Black Temptations

I have discovered that days off from work are just as amazing as days off from school.  I had off from work this Thursday and Friday and I absolutely loved it.  The timing couldn't be more perfect.  My mind was overloaded with the outrageous ideas that my boss comes up with.  I began my Thanksgiving holiday by carbo-loading for the alumni 5k race that my high school cross country team hosts every year.  Last year I came to the race 9 months out of any kind of running and got my ass handed to me by a 40-something year old coach.  That had crossed the line.  When you get spanked by someone twice your age, it's time to start training again.  So this year I made sure that I at least had some basic mileage under my belt before showing up.  The miles certainly paid off.  I ran a respectable race and got to see some friends.  Overall it was a good morning.  (We ran at 9:30AM)

Sean (my brother), Matt and I after the race.

Afterward, I went to my aunt's house to have dinner with the family.  As usual, not all the cousins were there.  Some were at their wives'/girlfriends' houses instead.  We still had a good time exchanging stories and making fun of my grandmother and aunt for having a few too many drinks. My grandmother insisted that all the grandchildren (myself, my brother and my cousins) wash all the dishes from the meal, even though my aunt (the host) repeatedly told us that we didn't have to do that.  It was all going in a dishwasher anyway.  We got a good laugh out of listening to her though.

Oh Black Friday.  I don't remember ever going shopping on Black Friday.  It's not because of the whole "mob" of people that you have to battle through or the traffic that you have to dodge just to make it to the mall.  I just never felt the need to go shopping.  I shop when I need something, not just when there's a HUGE sale going on.  As it stands, I actually did need some things this year but moving into a new apartment has me saving wherever I can.  That said, I went to Walmart on Friday.  What?  I needed groceries.  After staring down this mp3 player for a good 20 minutes, going to get my food, and then coming back for another look at the music box, I left Walmart with nothing more than a car load of food.  I escaped Walmart without buying any electronics!  It was pretty tough, but I'm quite proud of my self-control.  My headphones still hate me for neglecting them though.