it was postponed for a week or so. Hey, we had to do our part so the terrorists wouldn't win, right?

Pass the peas:

• Next up on the debate front is Thursday night's battle of the VP candidates. If nothing else, it should be good for a few laughs, between Palin's deer in the headlights act and Biden's tendency to put his foot in his mouth (seriously, that quote about FDR going on TV after the stock market crash in 1929 was classic).
• As for Palin, Tina Fey returned to SNL for another great opening sketch this week, although the real interview wasn't much different from the parody.
• Sad to hear of the death of Paul Newman this weekend at the age of 83 from cancer. He was a truly great actor in such classics as "The Hustler," "Cool Hand Luke" and "The Sting," but my favorite Newman role is in one of my favorite movies, "Slap Shot." Not to mention all the great charity work he did. He will be missed.

Walk It Off

Back to work tomorrow. Hey, it couldn't last forever. The last few days were pretty busy. After taking the girls up to see my mom Thursday, we went with Deb after dinner to an ice cream stand in Danvers that also has a driving range so I could hit a bucket of balls while the girls enjoyed some dessert. Friday, Deb was off to her workshop again and I took the girls over to a friend's house for a BBQ lunch/play date. The kids had a blast running around and me and the moms hung out all afternoon.

That evening, I ran the Derby Street Mile in Salem. I parked at my buddy Rick's condo complex about a mile from the start and we jogged over. The race went from the Salem Harbor power plant to the new waterfront hotel, with quarter-mile splits marked off. We started up front because we didn't want to get stuck behind any kids. All told, there were 347 runners. I wasn't really sure how I wanted to approach this race because I usually run much longer distances. I haven't run a timed mile since high school; the best time I can recall running was 6:15, back in 10th grade in Washington State. Of course, I was a scrawny little 125-pound puke in those days. Now I'm a good 30-35 pounds heavier. I was hoping for something around 6:30. I probably started too fast, but I knew that after a slight initial hill, there was a downhill and I could ease up a bit. I really started to feel strain even in my shoulders about halfway through. Rick passed me about then and I didn't try to keep up because he's waaaaaaay faster than me. I tried to keep up a good pace and stuck with the folks around me. As we closed in toward the finish I saw that I would finish under 6 minutes and just chugged in at 5:58. I was pretty spent at the end, but it would have been worse if I had really pushed it before the finish line. I exceeded my expectations, so I was happy. I ended up finishing 46th overall; Rick sped in at 5:37, good for 29th overall.

On Saturday, I had my company golf tournament at Sagamore Springs in Lynnfield. I stacked my foursome with some good players: Stevie Z and my old buddies Mike and Chris, the latter of whom is especially outstanding. We were seeded as the top team and didn't disappoint. Thanks to some massive drives from Chris and some nice shots from everyone else (including me on occasion), we finished with a 62, 8 under par. It was a best ball tournament, which took the pressure off me and even Steve to an extent. It was a great day out and we had fun with the whole thing. Chris also won the longest drive competition. Steve and I went out for a few beers afterward with everyone; Chris and Mike both had to take off right afterward. When I got home, Deb informed me that we were invited to a friend's house for a cookout, so we went over around 7 and stayed until about 10. After putting the kids to bed, both of us fell asleep in front of the tube.

All the eating and drinking and lateness didn't bode well for my long run this morning. I needed to do 17 miles, but wasn't able to get out the door until just before 10 a.m. So much of the run was done with the midday sun beaming down on me, plus I was tired and listless and my legs felt like lead. Just didn't have any energy. It was a Bataan death march-like experience at times, but I got through it. Chilled out watching the Jays-Sox game (Sox won 6-5 in extra innings) and then we went to yet another cookout.

Bulleted list of items:

• So, Obama's VP pick is Joe Biden, huh? Seems to me he gives Obama a running mate with plenty of foreign policy and Senate experience to answer all those charges of inexperience. He also is a feisty attack dog that Obama can sic on McCain without having to get his own mitts too dirty. Of course, McCain counters by running ads that play to all those pissed-off Hillary supporters, saying that Obama betrayed her by not picking her as VP. Honestly, I don't get what those folks are so up in arms about. They really come off sounding like sore losers, but they could be pretty pivotal if they actually support McCain instead. Should be an interesting convention this week.
• The Olympics are over. I was bummed I missed the men's marathon yesterday, but I saw a lot of cool stuff. Bring on the NFL season!