Beautiful Saturday

Ay que dia!

For some reason I set my Blackberry alarm to go off every day this week instead of on weekdays only, so I was forced to stumble into the kitchen at daybreak, and I'm glad I did. It is AMAZING outside.

I also realized with one of those mental jolts that I forgot to pay my rent, which resulted in a hasty shower and a mad dash to the Chase Bank around the block to keep a roof over my head for another month. Thank god for New York rent regulations and 5 day grace periods, plus a landlord who knows I usually pay a couple days ahead of time.

Now I'm left to ask myself WHY I scheduled my tax appointment for 4 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, especially since Roni called last night and wanted me to come to an 11am children's show at the Knitting Factory in Williamsburg. (I know, even the Knitting Factory has been priced out of Manhattan, which is just wrong). Alas I have to spend the next couple of hours sorting through receipts and piles of crap to make sure I don't overlook something like the fact that I bought new glasses for 500 bucks last January.

So, a fresh pot of coffee on, I'm settling in with my big "TAX STUFF" envelope and a bunch of music that makes me happy. (Today it's Ivan Lins because anyone who can sing a lyric like "Here's your chance tyrannosaurus/Maybe we can get it right this time" and make it heartbreakingly poignant is a-ok in my book. Plus, I remain convinced that if I play his cd's enough times, one day I will spontaneously break into song -- in Portuguese! Okay, so it hasn't happened yet, but a girl can dream, can't she?)

Miss Midwesterly, one of my many friends who is WAY cooler than I'll ever be, is off to Haiti today for her Shelterbox deployment. I look forward to her dispatches from that devastated country.

She did make noises about me going to White Plains so we can start riding again. Her generosity knows no bounds, as she equates her not having ridden her bike since the Ironman she did last summer with my not having done a tri since, well, ever. When I told her I broke down and bought a fluid trainer that I haven't yet used, her voice got a slightly menacing edge as she said, "Well, we'll just have to do something about that, won't we?" Oh shit, she is going to make me...play outside! On my bike! Which I love! The horror, the horror.

To be honest, I'm kind of looking forward to those weekend rides up 9W to have lunch in Nyack, and tan lines on my fingers from cycling gloves. To say nothing of having thighs that can snap a person in two.

Final note of the day, did anyone SEE that Rangers game last night? Who were those guys and what did they do with the New York Rangers? Incredible. They shut out the Lightning 5-0, playing the game the Pens SHOULD have played on Wednesday night. My only comment on Mark Messier's presence in the management booth is that I don't think he was really scouting for Team Canada's world squad. Are you listening, Glen Sather and John Tortorella?