trash can squirrel...trash can squirrelllllll

Ok everyone, take a deep breath. I know there was widespread panic since I haven't been posting lately, but now you can all sleep easy knowing that I'm back.
I have to admit, the main reason I need to get back to posting is because I just checked up on Adam's blog and he now has 5 followers compared to my measly 3!!! DAMMIT!! Come on people!!!

Now Playing: Goodbye Blue Sky - Pink Floyd (The Wall - Disc 1)

A ton has happened since my last post, but I don't want to make this just a log of everything happening, so I’ll try to stay away from that. However, here are a few updates on some stuff I’d written about before: As of right now, Kerry Wood is still technically a Cub. I’m continuing to maintain the false hope that we might offer him arbitration and he’ll return to take us to the World Series in 2009… Steamboat has officially opened and according to the email updates I still receive (geeez I need to get off that e-list) they have an 11” base at mid-mountain and the summit and they got 1” of new pow last nite. I might need to go rent the new Warren Miller film and bask in all of its snowy glory.

Now Playing: Tribute – Tenacious D

So yea…big gulps… Chris and Zara’s visit was epic. If you’re wondering about the title of this post, the answer is locked within the conundrum that was their visit—quite an epic nite…
So we set off on a train on Saturday nite to the great city of Stamford, Connecticut. The destination was a hibachi restaurant where we were going to meet some of C & Z’s friends and have a little going away party for Mr. Paul Ridley. In December Paul is embarking on a row across the Atlantic Ocean with 2 goals in mind:
1. To row 2,950 miles solo across the Atlantic Ocean
2. To raise over $500,000 to fight cancer
Kinda makes you feel like you haven’t done much lately, doesn’t it? But seriously, if you want to check out his website or make a donation just go to http://rowforhope.com/
So, in the spirit of things, we started it all off with dinner and drinks to hopefully fatten him up for his long journey. What better way to make a difference than an open bar right?? DO WORK!!!
Fast forward through the evening of doing work, playing punchies with Al, dancing and playing darts, and Zara, Chris and I find ourselves being woken up by a train conductor at 3 AM telling us very succinctly to “Get off the train.” This is the point of the story when a collective “WTF?!?!” went through each of our little pea-sized brains… The reason for this was because this train was most definitely NOT pulling into Grand Central Terminal as we had all planned. It WAS most definitely pulling into New Haven, Connecticut…
Yea…big gulps….
This was also the point at which Zara and I basically gave up all hope of ever escaping this nite and simply decided that the best course of action entailed finding the closest wooden bench and going to sleep on it. Thankfully for us, Chris had the wherewithal to know that sleeping like a homeless person (not that there’s anything wrong with that) in the middle of nowhere wasn’t going to help us get home. Instead, given the fact that the next train back to the big apple wasn’t leaving until 4:45AM, clearly the best decision was to ask some rando Yale sh’mons where we could go for some pizza, which is exactly what he did.
Fast forward to some 24 hour pizza place called A-1 Pizza or something. I resumed my strategy of trying to sleep in random places (this time on the table), while Chris made an amazing call in ordering us up some za and hot wings. Amazing.
Also, in the middle of doing so, Chris befriends a huge pizza delivery guy who says for a couple bucks he’ll give us a ride back to the train station when we need to go…brilliant. I can’t see anything wrong with getting a ride in this huge stranger’s truck at 4:30 in the morning…
Upon piling into his truck, I think we all began to realize that this might not have been the greatest plan ever… And by “we all” I mean Zara and I did…Chris, meanwhile, became best friends with the guy and got his card so he can order some specialized t-shirts from him...
I truly thought we were done for when we got to a “pizza stop” that the guy had to make and he got out of the car and didn’t come back for about 10 minutes. Zara and I contemplated running for it, but instead, I decided to stick with my theme of the night and instead opted to go to sleep on some cardboard boxes in the back of his truck. Brilliant!
So we made it back to the train station, caught our train, and then slept all the way back to New York (some of us did…).
Then, as we headed for the subway at 6:30 in the morning, Chris made his final amazing call of the excursion, half-angrily, half-decisively proclaiming, “We’re taking a cab.” That was all the nudging Zara and I needed, and we piled into one of New York’s finest.

This was also the point at which we saw the infamous trash can squirrel!!!! Don’t’overthink it--It really was just a squirrel that had crawled into a trash can for some dinner (or breakfast, I guess). I realize this is probably a big letdown for everyone reading (all 3 of you), but to us, this incidence was the equivalent of striking comedic gold (and also the cause of many future headaches for Chris). We all then crafted the brilliant lyrics to the hit song “Trash Can Squirrel,” which if you’re lucky enough, someday maybe, just maybe, we will sing to you. Cheers!

Now Playing: The Background - Third Eye Blind