Whew, that was one exhausting weekend.  Punishing, even.  It started early on last Thursday when we flew to KC for Martin’s sort-of-kind-of-not-really-surprise 50th birthday party.  The very fact that I went to school with people who are now turning 50 troubles me deeply, but I’m just to avoid the issue for the time being, and stick with a brief overview of the festivities.

Friday was a fun day, at least for me.  I do miss my little self-styled KC pub crawls.  That wasn’t even really the plan, it just kind of worked out that way.  I met up with Kobe around 11:00 at the Blue Line, a place I’d never been to before.  Actually, I’d definitely been there before, but I think it was under a different name last time I was there.  At any rate, it’s now The Blue Line, a self-proclaimed “Hockey Bar.”  Huh, didn’t know KC had one of those, or for that matter needed one.  At least for the day of the US vs. Canada game, it proved a very successful theme though.  It was just crazy-crowded, there was no use even looking for a seat.  We stood around and watched the entire game, which I found oddly entertaining.  After the US loss, the crowd magically disappeared.  They left the TV’s turned up deafeningly loud though, so I decided to walk up to the Phoenix for some lunch.  Ah, I miss that place.  I sat around there for a while, joined briefly by a few coworkers, then Martin picked me up and we headed south to my old stomping grounds.  “The Boys” were all at Hooper’s;  Not my favorite place but hey, I got to see a lot of people in one spot so it worked out OK.  From there, we headed further south to Tommy’s, which our friend Susan recently purchased.  After checking out her remodel of the place (she was out of town so we didn’t get to see her,) we headed back downtown to one of my favorite spots, the Peanut.  I know the one on Main is the original, but I have always preferred the downtown location.  I maintain those are the best wings in the city, I love them.  I generally am a bit self-conscious of eating them in public, as I tend to… errrrr… sweat just a bit.  I figured what the heck though, I was on vacation, so I grabbed a roll of paper towels and tore them up.  That and a double BLT were more than enough for the four of us.

Saturday was the day of Martin’s party, so I was tasked with keeping him occupied while the girls made preparations.  Of course, I can’t even keep myself occupied most of the time, so I deferred to Schmidt.  He put together a little shootin’ party with Lueck, Martin, Brown and myself up at the Brown Ranch in Kearney.  Good times, although none of us were exactly tearing up the clay pigeons.   By the time we got cleaned up it was time for the party, which was down in Westport at Californos.  Much like Hooper’s, I had the benefit of seeing a bunch of people in one spot, so I had a great time catching up with everybody.  After the party, a handful of us headed up the street to Kelly’s to keep the festivities going.  All we did was prove the adage “there is nothing to do after 10:00 but get in trouble.”  That’s all I have to say about that.

Sunday we had carved out for some family time.  We started off meeting my family down at Classic Cup for brunch.  I’d had a cup of coffee there before, but never eaten;  It was quite good!  As usual I ordered rather oddly, in a misplaced effort at being healthy.  I must admit my omelette would have benefited greatly from a liberal dose of sausage gravy like Donette had.  Oh well, there’s always next time, and it wasn’t bad at all; I just had a little gravy envy.  After that we rolled up north to her parent’s house, where we spent the rest of the afternoon socializing while waiting for our flight to Sacramento.  Ugh, the flight home was miserable, we didn’t step in our front door until 2:00 AM, and that’s including the two-hour time change.  Friggin’ Denver.

Whew, the heinous cold snap is over, I hope for good.  I don’t mean to rub it in, but it’s a gloriously sunny 67 degrees out today.  Got a little more rain over the weekend though.  I know CA is in the middle of a 500-year drought, but does it have to only rain on my high-value days?  C’mon people.

We really didn’t do anything of note this weekend.  My romantical side took over Friday and I took my valentine to happy hour with me at the hotdog shack.  Nothing says “love” like a $10 hotdog.  After that we headed home and tried to watch Say Anything, supposedly a recommended valentine’s day flick.  I’ve likely seen it before, but don’t really remember it at all.  Or at least the first five minutes didn’t look familiar, I fell asleep after that.

Saturday we did some light house-hunting, with no “hits” to speak of.  A lot of misses though.  We widened our radius to include Folsom in the hopes of saving a few bucks;  Doesn’t look like that theory is going to pan out.  So far only one house remains on our “list,” and we’re actually keeping the new build option open too.  I said I’d never live in a new house again, but then I also said I’d never live in the ‘burbs again and it does not get much more suburban than this place.  If you break one rule, might as well break them all.

Sunday Donette went on something of cleaning frenzy.  The house was indeed getting a little untidy.  I tried to help out, but kept getting sucked into foreign-language martial arts films.  I took Teagan up to the park for a bit to play ball, which helped in that she is perpetually in the way around the house.  On the downside, she got horribly muddy…  That might not have helped as much.  For dinner we grilled some chicken sausages.  I’ve always wanted to try those, and I was reasonably pleased with them.  Maybe no substitute for pork-fat, but hopefully a bit healthier, although I didn’t bother actually reading the label.  That’s pretty much our weekend.  We wrapped up with a solid dose of Wii games, then Donette turned on a movie and it was lights out for me.

Wow, we finally got some much-needed rain here.  Unfortunately it all came during my weekend, greatly limiting my entertainment options.  I kid you not:  It started Friday afternoon and did not quit until early this morning.  I heard Folsom lake rose six feet.  (And, unfortunately that only brings it up to 1/3 of where it should be.)  Not a total loss of a weekend though, we mixed in a few new restaurants and such.  Friday I kicked things off with a (very) short happy hour at Ruff Haus.  It was pretty much just to say I went to my standard Friday afternoon happy hour…  I was only there about 30 minutes.  After that I did something remarkably fun and exciting.  The details escape me though.

Saturday the monsoon continued outside.  Thanks to a nasty episode of insomnia, I kicked my day off early watching No Holds Barred.  Widely considered to be one of Hulk Hogan’s finest artistic efforts, it is indeed a true masterpiece of 80’s cinema.  It also features the breakout performance of Tommy Lister, another great American legend.  After a moving experience like that so early in the morning, the rest of the day was rather anti-climatic.  We went to a late lunch at a nearby Thai place, Chantara.  It was very good, if a bit on the spendy side.  (That seems to be a recurring theme at all the restaurants here.)  After lunch we headed back home and I vainly tried to exercise the dog a bit.  The rain made that a bit difficult, limiting us to indoor activities.  Ever heard the sound of a 50 lb. dog playing fetch on carpet?  I seriously doubt the landlord would approve.  A close inspection revealed no damage though, whew.  For our evening entertainment we decided to actually go to the movie theater, a rare occurrence indeed.  After much negotiating, we agreed on Lone Survivor.  All in all, a very entertaining movie.  I had a few titles I’d have rather seen, and I know for a fact she had a few other preferences, but hey, it’s all about compromise.  As an added bonus, I must say that what I thought was an overpriced lunch at the Thai place seemed like a much better deal after I spent the same amount on a tub of popcorn and two drinks.

Sunday, unfortunately, was our declared “shopping day.”  Ugh.  We were dangerously low on food in the house, and it was time for a trip to town for provisions.  We loaded up the car, said goodbye to Teagan and Kane, and set out on the harrowing five-mile trip to Folsom.  After braving the rain-soaked freeway, we eventually arrived in The Big City and set about our errands.  We kicked things off at The Dollar Tree, which has an entertainment factor roughly equivalent to Walmart, and then moved on to the dreaded Costco.  Man I love to hate Costco.  The one in Folsom is perpetually crowded too; it buys you nothing to try and go during an “off time,” as there is no such thing.  And like every other Costco, the aisles are rather narrow and nobody thinks anything of just stopping their massive cart right in the middle and engaging in a 15 minute phone call while you try and maneuver by them.  We survived it all though, if barely, and then wound our way back to El Dorado Hills for a quick stop at the grocery.  For some inexplicable reason we decided to get all crazy and try the Raley’s store instead of our tried-and-true Nugget.  Failed experiment.  Weary from our journey, we made it home in time for dinner, then settled in for a round of Wii Sports to wrap things up.

I thought I was moving somewhere warm, what the heck happened?  C’mon, seriously?  I put my jacket away last week, now I gotta dig through the dang closet and find it.  And they’re calling for RAIN this weekend?!?!?!  Woe is me, WOE!!!!  May have to make the two-hour drive to San Francisco, this will not do.

No wineries this weekend, rats.  (Whew.)  We had plenty of fun though I suppose.  Friday night we kicked things off with a short happy hour at Ruff Haus.  Hmmm, happy hour at the hotdog joint, times are bleak indeed.  I branched out with a scotch egg this time, which is roughly 18 times tastier than it sounds.  I also enjoyed discussing the (de)merits of the local Chicago dog.  I maintain that, while certainly tasty, their $10 offering is not significantly better than the two-fer-$2 build-your-own at QT.  My esteemed coworker insists that oh yes they are.  As he has never actually experienced a gourmet QT dog though, I feel I have a better grasp on the matter.  I win, hmph.  After that we headed home for a round of Wii Sports.  Of all the games we’ve collected, you just can’t beat a round of the free sports games that came with the console.  Plus we’re rather evenly matched;  I usually win tennis and baseball, she wins bowling and golf.  (We don’t box, after one time when she got a little too carried away and…  Never mind.)  After a few rounds of that, we got all melancholy and started dialing up people on Facetime.  It was fun, although that thing still kind of freaks me out for some reason.  We did sort of get carried away and forgot about the time difference.  For that, I sincerely apologize to my KC friends.  Oh, and Cincy.  Oops, and Texas.  I’m so embarrassed.

Saturday went rather oddly.  We had a lot of plans, and actually got in the car and set out to execute said plans.  Somewhere along the way, we noticed an open house sign, and popped in for a tour.  Pretty interesting, so we drove to another.  Several open houses later, we were hungry and went to lunch at El Dorado Saloon, which proved to be a rather lucky guess for a meal;  Quite tasty.  After that we just kept rolling to more open houses.  By the time we were done looking at houses (none of which we could actually afford, not to mention we’re in a year-long lease) it was so late we just cancelled all our to-do’s and headed home.  A day wasted indeed, other than perhaps the delicious turkey-burger.

Sunday was the big game, which we both were thoroughly disinterested in.  Not to miss a chance for a feed though, we threw on two slabs of ribs, a pound of chicken wings, stuffed jalapenos, and assorted other appetizers.  As predicted, the game was entirely lame.  Man them chicken wings were good though.  The ribs…  eh.  Still need some practice there.  I’d have probably done well to fire up my smoker instead of trying to cram everything on my grill.  They were passable I suppose, especially after a liberal basting in Smokehouse sauce.