I think I’ll go with the “brief weekend overview” method here, because I’ve got some unrelated ramblings to post and I wouldn’t want anyone to get bored and quit reading before all the REALLY exciting stuff kicks in.  So… Friday we went down to the Brooksider for a birthday party.  “Big Don” turned fifty.  We didn’t last too long because it was too crowded… Kept getting jostled.  I didn’t even get any cake.  Saturday I drove up to Kearney to check on the progress of the smoker that Kevin Brown is working on.  Yeah baby, we’re going big-time this year.  Hopefully it will be completed by this Spring, and ready for some demo’s.  Here’s a few pictures of it, kind of out of focus but you get the idea.  (What’s up with the fuzzy pics K.B., camera frozen or something?) 1, 2, 3, 4.  The box that looks like a wood burning stove is… a wood burning stove.  This will serve as the firebox.  The upside is that it should be very fuel-efficient and the heat should be quite adjustable, the only downside is that it weighs several hundred pounds.  There are two pictures of the cooking chamber with the doors cut out; you get the idea there.  The green box that looks like a filing cabinet goes on the opposite end from the firebox, to serve as a warming box.  There’s apparently still some discussions going on with the design team regarding this feature.  There are also some chrome Harley pipes I don’t have a picture of; these will serve as the smoke stacks.  I’ve got high hopes for this project, as I’ve always wanted to cook on one of those big fancy rigs like the cool kids at the BBQ.  Heck, or just use one for a party for that matter.  And on to Sunday… We met Munkirs down at the Brooksider for lunch, and watched the afternoon football game.  Doni’s cousin who goes to school in Omaha was in town and came down also.  Had a good lunch but the football game was rather boring.  The best part was that Munkirs paid for lunch with the Brooksider gift certificate I’d given him for Christmas.  THAT was a good plan on my part, if a bit transparent.  After that we went home and cleaned the house a bit, then Susan W. and the Kids came over and watched the Sopranos.  We’re up to the middle of Season 2 now.  For dinner, Susan declared it “Bring-Your-Favorite-Snack Night”; we had some 7-layer dip (Doni’s), cheese and crackers (mine), Skyline Chili dip (the Kid’s) and McDonald’s french fries (Susan????).

Well, as I mentioned, I was keeping the “Weekend Update” brief so that I could drone on with both some random geek projects and some general mal-content.  That wasn’t particularly brief however, so I think I’ll cut out the geek projects because I’m sure nobody really cares about them anyway.  You never know though, somebody might have some solutions/ideas for me.  Just to pique your curiosity however, I’ll mention that 1) I bought a new Linksys wireless router, and am currently working on juicing it up to serve a signal to the Brookside area at large.  Of course I’ll likely never let anybody actually attach to it, but I want to see how far I can pick up the signal myself.  2) I moved my webserver to a different PC, after finally conceding that I don’t need 3 PC’s running all the time.  The question still remains what to do with the “open” one though.  3) I continue to be perplexed by a viable backup solution for my computers.  I just can’t find anything easy and reliable.  (Oh, and did I mention preferably “free”.)  I put a portable drive on the computer downstairs and shared it out for this purpose, but after a reboot the share goes away.  Not to mention, I still can’t find a program I like for the backup either.  Geez.

OK I’m skipping the paragraph on “general mal-content” too.  Screw it, I’m spent.  My holiday is slipping away rapidly, I need to go do something.  Maybe I’ll just post that separate or something.  I could blab a whole novel on “Why I always end up at the Brooksider instead of the Gym, and the toll this is taking on my health.”  There are just myriad reasons explaining both why this is not my fault, and why it is everyone else’s fault.  Compelling, fascinating reasons.  Entirely too lengthy to go into on a Monday morning, that’s for sure.

Oh, and a little side-note: We seem to have lost Todd.  He was at the Brooksider Friday evening, and hasn’t been heard from since.  Hasn’t been on Instant Messenger all weekend, and doesn’t respond to emails.  Heck, I even took the extraordinary step of CALLING him; Goes straight to voicemail and the messages haven’t been returned.  If anybody talks to Francisco this week you might have him run through the weekend “calls” and see if anything turns up.  If anybody does happen to see Todd, do not attempt to approach him yourself.  He’s no doubt cold, confused, and hungry, and could be dangerous.  Just make a note of the time and place, and I’ll notify the proper authorities so that the matter can be addressed safely.