east coast roundup

Things move pretty fast on the east coast....well, if you don't count the local jewish women ordering at a deli or the Garden State Parkway at 4pm. Here are some of the dabblings of the past week:

Scarlett Fever - Rutgers back in school:
My little city was pretty much a playground for the bridge and tunnel crowd over the summer. Easy to get a table at the outdoor sidewalk cafes, streets were pretty empty, and very few annoying 19 year old blondes running about. (I like to limit my 19-year old exposure to one or two per night. But I digress...)
Then suddenly 2 weeks ago a co-ed bomb dropped - and now we've got an additional 15,000 undergrads running amuk. They're easy to spot, I think they're issued all red clothing to wear for the first 2 weeks, and it must be mandatory to wear an iPod at all times. College girls at Rutgers seem to be either 5'1"/100lbs or 5'10" and built like that football player chick who won American Idol. "They some nappy headed...." Nonetheless, for the first time in my life I live in a city that has a college football team that one doesn't need to be ashamed of.

Here's my new favorite commercial - an ode to being back in school. [Mark mocks those who have to do homework]


It's Business Time:
I'm continually telling people that HBO is the best channel on tv, but it seems only about 1 in 20 people have it. Sad. When you meet someone who also watches HBO, it's like meeting a long lost frat brother - and realizing they know the secret handshake too.
The best show of the Summer was the comedy song-fest Flight of the Conchords. The rest of you will probably start hearing about it 3 years too late....kinda like The Sopranos and Family Guy. You're just not as cool as the people that were there first.
Anyway - the new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm started last week (endlessly brilliant), and a steamy new drama called Tell Me You Love Me - jury is still out on that one, but everyone is talking about this one.

A little taste of Flight of the Conchords for the uninitiated.



18 Miles:
I had my longest run yet this past weekend, 18 miles. It helped immensly that the weather dropped to 65 degrees - down from the 85 degrees that I have been training in the past 2 months. I dropped a good 20 minutes off my half marathon pace, and easily could have made 20 miles had it not gotten too dark to continue.
I haven't had pizza or fast food in about 3 months, no alcohol in a good 5 weeks, and I now know 4 good ways to prepare salmon. About 3 weeks to go until race day.

Travel:
east coast mark will be in D.C. the first week of October, in Minneapolis the second week of October, Vegas the first week of November, and Florida the first week of January. If you'll be crossing my path, I'd be happy to dazzle you with my new skills at impersonating Boston and New York accents. It's kind of Matt Damon meets Giuliani. Irregaaaadless, Fuhgeddaboudit.