Belicove.Com - BeliBlog

December 26, 2003

XMAS DAY, THE CANARY CAFE, BOWLING, AND MY BRO

As most regular readers know, I'm spending the holiday's here in Indianapolis. Yesterday, despite not being with family or friends, was a pretty solid day. I stuck around the house until 9:30am, which is late for me, then headed out the fitness center for a little holiday exercise. The gym was completely empty for the first forty-five minutes of my workout, so I didn't have any trouble whatsoever getting onto my favorite Elliptical trainer. Then, as if someone had unwrapped the gym itself, a steady stream of people started pouring in, which only served to validate my sense that working out on Christmas day was actually an okay thing to be doing.

An hour or so later and I was sitting at my office desk checking e-mail, and an hour after that I was stepping out of my shower (which is to say that I didn't stay at the office for very long at all). Then, at around half-past Noon I poped over to the Canary Cafe, which hosts an annual holiday meal service for anyone who doesn't have anyplace to go on Christmas day. From 12:45pm to 3:00pm I washed dishes, stacked pots and pans, cleared tables, and vacuumed the dining room. I met a lot of really nice people, including Carol -- a professor at IUPUI, and her husband Dave -- a retired engineer who restores old homes (they met nine years ago as the result of a singles ad Carol placed in Indianapolis Monthly magazine).

A few hours later and I was working on my third load of laundry, all of which was done in time to watch the University of Houston play a truly fantastic football game against the other U of H (Hawaii), in the Aloha Bowl. Unfortunately, my U of H lost in triple overtime, 54-48, but not befoe providing diehard fans like me with enough excitement to make up for the fact that this was Houston's first post-season Bowl since 1996. Even more unfortunate was the nasty brawl that broke out between the two teams players at mid-field immediately following the game. (I, of course, can't help but wonder if the "Hawaii is a Sad Little State" editorial that appeared in my old school newpaper had anything to do with fight itself.)

But the best part of this Christmas day was when my Mother told me that the only thing my older brother Kenny wanted for a gift this year was to see his little brother (that's me). Bro... not to worry, I'll see ya soon enough. I'll be up in either January or February, no doubt! In the meantime, here's a picture to hold you over:

Here's hoping today's as good a day as yesterday!

Posted by Mikal at December 26, 2003 5:41 AM | TrackBack