Date Night - Sushi and Fair Game

After suffering through 3 hours of an elementary school carnival, Tauni took me out on a date. All the movies out right now look like cinematic excrement, so we just went to dinner, then rented a movie to watch at home.

First after wandering around town wondering where to eat, we headed to Wabi Sabi. We'd heard good things and wanted to try it out. Tauni is somewhat of a sushi virgin, and I'm none too experienced with it myself. But, we were daring and after long moments or indecision, ordered two sushi rolls and some gyosa. Both rolls of sushi contained raw tuna.  And they were delicious.

As a side note, just because you can eat wasabi peas by the handful, does not mean that you can take fresh wasabi and it in similar quantities. I've learned that lesson the hard way. Tauni almost got us kicked out of the restaurant, she was laughing so hard.

We both left stuffed, though we didn't get that much food. And, apparently, they don't let you take sushi home in doggy bags, so we had to leave a few sections behind.

We found a redbox and rented Fair Game, which turned out to be a pretty good movie. I am always impressed with Sean Penn's acting, even though he seems like such a douche in real life. The movie, is part spy flick, part government expose, and part drama. It makes you think a bit about government power, and how much they may or may not be abusing it. And it made be remember this quote:

"Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it." — Mark Twain

Most people think that country and government are one and the same. But, they are not.

I guess now I should probably go on record and say that I am not one of those anti-government conspiracy theorists. Do I think our government lies to us? Yeah, they do. Do I think they destroy families and peoples lives and mold data to fit whatever their agenda happens to be at the time? Of course they do. Was Bush a corrupt president? Probably, and I think Obama probably is too.

The problem we face as Americans is that we cannot believe anything we hear in the media. They, also, spin data to match their agenda.

The only way to get corruption out of government (and media) is to get corruption out of people. No matter how perfectly setup a system of government is, there will always be people that want to exploit any loophole or twist it for their own ends.

First* 5k, of many.

* It was my first 5k since I was 16 years old running Cross Country in High School.

Tonight was the Brookwood Elementary Fun Run/5k. And it was the first running race of any kind that I have been in in over 15 years.

I won...sort of.

My time was 22:30, which I am pretty psyched about. I doubt I have any chance of ever reaching my former levels or cross country prowess. But, I think about how I was 40 lbs. fatter a few months ago, and couldn't run 50 feet without dying of a heart attack, and I'm pretty happy with where I am now.

I won, first place in my age group, 'younger' adults. But I only got 7th place, overall. The sad thing was that I was beaten by two old guys (40+), two 6th graders, and two teens. And the first female runner finished only about 30 seconds behind me. But, I'm happy. I was really only racing myself, to see how good I could do, time-wise, and to set the bar for my next race.

I need to also mention that my wonderful girls also participated. In the little half-mile fun run for the little kids, Elyse got second place out of the girl kinder-gardeners. She may have caught the running bug now, too.

Katy and Tauni, and Elyse, walked/ran most of the 5k. I appreciate Tauni sticking with the girls so that I could do a race speed run. I feel a little bad for Katy, who didn't get a medal. I've been trying extra hard to make her feel special.