The Title

The weekend is over. Sob. It was a good one in a lot of ways but it did end on a cruel twist.

Friday night was a stellar evening of Red Lobster. Yes you heard me correctly. We went to Red Lobster for dinner. I didn't think people even went to Red Lobster anymore (it's such a midwest small town kind of restaurant) but in fact they do. Some friends called, they said they were going to the RL and would we like to join them? So we went and the endless shrimp platter was everything I ever thought it could be.

On Saturday, we were up early due to the early sleep RL induced coma that Tom and I fell into on Friday night. Got the house ready for an open house and left for the bar early at 9:00 am. Why the bar at 9am? Well the Buckeyes were playing the Badgers and due to the evil known as the Big Ten Network, the only place to watch it was very specific OSU friendly bars. So after pulling out the victory against those pesky farm boys, my friend Kerri and I went to her house for a mimosa induced nap.

After dosing for a wee bit, I decided that I needed to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather (re: anything less than 95 degrees) and go for a bike ride. I decided to check out Papago Park which is a preserve area in the middle of Tempe consisting of some beginner trails and hikes. It ended up being really cool, not hard, but huge with a lot of hard little climbs that were good practice for cranking up steep hills with loose dirt and rocks. Had a great time except for my bike - which is done. Just done. It falls apart with regularity now and I had to stop no less than 7 times to re-house my shifting cable which kept popping out. Plus my gears don't work right. The time is near my friends, when I will throw it off a highway overpass and then deal with the consequences later. I am working the hubby over to smooth the deal in which I purchase a new bike which I believe will immediately take me to new biking dimensions. In my mind anyway.

They say the desert is ugly, but I think I disagree. I can see the dinosaurs in this picture.

Papago Park in Tempe. Our urban parks are better than yours!

Saturday night, we went and saw "Into The Wild". It is awesome. At least I thought it was. It followed the book closely and really painted a positive picture of the whole story. I know there is a negative side of the story/controversy lurking out there, but really I choose to ignore that. If you don't know what I am talking about, read Jon Krakauer's book Into the Wild and then watch the movie.

Sunday I was pretty excited to get back on the rugby pitch, even for a friendly game against Stanford. Unfortunately my body wasn't as excited. My knee injury in May of last year was pretty devastating to me. I have talked about this before here. But I have put SO SO SO much effort into complete rehabilitation to the point that I would declare my 99% healed. It took a year and a half and lot of effort, but I though I was good to go. I guess I was wrong. I can mountain bike, play ultimate frisbee (which is way more cutting and sprinting), run down an uneven mountain trail, rock climb anything, and jump off a waterfall, BUT apparently I can't play rugby. Very shortly into the game, I ran to catch a high kick on the wing. I knew that a player on their team was going to arrive at the same time I was, but I didn't stop. We hit midair, I knocked her over, remained on my feet and kept running but I felt my knee twist and heard some unsettling cracking. Done. I don't think that I re-tore my acl, I am pretty sure it is a minor sprain or something but I realized that it's just not worth it. I can still walk, but it doesn't feel right and their is definitely some shifting going on in there. But with the power of positive thinking, I will think it better. I just know it.

Back on the bike I say. After I retrieve it from my garbage can in my garage.