Today I did my part to keep the economy moving by taking my Christmas lights down.

This helps the economy because my sister Dina had a bet that the lights would still be up next Christmas.

I'm combining the Friday and Saturday reports in an effort to get enough information to make this post worth posting.

No such luck.

I had boring beers, all of which I've had before, and Rich O's itself seemed pretty boring.

I really miss Cone Smoker.

Looks like I called it. Amy and LaToya made it through.

Not that I could watch it or anything, what with stupid college basketball prempting three of the local stations tonight. I found out who advanced via the Internet.

I'd still really like to see Elizabeth and Leah again. Maybe they'll be in the Wild Card show.

One of my vices is watching American Idol each week. I got hooked by Kelly during the first season and I haven't missed a show since.

At times I take my fandom too far though. I really should stay off the message boards. I usually come up to my computer after each show to see what people thought - to see if they agreed with me.

Usually they don't agree with me.

Usually they're stupid. And usually they're mean about it.

Tonight, for the record, I thought the first three did very well, with Amy and Elizabeth edging out Eric.

I also thought Leah was fantastic. Leah also got hot since I last saw her.

I thought the last girl was suffering from an asthma attack throughout her performance, but all the judges, and the people on the message boards loved her.

I'd like to see Elizabeth get voted though, but I'm afraid that her outfit will cost her a few million votes. People with legs like that should not wear mini-skirts.

I'd also like Leah to advance.

What I think, though, is that the last girl, LaToya, will make it through, and after that probably Amy. I can live with that I guess.

Today I took the day off work to get some stuff done. This is in stark contrast to most of my off-days when I usually just play pool and watch TV.

Today I had a plumber come by to install my new water heater and water softener. I had an electrician here to wire up an unused switch in my basement to some overhead lights, and I had two different painting company people here to give me an estimate on painting my house.

I was also supposed to get an estimate on repairing the stonework in the basement - from the demolition I did to make room for the pool table - but that guy never showed up.

Once the stonework repairs are done that will take care of the little things I wanted to do this year. The big stuff like painting the house and getting my roof recovered will have to wait until I see if I can refinance my mortgage and take advantage of these low interest rates.

Since I'm off tomorrow, and feeling a little better, I thought I might go to Rich O's. I haven't been there in over a week, what with being sick and all.

This Death Flu II is really annoying. I'm having pretty serious coughing fits whenever my sinuses drain into my throat, and I'm often struck with some pretty disconcerting bouts of lightheadedness.

Perhaps it's not just the flu that I have. Maybe I have a brain cloud or something.

Anyway, I ended up deciding to pass on Rich O's for tonight.

At a meeting today at work, I noticed this handwritten entry in my notebook:

I have no idea what this means.

Happy Birthday to me!

I start my 39th year enduring the initial stages of the Kentuckiana Death Flu Part II, this time with added congestion!

I probably won't even make it out to celebrate tonight.

Water at my home has recently become an issue.

On Christmas Eve, my sister's fiance pointed out that my water heater was starting to leak and would need to be replaced soon. I crossed my fingers and hoped that it would hold out until I got my tax refund and that wish was granted.

Another thing about my water - it's the hardest water I've ever seen. I've been wanting to get a water softener for years, and this year I decided that since Dina's fiance is a real Mr. Fixit I'd go ahead and get one, then try to get him to help me with the installation.

So today I went back to the mall and bought a new water heater and a new water softener. I even thought for a while that I'd be able to pick them both up today, but alas, the water heater was apparently missing from the warehouse so I'll have to wait until Wednesday.

I spent a couple of hours tonight doing as much assembly on the water softener as I could. I had to stop when I got to the part about joining copper pipes together because (a) I don't have a blowtorch, and (b) It's a good thing I don't have a blowtorch.

I'll try to get Kenny to help me out with this stuff after I get the water heater.

These beer reports are going to have a lot less beer and proportionally more report for a while. At least until Rich O's gets something interesting to drink I'll be limiting myself to the boring old Beaks Best, Community Dark, and Guiness.

Tonight my mood was a lot better. I arrived at Rich O's at the same time as LaptopGirl (who was looking quite hot) and there were seats available in the "living room" at Rich O's. I spent a few enjoyable hours talking with LaptopGirl, MisunderstoodGirl, CoffeeDude, and some lesbian who's name I can never remember.

Several times in the past I've joked that I only feel normal if I'm pining away for someone that, for whatever reasons, is unavailable or otherwise inappropriate for me. Currently I'd say that LaptopGirl is filling that niche. She's pretty and smart and interesting. She also, at times, seems shallow and transparent and completely wrong for an old fart like me. It is kind of nice to have someone I look forward to seeing though.

After a while one of the Rich O's regulars, who I will call PillowGuy, joined us in the living room and, as he is apparently more interesting than I am, I became invisible to LaptopGirl. She did ask me to join PillowGuy and her at Jack's Bar after Rich O's closed, but it was clear even before we got there that I was no longer needed and so I left after only a few minutes.

I don't think anyone noticed.

Whores and Sluts.

I'm sure that one of my old friends will recognize that old mantra, that oft-repeated phrase we used during that time in our lives when all women seemed to be evil, manipulative, and just plain repulsive.

My friend got lucky and found himself a good one. I remained unlucky and wasted a couple more years trying to work things out with my ex-wife.

He's still married, I'm still single, and I think we're both pretty happy.

I found myself thinking of those old days while I sat at Rich O's Friday night. There was a group of women who, to me and my already foul mood, seemed to be the perfect poster children for loose and bitchy women.

Anyway, they reminded me of that old slogan. My mood was foul for a completely different reason. My favorite Rich O's beer, Cone Smoker, has been pulled from the rotation, and I was forced to drink some lesser brews.

What I had was a Beak's Best and a couple of Community Darks, both decent beers, but neither is substantial enough to wrap an evening around. I found myself drinking beer just to drink it, not to enjoy it as I've been able to do lately.

Most of the regulars were there. MisunderstoodGirl and LaptopGirl seemed to notice my foul mood and left me to myself. Other's weren't quite so understanding and I was probably a little surly towards them.

When I left, much earlier than I usually do, I simply paid my bill and walked out. If anyone noticed my departure they were probably relieved.

That's right, a very rare Sunday report. This will probably be my last Sunday report also.

LaptopGirl called me this evening to see if I was going to this beer club meeting in Louisville. I hadn't been able to make up my mind about going, as is typical for me, but I was unable to say no to LaptopGirl.

Even though I knew I was probably being jerked around I went to the meeting, arriving fashionably late at about a half hour past the scheduled start time. Well, after about an hour of sitting around I got bored and left. LaptopGirl did not make an appearance. There were a lot of people from Rich O's there but there didn't seem to be much discussion going on. Everyone seemed content to just sit around and stare at their feet while they waited for the meeting to start.

One guy told me that these things usually last until between 10:00 and Midnight. That's just too late for me on any work night - especially on a Sunday night when my insomnia is sure to be a factor anyway.

For the Beer Report part of this Beer Report I'll note that I had one of BBC's Alt beers. I'm convinced that this beer has changed since the big BBC split that occured last year. I don't think the change was for the better either. I've got to take BBC Alt off my list of favorites, and that's kind of sad.

Last night was pretty tame for me. I had some Cone Smoker at Steve's party, then went to Rich O's and had a couple of Community Dark pints.

One item of particularly bad news - Rich O's is out of Cone Smoker, and they're not expecting anymore for at least a couple of months. This seems to happen a lot to me. I find something I really like and then it goes away. I don't know if beer is mimicking life or vice-versa.

I also spent the first few minutes at Rich O's talking with LaptopGirl about various things until someone more interesting came in and I became invisible.

Last night also saw another appearance by DooRagGirl and her husband, though I didn't get a chance to talk with them much.

A happy 40th birthday to my old (no really - old) friend Steve. Last night we had a small surprise party for him and it was a lot of fun.

I took a half-gallon of Cone Smoker, drank about half of it, and enjoyed a few games of darts. I won every game I played which was stange because I never throw steel-tips and I haven't thrown anything in years.

It's definitely strange that many of my friends, and now even Steve, have now celebrated their 40th birthdays. These occasions also serve as a reminder to me that I'll be 39 in a couple of weeks.

I'll also take this opportunity to wish a belated 40th to my cousin Jeff who has been way too busy with his Hooters friends for anyone else lately.

One of the reasons for my lack of posting recently had been that the Kentuckiana Death Flu finally got me in its grasp.

I haven't been that sick for over fifteen years, and I hope it's at least another fifteen before I get that sick again.

So anyway, I'm back to normal now, and I have some catching up to do.

I'll back-date some posts and then it'll look like I was never gone.

Last week's sickness has made me a little paranoid, so I stuck with some pretty tame beer tonight. Tame to me means Guiness and Community Dark and I had a couple of each.

Rich O's also has a new pre-prohibition style beer that I tried and didn't like at all. There was a very strange smell that I just couldn't get past. The smell was horrible, the taste was okay, and the aftertaste was horrible. Chalk one up to experience, and I won't be having any more of that.

The last two nights I haven't been myself. I've just gotten over this horrible flu and it's probably stupid of me to be going out at all. But a guy's got to eat, and I found myself at Rich O's ordering pizza to go.

While my pizza was being cooked I had a little to drink - I think I had a Community Dark on Friday and that's about it.

Last night I was feeling a little better physically but was in a bad mood otherwise. I had a Cone Smoker and then tried a Bell's Two-Hearted Ale. Nasty nasty nasty. That damn smell was just too much.

I'm sure there were other people at Rich O's and I'm sure I talked to some of them but I'm pretty sure nothing interesting was discussed.