2002-12-02 - 9:03 a.m.

THIS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR PANTS FALLING DOWN!!

Folks, I'm sorry that the talk about our China trip is taking so long, but I feel that this is one of the peak experiences of my life, and I want to get it written down before it totally slips out of my porous head. And since I'm writing it down, why not share? However, this is at the expense of writing about what's happening right now.

Even though I've been back more than a week now I'm still dreadfully jetlagged, but in the last couple of days I've managed to turn my sleeping schedule around at least so I'm in the right half of the world - going to bed at 10 p.m., getting up at 4 a.m. That's progress!

Not a lot has been happening here as Lily and I stagger around like jetlagged zombies. Thanksgiving was nice with just the two of us. Lily made quite a spread with a 14 pound turkey, a chessescake, and apple-and-walnut pie, mashed potatoes and all sorts of other dishes. Most of that stuff is hardly low-carb, but we'll start eating better after the holidays.

You had better believe there is a ton of turkey left. That's okay, it's very tasty. We'll make it disappear.

I have to say that I am loving me some Amazing Race this season. Thanks to the Manager we managed to catch up on the episodes that aired while we in China. Due to jetlag we managed to miss the episodes of both shows last Wednesday, but once again the Manager came to the rescue - he taped them, too.

Man, the most recent episode of Amazing Race was one of the best ever. All the teams were in a big bunch for most of the episode and you could see the elimination-panic written all over their faces. It was great! I am a meanie for enjoying such things.

I was glad it was a non-elimination round, since I rather like the team that came in last this episode, John Vito and Jill. They seem to be the only team that isn't cracking under the pressure and clawing at each other like wolverines.

My favorite part of the show was when the contestants were racing around that Swiss alpine village, gasping in the thin mountain air. Terry and Ian (known elsewhere as the Prick Bickersons) were carping at each other as usual, with Ian constantly shouting at his wife to keep up. When Terry complained that she had to stop because her pants were falling down, Ian shouted: "This is more important than your pants falling down!" I howled with laughter.