As you may have gathered from my Facebook posts of late, we’re vacationing in Portland, OR. Fine place, as long as you enjoy eating and drinking. If there are other activities to be enjoyed we must have missed them. We did do some brief sight-seeing, for instance driving down to the coast and heading up highway 101 for a bit. Took lots of pictures, cursed lots of drivers, fun stuff like that. We went to Vancouver WA today, only to find it doesn’t open until 3:00. Seriously, there were all kinds of nice looking restaurants, all shuttered up until the magical hour of 3:00. Odd little town. We finally found a small diner which was open UNTIL three, go figure, and had a tasty lunch. Now we’re back in the hotel regrouping to see what this evening brings.

Whew we’re in something of an entertainment funk.  Eh, it’s February, what can you do.  I did get a nice lil’ respite from the weather on Friday, so I rolled down to the Brooksider to hang out with the boys on the patio.  It wasn’t exactly warm but it was passable.  Donette came down and joined me later, or more accurately joined her friends inside.  After that we headed home for some movies.  We kicked it off with The Avengers.  It seemed a little slow moving and put me to sleep in about 30 minutes.  Donette says it was actually pretty good so I might have watch it again.  I woke up as the credits were rolling, and decided to watch Ted.  I’ve already slept through it two or three times, but made it to the bitter end on Friday’s showing.  Honestly I should have just gone to sleep and deleted the movie.  What a sad, sad disappointment of a film.  This is a man who ran with the Funky Bunch, a man who brought us Dirk Digler, and he’s now reduced to this?  Fame is fleeting, people.

Saturday wasn’t much of an event.  I spent the morning thinking about going to the gym, and rationalizing why I shouldn’t.  Around noon I walked up to 75th Street to watch the Missouri game.  I stayed about 10 minutes, remembered it’s possibly the worst place to watch a game in the area, and walked back home.  Luckily the game was on TV (which begs the question of why I went to 75th in the first place…) so I hunkered down on the couch for an afternoon of entertaining games.  Later on Donette had a night out with girls planned, so I stayed home and stared at the TV.  Martins brought their new puppy over to hang out, so that was fun stuff.  The pup played very well with Teagan, although they had be reigned in a few times.  (He only goes about ten pounds…  Little small to be playing too rough just yet.)

Sunday was a complete loss of a day, or very near so.  I got up pretty early, and for no discernible reason started messing with my web server.  Ever woken up on a given Sunday and suddenly thought “Boy I sure would like to switch from mysql to sqlite today.”  Yeah can’t really explain that one.  I sat there all day though, and made some decent progress.  I actually had it up and running for a while, then gave up on the few last tweaks when I realized I really had no interest in it in the first place.  Unfortunately by that time it was 9:00 at night and I’d wasted my whole day.  Not the first time it’s happened, and likely won’t be the last.

Humbug.  Lame weekend.  We’re making a rather half-hearted attempt at dieting, which doesn’t mesh well with my entertainment schedule.  For the most part I played video games all weekend.  It’s cold, I’m broke, and there’s nothing lo-cal in the world that interests me.

We did watch the game, and a fine game it turned out to be.  We actually sat through the whole thing.  I was rather indifferent as to the outcome so I just needed it to be moderately entertaining.  And, in true Superbowl Sunday fashion, we made a big table full of appetizers to graze on while watching it.  I won’t go into the actual details of the appetizers though, it’s too sad to talk about.  There was lots of celery and greek yogurt involved, and that’s all I’m saying.  (And, I will grudgingly admit, it was all pretty darn good too.)

Wow, what a fine morning.  I can overlook the 100% humidity and cloudy skies for some 70-degree temps.  Not that it makes a whole lot of difference from the confines of a cubicle.

That was a moderately entertaining weekend at best.  Friday I did a grand bunch of nothing.  What, like went to the Brooksider, Jalapenos, and home?  No, like nothing.  I was pretty darn sick for the better part of last week.  I’m no doctor, but I do have the Google, and a little quick research indicated that recommended cures for the flu don’t include sitting on a patio in 40-degree weather smoking a cigar.  Rats.  So, Donette and I went up to the gym for a bit, then I went home and played Wii games all evening.  It passed the time just fine too;  I miss the ol’ Wii games.

Saturday I felt considerably better, due in no small part to my quiet evening Friday I’m sure.  I headed up to the gym for a few hours, then got a call from Martin with the super exciting news that he was heading to midtown for the day.  His description of the days plans were advertised as “Have a hotdog at Hooper’s.”  Indeed we did enjoy a few $1.50 hotdogs, then his plan somehow morphed into a tour of Waldo.  The final damage included Hooper’s, Tommy Farha’s, Patrick’s, Bobby Baker’s, and Quintons.  Those links are about the best I could come up with;  These aren’t really the kind of places that waste a lot of resources on websites and advertising and all that other crazy stuff.  I particularly enjoy that Farha’s shows up as a “Cafe.”  What exactly makes them a cafe;  the beef jerky for sale by the cash register?  Who knows.  Donette, meanwhile, was out with the girls.  They went out to dinner, then saw Billy Elliot at Music Hall.  We have different tastes in entertainment, what can I say.

Sunday somehow disappeared on me.  I don’t know what happened.  Matter of fact, I woke up this morning convinced it was Sunday.  (Which, I suppose, will make the day seem even longer than usual.)  We went to Costco and got a few items I guess, which is always good for passing a few hours.  I made a pot of beans and roasted a chicken for some tacos, and I guess that was about it.  Woo hoo.  Closed out the day with some movie on Netflix that was so horrible I can’t even remember the name.

Pardon my tardiness.  Again.  I had a three day weekend and didn’t want to irreparably mar it by sacrificing the hours it takes to compose these posts.  Or, I really didn’t have anything to post anyway.  One of those.  If I did do something, I can’t remember what it was.  I’m going to take a wild guess that I went to the Brooksider on Friday, although I’m not 100% sure I did.  Geez that seems like a long time ago.  Let’s go with it though, just based on past history.  Matter of fact, based on past history, I can even tell you where I sat, who I talked to, and what we talked about.  Somebody recently compared an afternoon on the ‘Sider patio to the movie “Groundhog Day,” and it’s  a fair comparison.

Saturday Donette went to the movies with some friends.  They were lined up to see Lincoln, but there was some mix-up and they ended up seeing Zero Dark Thirty.  They went to the recently remodeled Ward Parkway theater.  I don’t think she was overly fond of the movie itself, but the theater got high marks.  Meanwhile, that left me home sans transportation.  Teagan and I kicked the ball around the back yard for a while, then I hoofed up to 75th Street to pay my annual dues for the mug club.  Every year I plan to not renew my membership, and every year I get sucked back in for various reasons.  (They lost my Ziggy mug, Martin’s Ziggy mug actually, back in 2010.  Their lack of understanding and compassion on the gravity of this situation continues to infuriate me every time I go there.)  I sat out on their patio and enjoyed the nice weather and some complimentary appetizers, and caught the Missouri and Kansas games.  For dinner, I fixed a pot of beef stew, which came out pretty well.  I followed a recipe off Food Network for the most part.  I cut the amount of beef in 1/2, partly because we’re trying to cut back a bit, and partly (mostly?) because I’m a cheapskate.  Also, despite all the assertions in the user comments that it “makes the recipe,” I left out the allspice.  I just don’t like it.  Probably the most significant change was that I photo-shopped a picture of Alton Brown over Paula’s when I printed it out.  The lady grates on my nerves like fingernails on a chalk board.

Sunday we didn’t do much of anything, which is standard Sunday fare.  I took my bicycle in for a tuneup, then we enjoyed lunch at Blanc Burgers,  stopped by McGonigles for some groceries, and headed home for the games.  I put together a pot of lamb shanks for dinner.  It came out OK, I’ve got somewhat mixed feelings on it.  For one thing, it was a rather pricey endeavor.  That was probably partially my fault;  McGonigle’s isn’t exactly known as the low-price leader in the neighborhood.  On top of that, they only had huge shanks, and packaged in twos.  I really only wanted one, but what can ya’ do.  Got one in the freezer for next time I guess.  Also, I followed this rather sketchy recipe.  Read it if you’re that bored, but suffice to say there are several errors between the ingredients and the cooking instructions.  It’s like two separate recipes.  Eh, at the end of the day you’re just throwing a bunch of stuff in a pot and simmering it, so I just sort of winged it.

As I mentioned, I had the day off yesterday, while Donette had to work.  I wasted the better part of the day, then when I had called the day a complete loss and was settled into the couch for some movies, she suddenly declared it was time to redeem our two-year-old gift certificate to Garozzo’s.  She’s been after me to cash this thing in for about…  Well, two years.  Despite the lure of two free dinners though, I just never quite made it down there.  For one thing, although on paper it’s only seven miles from our house, it’s a daunting seven miles.  Stop lights and traffic and such, you know.  And yes, I realize the OP location is significantly closer, but that is in no way a viable option.  For another thing, I have a rather steadfast aversion to eating at Italian restaurants.  It’s pasta.  Pasta is pasta is pasta.  No matter how much you pay, no matter the supposed authenticity of the restaurant…  It’s pasta.  My meal was delish though, I’ll grant you that.  I had one of the chicken spiedini selections, and it was very good.  Overall, a very nice dinner, while I doubt we return for another two years due to the aforementioned obstacles.