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I can't believe I let myself go almost a full week without a post -- okay, that's a lie, I Can belive I let myself go that long, its just that I didn't Intend to, you see...

To report back, in a follow-up to last Tuesday night's depressing ode to fading skills, I played Better in my indoor game Wednesday night, and we Won -- although under some mitigating circumstances, a win nonetheless.

Friday, after spending the day helping Pete, brother of Greg, prep his house for the big roof tear off, which took place Saturday and I couldn't be a part of, I headed down to the domain of Lemurs (Mary) and Dragons (Mike), although Lemurs weren't to be home until later, and Dragon's were bored and looking for something to do. I've been haning out there a lot lately, and I'm not sure why, but it probably is mainly due to the fact that Dragons have been contacting me a lot lately and inviting me to head down and hang out, so I have.

We weren't sure exactly what we were going to do, but it kinda fell into place. We watched some TV, got ourselves an exquisitely tasty Chicago-style pie from Papa Murphy's (take and bake, not to be confused with those ingrates over at Papa John's), cooked it up, ate it, and then persuaded Dr. Fearless's more mild-mannered alter-ego Tyler over to get some Munchkin's schwerve on.

Saturday I tried to get up somewhat early -- by Saturday standards -- to run some errands before Tyler was expected to be dropped of at my house so we could go to the US-Venezuala Int'l soccer "friendly" at Seahawks Stadium. The Roommates were up and outta before I was outta bed, to go take part in the "tear the roof off of Pete's house" project. Tyler was a bit later than I wanted him to be, at 11:00 so we would have plenty of bus options open, but it all worked out because Angie agreed to just drop us off by the stadium, after we went to Dick's for some tasty burgers and shakes.

The game was okay. The first half was the over-clinical, somewhat dreary type of play, with the stereotypical 0-0 scoreline, that gives the Beautiful Game a Bad Reputation in American sporting circles. The second half was everything that makes the game Beautiful, at least from the American perspective. The US side rolled, scoring twice while Goalie Kasey Keller, from Lacey, kept his clean sheet intact and was rarely challenged. The key to the stellar American second half effort was the addition of Earnie Stewart, the cagey International veteran, to the lineup at right midfield at halftime, and later when Landon Donovan and Frankie Hedjuk also came on in the 60th and 66th minute, respectively. Donovan, the breakout star of the World Cup effort last June, scored the clincher on a scintillating run up the left side. But more than anything, it was amazing to me how much better the US side was once Stewart -- who was the undoubted MVP of the US side in their qualifying efforts for 2002 -- came on the field. He probably won't have the legs left for the 2006 cup, but may still play a role yet in getting them there through the rigorous qualifying rounds.

After the game, we retired to the abode to chill out for a while, watch some Tournament basketball, eat some food, and get ready for the Night-O up in Lynnwood. The Roommates came home about 4:30 from "the roof" project -- earlier than I had anticipated -- so things obviously went well there.

The Night-O is something I hadn't participated in before, although I had done the Halloween-themed "Vampire-O" last October, although it is only similar in that it is at night. The course was short, so I didn't get quite the workout I would've liked, but that was probably for the best, as I made a Horrible navigational error that cost me over 10 minutes. My time wasn't all that great as a result, but I did do decently over the rest of the course.

After that, Tyler and I sped immediately (okay, we stopped to change at my house) to Vicki's remission party. The usual characters were there, and much of the usual hijinks ensued, although I seem to have spent most of the time sitting on the couch drinking beer.

My only real plan for Sunday was to go for a "long" run, anticipating more nice weather. It delivered, but my "long" run was decided to be 5 miles, along the Burke-Gilman (which has miles marked on it). There was a time and a place, not all that long ago, when a 5-miler was just another averaged-lengthed run, but my overall cardiovascular fitness --- at least in terms of running -- has been in a steady decine since my Marathon days in the fall of 97. My mile splits were 9:40 (ugh), 8:53, 7:58, 8:20, 7:55, for a 42:45. My plan was to start out slow (which I certainly did) and quicken the pace, hopefully running negative splits. In this regard, I am quite happy with the workout, despite the depressingly slow pace, and the fact I managed to do two miles in under 8 minutes. Ahh, but that pace... it wasn't long ago I wouldv'e logged a 5-miler in Under 40 minutes as an "easy 5 miles".

There were a couple mitigating circumstances, though, as I had been up late drinking Sat nite, and had decided to go ahead Sunday morning and meet some guys from one of my Sunday soccer teams over by the UW for a little practice/scrimmage. It wasn't much, just a little 3-on-3 on a third-sized field using lacrosse goals, but it was a bit of a good workout.

Sunday night was "Foxy Night Luau" at Dragons and Lemurs, a new tradition, featuring a "new" Futurama (good stuff, as usual...damn you Fox) and the Simpsons, also quite entertaining. In between we played some Simpsons Uno, and watched a weird Japanese cartoon, and Spongebob Squarepants. Good times.

So, earlier this evening, we had our usual weightlifting routine (sans a mysteriously absent Tyler) and then went out for some Mexican food. And that's about it... now you're all caught up.

On another quick note, it seems Spring officially arrived on Saturday. Thursday and Friday were both kinda nice, but still not quite Warm. In fact, it's more or less been a bit chilly, up until Saturday, when Wham! It was warm, didn't get Really cold at night, and now we're cooking!