11.6.5

Twix. The answer was Twix. How could you miss that?

And you really can't beat that trifecta: Twix, KitKat, Reese's. Lucky kids in my building.

What? You think you can beat it? Put your cards on the table.

Deion is running the marathon on Sunday, and I don't think it would hurt at all to cheer his ass on from the side of the road. I'm gonna try to be there. He should be averaging between an eight and nine minute mile, and you can (probably) even check his progress online here. He's runner #14775. I don't want to put additional pressure on ol' Deion, but I noticed that there's another entrant with the same name (note: Deion's real name is not Deion Sandals). This imitator apparently came up from DC. Deion, you better represent.

Whatever the case, I'm proud of ya. 26 plus miles is plenty. If, when we were sitting in my apartment playing Mr. Do on ColecoVision in 1983, you'da told me you'd be running the 2005 NYC Marathon, I would have laughed in your face. And followed it up with a robust neckie. You are an impressive specimen.

I was scanning through the HD channels late Saturday night and I came across the Clips-Wolves game. I like that we get additional HD channels with NBA games on 'em. Do I have to thank Mark Cuban for that? I hope not. Anyway, the game went into OT, it was very entertaining. I would just like to say right now (for the 7th time at least) that Kevin Garnett is my favorite athlete in any sport and it will break my heart if they can't surround him with some real talent again before he retires. The Sprewell-Cassell team almost had enough firepower to win it all. But somebody always gets hurt. Wasn't Cassell hurt during the playoffs in their big year? I think so.

Whatever. KG is my sports hero.

Midway point in the weekend and the stats are shaping up like this:

Beers Consumed: 1 (ancient Stella out of the fridge)
Laundry Loads Done: 8
Basketball Played: 2 hours worth
Gatorades Consumed: 2 x 32-oz. (Original Green and Frosty Blue or whatever the hell it's called)
Baby Pictures Taken: about 80 (including a watermelon costume reprise that we may bust out at some point)
Magazines Purchased: 4 (name them for three genius points each; you may guess as often as you like)
Leftover Halloween Candy Eaten: about three pounds

It's official (sorta): I am definitely getting a Mac. Fuck it. I've had bad luck with all my PC's, and I want a computer that makes my balls tingle. I want to become a Mac zealot. The only problem is we don't have a couple grand laying around to drop on a new computer right now, so I may have to wait about three months. Good. It'll give me (and my personal computer-buying consultant isired) time to come to the absolute right decision.

Two pieces of advice from isired that I definitely intend to follow up on:

1) Go to the store and see how I like the 12" PowerBook. If the screen doesn't bother me, this could be the winner. I've always wanted to have one of those cute little laptops that you can wear in a hip holster. But it definitely requires a test drive because that little screen might get annoying.
2) When at the store, check out my most commonly-visited sites to see how they load on Safari. The most important one, as isired pointed out, is your work webmail interface. I never would have thought of that, because it's not a site that comes to mind when I think of my favorites, but it's probably the most critical site of them all. And it is kind of fickle on different computer/browser combinations.

I saw a guy on the street today who was deaf and blind. He was standing on the corner holding a sign that said, "I am deaf and blind. Please help me cross the street." The wife saw the sign and helped him, and he grunted a two-syllable "mmm-mmm" which must have meant "thank you." He would have kept waiting there until somebody helped him.

Man, that takes some fucking guts, to walk out into the world alone without sight and hearing. Yet another reminder of how lucky we are. It was an absolutely beautiful day in NYC today. Let's hope that poor fellow was able to enjoy the breeze against his face as he marched through the dark and silent streets.

I ate at B Bar with the wife for brunch today. For a no-longer-the-place-to-be-but-still-loaded-with-loud-and-pretentious-hipster-fuckwads kinda joint, it's actually very kid-friendly. Our waitress was all smiles, but in a way that made me almost certain she actually despised us. That's OK, though. My simple order of eggs, hash browns and english muffin was prepared perfectly. I almost had some bacon, too. Delicious food. Highest recommendations.

How much did I elect to put into my flex spending account at work for 2006? Twelve points to whoever's closest, an exact answer will get you twenty points. Please note: at her office, my wife is maxing out her flex spending account, at $6000. So we already have that set aside. The maximum I can put in through my office is $4000. You can keep that figure in mind when guessing.