Yesterday the Patriots played the Jets in a key game to decide the playoffs, whether the Pats still had the stuff to win the big game after the loss to Miami, and more. It was a complex situation to determine where we would watch the game because snow was falling throughout New England causing a lot of potential adjustments to the calendar. Hattie sent me an email in the morning anxious to know where we would all watch the game and since I was in Bedford I told her that we were most likely going to visit Sarah’s sister and watch the game on their HD system. About an hour later I got a call from Matt who let me know that he was heading back to Boston and would arrive back in Brookline at about game time. The only problem was that he was heading back from North Carolina entering Boston in a blizzard.

So I decided that we would be best off in Brookline sooner than later with the storm brewing and more importantly we needed to go to Brookline to get our gym clothes so that we didn’t turn into flabby holiday drones. So I decided on Matt’s place for the big game watching event. I didn’t co-ordinate back with Hattie but I did know that I still owed Hattie the return of her Pyrex baking dish from our holiday party a few weeks back. Now Matt and Kate’s apartment is actually in the same building complex in Allston as the Boston Sports Club Allston gym. This can also be combined with the fact that the gym shows football games both on the little screens in front of equipment like the elliptical runner and on bigger televisions. So this plan won out over my dad’s offer to come to Newton. The snow was also a factor.

Sarah and I were starving by the time we finished working out at 4:15 PM and we had already watched a chunk of the big game. So we drove the car over to the inbound Pizza location and ordered ourselves a pair of subs. While they were making the subs I tried to retune the television to the football game but the stations on the satellite dish were all Middle Eastern stations like the national station for Iran, KuwaitTV, and Isreali TV. I didn’t bother to ask how to tune into local football events. So with a gap in knowledge about the game Sarah and I headed over to Matt and Kate’s. We also had forgotten to bring any wine.

When we got there Hattie was already on the couch and she hadn’t eaten at all. She was expecting that we would order in with her so she was waiting for us to arrive. I sat down to watch the game. We were up by a field goal midway through the first half.

Suddenly Hattie and Sarah got up out of their seats and started cheering maniacally jumping up and down and spinning out of control as they yelled oh my god to each other. I looked at the football game and nothing out of the ordinary was happening so I figured that they were playing a joke or just excited about some inside joke. This jumping up and down and hysterical screaming continued for about five minutes unabated. They finally gasped for breath long enough for me to see Hattie’s hand outstretched to take a second look. On Hattie’s finger was a new ring with a sapphire in the center and two diamonds on the sides. Hattie had gotten engaged and Sarah, always reviewing the fingers of her friends in a long term relationship, spotted the new ring as soon as she had a chance to see it. It required no spoken words to see that Hattie had moved her relationship status over Christmas from being a single woman to a fiancée. The ring had been a Christmas present during a romantic Christmas evening. Hattie did confirm that Mistral is an overpriced Italian meal but the romance was enough for her to commit to marry Jose. Congrats Hattie. May you find much happiness!

The Patriots managed to win the big game big a nice margin. According to coach Belichik they played well at all three phases of the game. It looked good to see them beat the Jets as they secured second place in the AFC behind the Steelers. The last minute win by the Colts helped cement everything.

After the game Hattie had to leave a little earlier than everyone else but we did manage to watch the interview with Belichik on 60 minutes by a ditzy woman who was impressed with the rewind button in the video tools for reviewing each weeks films.

We ended the evening by watching an HD documentary of the Ice Hotel in the northern laplands of Sweden. It looked like the place to stay because you can’t even drive there. You need to take sled dogs. We figured it would be too expensive so we looked into staying there when we got home. The site was great complete with panoramic views of the ice church and multiple rooms but it is all in Swedish including the pricing. I managed to decipher and translate the following passage into pricing using the Yahoo! currency conversion calculator.

Logipriser (inkl moms)
ICEHOTEL Dubbelrum
Du sover i en varm sovsäck på en speciell bädd byggd av snö och is ovanpå renskinn. På morgonen blir Du väckt med en kopp varm lingondricka på sängkanten. Frukostbuffé samt morgonbastu ingår. Priset gäller för 1-2 personer i dubbelrum.
Pris: 2 800:-/rum

Translation:

IceHotel Double Room:

You sleep in a warm sack with soy sauce that is especially bad. By god the snow is warm as an oven or a grandfather reindeer-skin. The blurry vat also keeps warm by clinging onto licorice and singing songs. There is a buffet of fructose-flavored frost where we baste a man named Morgan’s innards.

Price: $435/night

I’m considering taking a trip there. After I go to the Dominican Republic. The revolution in Haiti has depressed the prices for vacations there recently. I don’t think it is too risky but at 50% of the price of Jamaica I’ll take my chances.