Last night we rode our bikes up to 75th Street for some dinner.  For a while we were going there every Monday night but we kind of fell out of the habit.  Or went broke, or something like that.  Whatever the reason, we decided we needed to get back up there and check out their new patio area, which they’ve named “The Alley.”  Actually we’ve sat out there many times before;  It’s been open since the Big 12 basketball tourney.  Apparently it wasn’t “officially” open though, because they had a big grand opening deal a few weeks ago.  Basically they took the building that was attached to the brewery on the east side (which has been vacant since the big fire several years ago) and tore the roof off it.  Half of it is covered, and the other half is open, with big glass overhead doors dividing the two areas.  They’ve planted hops all around the open area, which are growing like crazy and should cover it at some point later this fall.  The only downside was they seem to have decided that since they call it a “deck” it’s OK to smoke, even in the covered area.  Hmmm…  It’s totally enclosed, (the overhead doors where shut,) has a solid roof over it, and doors for entrances.  Oh well, it wasn’t a big deal last night as there was only one person smoking and the luxury of the air conditioning made up for it.  We tried out the Saison shrimp with risotto and a big plate of calamari for dinner.  Good stuff.  I’m sure we burned off all the calories on the 1/2-mile ride back home.

That was a busy weekend.  It was a 3-dayer, and I think I got the most out of it.  Friday was my bonus day off.  After lounging around all morning with the paper and some coffee, I headed off to the gym for a little exercise.  Donette, looking for a little exercise also, walked up there to meet me.  Walking is her latest kick, and she’s been putting in some miles.  It’s a good 4 miles to the gym…  I’ll stick to the car, thanks.  I was done by the time she got there, and we headed out to the pool for a little lunch and sun.  We stayed pool-side for a few hours, then headed home for a quick nap.  Alas, the nap was not to be;  I got a text from my old college friend Jamie, informing me he was at none other than the Brooksider.  I haven’t seen him in a good 10 years, so I headed down there to catch up.  He is still in Las Vegas in the professional pirate field, same as last time I saw him.  Guess some of us get to have exciting lives.  And, some of us don’t.  After that, it was down to Boulevard Brewery for a 25th High School Reunion.  (Note the clever phrasing;  I said “A” 25th reunion, not necessarily MY 25th reunion.)  While I will admit I wasn’t exactly amped up for this event, it turned out to be a lot of fun.  I spent the whole evening out on their nice deck, enjoying some cigars and catching up with old friends.  (Mostly enjoying cigars, ha.)  Great place to have a big party if you are ever in the market for such a thing.

Saturday we got up and headed back down to Boulevard.  In all the excitement of the party, I’d forgotten to pick up one of their cool cycling jerseys, which I had intended to purchase.  Alas, I found the XXL was far too snug for comfort.  Hmmm, better keep riding that bicycle.  Since we were out anyway, we decided to head out for some chow.  Feeling experimental, we headed over to KCK to check out Ninfas.  Turned out to be an excellent choice, it was right up our alley.  I think “hole in the wall” would sum up the atmosphere accurately.  Very small dining room, complete with styrofoam plates & cups.  Fine by me, the food on the plates was awesome.  I might even head down there for a weekday lunch some time, although judging from the crowd early on a Saturday afternoon it would probably be too packed for me during the week.  After lunch we lounged around the house for a while, then headed off to a party down the street with Donette’s co-workers.  A bunch of my friends were out and about with the aforementioned pirate, but unfortunately I had this prior obligation.  Further details of the evening are not available at this time.

Sunday I got up medium-early for my weekly bicycle ride with Munkirs.  Gotta keep riding, maybe I can fit my backs into that XXL jersey by the end of the season.  We had a good ride, finally eclipsing the 35 mile mark;  Grand total of 36 miles.  OK we didn’t exactly shatter the barrier, but we did cross it.  We had the option of rolling down to the Plaza  and back for another easy 8, but the temp was getting a little uncomfortable by that time so we called it a day.  When I got back to the house Donette’s parents were there, returning from breakfast at Eggtc.  Honestly I’d have probably preferred an order of biscuits & gravy to a two-hour bike ride, but I wasn’t aware of the option.  We visited for a while, then I was off to my Mom’s to work on her PC.  I puzzled on that dang thing for about 3 hours and never got it all the way fixed.  It has some type of quite persistent issue, maybe even a demonic possession.  Whatever it is, my favorite tools weren’t finding it, so I went home and researched the symptoms to tackle another day.  Donette spent her afternoon up in the northlands, and when she got home we were both pretty worn out.  We stayed home for the evening and grilled hamburgers, which came out quite well.  We had the idea to chop up a bunch of our basil and mix it in the burgers;  A quick search shows it’s really not that novel of an idea but it turned out delicious at any rate.

Went on a ride with Munkirs and Martin last night.  As usual, (well, “usual” for Munkirs & I anyways) we selected the KCBC ride that leaves out of Brookside.  It’s a good ride, although I may be starting to tire of the route a bit.  Better than sitting at the Brooksider watching TV I guess.  “Better” in the health sense anyway;  I’m not sure it’s any more entertaining.  This week we decided to kick things up a notch and ride with the self-labeled “Fast Group” for the first time.  Actually I’d say ride with them was a stretch;  We did manage to sort of doggedly hang on to the back of the group though.  Certainly a more briskly-paced ride than we are used to.  I decided I liked it better though, at least as an experiment.  After getting our 17 miles in, we drug our tattered carcasses over to the Brooksider and replenished with some cheeseburgers.  We all survived in relatively good condition;  It remains to be seen which group we pick next Thursday.

My perfect streak of attending lousy Royals games is intact.  We braved the storms last night to head out to the ballpark, along with about 60 other people.  Honestly it really wasn’t that bad of an evening, the actual ball game aside.  As a matter of fact, we stayed later than any game I’ve been to this season.  As the game was rather “lightly attended,” we had our pick of seats, so we chose some nice lower-level ones just under the overhang.  That kept us nice and dry, and there was even plenty of empty seats by us when a bunch of our friends showed up.  Had quite a party of it as a matter of fact.  There was plenty of offense to keep me entertained (none of it by the Royals unfortunately) and all our friends’ kids were rather funny to watch too.  I noticed almost every sentence kids say starts with “Dad, can I have a…” or “Mom, I want a…”  Geez, just keep those wallets out.

Bad time to depend on a scooter for everyday transportation.  I even get sweaty on the way in to work at 6:30 in the morning.  It’s tempting to go back to riding the bus every day, as they manage to keep it at a constant 42 degrees on there, but then there is the walk to the bus stop to consider.  Oh well;  July in KC, deal with it I guess.

That was a pretty fine weekend, especially considering it was my oncall weekend.  I never expect too much of those, so if I squeak in any fun at all it’s a bonus.  Friday some friends were in from out of town, so that occupied our day.  (Well, that and work.)  One of my “Old Army Buddies” Scott & his wife Trish were visiting from the fine town of Wolbach, NE.  They were on a semi-business, semi-fun trip, so we tried to help out with the fun part.  Donette showed them around all day, I can’t remember where all they went.  I did get to meet them for lunch at Arthur Bryant’s, which was definitely a solid pick on the wife’s part.  That’s one of the bonus’ of seeing people from out of town;  We tend to take them to places we know are good but for whatever reason we never go to.  I hadn’t been to Bryant’s forever.  Had an awesome brisket sandwich, made for a bit of a long afternoon though.  I swear it had a full pound of beef on it, if not more.  I met up with them again at the Peanut (Main Street location) after work.  From there it was off to the Brooksider to relax for a while.  Smart money would have called it an evening at that point, but I had other ideas.  I decided to drag everybody down to Grinders to see what was going on.  They had some music out in the open area, and we ended up staying much too late.  The Zeros and a band called “Sellout” were playing.  The Zeros I’ve heard of plenty;  I generally associate them with ruining my evening at the Brooksider.  Not to say they’re bad or anything,  I just don’t go there to listen to music.  Get those crazy kids in there listening to their loud music and I can’t even hear the televisions.  Bah.  I wasn’t familiar with Sellout at all though, and they were pretty entertaining, especially outside on a relatively decent evening.

Saturday we slept in, a rather remarkable event in itself.  Well, for one of us anyway.  If not for the fact that we were supposed to meet Scott & Trish for lunch I may well have slept until noon.  But, we had plans, so I rather reluctantly drug myself out of bed and headed out.  We decided on the Power & Light district for lunch, then further narrowed it down to the Flying Saucer.  We all decided on hamburgers;  Bad decision.  I will go on record as labeling this the worst hamburger in KC.  Our guests claimed to like them, but I have to think they were just being nice.  Maybe it was just a bad day in the kitchen…  I’ll never know because I will never risk ordering another one.  Note to self:  “Stick to the soft pretzels at the Saucer.”  We killed the rest of the afternoon in random fashion, then for dinner headed up to Donette’s parents.  After that burger I needed some good food, and this trip filled the bill.  Fried chicken & Smokehouse BBQ, yum.  And, for a bonus, a homemade coconut creme pie that may well have been the best I’ve ever had.  (If maybe not the best for my ever-expanding gut.)

Sunday started off strong.  Got up and went on a 35-mile bike ride with Munkirs.  We seem to be stuck at the 35-mile mark for whatever reason;  Gonna have to man up and bump the mileage at some point.  I think we’re up for a longer ride, as far as our “conditioning” goes.  (I put that in quotes because I’m not sure “conditioned” would describe my current health status.)  But, it takes around two hours to go 35 miles and I think that’s about the limit of my attention span.  Not sure what to do about that;  Maybe hire a traveling circus to ride alongside and entertain me or something.  After our ride I headed down to the Brooksider with intentions of having some lunch and watching the Royals game.  Alas, the game was blacked out.  What is up with that?  Literally threw my whole day out of whack.  I did have a tasty sandwich, which took care of the lunch part of my plan, but didn’t want to sit there watching bowling all day so I went back home and listened to the game on mlb.com.  After that I pretty much wasted the rest of the day.  Luckily Donette brought me four new PS-3 games home from her shopping trip, that effectively killed the rest of my evening.  I spent a few hours puzzling over Madden NFL.  Wow, that game is a far cry from the last electronic football game I played.  (Being the hand-held with the little red dots flashing on it;  Amazing technology at the time.)  There’s almost too much going on for my old mind to process, and definitely too many buttons to keep track of.  It’s very entertaining though, as long as I keep things on the “beginner” setting.