I seem to be in something of a lull on this thing.  Never did get around to updating all the exciting news from our week and a half vacation, and by now I’ve darn near forgotten all the finer details.  We did a lot of mountain-biking and hiking, and I went on my first horse ride.  Went to the Mile High Music Festival in Denver, which turned out great, but of course you can just read Ed’s site for that recap.  I’ll guess I should at least post some pictures eventually.  But not today.  Or tomorrow.

Not too much happened last weekend.  I really don’t think I’ve quite snapped out of vacation mode yet, but I’m trying.  I did start the weekend strong down at the Brooksider.  I met up with a good portion of the BBQ team down there after work, and we spent the better part of the evening laying out our strategic plans for the upcoming competitions.  We pondered for several hours, eventually resolving to meet again at some later date and do some more pondering.  After that Donette & I headed up the street to the Corner Cocktail for one of their fine hamburgers.  Delicious.

Saturday I got up with best intentions of heading out on a bike ride.  Didn’t happen.  I ended up bellying up to the computer desk and messing with my old webserver all day.  I got the idea in my head that I should switch databases, which ended up being a far greater undertaking than I imagined.  Talk about a waste of a day.  Oh well, I must have been entertained because I sat there all stinking afternoon.  I did head down to the Brooksider for the Royals game again.  Simultaneous Royals and Chiefs games on the TV’s;  The excitement was almost too much to bear.  I headed back home at half-time, and then Donette joined me at 75th Street to watch the rest of the baseball game.  We headed back home after that, where we decided it was time for some late dinner.  She fired up the grill and made some tasty chicken…  Quite delicious.  After that I tried to watch the second game of the double-header, but I don’t think I even saw the first pitch before falling asleep.

Sunday was even less eventful.  I again managed to let myself get sucked into the mysterious database project.  And, unlike Saturday, actually got it working finally.  So I wasted two days on it, only to find it really doesn’t perform any better than the old one.  Sigh.  In between geek sessions, we went down to Jalapenos for our Sunday afternoon burrito fix.  I stopped by the Brooksider on the way home, intending to catch the Royals game on the back deck.  I grabbed a table, and quickly noticed that there weren’t any other “regular” patrons in attendance.  I decided that was OK, I was just going to stare at the TV anyway.  Then I noticed the unfamiliar waitress patrolling the grounds.  Well, that was just a little too much change for one day, so I got up and left.

We are back from our long vacation, a bit worse for wear but still kicking.  We went to Breckenridge, CO for a week, then headed to Denver for a few days and stayed with our friends Ed & Kim.  I expect I’ll add a little detail as the week progresses, and of course some pics, but for now I must rest up.  I am definitely glad I anticipated my current state of fatigue and took a few extras days vacation to recuperate.  Plus, it’s rather difficult to type with a half-crazy cat sitting on the keyboard demanding attention.  Awwww, I think little Kane actually missed us.  Or maybe he just wants out.

Had a standard Thurday evening.  Went riding with Munkirs & Martin on the usual “Thursday night Brookside Ride.”  Not too much to report on there;  We finished the route.  We opted for the “slow group” this week, a mistake I will not make again.  Munkirs joined Donette & I at the Brooksider afterward for a burger and fries, while Martin mysteriously disappeared.

Tonight we leave for vacation.  Well…  MAYBE tonight we leave for vacation.  We’ll see.  We haven’t really prepared much.  Neither of us has even begun to pack, and we both have to work all day.  So, it remains to be seen if we get all that done this evening and take off driving.  We’ll be gone quite a while, which I am rather looking forward to.  Expect the site to be updated rather sparingly, if at all, in the foreseeable future.  I’m sure that upon our return there will be pics a-plenty and all that good stuff though.

Last night, for the sake of getting back into our routine, we headed down to the Brooksider.  Honestly a cigar wouldn’t have hurt my feelings, but it was way too hot to be sitting outside.  (Although the rest of the guys were…  Little more hardcore than myself I guess.)  So, we sat inside in the A/C and had a little dinner.  I had my usual Tuesday night meal;  Three soft-shell chicken tacos.  Donette went with the mysterious “instead” burger.  Never really understood what “instead” meant, but that’s OK I guess.  It looked like a regular ol’ hamburger.  Instead of a taco?  Instead of a club sandwich?  Some type of marketing angle I’m just not catching on to perhaps.  After dinner I clicked through channels until the Royals game came on.  An hour and a half of glancing at worthless shows took it’s toll on me though;  I fell asleep in the third inning.

Wow it is hot out.  The motorcycle ride home is less than enjoyable.  Like riding into a hair-dryer while sitting in an oven.  I seriously considered taking the bus today, but then there is the walk across downtown to and from the bus stop to consider.  Can’t win.

I have absolutely nothing to go on from yesterday, but for the sake of consistency I’ll update this anyway.  I need to fix my mountain bike in preparation for our upcoming vacation, so I messed with that for about ten minutes.  Turned a few screws, moved a cable, and declared it a job for a professional.  Guess it’s off to the shop.  For dinner we grilled up some bacon-wrapped sirloins, which I guess were good enough to comment on.  Had some fried ‘shrooms & onions on the side, and Donette whipped up a homemade slaw that was mighty fine.  After that I dove into “jailbreaking” my iPod Touch;  I’m sure everyone has been following that news with rapt attention so I won’t go into the details.  It went flawlessly, and I messed with it for a good hour afterward checking out the new features.  I finally killed enough time that the Royals came on.  I thought I had a pretty good feel for how the game was going to turn out after the first three innings, so I turned it off and went to bed.  Checking the paper this morning, looks like I made the right call.