A Few Things

I am working on a super-long post that will take me a few days to put together so I just wanted to throw something out here for now.

First, an award!  Yesterday at the gym a 45-year-old dude was working out on an elliptical, three machines down from a mid-twenties woman on the Stairmaster.  I was at one of the Universal machines where I happened to be able to see both of them.  The guy kept glancing over in a creepy-but-non-threatening way at the lady for a few minutes and then piped up the gold-medal winning lamest opening line ever:

"Heh, heh.  It looks like you're really stepping up in the world."

Needless to say, it didn't work... she just sort of politely ignored him.  It was disappointing that she chose to ignore my psychic advice, too, though: "C'mon... mace 'im!  Mace 'im, mace 'im mace 'im!"  That would have been awesome.

Shifting gears, I had a very vivid dream recently.  It's short, so hang in there : I was driving down the highway at night with my wife and son when I started to nod off.  I jerked myself awake (in that comically violent just-fell-asleep-at-my-desk way that we are all familiar with) in the dream... and in real life.

Well, that's just great.  Now, not only am I not sure which scenario is actually real, it is extremely freaking important to figure out within seconds whether I am snuggled securely in my bed or whether I am barreling down the highway at 60 mph with my family on board.

This wasn't like the dream I had where I accidentally drove my car off the back of an aircraft carrier into the ocean.  As incredibly real as that dream was, it was, like, totally obvious that it wasn't really real.  This dream, however, wigged me out enough where I had to walk around my house for five minutes "officially" waking myself up just to make sure.

I am told that I need to see the movie Inception...  It's on my list for sure, now.

Hey, you're still reading?  Wow!  Here's your reward, a hint to one of the Secret Puzzles.  Just shift the letters below by 13 to read the hint, or cut and paste the hint here. All other puzzle info can be found in the sidebar on the right.

Chessboard Puzzle Hint #2 (Posted Jan 07 2011):
Gur svefg yrggre vf 'G'.

Good luck!