Fourth of July and so on

Geez, has it been a week since I last posted? Guess so.
Kat and I had a really good Fourth of July. We didn't get any workouts in during the week but made up for it by... eating a lot at the WSFA barbecue. John and Kathi opened their home to a huge number of us, displaying their amazing generosity once again, and we ate like kings. Can't say enough great things about the barbecue. (And we got to see them make liquid nitrogen ice cream again, which is always a blast.)
A huge thanks to Lee, btw, for making sure we got there-- he's a great friend.
We left the party with our other great friends, Ern and EJ, Paul and Gayle, to catch WALL-E (for the second time for Kat and me). You can see my review here.
I stayed home most of the weekend, puttering around and getting some writing done, while Kat went out and did her Sunday thing. All in all, pretty fun.
Hope you had a great Fourth (for you US citizens in the readership) or otherwise had a fine weekend.

...and Have Fun!

Hey, it was a great Fourth of July this year.

First up for me was seeing "Live Free or Die Hard." Despite being encumbered with the worst, clunkiest title for a movie I've seen in ages, the movie rocks pretty hard. The pitch sounds silly-- John McClane vs. cyberterrorists--but they pull it off. And the premise is not-so-silly when you think about it. Wonder if Roderick Thorp ever thought his character would be taken to this extreme?

Strong points: Bruce Willis still kicking butt in his fifties, Justin Long being *far* less annoying than he is as Mac-guy, Mary Elizabeth Winstead showing she's more than just a pretty face (along with having one of the three or four best lines) and Timothy Olyphant (why can't I get past "Girl Next Door" with this guy?) who makes the mastermind a bundle of frustrated rage and misplaced aggression.

Weak points: the fighter jet chewing up an overpass with rockets and machine gun fire was not exactly, ahem, believable. It was a glaring "what the F?" moment in a movie (in a series) that prides itself on being *somewhat* in the real world.

Then I hiked from the AMC Hoffman to Old Town, where Brooke and Matt found me in a Starbucks, reading Mike Carey's new novel. (It's good, folks.)

We went and met Kat for dinner at O'Connells (located on lovely King Street, near the waterfront), then wandered down to said waterfront and walked. And walked. Heck, we walked up as far as Braddock Metro. We found a good spot with a view of the DC skyline, noticed it was about 8:15, and figured what the heck, we'd watch some fireworks. Kat and Brooke both had to call the restaurant to ask about items they'd forgotten but all was well-- the staff was on the ball.

Cue the fireworks. Kat had her MP3 player with her, so we could listen to the Capitol Fourth broadcast on radio, which was pretty nice. After the show, we wandered back to King Street, sharing tales of Fourths gone awry, and reclaimed our stuff from the restaurant. Then we had ice cream, and Matt gave us a lift home. (Thanks again!)

All in all, a great day. Hope you all had as much fun as we did. Write a comment and let me know!

Go Fourth...

Not sure if I'll be blogging tomorrow-- I'm hoping to get some writing done on my novel (that November deadline isn't nearly as far away as it used to be)-- but I might break long enough to visit the Mall and see the Folklife Festival. Not sure if we'll stay for the fireworks (Kat hates crowds more than I do) but should be a fun day.

Be good, have a great Fourth of July, and see you back here soon!