How to properly return phone calls

A nice side effect of the Boston trip has been that my back has been hurting since Sunday. Not sure if it was due to hurriedly walking up what we presume was Chestnut Hill after the BC game with my 30 lbs pack trying its best to pound me into the ground. Or maybe it was just walking the seemingly 82 miles the previous day with a slightly lighter pack. Or maybe it was jarred on the not-as-bumpy-as-expected flight home. Or perhaps some enemy in the far reaches of nowhere (I'm very unpopular there) is sadistically shoving pins into a voodoo doll likeness of me. Beats me. I just know that every morning this week I've felt nearly 3 x my 34 years. Aging at this rate, I suspect I'll be moaning about bathroom problems and how I've been abandoned by my children by the end of the week. I know you, dear reader, can hardly wait.

Because of my back I haven't been able to run this week. Luckily my marathon training doesn't start for another couple of weeks. For the third year in a row, I'm doing the Disney marathon, January 11, 2009 because it's fun and I'm stupid. (I suspect that will become the focus of my blog post-trip) For marathon preparation I use an 18-week training schedule. If you'll do the math (go ahead, I'll wait), you'll find January 11 is not yet 18 weeks away but I started building my mileage up the past few weeks to get ahead. Therefore, I wouldn't think a few extra days off will set me back. I'd already decided I wasn't going to start the 'real' training until after we get back. Still, running has become such a part of my routine that I feel sedimentary if I miss more than a couple of days.

However.

The lack of running has opened up a bit more time for French and ipod ripping. I suspect the effect will be minimal but it makes me feel good at least. And feeling is what's important or so life in the modern world would have me believe.

I'm currently halfway through the 2nd of the 3 Rosetta Stone levels. I really didn't figure I would have time to work through all of them and was prepared to focus just on level 1. At my current rate, however, I should finish up right before we leave. That's probably good since it will not give me too much time to start the inevitable forgetting of all I have learned.

So in addition to telling the kind French man/woman my name and that I am cold, I can also ask directions to the hardware store which will no doubt be extremely useful to three Americans simply looking for the Arc de Triomphe. It's just as well that I probably wouldn't understand said directions. I assume that's covered in lesson 4 along with the proper syntax for how evil/awful Home Depot is and its responsibility for the collapse of goodwill among most would-be DIY-ers.

I could be wrong.