Our visit with Kevin was great. Even shy girl Thirteen was gave him a warm welcome; she came over to say hello a couple of times, didn't hide, and even let him pet her on the head (she normally doesn't like being touched on the head). He came over around 6:30 last night, and we tried to go to the Q Shack, but they were closed! I joked that he and I are doomed to drive all over the Triangle looking for barbecue, every time we get together. But this time we managed to find barbecue on our second stop: the Barbecue Joint on Weaver Dairy Road. We all enjoyed the fresh pickles, although the cornbread was a bit disappointing, totally flat as if they had forgotten the leavening.

After dinner we went back home where Kevin had gifts! He gave us a Magnetic Fields CD, a set of beautiful buttons shaped like the faces of 7 Japanese gods of good fortune, and most marvelously, a Cosmic Encounter set! I haven't played Cosmic Encounter in years, but I have fond memories of many evenings spent on the floor in the common room of my old dorm, playing with my friends Ray, Kira and Rob. The funny thing is, I don't remember playing very often with Kevin, but he said that it was his set, lent to Rob, that we used to play with! We didn't have enough people for a decent game of Cosmic Encounter, so Kevin taught us to play canasta. Which was great fun, and I'm not just saying that because I came close to winning. Apparently it can be played with two regular decks of cards, but he had a special teaching deck with the points and special abilities written on each card.

I wish we could have spent the entire day with Kevin, but he had to get back to New York so he ended up leaving around ten this morning. We made tentative plans to get together while we're on Staten Island in the first week of January. And Kevin left with one of the best send-off lines I've ever heard: "You have to come to Yonkers and meet the rats!" I would love to see their rats, but I'm not sure that we could make it up to Yonkers. Because we're up there to see Georg's family, we only have one day to go into the city. And it would be a pretty long haul to get all the way out to Yonkers. Especially since we have dinner reservations that night in Manhatten, which means we'll be using public transportation. I'm hoping that we'll be able to see the three of them in a central location.

Anyway, it was really nice to see Kevin again, even if it wasn't for very long. We talked about all kinds of things, including (of course) movies. And Kevin added several things (of course) to my "must see" list. Later in the day Georg had to do the world music show. The guy who was supposed to be on after him came down with the flu, so I took the 4-6 show so that Georg wouldn't be stuck there all day. We were planning to go out right after, so I did my show in my party clothes. I felt a little silly dressing up for the radio, but at least I got a decent shot of The Hat on the webcam.

I enjoyed the show, but I have to say I'm glad I don't have another one until after we get back from NY. I was on the air 4 times last week. That's a lot of radio! Especially since the playlist isn't changing much right now, what with the holiday and all. I think if I had to do another show right away, I'd get really sick of it.

After the show we went to Rio Churrascaria, a Brazilian steakhouse in Raleigh. (Lisa was supposed to join us, but unfortunately she wasn't feeling well. We'll just have to go again with her!) It's a veritable festival of meat: no menu, just a bunch of waiters walking around with meat on swords. You have a little card on the table, and if your card is turned to green, the waiters come over and tell you what kind of meat they have. If you want it, they carve off a chunk for you right at the table. It was great! The only problem was that we were a little overwhelmed by the experience, accepted too much meat too quickly, and both ended up feeling a little overfull. I don't think we ate too much; it's just that we ate too fast. Next time (oh yes, there will be a next time) we're going to be better about taking our time, and not feeling like we have to take everything that comes by the table.

After the dinner we headed over to a fun party at Jason's. I spent most of the evening in the kitchen chatting with Alicia and Gina, who I've known since college but hadn't seen in about seven years. It was really fun to talk to her again. And it turned out that Gina and Alicia knew each other through an online knitting community, but didn't know they had friends in common. Alicia introduced her to the glories of the "Dirty Girl Scout," a bright green (and apparently quite strong) mixed drink. Georg and I did not partake, as he was drinking beer and I was driving.

Now we're watching tonight's Iron Chef on the DVR. Actually, I just looked over and Georg is sleeping. That's usually my job, to fall asleep during Iron Chef.