Getting Old, Boats, and a Big Salute to the Troops!

So first I got old. My birthday was Saturday. The alternative might stink, but I wouldn't have minded if the aging process had stopped in its early thirties. Oh well. Last year (and the year before) Michael kind of blew off the day. Now I'm not a big birthday person, and neither of us were buying presents for each other in St. Kitts because there wasn't anything to buy, but you can't just blow it off!!  So Michael redeemed himself this year. I basically spent the majority of the day under the blankets - and you'll note the cats were with me.

I did get out long enough to eat a great breakfast,

but then I went back to bed. This photo was taken at 2pm (and Jack is still with me, as always)...

My mom got me a few winter-ish clothes for outside wear (thanks Mom!) and Michael got me some warmer running gear (thanks Mikey!). This, of course, made me realize I had no winter shoes to wear (I still have 2 pairs of sandals and a pair of sneakers). So we headed to Payless, the only place to get shoes here basically, and couldn't believe the hoochie-mama options I had to choose from. This place was next store and selling the same stuff. Are you kidding me? Not only do I think these shoes look ridiculous, but they make women walk like idiots, and are completely impractical. Now, I know I've been barefoot and in shorts and tank tops for 7 years, but is there no happy medium?! So I'll have to wait until we get to our friend's place over Thanksgiving and do some shopping in their neighborhood. Sheesh.

We also attempted to see Argo, but although the website said there was a 4:10 showing, it lied (and is still lying). We didn't want to go to an evening showing, because we didn't want the long-ish moped ride in the dark - meaning cold.

So...we headed for Finnegan's Wake again (you'll remember we really liked one of their appetizers). I was actually feeling kind of nauseous but got a birthday beer to cheers with.

Michael ate the entire appetizer by himself.

The best part of the day was when the bartender tossed this into a fire pit. Yes!



You'll note that I went over there and helped out a bit and got the flames nice and high. I could have stayed there until the log burned out but the hard rock-music playing was so annoying, I couldn't do it. And that was that. Another year gone in a day. Ho hum, I know. We need friends...

Sunday, I still didn't feel that great, but wanted to get my week's long run in. I looked athletic anyway (and I did have a faster and longer run than last Sunday).

Now what? We couldn't think of anything to do, but wanted to get in the sun a bit. We'd been listening to the power boat races echo across the island all week, so figured we'd see what it was all about. I get the draw of participating in the actual racing, but watching it? Eh. While we waited, some birds got unhappy and started flying in all kinds of weird formations over and around us. It was kind of cool and we escaped without any poop incidents.



There was a lot of air traffic too (also heard loud and clear from the apartment all week), with even a biplane doing tricks in the middle of all the madness. Is that safe?!



First the boats went this way (there were many more boats that started the race than finished it)....



Then they went the other way.



Back this way...


And more of the other...


What? Do they keep going until they run out of fuel? It seemed like it - they must have some serious fuel tanks because they went back and forth a lot.  I have to admit that it was interesting to see who'd come past the pier first each return, and it did change. Initially it was between Outer Limits, Twisted Metal Motorsports, Metamarine TNT 60, but rather early on Outer Limits disappeared. So then we watched Twisted Metal (red) and Metamarine (Italians)  overtaking each other over and over. Third place was pretty much up for grabs.



It almost got confusing when the faster boats started overtaking the slower boats from behind (meaning they were a full lap ahead).

Lucas Oil looked good but sounded like a hacking cough most of the race and I was quite surprised that it finished - it finished last.

Just as we were thinking the top 2 were going to be the Italians and the red boat, what the heck was this? Instigator is in the lead!

By the time the group came back around again, Instigator was waaaaaay in the lead and the distance between that boat and all the others was kind of shocking. The Italians and the red boat were still neck and neck, behind Instigator for a couple of passes, but near what we figured had to be close to the end of this heat, the red boat just disappeared. Uh oh.  It never did show up again, so that put

Instigator,

the Italians (Metamarine),

and Shed's Plus in the top 3 (I think).


And that was that. There was a final race later, but we got the idea.
Next up was the Veteran's Day Parade.

Sorry, this one's Michael's photo

I decided to head back to the house and settle my stomach and Michael headed off to his Sunday haunt to watch football.

I did get my moped back, and they even put my basket on for me. Nifty.