We’re off!

We leave tonight for Philadelphia, where the high temperatures are roughly the same as the low temperatures in San Diego.  I think as long as I have my scarf and hat, I’ll survive.  We’ll be gone for five days, which sounds like a long time when you consider it’s the same as a work week, but I know it’ll go by way too quickly.  My mom is coming down to pick up the dogs, drive them to Vegas so she can make sure they don’t die in our absence, then drive them back home and pick us up from the airport.  Sounds crazy, huh?  But my mom rocks and is awesome like that. 

It’s been pretty busy around here lately, both with work and friends.  We were going to rock with Shamu at my company party, but then remembered that Shamu no longer Rocks.  These days, Shamu Believes.  And Dreams (at night and I think only in the summer).  Even so, we sat through the cold weather (thankfully it stopped raining for the majority of the party) to watch two killer whales do their tricks, one of which includes a fish spitting trick.  Don’t be fooled like I was and think it’s a fish spinning trick.  The whales go to the middle of their pool and take turns spitting a fish between their mouths.  I’m not sure why you would teach a whale to do this, but more importantly I don’t know how you teach an animal to do this.  “Here, go take this treat and willingly give it to the other animal and have faith that he won’t eat it and will give it back to you.  Covered in spit.  Don’t stop until we blow the whistle!”  In any case, it was a fun party and I appreciate that our company spends the money to treats its employees to a fun time.  They could have just held a potluck lunch, given out trinkets, and called it good.

We also celebrated Thanksmas with friends, which is completely different than Festivus, as is adapatable (one year it was Thanksmasear.  Or something like that).  It involves all the good food from Thanksgiving and all the merriment of Christmas, with plenty of good times and fun and games. 

Up ahead there’s a birthday to celebrate, presents to wrap, and the exchange of said wrapped presents.  I think I’m finally getting to the end of the roll of the wrapping paper I bought 4 years ago.  I’m amazed it’s lasted so long!  These days, you buy a roll of wrapping paper and there’s enough to wrap two gifts! 

The Chestnutter people have said they are sending me a Chestnutter so I may continue to enjoy chestnuts in a safe fashion.  When it shows up, you can bet I’m going to try it out on some unsuspecting chestnuts!  Trader Joe’s has some, so maybe they’ll be easier to deal with.  Until that happens, though, I’ve found that the pouches of chestnuts at the asian grocery stores (I like the ones at Zion Market) are delicious and easy to eat.  Plus, they’re only 99 cents!  They may not have that roasty nutty flavor, but they’re soft, moist, and tasty.  And, no fuzzy papery skins to deal with.  If you are getting frustrated at roasting your own chestnuts, I encourage you to treat yourself to a pouch.  You’ll feel a lot better, I promise.

So, it’ll be quiet here for the next few days, but hopefully I’ll come back with some pretty pictures of… things.  Maybe snow covered things!