File this under “Things I’m Not Sure If I Should Have Eaten”

Do you know the feeling? Yeah, the one you get when you just ate something and your stomach starts churning a little bit. You start to question whether the expiration date has passed (something hard to do with leftovers) and if you need to take your computer to the bathroom so you can continue to work while waiting for the inevitable.

For me, it was the leftover chili salad. We ate it on Saturday night and took it home and refrigerated it pretty quick. Here’s the challenge, though. I didn’t heat it back up today. I mean the chili was all mixed in with the lettuce and the tomatoes and the peppers. If I put it in the microwave, everything would be a big hot soggy mess.

So am I sick? I don’t know. I guess that depends on if the nice folks at Hard Times Café (the official chili provider to Nobody Likes a Jerk) puts blue corn tortilla strips in their salads. If they don’t then I’d say that was mold and I’m bound for a trip to the DL. I guess it also depends on how quick microbes and all that icky, nasty stuff can form on chili meat? In the past I’ve vigorously questioned the safety of my Chinese leftovers, but do I have to do the same about my Cincinnati Chili Salad?

Time will tell.

Football and the ER

Play the former and you may end up in the latter. Or if you are a certain Yankees fan who wishes to remain nameless you could just go for a run on an unseasonably warm winter day and end up in the latter. That's right sports fans no football involved (well not until later anyway)!

This anonymous fan (besides having horrible taste in baseball teams) slipped on some ice while running in scenic Rock Creek Park and because he, like many of us, wasn't in possession of his cell phone at the time, had to wait in the cool shade for over 30 min before encountering anybody else who could help him. Long history short he has a broken leg that required surgery and a titanium rod insert.

The real story here is not that he will be away from running for up to six months or that his wife (a frequent contributor to these pages) has to take care of him, or even that his dog can't play with him. Rather the moral of the story is don't go running with headphones (ala Mike Wise)

Achey-Breaky-Leg wasn't wearing them but more importantly. Seth (no last name available as of this printing) wasn't either. Seth (of no fixed address) rescued the gimp and helped keep him warm while waiting for the ambulance.

By the time I walked into the ER (he was being held in one of the “psych rooms”...how appropriate) half of the dead leaves from the park were deposited on the floor and in his gurney. The least the EMTs could have done is left a broom or a shop vac or something like that.

The good news is that he is on the mend and already putting pressure on his foot while walking on the crutches. We went over to visit on Sunday night and to watch the J-E-T-S sneak out of San Diego with a great playoff upset. So everybody was happy. Especially yours truly who got to watch the entire game without interruption, Hard Times Chili and Wings, and even some cookie cake. Now if he could just break his leg every week, we may go to the SuperBowl!