The Exploits of a TurboGeek!

Howdy,

Today, I wore one of my favorite shirts… It is a white button-down shirt that I bought at Structure, many years ago. I love this shirt, but I don’t wear it as often as I might, because each time I wear it, I notice that the cuffs are more frayed, and that the collar is wearing out. Each time I wear it, I know that I’m that much closer to not being able to wear it anymore.

What is interesting about this shirt is that it isn’t actually very interesting at all. It is a solid white button down shirt. Fairly thick material, and otherwise, not noteworthy. I do love it, but that isn’t very noteworthy, appearance-wise. What is also interesting, is that every time I wear it, I get complimented on it. I never iron it, or do anything special, it is just a white shirt, but everyone, including me, loves it…

This story isn’t about this shirt, though. It is about the same exact shirt, I bought with this shirt, but no longer have… I tell this tale often, because people frequently comment about how nice my shirt is, and then I feel compelled to tell them that I used to have another just like it, but now I don’t. The reason I only now have one, I tell them, is because I accidentally set the other one on fire… While I was wearing it.

I think I should be bothered by the fact that when I tell people that I accidentally set on fire a shirt that I was wearing, people don’t seem to register any shock or surprise… As if I’m the type of fellow who might be prone to setting my clothes on fire. I don’t think I’m that type of guy, but well… This is the story of how I set my shirt on fire, so I guess maybe I am.

So, this was maybe 4 years ago. I was dating a girl, while living in LA, and she had been sent on a business trip for work, that nearly, but didn’t quite partially overlap with a visit from her family, from out of town. Being a good boyfriend, I offered to pick up her family from LAX, and entertain them until she should arrive from her trip. I had met her folks before, so it was no big deal, I just took them to lunch, and then headed back to the airport to pick up my girl.

Only, there was a huge traffic jam on the way. There had been a multi-car accident, and the normally 4 lane road had been reduced to just one lane, and some poor soul was attempting to help people to merge by standing in traffic and gesticulating with his arms. Since we arrived shortly after the crash, we got through, but my inner hero couldn’t just drive on, so I asked if anyone minded if I stopped for a moment to help… No one minded, so I stopped. I grabbed a road flare from beside the driver’s seat (I always have at least one within reach while driving) and trotted back to the accident.

I had observed the wreck as we passed, and there didn’t appear to be any injuries. My goal was to give the flare to the guy directing traffic, so that he could place it strategically, or use it to make himself visible, and more effective as a traffic director. Basically, I just didn’t want him getting run over, but I also didn’t want to be late for my pick-up. Picking up girlfriends from the airport is a time for promptness. Especially when it means you no longer have to entertain her family solo.

So, as I ran up to the accident I didn’t want to be in traffic without a flare, so I struck it as I jogged past. Then, a tiny piece of phosphor, ignited and flew up in front of me as I continued running. Then, it fell down, towards me, and I twisted to dodge it, but only effectively drew it towards me, at which point it set my shirt on fire. Not badly, of course.

All the fuzz burned off, which made me appear to be engulfed in flames for a second, but then they went out. Then, the single phosphor bit burned a hole, right dead center on the strip where the button holes are. The guy to whom I was attempting to render aid asked if I was okay, and I laughed and said I was. I told him that he should be careful with the flare, pointed at my shirt and ran off. I’m sure he has a funny story about how while trying to help direct traffic at an accident, some whack-o ran up to give him a flare and set himself ablaze by accident.

So, I ran back to my car, and we didn’t really talk about what happened, I just drove to the airport and made my pick up. My girlfriend, of course, wanted to know what happened to my shirt… Oddly, my saying “I accidentally set it on fire.” was a sufficient explanation for her. It wasn’t until her family recounted the tale of how I heroically ran back to render aid, that she found out about the accident. They thought I was about the best guy she could possibly have brought home… Thankfully, none of them noticed me catching on fire, nor did they note the burn on my shirt. As far as they were concerned, I just ran back, helped out and then went about my business. A hero through and through.

That shirt sacraficed itself to win me the favor of my girlfriend’s family. Then we broke up, and now I think I miss the shirt more.

Woohoo! I’m going to Warsaw! I’ll tell you all about it when I get back!

Hey there!

Did I tell you that my super cool sister came out to visit me for Thanksgiving? Well, she did, and she is super cool. We had a lot of fun, and I’m here to tell you all about it. First off, my sister arrived the day before Thanksgiving, bright and early. In an attempt to get her over her jet-lag, we kept her up as late as possible, and that meant site-seeing. So, we went to one of my favorite cities, Trier.

That brought us to our first and most frequent adventure. Weinacht Markt! The Weinacht markt is a Christmas Market that most every German city holds in the main walking around area (walkplatz). The Markt’s start around the first day of advent, and run until… I guess Christmas. What they have, are lots of nice arts and crafts, and all sorts of fun stuff. Most importantly, Bratwurst. Second most importantly, Gluhwein.

Gluhwein is a delicacy found in Germany. It is a mulled wine, usually red. Served warm to quite hot, and spiced with a variety of seasonings. It is quite potent, and very effective at keeping one warm (and dizzy) in the cold weather. In addition to Gluhwein, there is also Feuerzangenbowle, which is similar, but different, and also Heiss Honigwein (hot honey wine).

In the battle of the Bratwurst, we ate at least two Brats at every Weinacht markt we went to. Which doesn’t sound bad, until I point out that we went to three markts, and I said “No less than two” brats. Suffice to say, at the end of the trip, I went from 199lbs to 204.2lbs. A small bummer, but not a big deal. In fact, today being exactly one week from when I picked up my sister, I weighed 200.6, which is basically negligible change. I will continue my efforts to attain a weight continuously under 200

On our tour of Germany and Weinacht Markts, we visited Trier, Wiesbaden, Heidelberg and most notably Rothenburg, which is where we spent Thanksgiving. Turkey, turns out to be hard to find in Germany. In fact it is something of a delicacy. Suffice to say, we didn’t have any on Thanksgiving. Instead, we had Venison and Duck, which seemed like a good compromise.

We stayed late in Rothenburg, to go on the Night Watchman Tour, which was awesome. Google that, you’ll get some cool info. That of course helped us to get caught in a blizzard, which was fun. The roads were covered in slick snow, and I think more than everyone’s heart stopped in the car as we went into a frothy skid across the autobahn. In the end, we didn’t hit anything, which is always a good thing.

Hmmm. I’m getting sleepy. I swam 2.25 kilometers earlier and the fatigue is settling in.

I’m at that tough part where I try and decide if I post something that is a bit flat, or not at all. I’m going to post and edit, rather than fall into the doldrums of silence. Forgive me for falling flat, at least you know I’m still alive.