Red, Red and Red

It's not officially summer until I get a horrible sunburn, and I've returned to Boston with just that, all over my upper chest and around my neck. I suppose my face is burnt a bit too, but not as bad (though the area around my eyes apparently makes me look like I have allergies). And yes, I did use sunscreen; it was the Coppertone Sport SPF 15 spray kind. So either the stuff is crap or I needed a higher SPF. Or, the sun in Florida was just that strong (temperatures were in the high 80s the entire time I was there). I'll say the correct answer is a little of all three. Either way, I was only a third prepared for the Fourth of July. I had plenty of red. I just needed some white and blue. And now I'm practically swimming in aloe.

Anyway, the rest of the weekend was fine. Nothing all that exciting (it was south Florida, after all). Went to Delray Beach on Monday night to go to Boston's, which was supposedly a big Boston sports hub in Florida, with the Sox game on all the TVs, and Boston décor, and a replica of the Green Monster along one wall. Suffice it to say, there was plenty of Boston décor, the Green Monster was about half the size I was expecting, and we actually had to ask to have the Sox game turned on. Oh well. Just makes me happier to be home, where the TVs are always turned to the Sox game.

Except, I should mention, when I'm flying JetBlue on Fourth of July, and the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest is on. If you've never watched this spectactle of sport, I highly recommend it. This is the highly-serious world of competitive eating, where the chili pepper champion takes on the birthday cake champion and so on and so forth. Twelve minutes to eat as many hot dogs as is possible (the winner, Takeru Kobayashi, ate 53-and-three-quarters, a new world record — and by the way, this was his sixth consecutive win). And the commentators, talking about how all the competitors have trained so hard and are in the best shape of their lives. Of course, the winner gets a belt, of all things. Sorry to all my fellow passengers if I was laughing a bit too loudly.

But yeah, now it's definitely summer. And as soon as this burn fades into a tan, I'll be enjoying it a bit more.