Today I went to Home Depot to check out flooring materials and left with a hundred dollars worth of paint and painting supplies.

I've had this bug up my butt for months about the walls in my house - specifically my hallway. The off-white color just seemed too bland.

A couple of years ago there was a wall where I worked that was painted a pretty cool watermelon color, and I'd always told myself that I should paint some wall in my house with that color.

Well I tried. The paint, which looked very cool on the little "Ruby Ring" sample card I chose has ended up looking very very very red on my walls.

I mean, it really looks like crap, and I don't think that's solely due to the fact that I need to put another coat on.

I'll put that second coat on tomorrow and cross my fingers.

Last night was supposed to be a change of pace. I'd been invited by a friend from work to go to a Louisville bar with the unlikely name "The Backdoor" to shoot some pool. I was also told that this bar had Newcastle on tap, so the trip seemed like it would be a worthwhile diversion from the Gravity Head crowding at Rich O's.

I found the place easily enough and I was happy to confirm that despite its name, The Backdoor is not one of "those" places. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Anyway, my friend wasn't there and I ordered a Newcastle and waited.

There was something wrong with the beer. Maybe it had been in the keg for years - The Backdoor didn't seem like the type of place to go through a lot of imports. Maybe the glass was just dirty. For whatever reason I couldn't even finish the glass. My friend never did show up so I left.

Rich O's wasn't nearly as crowded as I'd feared. Maybe everyone was off watching Louisville choke its way out of the NCAA tournament.

I had one of NABC's Solidarity Baltic porters. I remember having this before - about a year ago, and liking it, but I didn't remember much else about it.

What a scary beer! It tastes very good, with no bitternes at all, and just the right amount of carbonation. The scary part is that it's over 8% alcohol. I ended up having two of them then I had to switch to root beer to make sure I'd be able to find my truck, let alone drive home in it.

The only regulars I saw were Bubbles, who was looking all tropical, and CreepyGuy. CreepyGuy kept looking at me and grinning (leering?) so I kept as far from him as I could and made sure nobody followed me home.

Senility is really setting in.

While proofreading my 'blog entry about last Friday night (typos have a way of showing up hours or even days after I type them) I realized that I'd forgotten to mention the presence of SuperHotYoungGirl, there apparently for Gravity Head.

It took all of my will power to keep from simply staring at her for the entire night.

BWAAK! BWAAK! BWAAK! BWAAK!

That's the closest text approximation I can make of the sound that my smoke alarm makes when it wakes me up. It did so last night because my blower motor on my HVAC system seized up and started releasing large amounts of smoke into my ductwork.

Besides the fun of being jolted awake by that lovely noise, I also got to enjoy the unique smell of burning electrical parts.

Well my house didn't burn down. I hit the circuit breaker and tore the cover off my air handler to make sure that there was no actual fire, then cancelled Fire Dept visit that ADT had dispatched.

I sit here now, after a pretty cold night with no heat, waiting for the repair guys to show up and tell me how much it will cost to get my blower moter replaced.

In about fifteen years I also expect my heartrate to return to its normal pace.

Maybe by then Nugget will come out of hiding.

First off, I want to say that Randy is becoming quite the racist. I think some of his favorites could shit on stage, wipe their ass with the American Flag, and Randy would still be giving them all kinds of praise.

With that said, here are my rankings for tonight, from worst to best:

John S: Sucks. His music teacher was quite hot though. (1 point)

Camille: I really wanted her to do well, but she looked and sounded like she was about to vomit. (40 points)

Matt: He kept doing these weird voice changes, from country to blues and back. I didn't like it. (50 points)

Fantasia: I hate that song, and she was way too gospelly (is that a word?) for my tastes tonight. (55 points)

Leah: Another one that I wanted to do well, but she didn't. I love her singing ballads though and I hope she stays long enough to perform one. (55 points)

John L: Seems like a nice guy, and sings pretty well, but I cannot imagine him on the radio. (60 points)

George: Really forcing his voice to do tricks, but this was the first time I liked him at all. I still don't understand the judges obsession with him. (65 points)

Jennifer: She just sings great. Otherwise there's nothing remarkable. (66 points)

LaToya: Really good performance, but she got overshadowed by some of the later ones. Her voice kept dropping out of hearing range. (70 points)

Diana: Perhaps the second-best singer in the competition, but I worry that her voice may not be that good if she ever sings a slow song. She's also about a zillionth as cute as she seems to think she is. (75 points)

Amy: Took a weak song and made it fantastic with her voice. The best voice in the competition, and one of the best singers overall. Comparisons to Nikki McKibbin and that fat girl from season two should stop now. (80 points)

Jasmine: Just simply awesome. She should win the whole thing. I got goosebumps. (95 points)

As much as I'd like to see John S. get voted off, I'm afraid that Simon may be right this time and Leah will be eliminated. I would be satisfied if any of the guys left, though John L. is the most deserving to stay.

I've combined my Friday and Saturday reports for this past weekend for a couple of reasons. First, It's now Monday and I just want to get the thing typed. Second, Saturday was pretty much a bust, as I'll explain later.

Rich O's is having their annual "Gravity Head" festival, where they feature the strongest beers in the world, so I went in on Friday to sample some of these deadly concoctions.

Before I got three feet into the door I was accosted by CanadianGirl from work. She was upset that I hadn't been visiting her at the sample tasting lab lately. She was also drunk. (Yes, I'm talking about you. You're a very cute and friendly drunk though.) I spent a good deal of time reassuring her that my absence had nothing to do with her or the lab - I'd just been either sick or very busy for over two months. I promised to make every effort to start going to the lab again.

Also representing my work at Rich O's on Friday were CanadianGirl's hot boss(can I say that?) and CheerfulGirl, who for some reason didn't seem very cheerful at all.

Anyway, I first ordered a "Hercules" from Louisville's Browning's Brewery, and I drank it while talking with CanadianGirl's boyfriend and CheerfulGirl's husband. I also finally got to see if CanadianGirl's hot boss (can I say that?) was wearing a ring or not. She isn't.

I didn't like the Hercules. It was just too bitter.

Once the crew from work left I had a new beer from Rich O's own NABC. The 5B Brown Porter I also did not particulary like. I know the guy who invented this recipe, and I know he'll understand that just because I don't like his beer that doesn't mean that it isn't any good. More on that later.

Oh yeah, during all this time while I was choking down my first two beer I also had an Alaskan Smoked Porter on ice. It became my last, and only good, beer of the night.

I ended up in the "Living Room " area of Rich O's talking with MisunderstoodGirl, TrainGirl, and RealTrainGirl. It was pretty cool to have some of the women regulars there, as it had been a while.

On to Saturday. I've been completely swamped with work so I wasn't really sure that I'd go out at all, but the glamour and glitz of Gravity Head called to me so I went back to Rich O's.

The crowd was unbelievable. It was also unbearable.

I'd been thinking about the 5B Brown Porter that I'd tried the night before. I wondered if I'd given it a fair test, what with my taste buds still being all shot to hell from the Hercules I'd had just before it. I decided that, to be fair to my friend who'd invented the recipe, I'd have another pint and see how it stood on its own.

Unfortunately, I still didn't like it. Just too bitter. It took me over an hour to drink the thing, and that hour was spent walking from section to section trying to find a place to simply stand. There was no hope whatsoever of being able to sit down because the crowd was so thick.

I ended up going home after that one beer, and working until the wee hours of the morning.

Got a call from the bank today and was told that my refinance loan had been approved...

BUT

...the last appraisal on my house was over three years ago so I have to get a new one.

For whatever reason I'm now paranoid about the appraisal. I mean, a lot of what I'm planning to spend the money on will directly affect the home's value. Things like a new roof and new paint.

I also wonder how the appraisal person will like the demolition work I did in the basement when I got my new pool table? And how about my lovely storage room and detached garage?

Today I'm enduring what millions of others have endured over the years.

I applied for a mortgage refinance, and I'm waiting for word from the bank.

If I get the loan, the money will go to much needed things like a new roof and new exterior paint on my house.

I'm actually pretty nervous because I'm making a lot less money now than I was when I got my original mortgage four years ago.

I will also say that the loan officer at my bank is pretty cute.

To continue my brief tradition of ranking the night's performances on American Idol, I submit this list:

John: Sucked. 40 points.
Elizabeth: I love Elizabeth, probably because she reminds me of Kelly Clarkson. 70 points.
Katie: Cute. 60 Points.
George: I don't get why people like this guy's artifically low voice. Just barely better than John. 50 points.
Suzy: This girl can sing well. She should get through. 65 points.
Matthew: Easily second best of the night. I can easily imagine this guy's voice on my radio. 80 points.
Leah: Hot and very talented, and will only get better. Best of the night. 90 points.
Jennifer: I really like Jennifer's voice, but tonight's performance left me a little bored. Only 60 points.

Who I want to advance, based on all I've seen, not just tonight's performances:

Elizabeth, Leah, Matthew, and Suzy.

When I first walked in to Rich O's last night I already knew what my last beer of the night would be. I asked the bartender to put a bottle of Alaskan Smoked Porter on ice for me, since they usually keep it at room temperature.

While waiting for my real beer to chill I had a couple of NABC's Community Dark pints. There was some weird guy playing what I suppose could be called music and doing what I guess some would call singing, but my musical tastes are not nearly broad enough to appreciate the poor bastard.

Once again there were none of the women I know at Rich O's so I spent most of the night talking with CoffeeDude about things neither important nor interesting.

Once CoffeeDude left my Smoked Porter was ready so I moved to the bar and tasted that beer for the first time in several years.

Definately more smoky than I remember, but more complex also, I liked it a lot. I'm not sure if I like it as much as the Alaska Brewing Company's Alaskan Amber, but I'd have to put Smoked Porter in my top five beers. I'll definitely be having more of it, at least util Rich O's decides to stop selling it.

Not that I'm bitter about Cone Smoker being discontinued or anything.

Nope, not me.