take your fast car and keep on driving

I need to get up in six hours, so I'll keep this brief. Surprisingly, I got through everything I was supposed to do today (except for finishing my book, but hey, you knew that was coming). I drove down to Palo Alto and trained with Alyssa, who was appropriately demanding in honor of my departure; we said our goodbyes at the end, since I won't see her for three weeks (she's leaving for Hawaii right before I get back). Then, I took the fastest shower I've ever taken there (the Kiehl's products encourage me to linger), left the gym, and went to Joanie's for lunch. It was also the quickest Joanie's lunch I've ever had -- the server brought me a diet coke before I asked for one, and it seemed like they made my Cobb salad when they saw me walking up the sidewalk, because I only waited about three minutes for it. Ah, the joys of being a regular. The server noticed my gluten allergy because I've declined bread the past couple of times, so we commiserated over that, and I generally left feeling quite happy about my last salad-eating experience of 2011.

I drove home immediately (well, with a stop to grab coffee at Philz, since I needed caffeine to get me through the rest of the day), and spent some quality time on the phone (NTSB recommendations be damned, although it was via a manufacturer-installed hands free device) with [censored] so that we could discuss our plan of attack for Christmas gift giving. We made remarkable progress today, although there's still a lot of shopping (and even more wrapping) to be done. I spent far more time than I intended this afternoon thinking about, looking at, conversing about, and ordering Christmas gifts, but I suppose that's time I won't have to spend later.

I spent the rest of the evening packing, with an hour and a half break to have dinner with Terry and her aunt, who is visiting for a conference. We went to Perry's, our old standby down the street, where we ate far too many potato skins with cheese/bacon/sour cream. I also had a small bowl of chili (delicious) and half a crab (also delicious), which made for the weirdest combination of foods I've had in awhile, but it was the best I could do sans gluten at a place where I usually get sandwiches. It was all really tasty, though, so I have no regrets. Then we came home, I did my dishes and finished packing, and now I must go to sleep. My flight leaves at seven a.m., which is earlier than I like to wake up, let alone earlier than I like to be showered, dressed, and through security. Goodnight!