Weekend Recap

Friday night, I had a date, er, I went out with the guy from my bank. He was pretty friendly when I first opened the account when I moved up here in June, and I'd see him every couple of weeks when I'd go in there. So we talked about having a beer and finally did so on Friday.

Even before my male friends weighed in with warnings about keeping an eye on my drink at all times and so forth, I had my reservations. Not because I thought he was gay, because I didn't and now having spent time with him, I don't. But it's the first time I've ever socialized with someone who has access to my Social Security number and money. Fortunately, I don't envision not being broke any time soon, so I'm not a target for him, at least monetarily. But there are still ways for this to become awkward. Ever seen "Cable Guy?"

Anyway, it was actually a pretty good time. We're about the same age and he knows enough about Ohio State football that I felt justified in making it the most prominent topic of conversation in our three hours together. We talked sports, beer and music and if I type any more about this, then I'll probably be the subject of warnings from his friends. One last thing -- we hung out at Dorrian's, which is known as being the 1980s meeting place for that rich college kid and his victim in what New Yorkers remember as the "Preppie Murder."

But back to me. I didn't get loaded like I often do on a Friday, but I drank four or five draft beers, enough to have a headache on Saturday morning. And afternoon. Since I started this new gig in New York, I've had to be on-call and add about eight or 10 fresh stories to the sites very early each Saturday morning. This particular one marked the third time this summer that I've sat at this computer -- splitting headache and all -- with a hand over one eye and squinting badly to read the awful wire stories I've had to edit. I guess you could say that's a symptom of being hungover, a condition that many would guess could be avoided by not drinking so much. My logic runs in a far different direction; another way to prevent hangovers is to drink a lot -- both in volume and frequency -- thereby increasing your tolerance. No pain, no gain, right?