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Stan and I went to Good Stuff Eatery today, the gourmet burger place owned by Spike Mendelsohn (from Top Chef). I had chatted with him briefly on the phone Sunday and he suggested the "5-Napkin" burger and the Toasted Marshmallow shake. We saw him at the restaurant and talked with him for a couple minutes, very nice guy. Anyway, the burgers were pretty tasty, and he's not kidding about needing 5 napkins, they were very juicy and have his own sauce on them which makes the brioche buns pretty wet. I totally loved the shakes, I haven't had a milkshake that good in years. I want to try the other burgers on the menu, they all look really good. The restaurant is on Capitol Hill along a nice walking street with a stretch of restaurants and bars. He's surrounded by competition but based on how busy they were i think he'll do all right.

I felt justified in having a burger and shake because I ran 13 miles this morning, at a 10 minute, 45 second pace. Considering that's half the length of the marathon (in just 5 weeks!) I think that's a good sign. I felt good when I was finished, not totally wasted like I was last weekend after only 7 miles, so I feel better about my fitness.

Getting home today I checked the mail and what do you know, I had a paper accepted for the Association for Asian Studies conference next spring in Chicago (yay, I get to go study Asians!!). The paper is the one I was working on this year, the one that took me to Thailand and Singapore and Malaysia and Hong Kong. I was writing it for the government but it's nice to know it'll get some academic exposure, too. The conference is in Chicago, just a couple weeks after I return from Singapore, and there's a chance the office won't pay to send me since I'll have just been gone for 4 months, but if that's the case i'll just pay for it myself.

Good day so far, and there's still tonight yet to come!!!

Labels: Friends, Life, Running, Work