You've got to pay to play ...

... and boy am I paying for playing last night! An excellent time was had by all, thanks to our hosts, friends and staff at Abacus Restaurant. (See "No Good Deed...")

However, despite our best intentions and promises to the contrary, my wife and I didn't leave the restaurant until nearly 11:30 last night. By the time we'd made some damage-control phone calls, raced to pick up the boys from my In-Laws', deposited sleeping children and fell into bed ourselves, it was approaching 1:00am.

Our alarm clock goes off at 4:00am.

Lack of sleep and far more wine than I am accustomed to drinking has recast the world into an image not unlike one from a funhouse mirror. With an impossibly large and heavy head and bandy little legs sprouting from a distended torso, I'm staggering around as though the contorted glass has cast a new reality for me, as well. It's going to be a long day, I think ...