Slackin’ AGAIN  Unacceptable.  I’ve been busy, what can I say.  No, seriously, I have.  Problem is, if I wait too long into the week, I either forget what the heck I did on the weekend, or it doesn’t sound nearly as fun as it did Monday.  So I’ll just skip the “weekend wrap-up” all together.  Actually, one thing does stand out: the end of the Sopranos season.  We have the whole weekly dinner thing over at Susan’s house, see, where we watch the show and eat some grub.  But, since the Sopranos is over, we decided to keep dinner rolling and watch Six Feet Under.  What a bust man.  Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if everybody (those who had seen it before) had hyped it up so much.  Man it stunk!!!  What a horrible show.  Just a bunch of people kind of… Doing stuff.  And being extremely dramatic about it.  If they would have put a laugh track on it, it may well have taken over the #1 spot on my “Stupidest TV Show Ever” list.  Since it didn’t have one, Seinfeld still holds that spot.  Ed and Kim, a.k.a. “The Kids”, did buy pizza though, so at least we were full while watching The Second Stupidest Tv Show Ever.

Other than that, I guess I’ll just run down some meaningless drivel about the website.  If you haven’t noticed, and you probably haven’t, I updated the “Welcome to Phil on the Hill” page.  Little more current info.  I also set up a web cam, but it’s not full production yet.  Actually it works fine; it’s just that I set it up to watch the cats, and cats really don’t do much.  Doesn’t make for a really exciting web cam.  I’m also now fully rolling on the project to build my “new” webserver.  It’s up and running on Red Hat Linux 9, and seems to be working fine.  I don’t know how to make it “do” anything though… The website comes up, but I can’t figure out how to edit it or even where the heck it is.  Good grief.  Linux is over-rated, I tell you.  Gives me something to mess with though.  I’ve also got a few “sub-domains” going… my favorite at this point is “angusbulls.pkenagy.com” I believe.  Yes, I am going into the cattle business.  Well, not really, but supporting it in any fashion I can.  I’ve got a line on a “less-than-perfect” Angus I might buy… If it works out I think I’ll make a new website on him.  Track him all the way from being a youngster in the fields of Lathrop to the Charbroil.

Man, my PC is broken again.  Got me bummed out.  Dang thing eats hard drives for some reason.  So, I been messing with that for several days.  Ended up wiping it out and starting over, and losing lots of good stuff in the process too.  One of these days I will start backing up my drives.  Not this day though.

Friday we went to the Royals game again.  Good stuff man.  If they are only going to win one game in a series, it might as well be the one I’m at.  Plus, being a Friday, we got the bonus firework show too.  Bueno.

Saturday was kind of a mess.  To make a long story short, I ended up at the Brooksider at 3:00 in the afternoon for some inexplicable reason.  One thing led to another and I just kind of ended up there.  We (Munkirs, Martin, Todd and Brice) hung out and watched the horse race and the ball game.  What can I say, I like that new porch they set up.  It leads to excessive loitering.

Sunday morning we went and had breakfast with Doni’s parents at Perkins.  One of my favorite breakfast places.  Corned beef hash, pancakes, and hash browns.  Now THAT’S a breakfast.  Then I went back home and kind of tried to work on the broken computer all day.  I tried everything to keep from wiping it out, all to no avail.  That night we went to over and had a party at Susan’s house to watch the finale of The Sopranos.  She wasn’t home, but graciously lent us her HBO so we wouldn’t have to miss an episode.

That’s all I got to say.  I’m sure my level of disinterest is highly apparent, but that’s OK.  I’m serious, I got the blues over the whole PC thing.  Don’t want to see one, don’t want to type on one.  And the bad thing is, it’s acting kind of like the last one did before it totally died on me; so there’s a 50/50 chance I’m just wasting my time re-doing it all.  Sheesh.  In other random news, my second niece was born over the weekend, to my younger sister Sharon out in the wilds of Nebraska.  The niece-and-nephew count is now at four.  Crazy.  And, a happy (number omitted) birthday to Susan W!!

Yes I have been slacking on the updates already.  There are numerous reasons for my tardiness, all valid.  There was the holiday and all, and then yesterday my IP address got changed, rendering the website inaccessible all day.  What can you do.

Actually it’s been so long since the weekend I don’t really remember what we did.  I’ll do my best to come up with abbreviated synopsis though, for the sake of saying I made an effort.  We started off the weekend, as usual, by sitting on the deck at the Brooksider for a few hours.  After that, Doni and I went to a wine tasting.  There’s this new shop that opened up right around the corner from our house and they have free tastings every Friday night.  Highly recommended if you’re looking for entertainment some Friday night.  It was a bit crowded though, so we picked up a bottle of red and some cheese, went back home and enjoyed it on our back porch.

Saturday we went to the Royals game.  We headed out to the park a few hours early and did some tailgating with the Martins, Scottens, and Garcias.  It was an excellent day for a game; sunny, medium-sized crowd, and they even won for a change.  After that we headed down and hung out at the Brooksider deck again for a few hours, then had dinner at Jalapenos.  The plan was to play some cards after dinner, but as usual we ate too much and ended up just going home and going to bed.

On Sunday I’m not sure what we did… Probably hung out and just enjoyed doing nothing all afternoon.  About 4:00 or so we headed out to the Southlands for a party at Belanger’s.  Watched a little racing (ewwwww) and had some dinner, then topped it off with homemade ice cream.  We just might have to purchase ourselves one of them new-fangled ice cream makers.  Man that hit the spot, and none of that cranking and smashing ice stuff either.  Just pour in a bunch of stuff and flip the switch.  That’s got the making of a “poll”… Automatic ice cream makers: For Them or Against Them?

Monday we went to Smithville lake to celebrate the day off.  We spent the entire day lounging out with the Martins and Schmidts in their co-owned watercraft, the U.S.S. Schmartin.  The weather was cooperative for the most part, with the exception of a few Alberta Clippers that came blowing through.  One minute it would be 75 and sunny, then the temperature would drop 15 degrees and a 30 mph wind would kick up.  Wacky.  We’d planned on just spending a few hours on the water, but it was so nice out we ended up sitting out there all day.  Then we went out for a little Mexican food, then over to the Schmidt’s for some cards.  Just for the sake of documentation, we played 10-point pitch, boys against girls.  The boys won handily.

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.

Another weekend gone, but it was well spent.  Friday night we went to the Royal’s game.  The game itself kind of stunk, but it was fun; good, cheap entertainment.  The fireworks were awesome too.  We’ve got season tickets with the Martin’s, so next time we go on a Friday night I’m taking my camera.  Probably won’t get any good pictures of the fireworks, as my camera seems to have issues focusing in the dark, but I’ll give it a try.

Saturday we went up North to Jeremy’s (Doni’s nephew) graduation party.  Ate too much, but it was a good time.  Of course the guest of honor was gone the whole time, but that’s to be expected.  Dang kids, what can you do.  That night, I went to a bachelor party for one James Munkirs.  Ahhhhh, yes, proof positive that you’re never too old to find that special somebody.  Sigh.  It wasn’t so much a “bachelor party” in the true sense; we’re too old and wise for that.  More of just a “gathering” at Paddy O’Quigley’s at 119th and Roe.  Yes, I went “out there.”  What the heck, it was a special occasion.  I made it up until the karaoke started.  Eeesh.  Plus, Doni kept calling me screaming, something about a bat flying around in the house.  I figured there was likely no truth to her rantings, probably just a large moth or maybe a sparrow.  Just in case though, Todd and I went to the Brooksider and hung out for a few more hours.  Why take chances.

Sunday afternoon, as I was making my lunch, there was a loud ruckus upstairs.  Investigation showed that we did indeed have a bat in the house.  Big fella too; wing span of about six feet, and two-inch fangs.  If I’m exaggerating, it’s because my perspective was skewed by sheer terror.  I don’t think I am though, this thing was huge.  Very aggressive too, and almost certainly rabid.  We did manage to open all the doors before retreating to the safety of the kitchen to plot our defense.  After several minutes, the most rational plan I could come up with was to ram my car through the west wall of the house.  Surely the resulting hole would leave plenty of room for the evil creature to escape, as well as provide us with additional living space.  After properly arming myself with a broom, I headed out to get my car keys.  Upon entering the living room, however, the bat was nowhere to be found.  So far he hasn’t made any repeat appearances; either he flew out the door or he’s hiding behind a picture or something, waiting to pounce.  At this point we are considering just abandoning the house and letting the bank take it, bat and all.  We were so shook up over the whole incident that we had to go sit on the deck at the Brooksider for the remainder of the afternoon.  About six or so, we headed over to Susan’s for the weekly “Sopranos” party.  I don’t care for the show so much, but we have dinner and lively banter, so it’s something to look forward to.  We had tacos last night; good stuff.  The show itself got thumbs down from everybody.  It was a tad too bizarre.