The weekend started out early and brutal. Mrs. Ha had an appointment for a phlebotomy position that involved drawing pints at a time, instead of just a few vials full. She said the interview went really well, though of course any prayers, kind thoughts or best wishes are very appreciated. She did lose her keys, thinking that she locked them in the car, so I left work a bit early, cursing our Godforsaken windswept parking lot (it was terrible, intense sunshine, intense cold and a stiff wind blowing snow and ice into my face until I got to my car) and drove across the city until I could find the interview place. I also ended up driving by the building my last employer constructed for themselves, they appear to be doing very well for themselves, but even had I stayed, it was a family run business and I doubt they would have been able to match what I get here.

Anyhow the keys were not in the van, and by retracing her steps we found them half buried in a snowbank, they must have fallen our her coat pocket as she was going to the interview.

Saturday was the third Saturday of the month, which meant it was time for the monthly meeting of the board game society in Rochester. Mrs. Ha was going to preschool mom's for a party with the girls, so I had some time to go there. I ended up meeting an old work aquaintance, who has used up his alloted time as a contract worker at my $corp and is in between jobs. Nowadays, you only get 18 months before being let go or being hired as a direct, in my time, you had to sign away legal rights every 18 months. That wasn't legal, and my $corp got fined, so you don't even have the option any more.

I kibbitzed on a few wargames, but wasn't able to sit in on any. I did play a few hands of Noble House, and then played Citadels, in which I managed to squaek out a win, my daft play earlier in the game must have convinced the other players I was truly clueless, instead of mostly clueless.

I was going to make a comment on the general state of unfitness of many of the gamers, but the irony is way too bitter, even for a hophead like me. Sure, I appear to be much fitter, and my heart may be, but given that I probably couldn't walk two miles to save my life (due to my arthritis), I should shut up.

I do fondly remember being fit, and being able to run 3 miles in under 21 minutes.  I started to run a lot in college, going to a large land grant university hours and hours from a major city meant you only had a few options to keep busy, I found studying, drinking and working out was enough, with a lot of chasing girls, rarely successfully thrown in. I wasn't very talented at basketball, or tall enough for volleyball, but I could punish my body by running, so I ended up running on the track at Rec Hall a lot, it was indoors, it was long enough, I could check my stats exactly, and there were enough other runners to make it interesting. On the minus, the track wasn't banked, so corners were a pain.

The other indoor track on campus, at the western gym, was usually closer to where I lived, but it was shorter and more desolate. Even though it was banked, I preferrred the longer one at Rec Hall.

I only ran a few times on the track in Raleigh, I barely remember it. The YMCA track is like a bowl, it's tiny and banked. I have yet to run on it, when I did run at the YMCA it was on a treadmill, watching the aerobics class. I have been spending time on the track, in the cut off unbanked corners, stretching and doing yoga, since there is so little unoccupied space in our Y. I'm even giving up on weight machines for a while, as my decrepitude progresses.

Sunday my parents took the girls, and we did the urban thing. We wanted to see Cherry Crush, a movie filmed in Rochester, which had it's world premiere in Rochester. It was playing at the local art house cinema, for one week early, so we get there early to buy tickets, and then took our luck finding a lunch place.

It's a shame, the East End area is supposed to be the hoppingest part of Rochester, but on a Sunday afternoon we didn't have a large variety of lunch places to choose from. I have no idea what the Eastman students do, probably each Ramen and go back to practicing. We ended up at Spot Coffee, which seemed to be the happening place, lots of young adults (and older adults) sipping coffee, reading, and playing with laptops, lots of laptops. The building is very interesting, it used to be a Chevy dealership, and it's in great example of Art Deco.

Cherry Crush was good, a film noir triangle with the good safe blonde and the dangerous brunette, and a slimy lawyer. I recognized many of the shots, and particulary enjoyed the tracking shot over the Irondequiot Bay Bridge, showcasing Irondqeqiot Bay in all it's autumnal glory. Even though I go over that bridge twice a day, I rarely get to appreciate it since I'm nearly always driving/riding, and have to pay attention to the road. Too bad it was rated an R, since the protagonists are high schoolers, perhaps I'm getting jaded, there wasn't much nudity and the sex scenes were restrained. It would probably do much better (in Rochester at least) if it was PG-13.

Teh other movie we watched was Sylvia, with Gwyneth Paltrow, a biopic of Sylvia Plath. It was okay, but didn't capture my attention as much. Again, I'm getting jaded, but despite the jacket blurbs, I didn't find it that erotic, it takes more than a few half nude sex scenes for me.

I'm taking tomorrow off to celebrate my birthday, as Mrs. Ha got her hostessing schedule and she's working Friday, and tomorrow, and the kids have off tomorrow for an abbrevriated midwinter recess, and what would I do with myself all alone if I stayed home Friday. I should order a birthday present or two for myself, I'm thinking a game, and a DVD burner.