I give up.

After a couple of weeks of stuggling to pick a color for my house, I realize that the colors in my head do not exist in the real world, so I give up.

I'm getting the house painted with two different shades of gray.

Woo-hoo.

The garage doors will be painted white.

Double woo-hoo.

I figure I'll get the house painted gray, regret my choice for a year or so, then learn to live with it.

Today I had fun.

I got to play with my new chainsaw by cutting down two trees and about seven bushes that had been planted way too close to my house.

The front of the house looks a little bare now, but it still looks better than it did with all of the half-dead shrubbery.

In the back of the house I trimmed the hell out of a little Japanese Maple that had also been planted way too close to the house. Getting into my back door past that tree was a little like what I've always imagined the soldiers went through in the jungles of VietNam. Except for the part where people shoot at you.

I'll be surprised if the tree lives. I removed nearly a third of it.

My final project for the day was to get rid of the ugly useless clubhouse in my back yard.

That project failed.

I tried to pull the thing over with my truck and managed to spin all four wheels instead.

The events of Friday night tear at my mind. Once I manage to come to grips I'll post about it. Perhaps. I may decide that it's just too much to process and decide to ignore the whole incident.

But for now, just a beer report.

Friday night I started out with one of NABC's Solidarity porters.

I don't remember if I've had this before (I think I have) but I kindof like it. Nothing special, just a decent porter without any bitterness. I hate bitterness.

My next beer was a Domaine DuPage French Style Country Ale by the Two Brothers Brewery. This beer, oddly enough, is not listed on their website.

I have to say that despite the long-winded name and its French implications, this is one of he best beer I've had in a long time. Smooth, not too strong, not too weak.

I ended up having four of these things, then I had three more on Saturday night. What an excellent session beer! I wish I could describe it more clearly. "Drinkable" is the word that comes to mind most often.

Also, on Saturday, I went to Hooters to see my cousin Jeff and I had a Newcastle Brown Ale. It was a little flat - they had warned me beforehand - but it was still very good. I miss being able to get Newcastle's on tap in New Albany. Jeffersonville is just too far to drive for a beer.

Wow, it's been a while since I've done one of these.

Anyway, One of the most beautiful voices anywhere, I found out today, happens to be attached to one of the most beautiful women anywhere.

My May 9th Hottie of the Day is Amy Lee, lead singer of the group Evanescence.

Her singing gives me goosebumps, and her appearance causes some physical effects on me as well.

I'm going nuts trying to decide on a color for my house.

It should get painted within the next two or three weeks, and I've got the color choice narrowed down to blue, red, gray, and light brown.

In other words, I haven't narrowed it down at all.

There are two obstacles to my making of a choice. First, my new roof went on quite a bit lighter than I'd thought it would from the samples. For some reason I'm loathe to have my house painted any color that appears darker than the gray roof. Second, my house has a lot of stonework that is composed of yellow-brown rocks and reddish mortar. It's actually the mortar that's killing me. Any tint other than a reddish one on the house and I'm afraid that the mortar will really clash. The dark blue color that I saw in a magazine - the color that first got me thinking about getting my house painted - is definitely out of the question. Probably. Maybe.

I had my friend Dan, who'll be doing the painting, send me some digital pictures of the house. I plan to play with the pictures in PhotoShop and hopefully that'll help me to actually make a decision.

That's the color of my hallway now.

After the Robitussin Red fiasco there was a lengthy period where the hallway was simply primer-gray. A couple of weeks ago I bought two gallons of what I thought would be the watermelon color I was looking for but they turned out to be orange.

(I have orange paint for sale - real cheap.)

When I bought the orange paint I also bought a couple of samples of the paint I was looking at for the foyer and the kitchen. The foyer paint is pretty much what I was looking for, so I bought another gallon to use. The kitchen paint turned out to be quite a bit lighter than the almost Navy Blue I wanted for the kitchen. This lighter blue was, on the other hand, kindof cool so I painted my hallway with it today.

Of course it doesn't look as cool on my walls as it did in the can, but I think I'll be able to live with it.

Something is messing with my 'blog displays.

I keep seeing the font change right in the middle of a post.

I don't know if it's caused by my browser, my ad-blocking software, or if the entries themselves are somehow getting corrupted.

I really need to look in this and get it to stop.

I'm combining the Friday and Saturday reports for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that I think the stark contrast in the styles of the two nights will provide an interesting example of the ebbs and flows of the life of a single man. The second reason is that I'm just plain lazy.

Rich O's was moderately crowded on Friday, with a few of the regulars I can actually stand to be around. I was able to grab a seat at the island and ordered my first beer - an Upland Winter Warmer.

I actually had this beer a couple of times last weekend - when I was starting my writing drought - and I really like it. It reminds me of the Great Lakes Christmas Ale that I enjoyed so much a few months ago. There was some fruitiness that I will call raspberry and some nutmeg as well. My only real problem with this beer is that it's rather strong and I cannot safely have more than one.

Next, on the advice of one of the regulars I tried an Old Slug Porter and I just can't describe it very well. I'm sure it had some flavor and some characteristics, but I just couldn't detect anything after the Upland beer I'd just had. I'll be sure to try it again when it comes back to Rich O's.

At about the time I was finishing my Old Slug, LaptopGirl arrived and WOW! She was looking sexier than I've ever seen before in her little skirt and top. She looked like she'd come straight from a figure skating competition.

(I should point out that while I'm no longer romantically interested in LaptopGirl, I'm still a straight single man and I still find her physically quite attractive and mentally fascinating.)

Once her interesting friends left, LaptopGirl joined me at the island and I spent a good couple of hours striving to make eye contact instead of looking down her top.

Once my Old Slug was gone I ordered an Avery Czar. At 10% alcohol I knew this would be the only one of these I'd have. I liked the taste of this a lot. I detected a definite bourbon odor, and I asked if it was aged in an old bourbon barrel but the bartenders didn't think so. There wasn't really any bourbon to the taste so I may be insane.

After a while the living room area cleared out so LaptopGirl and I moved over there. I was enjoying the conversation (and the scenery) so I ordered an NABC Beak's Best and that ended up being my last beer of the night - though I did have a draft root beer while LaptopGirl finished her NABC BourbonDaddy.

As we've done several times in the past, LaptopGirl and I closed out Rich O's. As we've also done a few times, we went over to Jack's where I had a Diet Coke and wondered how long it would be before the InvisibilityFactor took effect.

It didn't take long. We were sitting with a couple of other Rich O's regulars and MusicalHippyDude is certainly more interesting than I am. Once I was fully invisible to LaptopGirl I was able to finish my drink and leave unnoticed.

Saturday night, as I think I hinted way back at the beginning of this entry, was completely different than Friday.

Rich O's only had a dozen or so people, all in the bar area. A couple of people there I recognized, but I wouldn't say I knew any of them, so I just stood at my spot at the bar and talked with the bartenders.

Wanting something fairly weak after the previous night's strong brews, I first ordered an NABC Beak's Best. They were out. I then ordered a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale. They were out of that too. Starting to feel desperate, I ordered my old old OLD standby, Pete's Wicked Ale. They actually had that and I had a couple more during the night. I won't say too much about the Pete's because it makes me sad that it used to be one of the best but now it's simply passable.

I was also able, thanks to the bartenders, to sample a couple of beers that I really liked. Unfortunately I was sworn to secrecy and I cannot break that trust. I'll just say that I liked them and I wish they were more readily available.

After a relaxing couple of hours I left Rich O's at 11:00 PM and went home.

For several years I kept a little journal.

I still have three or four notepads lying around somewhere, and every now and then I'll read through them.

I always enjoy seeing what I though about life back in the olden days, and I always wish I'd written in them more often.

The fun I have reading those old notebooks is the main reason I write in this 'blog now. I imagine myself in the distant future, reading about stuff like how I ruined my first-ever painting project, and laughing at what a dork I was.

Lately though, it seems that I'm falling back into that old habit where I stop my journaling for no reason whatsoever.

I mean, in the past week I've had my roof completely replaced and I've made the arrangement to have my house painted. I've become completely unenamored with LaptopGirl, I've had my lawn mower fixed for free, I've had my heat pump fixed for big bucks, and I've got HDTV now.

It's not like it's hard to write this stuff. I guess I just need to keep reminding myself that I'm writing this for myself. If anyone else bothers to read it that's fine, but I've got to stop wondering if I'm too boring and just write. So that old version of me in the future will have something to do while he listens to his bones creak and his arteries harden.

Or maybe I'll be Supreme Galactic Emperor and this thing will be worth a lot of money.

I didn't even watch the show this week.

I decided after last week that I would not watch the show until that redheaded dickweed was voted off.

So I tivoed the Tuesday show, then tonight I checked the Internet to see who was gone.

It was Jennifer.

I'm glad Jennifer is gone - I was never a fan - but for her to leave before John is just inexcusable.

I think I don't care who wins. My favorite, Elizabeth, didn't even make the top 12. Another favorite, Leah, was the first one voted off. I supposed I would be somewhat satisfied with a win by Fantasia, Jasmine, or LaToya, but I'd never buy any album they released.

I guess it's time to start looking forward to season four. That is if John doesn't kill the franchise forever.