Please pardon my tardiness.  I have the day off and this wasn’t extremely high on my list of priorities.  Looking down my list of accomplishments for the day, it’s apparent that nothing else was either.

As a matter of fact, I had Friday off too.  Donette and I had lunch at Lew’s, then I met up with Martin and K.B. at some point in the afternoon and we hung out at the Brooksider talking BBQ and such.  After a while the girls met up with us and we went across the street to Carmen’s for a little evening repast.  We hadn’t been there in quite a while, and honestly it hasn’t changed much, which I’ll take as good thing.  We started off with the stuffed artichoke, which is always solid, then split a plate of my favorite entree;  Fettuccini al Diablo.  I ended up with squid tentacles all tangled up in my grill work, but it was worth it.  What the heck, I don’t have to look at it.  (Stupid braces.)

Saturday was downright event-filled.   We started off the day by laying down a solid base of feed at Sharp’s.  Perhaps of note, if not really of interest, I voted on branching out and going to Georgie Porgies.  We went there quite a while ago and it was “OK,” so I thought maybe we should give it another chance, as opposed to the same ol’ Sharp’s.  Plus, if I’m going to get car-jacked I like to get it out of the way early so I have the rest of day to recover.  Anyway, I got voted down, as in all other walks.  Naturally Sharp’s was just as good as ever though.  After breakfast I met up with my buddy Mark, one of my Brooksider partners in crime.  We drove out near Lone Jack (in “my” fine purple Civic I might add, which he is now the proud owner of) and met up with one of his co-workers who owns some land out there.  We spent the entire afternoon shooting targets of various composition;  everything from balloons, to golf balls, to assorted fruits and vegetables, to traditional paper targets.  Naturally the sound of even small-caliber gunfire brings out everyone in earshot, and after a while a pretty good little crowd gathered to plink around.  One guy even brought a cannon he made.  It looked pretty cool and got lots of oohs and ahhs when he shot it off;  I crawled under the truck when he lit it and missed the whole thing.  It was just a fine time, and I managed to shoot up my entire 550 round box of .22’s I took out there.  Oh well, that’s the beauty of .22’s;  That whole afternoon of entertainment ran me about $12.  About 5:00 it started raining pretty hard, so we packed up and scurried back to KC.  Donette had been running around the city with Susan W. all day, so her husband John and I met up with them at Jalapeno’s for some dinner.  We had a nice long meal, after which it struck me that I was totally exhausted.  We had a few games of cards in the works, but it was apparent that I only had about 30 minutes of steam left in me, so we just went home and called it a night.

Sunday, well…  We tend to not do much on Sunday.  I think I used that nasty wet crappy snow as an excuse to just hunker down all day.  That’s pretty much all I did too.  I watched, in this order:  True Grit, The China Syndrome, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, and  The Sons of Katie Elder.  Wow.  After all those were over there wasn’t anything else on so I sat and clicked through the channels all night.  I got so bored at one point I actually got dressed to go to the gym, but then I looked outside and saw my car was buried under snow, so I plopped right back on the couch.  Crap, I was too lazy to even eat… Now that I think about it my intake for the day was a bowl of cereal and some coffee.  Oh well, I don’t think I’m gonna waste away to nothing any day soon.

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.