Good weekend

After a very busy week at work and late nights with some consulting and other activities, I was ready for a restful weekend.

Dori and I dropped off the kids at my Mom's Friday night and headed to Germantown Cafe in the used silver Honda Odyssey van I bought Thursday (replacing my old hunter green Ford Explorer). It's a nice vehicle. My first choice was a used Subaru Outback, but they are hard to find.

I highly recommend Germantown Cafe. It's not quite the experience I have at my favorite restaurant, Margot in East Nashville, which pursues more of a French or Italian cafe experience and a menu that changes daily. But the food and service were sharp. Dori had plum pork medallions with a creamy risotto, while I went for the garlic 7 oz. filet with risotto. The salad with blue cheese vinaigrette, strudel with feta, olives, onions, and artichoke hearts, and french onion soup were nice starts to our meals, as was the peppery red wine the server suggested. Can you tell we're food snobs?

Saturday morning, I helped my sister and brother-in-law move their heavy furniture and boxes into their spacious new home in the 37212 area. I caught the second half of Will's soccer game, just in time to see him score a goal. He and his buddies kept up the pressure the whole second half, but lost their first game of the year, 2-1.

Will and I joined Will's godfather, Al DeNunzio, Saturday night to watch Vanderbilt improve to 3-1 with a 30-7 victory over MAC foe Eastern Michigan. The game was sloppy and chippy. Hopefully, our QB will play a better game next week in Auburn. Our defense, however, is our best in 10 years. Our defenders aren't big, but they're lightning quick and aggressive. We have a chance to take down a big dog or two this year with a good game, but not with play like last night's.

The kids ran cross country today. Will ran a good time, I think just below 6:00 for 3/4 mile, even though he almost face-planted early in the race. He showed some toughness by getting back in the race quickly. Kathryn had a much better race this week, finishing in 7:43 for a mile, about 30 seconds faster than last week's time. She looked calmer today, which was good. Time and place matter less to her Mom and me than doing your best and showing maturity through good and bad results, which Kathryn and I talked about this week.

I ran five miles on Friday at the Stones River Greenway, for a weekly total of 12 miles. Remember the good old days this summer when I was running 35 miles a week? Don't miss 'em. I ran again after 5 p.m. tonight at Radnor. Temp was about 73 and humidity was low. The course is mostly easy, except one .75 mile stretch straight up a steep hill. I felt good the whole way (5.0 miles in 44:48).

The run was a great way to start what will be a busy week. We'll keep CaringBridge updated as Dori begins the next round in her battle to beat leukemia.