Well, I do believe the last American Royal BBQ for team TFB is officially in the books.  Never say never, though.  If it was the last, I think we got our money’s worth;  I know I did.  I headed down Thursday afternoon to get things started.  Thursday is kind of our “team-building” night.  We hang out, catch up with team members we haven’t seen since LAST year, and go over our respective cooking plans for the weekend.  Honestly, I’d say a lot of the first two items, not so much the last one.  It was, as is usually the case, my “late night” for the weekend too.  I don’t know what time I called it a day (morning) but it was later than common sense would dictate.

Friday is the big party day of the weekend.  We all spend most of the day decorating the spot, preparing all the side dishes, putting on the tablecloths, etc.  I must say, the guys who did the centerpieces this year really went over the top, they were breathtaking.  Our first guests arrived around 6:00, and it was all downhill from there.  I won’t rate it our best party in the 10-year history of the team, but it was a good one.  And, while nobody will say it out loud, the rain storm around 10:00 was a blessing;  It effectively cleared out most of the riff-raff and left only a handful of people.  The second storm that rolled through around midnight got rid of the stragglers, and we had the spot to ourselves.  Perfect crime.

Saturday is usually a rather brutal day.  Generally there are only a few of us left onsite, left to deal with a sea of half-full plastic cups, broken glass, discarded plates, and other assorted trash.  I stumbled out of the trailer early in the morning to find that this year would be no different.  In his last declaration as acting CEO though, Martin declared that the remaining four of us should take the day off and go get some rest.  Hey, no need to tell me twice, I was on the phone with Donette in about two seconds.  She was so overjoyed to hear from me at 7:30 in the morning she could barely form a sentence.  Once she got past the excitement of getting to see me, she rushed down to pick me up and took me home to a hastily prepared breakfast of smoked salmon and bagels.  I then took a hot shower and crashed for about three hours.  (That last sentence is actually true;  The ones before that, not so much.  She DID actually come get me though.)  After catching up on some sleep, we headed up to The Well for a tasty dinner, then I loaded a few bare essentials and headed back down to the BBQ.  It was with much delight that I arrived to find the site pretty well cleaned up, courtesy of Schmidt.  There were still only four of us Saturday night, and we all were a little worse for wear.  We had the good fortune to find the MU game on TV and watched that, then everybody kind of dozed off where they sat.

Sunday started off around 4:00 with the smokers getting fired up, food prepped, and detailed plans drawn up.  All went well, or at least as well as it ever does.  To tell the truth, there was at least an 80% chance of chicken and brisket not even being turned in, as Martin and I had already discussed the fact that since we had no plans of returning in 2014 there was no reason to bother with it.  But, in the interests of the team members who may or may not choose to carry on the tradition next year, we grudgingly decided to at least submit them.  Judging from the results this morning, we’d have been just as well served to stay in bed, but at least we didn’t get disqualified.  (Barely.)  Actually, chicken turned out to be our team’s best-scoring entry, although it was certainly nothing to brag about.  Brisket…  Well…  Again, we didn’t get disqualified and that’s what is important, right?  I had a good day of it though, it was certainly a lot more relaxing not really caring how our entries did.  Part of this was the due to our arch-rivals, The Red Gloves, not showing up this year for the contest.  In the grand scheme of things, we historically have only cared how we did against them anyway.  (And it might be worth mentioning, we historically whup them too.)  Without them to compete against, we didn’t really have any motivation.

Whew, first chilly ride of the season on the scooter this morning!  Note to self, check temperature before heading off to work.  ‘Bout froze my face off.  But then, that’s just random commentary, and not related to what I did over the weekend.  So, on to that.

Overall, I will rate that weekend an 8 out of 10.  Friday I intended to just call it a day and watch TV at home, but alas, Martin & Brice turned up at the Brooksider, forcing me to show up also.  It would have been a crime to sit home when the weather was so nice though, so it worked out for the best.  Donette came down and joined the revelry after a bit, and then we decided to head out to dinner.  Last Friday of the month means chicken verde burrito at Jalapenos, my favorite.  Alas, it appeared to be everyone else’s favorite too, as the line was out the door.  We were extra-hungry, so we bailed and crossed the street to Carmen’s.  In my book that’s a definite menu upgrade, while unfortunately a rather significant tab upgrade also.  Hey, we’re broke anyway, why not pile on.  We haven’t been there in quite a while, making the dinner seem even tastier.  I had lobster ravioli, while Donette went with the always-solid lasagna.

Saturday we had a little private pub crawl on the calendar with the Martins.  The weather slightly altered our plans, but we made the best of it.  We kicked the afternoon off with a stop at The Flying Saucer.  That represented the northern end of our tour, and from there we made stops at The Velvet Dog, Kelly’s, Davies, Bobby Baker’s, District Pour House, and wrapped up at The Beer Station.  A fine day indeed.  Once the rain burned off and we could get out on patios it was even better.  New on the agenda was the District Pour House;  They just opened about a week ago right up the street from our house in the spot formerly occupied by The Gaff.  They’ve done some very extensive remodeling, it’s barely recognizable inside.  Very nice place…  Probably a bit TOO nice for us.  Between their new menu and Louie’s at the other end of the block, it’s a rather pricey area these days.   We’ll have to make a few more visits and decide if it holds a spot in our regular rotation.

We kicked off Sunday with an always-exciting trip to Nebraska Furniture Mart.  WOOO HOOOO!!!  One of those places we love to hate.  They took all our money, as usual, and then we headed to lunch at Amigos to contemplate our dire financial straights.  Ahhh, nothing like a good plate of tamales to cheer me up.  After lunch I was scheduled to head up to Martin’s and do some cooking for the upcoming BBQ next weekend.  In a wonderful bit of good fortune though, he called and said he would rather head to a party out near my house if that was OK.  Hmmm…  Drive an hour north of the river and slave over a hot cooker all day, or sit outside and eat BBQ cooked by somebody else, while listening to local blues bands.  Let me cipher on that for about 1/10 of a second.  We went with the blues & BBQ option, and it worked out very nicely.  A fine day indeed.  Of course we only delayed the inevitable on cooking for the Royal, but that’s just how we roll.

I spent last weekend in sunny Folsom, CA.  Yep, THAT Folsom:  “And I ain’t seen the sunshine, since…”   I can’t even drive down the street without humming Johnny Cash songs.  I am not sure what all I did honestly, it was sort of a blur of work with a bit of goofing around.  Saturday I spent the better portion of the day travelling.  That sort of stinks, but pending the invention of the teleporter it’s about the only way to get from KC to Sacramento.  How unfortunate.  Upon my eventual arrival, I went to dinner at Chicago Fire pizza, which was most agreeable.  After that I headed back to the hotel to try and deal with the 2-hour time change, an attempt that, predictably, failed miserably.  I think I fell asleep on the couch around 7:00 and woke up around 4:00.

Sunday wasn’t exactly productive, at least the first part of it.  I was able to watch the Royals & Chiefs games luckily, although I find it a bit unsettling to watch football at 10:00 in the morning.  After that I drove around a bit, with the intention of exploring the area.  After about 500 yards I remembered that I hate driving around, and returned to the hotel.  Woot, big day.

Alright enough of this slacking.  I’ll type up an accurate, detailed, and thorough account of my past weekend.  It will be just as boring as the brief overviews, but longer.  Friday, naturally, was the revered happy hour at the Brooksider.  It was absolutely melting hot out, but we toughed it out on the patio.  In case I wasn’t sweaty enough already, I headed home and grilled some chicken quarters after that.  Whew.

Saturday I had a good chunk of work to do, so that ate up my morning and afternoon.  When I got finished, we loaded up the car and started the long journey towards the ‘Dotte, where we planned to attend the KC Wine Festival.  To break up the tedium of the long drive, we stopped at Hayward’s BBQ for a late lunch.  While I’m sure I’ve had their ‘que before, it’s been a long time and I am pretty sure I’ve never been to the restaurant.  I was pretty hungry, but I opted to stick with the small beef sandwich, while Doni ordered the Luncheon Special, also with the beef.  Both were very good plates.  We both liked the beef a lot, and I’ve always liked their sauce.  One of us should have probably gotten beans to give them a try, but we ended up with fries.  While quite tasty, I couldn’t help but feel the lunches were a bit overpriced.  Coulda just been my inherent cheap nature sneaking in there.  After lunch we continued out to the ‘Dotte, and checked in to a hotel at the Legends.  From there it was off to the Wine Fest.  That was a great event, we both really enjoyed it.  The only snafu occurred when, in one of our typical bouts of over-researching, we somehow came across this FAQ page.  Looking back, I really don’t know how we found that page, I can’t find the link to it again to save my life.  But, find it we did, and if you skim through it, it clearly states: “For men, clothing ranges from suits to polo shirts paired with khaki pants or jeans.”  Very unfortunate, considering it was about 105 degrees out.  But, I didn’t want to show up as the only guy in shorts, and if you browse through the photos of past events (which I did, still looking for an out,) everybody is definitely dressed semi-nice.  So, I put my khakis on and headed out there, and as you well might guess I was one of about five guys actually wearing pants, vs. about 5,005 wearing shorts and tee-shirts.  Sigh.  Oh well, I bet they felt under-dressed when I walked by. Yeah, I bet.

Sunday we headed back to KC, where again I was scheduled for work.  The good news was, I was in a nice 68-degree underground cave all day, and as an added bonus they brought in Big T’s BBQ for lunch.  (Doesn’t look like they have a website, so no link.)  In retrospect, I should have ordered a sliced beef sandwich so I could do a head-to-head comparison with Hayward’s while both were fresh in my mind.  But, I saw the burnt end platter on the menu and it called to me.  So, while I can’t do a fair food comparison, I can say the prices are much more reasonable:  $10 for an enormous plate of burnt ends and fries.  It’s sort of near our office so we eat there pretty regularly, if you’ve never tried it I would recommend giving them a shot.  After work, I made the somewhat questionable decision to drop by the ‘Sider to see if anybody was watching the Chief’s game.  Well, of course everybody was there, and of course they were sitting on the patio.  Wow, it was just BRUTALLY hot.  I sat out there like a numb-skull and watched the rest of the game though, sweating like I was about to pass out.

Now as to what i DIDN’T do this weekend…  This was the weekend I was scheduled to do my annual century (100 mile) bicycle ride.  This year I’d signed up for the MS-150 out of Columbia, MO.  I really did not care for the ride to Lawrence last year much, and it pains me to give my tax dollars to KS, so this year it was decided Columbia was a good option.  Alas, stuff came up, I didn’t train adequately, and several weeks ago conceded it just wasn’t going to happen.  Munkirs, on the other hand, made the ride.  So, in addition to my familiar feelings of personal inadequacy, I got pelted with taunting texts all day too.  Oh well, maybe I’ll get back in the saddle next year.

Another in my running streak of meaningless updates. I wouldn’t bother at all if not for the fact that I skipped last week so my server needs the exercise. Speaking of last week, that was the semi-annual Pigfest in Cincy, with our friends Ed & Kim. Sat around all day watching a 200 lb. piggie spin on a spit… Good entertainment in my book. We spent a few extra days too. Caught a Reds games, hung out downtown, that kind of fun stuff.

As for this weekend, well we haven’t spent it overly wisely. Saturday I hung out with a very rough crowd all day, mostly outside at various local venues. Wow, it was hot, but we had a good time. Sunday I was rather inconvenienced when we lost power to the house. Bummer. A pole up the street literally snapped in the storm, and they didn’t get it replaced until about midnight. Since our house was rather muggy, we declared date night and went to see “Grand Master.” Eh, I’ll give it a marginal rating. I’m not sure what the holiday today will bring. A good starting point would be to quit typing on my iPad and get out of bed…