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.

Today I came home from work early. I'm just not feeling very well. At about 11:00 I started feeling light-headed and feverish and as I type this I'm starting to get chills. I guess this stupid flu that's been jumping around at work has finally landed on me.

I'm going to bed.

I haven't been to work for nine days but it's all over now. This is just a regular Sunday where I have to make sure that I get my laundry done in time for tomorrow.

I find myself sitting here, listening to the little ice pellets hitting my office window, and hoping against hope that we'll get a foot or so of ice accumulation so I can take an extra day off.

My sleep schedule is almost completely upside-down after the past week. If I can get through today without taking a nap I may be able to get back on track. Otherwise I'll be really suffering at work.

Last night was a special night at Rich O's. For one thing I actually got my sister Dina to come by for a while. This rare event was then surpassed by the arrival of Dan "Holy Shit" Kruer, a friend from 20 years ago, and his wife Chris, a childhood friend of Dina's.

First things first though. When I arrived I knew that I'd need to find a suitably weak beer for my sister to drink. I asked some regulars what was the wimpiest beer at Rich O's and was told it was Spaten Lager. I had one of these to field-test it for Dina and it was indeed wimpy.

I sat for a while, drinking my wimpy beer and talking to RealTrainGirl and her friend Matt-Josh-Willy-Whatever about various things like would I be able to recognize Dan and Chris when they arrived.

Dina arrived and immediately wanted to know where LaptopGirl was. I guess she's read about my fascination with her in my 'blog. Unfortunately LaptopGirl didn't arrive until after Dina had gone but she did get to meet RealTrainGirl and MisunderstoodGirl before Dan and Chris arrived.

While the girls drank their wimpy Spaten Lagers I tried to make recommendations for Dan. I think he tried the Beak's Best, then sampled the Cone Smoker and Community Dark before settling on the Dark as a beer he liked.

I ended up having a few half-pints of Cone Smoker and then a couple of Community Darks. The Cone Smoker is style#1 and the Community Dark remains unchanged.

After a while my sister and then my friends left in search of some industrial swill and I sat and talked to LaptopGirl and a couple of Rich O's professional beer drinkers until they closed the place up and kicked us out.

Being on vacation all last week, I ended up at Rich O's every night before going back to the Executive West to watch more pool.

For the most part I stuck to my regular NABC brews - Cone Smoker and Community Dark. I did, however, have a couple more of the Beak's Best beers. Knowing I'd be driving back to Louisville I definitely watched my alcohol intake even more than I normally do.

Other than that, I spent the time talking to some of the various regulars I've gotten to know. LaptopGirl and MisunderstoodGirl remain my favorite conversation partners, though TrainGirl and RealTrainGirl are also pretty fun to be around.

On Friday it was standing-room-only until quite late. I got so claustrophobic a couple of times that I went out and sat in the (empty) non-smoking section.