Man if I was in a foul mood last week, this week would rate downright boorish.  Try as I might, my naturally effervescent attitude is unable to overcome the cumulative effects of work, weather, and shaky health.  I’ve been bordering on sick for a few weeks now, and I think it’s starting to catch up with me.  And as for Donette, she took a header down the stairs last Friday (likely in an effort to avoid going to work) so I’ve been tending to her every whim, even more so than usual.

Friday, once again a few people from work joined me at the Brooksider for a light Happy Hour celebration.  Not much to recount there…  Nothing ever changes at the Brooksider, which is why I go there.  We hung out for a bit, then I picked up a delicious order of chicken strips to go (1/2 price before 7:00, you know) and went home to watch TV.  I watched a couple of movies, starting with “Epic Movie.”  Wow, was THAT a poor movie.  I generally kind of like stupid movies;  They’re usually good for a chuckle or two.  This one, unfortunately, was so stupid it couldn’t even be followed.  I really can’t explain why I didn’t just shut it off and move on to the next one, which was “Resident Evil.”  Mildly more entertaining, as I am somewhat fond of senseless action movies, but still definitely leaning towards the stupid side.

Saturday could be summed up as a day lost out of my life.  I spent a little time in the back yard with the dogs, but that was about it.  I had to go in to work around midnight, and that loomed in front of me like a black cloud all day.  I am just almost too old for those all-night work sessions.

Sunday, Hop-Along-Doni pretty much insisted we leave the house for a while.  She spent all day Friday and Saturday in bed resting her ankle, and we were both effectively stir-crazy by Sunday.  We went to Costco and bummed around for a while, eating samples and buying things we don’t need, which is what you are supposed to do at Costco I think.  After that we headed back to the house, with a stop at the Brooksider stuck in the trip as a waypoint.  We caught up on all the weekend gossip, mostly which revolved around the big shooting at Price Chopper on Saturday.  We were having a pretty good time hanging out, but were interrupted by some silly band doing non-stop sound-checks.  “Yes, you are extremely loud, you can stop playing now.”  They were quite a group of characters though, and did make for some interesting people-watching for a while.  Believe it or not, it was a Missouri tribute band, and they looked the part.  Geez that music is even just a bit older than my tastes, although not by much.

I find myself in a particularly foul temperament this morning, even for a Monday.  It’s only 9:30, and the day is already heading south rapidly, possibly setting the tone for an entire week of foul-ness.  I woke up entirely too early for one thing.  That’s not so unusual an occurrence, and generally easily overcome by the newspaper and a pot of coffee, but my paper didn’t even show up today.  Yep gonna be one of those weeks.  Another contributing factor is my less-than-brilliant decision to get braces several weeks ago.  I guess it’s been about six weeks now, and they are still nothing less than miserable.  Granted, I seem to make more than my share of poor decisions, but I’d rank this one right up there with joining the Army, or working for Saga.

I suppose I am obligated to recap our weekend, although it may have a rather negative slant to it.  It probably usually does anyway.  Friday was no doubt the highlight of the weekend.  For one thing, I had the day off, which always makes for a solid day.  We puttered around the city not doing a whole lot all afternoon, then met up with the regular gang down at the Brooksider around 3:00.  Later in the day a veritable horde of co-workers showed up to join us, and we ended up staying the dreaded way-too-long.

Saturday didn’t bring much in the way of entertainment, for me at least.  I ran the dogs for a bit to wear them out, watched the MU game, and that’s about it.  Meanwhile, Donette attended various “girls-only” activities.  Her social engagements went well into the evening, leaving me and the mutts alone to play Doom III and watch movies.  I bought that Doom game several weeks ago (yeah I know it’s like a 5 year old game) in my ongoing attempt to enjoy computer games.  At this point I have to think I am never going to figure out those stupid games.  I pretty much just run around lost, running into walls and getting beat up by random creatures.  Sort of like a virtual version of my actual day;  At least I can turn the game off.

Sunday, of course, was the big Superbowl game, woo-hoo.  We went to a party, so that ain’t all bad.  These stupid braces cut into my enjoyment something fierce though.  They had a huge BBQ spread out for the game;  Ribs, brisket, burnt ends, pork, and sausage.  Hmmm, where to start?  I ended up with a double serving of macaroni.  I tried to gnaw through a few chunks of pork but they just tasted like pain.  Hey, only 18 months to go.

I had to actually work last night, hence my slightly tardy update this week.  Oh, the indignity.  As a matter of fact, I had to work for my paycheck several times this weekend, greatly affecting my general quality of life.  It happens.  Oncall is definitely a young man’s game, but I still have to take my turn I guess.

Friday night was something of a non-event once again.  We dropped by the Brooksider for a brief bit of socialization, but after several pages from work it was clear I might as well just head home.  For our evening entertainment, we watched “I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry.”  For once Donette and I agreed on a movie;  We both thought it SUCKED.  We sat through to the bitter end though, mostly because the dogs were resting comfortably by our feet and we didn’t want to stir them up.  I kept hoping the guy from last week’s movie,  “Hatchet,” would come out in the next scene and slaughter Chuck and Larry, but it never happened.

Saturday started off rough with a few hours of work, then we drove south to visit Mom.  I wanted to pet my motorcycle for a bit, and tell it how much I missed it.  I bought a new seat a while back and put that on too.  Didn’t start it up though;  If the battery was dead that would have ruined my already tenuous mood, so I’ll just leave that to my next visit.  And, of course, we went to lunch at “The Best Burrito.”  I went with the chile relleno this time, and wasn’t disappointed.  On our way home, Donette suggested we “drop by the Honda dealer and see what they have.”  Hey, sure, what the heck, it’s a nice day out, let’s look at some rides.  I knew things were looking bleak when “John” the sales dude came running over.  “Ahhhh, Mrs. Kenagy, good to see you again!  Brought the husband this time huh, great!”  What the heck just happened here.  The short of it is, 3 hours later I was driving home alone in my new ’98 Honda Accord, and Donette was following me in her new minivan.  (Pay no attention to those prices, that link is for vehicle informational purposes only.  Rest assured, being the shrewd negotiators that we are, those numbers are totally invalid.)  Geez, we might as well just sell the house and move out to Johnson County, maybe coach a futsal team or something.  I think it technically falls under the “SUV” category, but it’s a fine line in my book.  What can ya’ do.  I will admit I was hooked when I saw the built-in XM receiver.  That’s what put the sale over the edge for me.  I am very fond of my satellite radio, but the receiver I use in the car broke several months ago.  So this way, we have a car with XM again, and I don’t have to go out and drop $40 on a new receiver, install it in the car, call them up and switch the codes, etc. etc.  How’s that for a rationalization.

Sunday we were a bit slow getting around.  We finally got up the energy to go have lunch at Jalapenos, and then went and kicked around Costco for a while, which is always good for some afternoon entertainment.  We dropped by the Brooksider on the way home and showed off the new minivan (which technically we don’t actually own yet, but I have a feeling the cards are stacked in John’s favor at this point) and hung out a bit.  That kinda wrapped up Sunday, and the weekend for that matter.

I’ve got the day off, SWEET.  An entire day to rest up from an exhausting weekend of… Nothing.  Friday I was too spent to do anything.  I sat on the couch and watched a few movies, including the internationally acclaimed thriller “Hatchet.”  Ninety minutes of senseless gore;  Nice.

Saturday, once it warmed up just enough to step out the door without losing fingers to frostbite, we headed down to the swanky Power & Light district.  We met up with the Munkirs at McFadden’s for a little lunch, and loitered there for a few hours.  After lunch we scurried back to Midtown for another low-key evening.  Donette took the car to the shop for some “emergency maintenance.”  The mysterious “check engine” light had been on for a few days, and we thought we’d better get it looked at.  What a drag, I hate spending money on cars.  I try to rationalize that a trip to the mechanic once or twice a year to fix our ten year old car is a lot cheaper than a car payment, but I never really convince myself.  I have all kinds of cool toys lined up that I want, and instead I get the seventh fetzer valve replaced in my car.  Bummer.  But it’s one less thing to worry about I suppose.  Meanwhile, I stood in front of a hot stove and practiced my gumbo technique.  I’ve been commissioned to whip up a pot of gumbo for Float Trip, and the pressure is building already.  It came out pretty well, aside from the third-degree burns on my hand.  Man, you do not want to be too aggressive stirring that hot roux.  Stuff is like napalm.

Sunday we had our sights on another day on the couch, but we rallied briefly to go visit everybody down at the Brooksider.  In something of a dramatic shift in scenery, we sat on the south side the whole time we were there!  Sometimes we just get crazy like that.  We thought maybe the air quality would be a little better.  Naturally this theory didn’t pan out, and the smoke drove us back home pretty quickly.  That pretty much wrapped up Sunday.  We sat on the couch and watched the football games and tried to entertain the dogs, who are darn near stir-crazy from being cooped up.  (But they won’t go out in the cold.)  Schmitty came over for a bit and picked up some scrap PC parts, but didn’t stay too long.  Maybe he wasn’t comfortable sitting around with us in our jammies at 7 o’clock in the evening.  We were plenty comfortable though.

For the holiday today, I have my sights set on roasting a big ol’ 5 lb. piece of beef.  I will be using a recipe from Saveur, substituting a rump roast for the rib roast.  Oh, the excitement is thick in the air at the Kenagy house.  My plan is to roast it and shave it up for sandwiches.  Daunting task, but I’m feeling kind of edgy today so I figured “what the heck.”  That’s how I roll.

Wow I’m really going to be struggling for material this week.  Too cold to go outside, I don’t feel very well, and we’re flat broke.  Those pretty much add up to a very uneventful weekend.

Friday Donette had to go out of town, leaving me home alone to watch the pups.  After she left, it occurred to me that I really felt quite poorly;  Feverish, achy, the whole bit.  So, I threw down some NyQuil, put on a blanket, and thus ended Friday.

Saturday brought moderately more entertainment.  I met up with a bunch of guys down at the Brooksider to A) attend their post-Fantasy-Football-season party and B) watch the MU game.  It’s possible that sitting in a smoky building all afternoon wasn’t the ideal environment for somebody feeling half-sick, but it was fun anyway.

Sunday the “highlight” of our day was a trip to the dreaded Nebraska Furniture Mart.  That place really wears me out for some reason.  But, I agreed to go, because they had a pair of headphones that I wanted to pick up.  After enduring roughly six hours of looking at furniture, I rushed down to the electronics department to get my headphones.  Wouldn’t you know, they were out of them.  Boy we got some super-duper furniture though.  Tedious shopping experience aside, the trip was made somewhat more interesting by our new GPS.  Those things are pretty fun toys.  I’m not convinced it was the most practical purchase for a person that rarely goes over 5 miles from home, but it’s still fun.  Heck I turned it on this morning to see how to get to the office that I’ve been driving to for 15 years.  Can’t be too careful you know.

That’s it, that’s all I got.  Let the work week begin.  I will add that, after the enthusiastic response to last week’s “helmet” poll, I have become convinced that I need an entire suit of armor.  I could wear it for added protection when riding the scooter, or I may decide to go to the Renaissance Festival some year;  The possibilities are endless.  And, while searching the ‘Net for armor for myself, I even came across a guy that makes armor for dogs.  Man, would I be cool walking the dogs in armor or what???  Come on now, who looks cooler:  These dogs or this dog?  These dogs or this dog?  No contest!!!