Morning all:

How cold is it? At a certain point mentioning the number of degrees below zero become meaningless. Let me put it in perspective. I am sitting here drinking my morning coffee out of a thermos cup so that it won’t turn into a Cafe Frappe’. It is so cold that Vinnie the cat climbed into my lap – for warmth – and patiently sat through the boredom of watching me play a game of computer solitaire. That proves just how intelligent these critters really are, he’d learned that as long as he pretended to show an inkling of interest I wouldn’t kick him off. Actually, I have made an unsuccessful foray looking for seal blubber lamp oil. This stuff seemed to keep igloos sufficiently warm – it was worth a try.

In the meantime Marcia is basking in the ‘Olu, ho’olu (Hawaiian for ‘comfort’) and Mahana, pumehana (warmth) of Florida. Not really hot this time of year, but still great for walking about. Actually, walking about is something Marcia, Kirstin, and Derek have been doing an awful lot of these past days. Walking specifically to one particular house around the block. It is amazing the interest that shooting a television show can stir. Watch ‘Trading Spaces’ in early March, you’ll never know who you might see in the background.

Marcia firmly believes that my bachelor life this week revolves around evening meals consisting solely of ‘Boca’ vegetable burgers. How wrong she is. I suspect she has never heard of ‘Morning Star’ Meatless Chicken fillets. So there!

Tomorrow evening it’s off to a standing Super Bowl party, complete with a ten-foot screen, good company and great food. Since Marcia is out of town I am taking a friend who is recently single. I hope that Mark understands the finer details of the game. Unlike the question a fellow who took his girlfriend to her first football game was asked. After the game he asked her what she thought of it. Her answer was, “it was really interesting, but I just didn’t understand why they got so upset over a single quarter”. The confused boyfriend asked her what she meant. “Well”, she replied, “everyone kept screaming ‘get the quarter back!’”.

Sorry – go ahead moan and groan. Have a great week anyway.

Cheers,

Dirk