« December 2007 | Main | March 2008 »

February 27, 2008

trivia, running

Two things that I'm a little bit obsessed with getting involved in right now: competitive running and pub trivia.

As we all know, I did cross country about 70 pounds and 20 years ago, and I did do one competitive 5K back in DC, but have not done any real running since coming to Boston. I'm trying to actively use my Nike+ipod thing to keep track of my running, and so far, I'm doing some damage on the treadmill. Right now I estimate that I could go out and give a 35-minute 5K performance, which is obviously more than a 10-minute-mile average, but you have to start somewhere.

Pub trivia I've done once, but I'm kind of obsessed with that because a) I like pubs and b) I like knowing random stuff.

The intersection of A and B--the "why are you doing this"--has to do with the fact that I no longer gain any kind of meaningful recognition in the stuff that I do, and I don't really like it. I guess I get grades in biz school, but I don't really care about those...I'm more focused on what I'm actually learning than what I get on a test or two.

I'd like to take two things that I can already do reasonably well and get stuff for doing them. I don't have any medals on my mantle right now and I kind of like the feeling of even the most rudimentary participatory awards. I was involved in so many things that resulted in medals and patches and trophies and whatnot when I was a kid...it would be nice to do something like that now.

So, sounds like I should go compete. I'm going to try to do a 5K possibly as early as April, and the invite to go to pub trivia on Tuesday night has been sent and accepted.

Otherwise, everything is good. Labatt is good, school is good, Kara is good, no major worries.

Posted by Mark at 06:48 PM | Comments (1)

February 13, 2008

kitty, wedding, beer

Having a cat at home is like having a small person around. I think it might be good practice for having kids. It certainly feels odd having another presence in the house.

Labatt is becoming less of a freak as time goes on. She used to flip out completely when Kara was making lunches in the kitchen, but she's apparently become more mellow. She tends to still follow us around the condo, but not quite as constantly now.

Of course, if she hears somebody in the kitchen, that's a different matter entirely.

We spent some time wedding planning last night and we have the rehearsal dinner guest list all laid out. We also figured out a short list of family and wedding party people who will probably stay at the hotel right next door...that makes is easier for people that we really need to be close by.

I do hope that people coming from a long ways away treat this as a vacation. I mean, Rockport is a tourist town on the ocean with some amazing craftsmen and artists, there are plenty of legitimate tourist beaches around, and Gloucester is the closest thing to a working fishing town that you're likely to visit. So hopefully people will make a long weekend out of it, work on their tans, go see where they filmed The Perfect Storm, buy some paintings and fried clams, and have fun.

Extreme Beerfest 2008 is this weekend! Matt is coming into town on Friday afternoon, and we're going to the Night of the Barrels at 6, and then the 2nd session of Beerfest on Saturday night, along with MJP. I think it's going to be a fun weekend. I'll try to take pictures.

Posted by Mark at 12:31 PM | Comments (0)

February 12, 2008

labatt the cat!

Hola, amigos. Been a long time since I rapped at ya.

We have a new member of the DeMarco Dalius Household: Labatt the Cat.

labatt.jpg

She is a black and white American longhair housecat, and she will be 2 years old on March 2nd. She had been adopted before from the same shelter where we got her, but I guess she was aggressive towards other cats. That won't be a problem for us since we're a one-cat household.

She's very friendly and affectionate, and constantly follows the two of us around the condo. She sleeps with us, and this morning she was sitting on my lap while I checked my email at home. It's a little challenging having another sort of person around...we have to have rules about where she can and can't go, so she's allowed to get up on the furniture but just not on the coffee table, for example, because that's where we tend to eat dinner. It's a little tough getting around sometimes because she has a habit of running right under our feet, and she wants to come with me to work in the morning too. She is also extremely vocal, always meowing and yelling about this or that. I think her previous owners must have given her people food because she always shows up in the kitchen if one of us is in there.

But, she's getting used to the house and our schedule, and seems like she's a pretty good cat. She's already litter trained so no issues with that yet. I don't think she's crazy about her cat food either but she'll get used to that as well.

Most of the other stuff that's been going on is a ton of wedding planning. We've really started to ramp up in the new year so we can get as much stuff done now as possible and be able to both enjoy our summer and take care of minor last-minute stuff without a lot of panic. Things we have done so far include:

Things we have yet to do (that I can remember):

So most of the big stuff is done. Just smaller detail things at this point. Not too worried about it.

Posted by Mark at 11:01 AM | Comments (1)