Greetings from mid-town.  We survived the storm last night; actually it didn’t even hit our house very hard.  The sirens went off, but presumably that was just to get everybody’s attention because according to the news there wasn’t any severe weather anywhere near us.  The webserver did experience the first extended downtime; I shut it down in case of lightning strikes.  It is on a battery and all that, but you can’t be too careful, especially with 75-year-old wiring.

The weekend rated pretty high on the entertainment scale.  We kicked it off by going to the Brooksider early on Friday and enjoying some time on their new deck.  (Note the clever and vague use of the adverb “early” in that sentence.  You just never know who might be reading this.)  The deck has been a big hit with us so far.  You don’t get the all the smoke like inside, and the weather has been great.  It’s almost exactly like sitting at a sidewalk cafe in Paris, but with the added charm of reeking dumpsters, lousy music, and cheap hamburgers.  Plus, there were some guys there giving out free hats; nothing starts off a weekend right like a free hat.

Saturday “the group” went down to Harlings to hear some Mama Ray tunes, but we took a pass on that option.  We went to the gym for a while, and then had lunch at Barleys Brewhouse in Overland Park.  (I don’t know that its really in Overland Park, that’s just what I call anything west of State Line.)  After that we ran several errands, and then caught up with everybody at Kelly’s in Westport.  Didn’t last too long there; it was too nice of a day to be inside, so we headed across the street to Harpo’s to sit on their deck.  That turned out to be a good choice; there was a band playing across the street that wasn’t half-bad, and there were several bachorette parties going on that provided some amusement.  Todd was making good progress towards getting a date with the mother of the bride in one group, but then crashed and burned.  (There are many omitted details relative to that little teaser-line there; Todd will have to provide them.)

Sunday I went to O’Dowds with Todd and Martin, and listened to some jazz up on the deck.  Same deal as Friday: very hot but nice to be outside.  We hung out there until 6:30 or so, then picked up some Chinese take-out and headed over to Susan’s for the weekly Soprano’s party.  I am thrilled to report that this week’s episode was much more engaging than last week.  The numerous websites and discussion boards dedicated to the show seem to support this opinion also.  Overall, I’d say the show doesn’t have quite the dramatic intrigue of a “Monday Night Raw” or a “Thursday Night Smackdown”, but I’m starting to get a certain affinity for it.