Work, the pool, 'Fracture' and McCormick & Schmick's

Today was a successful day which first started with me not waking up at 1 pm. It then got better by me resolving 2/3 of my bugs. Yay.

After much time-wasting in meetings and so on, I finally had a chance to go for a swim. Finally, because I missed going yesterday. That whole waking-up-at-1pm-thing really screws you up, you know.

Now, there are a number of swimmers at the pool. I will attempt to define those classes in a nice bullet-list.

• Splashers - these are people who, for one reason or another, feel the need to splash water 3 lanes in each direction. Maybe it's something about marking their territory. Or they're trying to prove that while the rest of us are at the pool to waste time, they are the true practitioners, and as such exhibit outmost contempt for the common man, demonstrating it by unceasing water-shows.
• Freakin' bullets - these people traverse the length of the pool in the blink of an eye, leaving the chums in their wake, to sink or swim in the resulting tidal waves. These people are sometimes splashers, particularly at either end of the lane, switching directions by propelling their hairless bodies out of the water and splashing down not unlike a nuclear submarine from 'The Hunt for Red October'.
• Damn slow pokes - these people are trying out for the Olympics. The sloth Olympics, I think. I manage to swim 8 laps in the time it takes this gold-medalist to complete even one. I think they're paddling really slow in place, only moving forward for a lack of options. And I certainly don't know what they're trying to accomplish.
• The busy assholes - these people don't stop. Ever. Not even for you to politely ask them if they will mind sharing a lane. I think they've been in the pool since last November, doing laps and not caring what in the hell is going on around. Yes, ignorance is bliss, but acknowledge the outside world once in a while, if only not to come crashing head-first into a fellow swimmer. These are often splashers and sometimes bullets. Be weary of the busy asshole: sharing a lane with them is an exercise in patience and self-restraint. When they're not busy overtaking you or stirring up tidal waves at the ends of the pool, they are hogging most of the lane. Sort of hard to see where you are when your head is in the water 80% of the time.
• The twitching idiots - these mental giants have deduced that the proper swimming form is one resembling a car-crash victim: their limbs can often be seen at impossible angles and their arms seem to be locked in at 90 degrees. The stranger the body looks during a swim, the better. These are often times splashers. Seriously, how would they not be with all those arms flying everywhere?
• The talkers - this illusive creatures appear in pairs, normally. These are people who occupy the same lane but are rarely seen actually using it. They are found at the ends, standing around and talking. I am not sure what about, I try not to stick around, but it's apparently very interesting and can only be discussed in the pool. They do not possess particularly annoying swimming traits, as they almost never swim. One begins to wonder if they even know how...

After the pool I went back to work to finish up the bugs I checked in earlier. Skipping past the boring parts, I then went to watch 'Fracture'.

This was the first movie I've seen in quite a while. It's a fairly curious thriller. Ryan Gosling plays a young hotshot assistant district attorney, trying to convict Anthony Hopkins' character of attempted murder. See, Hopkins shot his wife in the head (she's alive but in a coma) and now it's up to Gosling to build a case from what seems to be a fairly straight-forward matter. Rosamund Pike stars as Gosling's soon-to-be boss and lover. While her performance can be missed if you were to blink, she's delightful and is one of the reasons I decided to see this film. That, and it fit my schedule, but moving on. A film about weak-points has quite a few of its own, but that's probably just my perception. That and the fact that I've watched one too many CSI-type shows: the surprises were largely predictable and I noticed the major plot point at the first moment it appeared, close to an hour before the rest of the characters catch on. In this respect, the film is very much like 'Manchurian Candidate': while great on its own, there's not much new that I didn't see in the trailer, infer on my own before ever going to the theater or see from a mile away as a plot point.

Afterwards I made my way to McCormick & Schmick's, a seafood restaurant in the same building as the movie theater (Lincoln Square). This place is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. I have been there twice (for dinner) and was very satisfied both times, equally by the presentation, the quality of the food and the service. Of course, I do end up spending a minimum of 50$ every time I'm there, but it's worth it. Having tried the oyster sampler last time, today I focused on the Kusshi Oysters (Deep Bay, British Columbia). These are a smaller, but sweeter, oyster variety that is pure heaven on the half-shell. For the entrée I had Wahoo (Kona Coast, Hawaii), "Oven Roasted with Penn Cove Mussels in a Red Curry Sauce". A hard and somewhat stringy fish on rice, with breath-taking curry and mussels. Just "wow". Can't say anything else. For dessert, I once again went with the upside-down apple pie with ice cream. The whole thing is served on a plate decorated with fine flour and caramel dribbled liberally. Yum!

McCormick & Schmick's is quickly becoming a favorite of mine and I am determined to celebrate every big, and little, achievement there. But no more often than once every two weeks. Not the fact that it's semi-expensive. It's certainly not because of their dish sizes: it's not a lot of food, that's why I am able to try an appetizer and a desert in addition to the entrée. The reasoning here is that this is something of a special place and I'm going to keep it that way.

This blabbering post is brought to you by the soundtrack for "Eyes Wide Shut", a gorgeous arrangement of mostly instrumental music.