What have I been doing?  Well, let me just tell you about today.

I met Michael Phelps. (There’s more!) Unfortunately, I can’t tell you the details of my encounter just yet. I’ll explain why later.  For now all I have to say is that he seriously looks like Eli Manning. HOT!

My annual family Christmas party is on Saturday. This is like, my favorite day of the year. Seriously. My family is awesome, and there is never a dull moment. We talk loud, laugh loud, eats loads, and drink even more. I learn something new about my family each time I see them, and this is not at all meant in a bad way. Anyway, each year we do a “grab bag.”  Basically we buy a $25 unisex gift and pick numbers to see who opens the first gift. After the first person opens their choice, the next person can either steal the gift the first person opened or unwrap a new gift of their choice. And so on, and so on. The higher your number, the more choices you have. If you haven’t been able to follow the rules so far, go here for a better description and GET WITH THE PROGRAM!  

Last year someone put a carbon monoxide detector in the pile, WTF?  The best part is that one of my cousins actually needed that, so he stole it from my aunt!  Lucky her!!  Welcome to my family.

I picked up my present for this year’s Secret Santa today and when I tell you there is a great story attached I am making an understatement.  Apparently people think I should be keeping this gift for myself, but I’m not really sure. Unfortunately I can’t give you any details because it may ruin it for certain people that read this blog that are also in the grab bag.  So, sorry to be so hazy but I do promise to explain. On Sunday. After the grab bag is over. 

In order to make up for my vagueness, I wanted to share this with you:

This is just today, people.  AND I upgraded Wordpress to 2.7, AND totally fucked it up, AND fixed it.  BY MYSELF.  All by myself mang!  

Back.  With a vengeance.

Last year, I was not.  I didn’t make it in time so I snapped a shot from the bedroom window:

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That’s Paula Radcliffe in the front, with the white gloves.  She ended up winning the marathon last year.  

I almost missed them again this year, but was happy to snap Mrs. Radcliffe at the same moment a year later:

(That’s her in front, again, with the white gloves.)

She ran the last half of the marathon like a machine, pulling far enough ahead of this group to have no threat whatsoever to the victory.  I felt excited to have shared such a miniscule moment in time with her, and felt proud to be able to witness it live.

The guys came a little while after the ladies, so I was able to get a more decent shot of them:

The frontrunner here is from the U S and A, but if you look at the guy in the back of the pack in the yellow jersey?  He wins.  Pretty awesome, right?

They are running so much faster than you could ever imagine if you are watching the race on television.  It’s almost like there is a blur behind them they are gone so quickly.

As exciting as it is to watch the fastest runners pass by, it really gets exciting when the rest of the crew catches up.   39,000 runners pass my house during the course of about 3 hours, and the cheers and applause and excitement is enough to make anybody crazy inspire anyone. Seriously.  

Congratulations to all of you that may have run in this race, or knew anyone who ran in this race.  It is truly a feat and the ultimate test of endurance, and I applaud anyone who can achieve a goal that large.

I feel disappointed in myself.  Not because I feel like I need to get in shape and train for a marathon, but because I didn’t have the patience to play paparazzi and sit outside scoping out Ryan Reynolds. 

To celebrate them, I’m going to drink a lot of beer, eat until I burst, and watch some football.  After all, that’s what Sundays are made for, right?