Sam declared today at dinner that he doesn't eat vegetables. Aside from the "I hate asparagus" comment, followed by my eating all of his aspargus from his stir-fry, he ate all of the vegetable-only meal I gave him, thereby disproving his notion he eats only meat and dairy.

I'm not telling him otherwise.

We went to Trader Joe's for precut vegetables for the stir-fry. He selected a curry rice dish as the side, while I selected mixed vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots), asparagus and bell peppers for the stir-fry.

I wasn't sure he'd eat it all, but throw in the vegtables, some sauted tofu and a ginger-soy sauce, take out the asparagus, and the kid willingly ate it all.

With no meat.

Maybe tomorrow we'll have salmon fajitas. See if we can go two days as pesci-vegetarians together.

Note to self: when an eight year old boy says that his nintendo is enough to keep him occupied on a two hour flight, don't believe him.

Sam and I flew back to California today. I had flown over to Phoenix yesterday to spend a brief time with Mom and Eric, before whisking Sam away back home for a not-quite-week-long week at Auntie Kitt's. I tell you, "Auntie Kitt" is the dumbest incarnation of any "Auntie" name I know of. Though, nothing will ever beat "Auntie Em," "Auntie Kitt" is particularly unsavory. Doesn't have a good ring to it.

Maybe it is time to switch to Kathryn. Or Kate. Kate McQueen. Now that has a ring to it.

Except that it's also REALLY close to the name of the character Cindy Crawford played in her one and only (and thank goodness ONLY) acting role. *shudder*

Yeah, so, Sam.

He did an okay job keeping himself entertained on the plane. We did play a game of dot box, though.

I thought he did really well, catching me off guard a few times. 43 / 112 boxes? Not bad, given I have probably 400 games of experience up on him.

Sam also took some good photos out the window:

We're not planning on doing much today. We'll see how the day goes.

Note to self: be careful when offering, because some people know only how to take.

I really should listen to my gut more.

Flew out to Arizona today to pick up Sam for this not-quite-annual-but-we're-getting-there visit to California. Because the timing of my flight out didn't really work well for both our normal Velocity class and any work time for Kris, I asked Andy if he could take me to the airport. I'd even make it as easy as possible on him, by driving my car to his work, and he could keep my car for the day, as I'm returning with Sam tomorrow.

That worked for his schedule, so before lunchtime, I headed over to his work, and he headed out to drive me to the airport, noticing as I did the twelve squirrels running around the tree next to my car, under my car, and near my car. I've never had four squirrels pause three feet up on on a tree trunk and stare at me, wondering what I'm about to do.

So, Andy pulled to the exit of his work's parking lot, an exit which happens to be one side of a four way stop. He made some comment about how a coworker was almost hit at the intersection, as he looked to the right to verify the car to the right was stopping. He looked to the left, to see a fire engine stopped at the stopsign. He looked right again to confirm with the car on the right, and pulled forward, accelerating into the intersection.

Just as a moron in an black SUV flew around the fire engine and into the intersection to our left.

Now, not only did the SUV run the stop sign, he went straight through in a left turn lane.

Andy was still looking right when I yelled "WAIT! WAIT!" Now, technically, "STOP! STOP!" would have been a better call to make, but even "Wait!" is better than "UHN!" and a lot of pointing. I was pleased I was as coherent as I was.

Andy hit the brakes hard just as the SUV (driven by a man of Indian descent, and not, as you might stereotypically think, an Asian woman) also braked, and we missed each other by a foot.

As Andy accelerated away, the SUV driver looking sufficiently sheepish for his moronic move, I commented, "Well, I hope that doesn't set the tone for this trip."

It didn't. My plane landed safely.

Andy, on the other hand, was nearly hit in the same intersection on his way back to work, by another driver running the stop sign by going straight through the left-turn only lane.

Kris and I were talking last night about whether or not we were going to go to class this morning. The hour wasn't too late, but since I arrived home just today having been for over three days, and I was leaving again this afternoon to go pick up Sam, maybe we could skip the class and just sleep in instead, maybe have sex and a slow, pleasant breakfast (or was it breakfast and slow, pleasant sex?). Kris could work from home while I puttered around and cooked breakfast (as I'm fond of doing as of late), and he could drop me off at the airport before heading into work.

What really stopped me from this plan, however, was a conversation with Paul yesterday and the end of an email from Lyndsay.

Paul started coming to Velocity last week. He went both Wednesday and Friday last week, with Kris. I went to an afternoon class on Wednesday, and was in L.A. on Friday, so missed that class, too. At practice yesterday, Paul asked me, "Are we ever going to work out together?" I explained my absenses, and let him know I would be at class this week.

Lyndsay ended an email with, "See you at Velocity!" yesterday, too. She and I had been talking about her coming to class regularly, joining in on the class that Kris and I go to. The timing of our class works well for her commute and work schedule, so she's planning on starting up. I inferred from her signoff she was starting up this week.

So, two of my teammates going to Velocity this morning. I wanted to go, too.

(No, neither Paul nor Lyndsay were at Velocity this morning, but I didn't know they wouldn't be there when we left for class. Kris and Breanne both told me that Paul is planning on Wednesdays and Fridays only. I don't know what happened to Lyndsay. I suspect she's also planning a midweek workout.)

I've realized a lot in the past few years just how motivating teammates can be for me to go to class, workout regularly, actively improve my skills. People in general behave better when they know someone is watching them. One of the reasons that religion is so effective in keeping people in line is the belief that an omniscient entity sees (and presumably judges) everything someone does. Studies have show that the mere display of eye watching people will make them behave better.

Teammates are these watching eyes. They have not only the motivating effect of "I want to do well so that I don't disappoint my teammate," but also the motivating effect of "She's going 10% harder/faster/better than I am. If I push myself, can I catch up?"

They also make the hard work more fun. When I first switched to the afternoon Velocity classes, they were a little rough for me. I didn't know anyone in the group, but everyone in the group of regulars knew each other. They joked about things, asked each other about updates of their sporting events or other life events. They talked about previous workouts and how this one compares. I was on the outside, doing my workouts solo in a group. Even though the workouts should have been physically easier than the morning ones with Breanne, they were mentally much harder because of that isolation.

Of course, getting sent to the principal's office gets you noticed, so now that isolation has dissipated.

The group motivation and social aspects are a big reason why I spend $60 in train fare to commute back home after classes, why I go to those group classes in the first place. Sure, I like the smaller groups of six over the larger groups of 12 when at Velocity, but I still prefer the groups of 12 over a workout by myself.

Ultimate is the first team sport I ever willingly participated in. The people and the culture have a lot to do with my enjoyment of the sport. Sure, I wish I had played in team sports when I was younger, and learned these lessons long ago. But, really, I wish I had learned a lot of lessons long ago, so what's one more?