Late night BBQ

Yesterday was an experiment in how the "other" 1/4th lives. I am of course referring to the people who come to MD Anderson late in the day for appointments instead of "crack of dawn" early. You know what? We kind'a liked it. There wasn't much traffic headed the way we were going at three in the afternoon. Good traffic, check. The parking was easy to find. Not having to take another elevator, check. The halls and byways were much quieter. Less stress, check. And despite the typical needing to wait two hours between blood draw and chemo we actually got into our appointment on time. On time, check.

We ended up leaving the hospital about nine thirty, which means we only spent about five and a half hours there. One of the shortest times I have ever spent at MDA. Which overall was significantly less taxing on me as a whole. On the way home I was feeling hungry so we decided to swing by our favorite BBQ place for some late night BBQ. However we projected that by the time we would get there they would be closed, so we made a change and went to a nearby fast food burger establishment whose mascot has a large round head. I know what you're asking: "In what world does Jack-in-the-box constitute a second place option to Rudy's?"

Well, it doesn't, truth be told, but BBQ places aren't too known for staying up too late. And 24hr drive through IS 24hr drive through. I was a touch worried that consuming a sourdough jack* at 10:30 at night (complete with lemonade and fries) would leave me feeling... sick in the morning. I am happy to report that is not the case. If anything I feel better than I normally do on Thursday mornings.

Lisa and I are making plans for Thanksgiving. We're planning to head out to Austin for some of the weekend. Austin is one of the major Texas cities we haven't visited. The main debate the other night was do we come back on the 10 and swing by Lulling and pick up some of their fantastic BBQ sauce? Or do we take the 290 and go through Brenham, and swing by the Bluebell ice cream factory? (290 won)

We were late in booking a place to have Thanksgiving dinner in Austin so our first choice, the Driskill Grill, seems to be booked. (We are on a waiting list and should know by Saturday if we made their Thanksgiving dinner or not) We have some backup plans however and being as we don't need to be anywhere we can celebrate Thanksgiving all weekend long instead of just one day. (Who's going to sleep through all the "madness" sales at 4 and 5am on "Black" Friday morning? This guy.) We did something like this the year we moved to Colorado. Spent Thanksgiving weekend in Santa Fe, NM. (It snowed) We're looking forward to exploring Austin.

Medically things are going. My cough continues and my ribs hurt from coughing, but in chemo/tumor-land things seem to be holding steady. Apartment wise we are getting settled slowly but surely. Lisa has had lots of work (YAY!) so she's been working instead of unpacking. I also have been putting in a few hours between coughing fits as well. Thanks for the prayers and support.

* Why the sourdough jack and not just some run of the mill burger? Well, actually it started out with the restaurant Claim Jumpers (aside: with all the brand names I am dropping here I should be getting kick-back), and one time I was there my mom told me that my dad was a big fan of the "Frisco Burger". Which is essentially a burger between two pieces of sourdough bread. This was about as earth shaking to me as the time I learned that you could put ice-cream in OTHER soda's other than root beer. (I won't tell you how old I was when I learned that) Ever since that first bite of the "Frisco Burger" I have had a love relationship with sourdough buns for burgers. I mean really, most of the time those buns you buy at the store are pretty much cheap throw away bread anyway. When you eat a burger you generally aren't thinking about the bun, might as well make those calories count for something, if nothing else TASTE for something.

~B.