Whew I’m a bit out of sorts this week.  I’m in a class out at the Sprint Campus, which quite literally throws my entire day off.  It takes a long time to get there, it’s an unfamiliar commute, and the traffic is ridiculous.  But I guess the class is good so far, for what that’s worth.  Monday I rode the scooter, and yesterday the car.  For future reference:  Always take the scooter.  The parking garages are insane, it takes like fifteen minutes to get out of them.  The scoot’ is subject to the “park wherever you want” rule, so you don’t get tied up in that mess.

Any-who, as far as entertainment, it was another busy weekend.  Matter of fact, the weekend sorta-kinda started even before Friday, when our friend Steve came in from out of town.  We’d talked several times (OK, not talked…  just texts actually) over the last few months, so his visit was certainly no surprise.  What was a surprise, I guess, was his travelling companion, Pliny The Puppy.  In retrospect, perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise, as Pliny goes everywhere with him, and because he’d specifically mentioned it.  But, much like the fact that he told me he was driving instead of flying, it just really didn’t sink in.  He lives in California;  Who drives that far?!?!  Don’t get me wrong, I was more than happy to see young Pliny.  I wish everyone would bring their dog when they visit.  Teagan, on the other hand, was less than pleased to welcome a new friend into the house.  Sigh, that girl is just a less than hospitable hostess.  They did OK, but not great.  After a few small squabbles we decided to just take the low road and board her for the night.  Although she’s never stayed overnight, she’s always glad to spend time at her favorite day care, so it worked out fine.  For entertainment, we headed out to dinner at Fud.  Steve has, for whatever reason, decided to eschew good ol’ red (or any other color) meat, so this provided a good opportunity for me to try this place.  Doni’s been there a few times and recommended it.  Honestly, it wasn’t bad at all.  I had a burrito, and I liked it a lot.  To be fair, it was mostly guacamole and salsa.  Hey, I like those, works for me.  We headed out to Kauffman too, and caught a Royals-Twins game.  We sat in the Frenchy Quarter for the first time, which provided some extra fun.  Oddly, Francoeur wasn’t even in the lineup that night.  Weird.

Friday we went to our friend Susan’s house to celebrate her 50th birthday.  Sigh, my friends are turning fifty.  My day is coming, and not far off.  But it gave me a reason to celebrate, so it’s all good.  It was a nice night out so we partied in the back yard all night.  Bad for the neighbors, good for me.  Got totally eaten up by ‘skeeters, but had fun anyway.

Saturday we reluctantly crossed the river for another party.  Our friend’s daughter was graduating from MU, so they were throwing a bash.  Sigh, my friend’s kids are graduating from college.  With advanced degrees, no less.  Sigh.  It ain’t easy getting old, but at least there are a lot of parties involved.  I thought it was great that she earned her degree(s) and all, but to be perfectly honest I showed up for the barbecue.  Mark had smoked some  pork, brisket, and a turkey for the event, all of which were delicious.  I did manage to mumble my congratulations on my way back to the table for another plate.

Sunday I went on my first organized bike ride of the year, the City of Fountains Tour.  I am way behind on miles this year due to the weather, and maybe a general lack of interest.  When I got up and saw how wet the roads were, I almost bailed out of this event too.  It had stopped raining, but the streets were still very wet and I really don’t like getting my bicycle all filthy.  Not to mention, wet greasy roads and 20 mm high-pressure tires just don’t mix that well.  I stomped around the house all morning grumbling and fretting about whether to go, and then in her familiar shut-up-and-let-me-sleep voice, Donette said “Why don’t you just ride your mountain bike?”  I know she was just trying to get me out of the house, but that wasn’t a 1/2-bad idea!  I quickly aired up the tires on the ol’ Klein and checked it over, and decided it was road-worthy.  Only a third of the gears work and the tires are a little sketchy, but it would get me through the day.  Indeed, it was a downright pleasant ride.  I took it easy, took some pictures along the way, and just sort of relaxed.  I had good intentions of posting my pictures, but then realized I don’t even have the proper software installed on my recently updated PC for that.  Whoops.  Anyway, I didn’t go the full route as I’d originally intended, but had a good ride.  Meanwhile, Munkirs was hammering out the full route in his doggedly determined manner, until he got sidelined by a flat tire and called it a day.  I actually got to say I rode my mountain bike further than he did his road bike, bonus fun!