I attended my first my first college tournament game, as well as my first championship game in a college tournament. To top it off, it was also my first time observing my team winning a college tournament. It was quite a bit of fun, although Darien may have had the better time because: 1) our team had the cute uniforms; 2) the pep bands were exhilarating, and possibly more fun to watch than the game; and, 3) our coach is a heart-throb. I should have gone into coaching.
Cowabunga, woman!
I had my car hit while it was parked near VCU following the snowstorm. This isn't the first time it has been hit, or even the first time it has been hit while standing still, minding its own business. But this is the first time a car of mine has been hit twice in the space of one month. It still has the smell of fresh paint from the last repair job, for Christ's sake. To add insult to injury, this is also the first time I have had a car that was hit twice at the same location, this being the same intersection where I had that little run-in with a Porsche.
I think I'm going to tape a measuring tape on the refridgerator next to the counter so I can tell better if the pile is going up or down.
We hosted George on his first visit to Richmond. We drove him around to some of the sites to help him better understand Richmond for his consulting work here, then toured the log house. On the way to dinner at Tarrant's Cafe, we pulled up at a stop light and the motorcyclist behind us turned out to be Gabriel. Getting honked at by my son on a motorcycle was another first. We invited Gabriel to dine with us, then he invited Rachel. At Tarrant's, we ran into John U. celebrating his birthday with his wife, yet another first. (That is, running into John at a restaurant, not he celebrating with his wife.) Thank God he was only with his wife. That would have been awkward.
Mmmmm ... I'm squinting hard, trying to discern progress on the counter project.
It was Valentine's Day, so Darien thought I should finally get a tattoo. Love makes one do strange things, but I went ahead with it anyway, in spite of my intense aversion to pain. Given my piratical tendencies, an appropriate icon was selected. Darien also decided on a pirate tat, but she chose to apply it to her face rather than her arm. The legendary ability of women to tolerate pain was once again demonstrated.
Darien, with some effort, scrubbed her's off that evening. One week later, and I'm still a pirate. Aaarrrrrghhhhh!
In another first, I ate filet mignon for Valentine's Day. 
(OK, that's not a first, but it has been so long it feels like it was a first.)
The counter is not much cleaner, but at least it is neatly stacked. And there is no overflow in another room, which is definitely a plus. Yayyyy!!!!
Darien convinced me to go out and hear music on a Tuesday evening. I never go out on a work night for music, so it required a concerted mental effort on my part to overcome my resistance. I prevailed.
We went to the Capital Alehouse to see Ban Caribe, which was celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary. We went with a bunch of choristers from St. James, since the leader, Kevin Davis, plays percussion with Darien and her crew sometimes at the church. I remember seeing Ban Caribe when we first came to
Richmond. They played at VCU. We've seen them several times since. They are a fun group.
Way to go on cleaning the counter this week, Darien. Oh, wait. What is that upstairs on the desk?
Darien and I rode our bikes to Cafe Coturra, in partial fulfillment of one of my Christmas present to her. I had given her a half dozen Google maps with bicycling routes to different places around Richmond. In all of them, I tried to avoid riding for long on major traffic areas. This was one of the easier routes. The weather was quite warm for February in Richmond.
Having a map did not deter us from coloring outside the lines. We went off-map several times. We came out near the Lowe's, so we stopped at Best Buy to see if we could get a cable to connect the Bose to the digital line of my computer. No luck. I will need to hunt around some more.
I won't share the pictures I took of Darien falling off of her bicycle. No sense in humiliating her.
I spent the night in Cincinnati, although not by choice. It was snowing when I left Denver, and the plane sat on the runway for an interminable time. When I walked off the plane to transfer in Cincinnati, I had about eleven minutes before the Richmond flight left. I may have made it if it weren't leaving from another concourse. Not completely hopeful, I ran through the airport with my laptop, including double-timing it up the escalator. To no avail.
I put up at the beautiful, romantic Baymont Inn and Suites. The picture is an 
adequate representation, although you need to add the snow. In the morning you have to add more snow, since it came down most of the night and was still snowing when I left at 7:30. I was nervous about missing my flight again, particularly since the weather people were saying parts of the Ohio Valley could be shut down for several days. With much relief after sitting through de-icing and waiting an hour on the runway, the plane took off and brought me home. I'm going to try to wait a while before I visit Cincinnati again.
Nice job on the counter this week, Darien. But wait! ... what is this pile of stuff in the spare room? Isn't this like, uhm, cheating or something?
