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.

Remember that pillar of willpower from last week?

It's proving to be a pretty fragile thing.

Friday night I caved and went and bought a new TV. I also bought a new satelite receiver and dish. I also bought a new Pronto remote control. Oh yea I also bought a big giant entertainment center.

I think I'm done. Luckily my budgets for house painting and roof replacement remain intact. The flooring budget has taken a small hit but I hope to still be able to get everything I wanted done.

I waited until tonight to post about the new TV and stuff because I wanted to surprise my sister who was supposed to come over today.

But Nooooooooooooooo! Her plans changed and I didn't want to have to wait another week before affirming my complete lack of backbone to the world.

Not much beer - and actually not much report - for this entry.

I went to Rich O's as usual, though I was pretty tired from all the shopping after work.

The place was fairly crowded - standing room only, but I stood at the bar with my Beak's Best and listened to LaptopGirl and her ex talk about farts for a while. How fascinating that was!

After a while CreepyGuy started hitting on me or whatever it is he's doing so I left.

I'm pretty surprised by the display of idiocy that LaptopGirl put on. It's like she dumbed herself down so her ex wouldn't feel uncomfortable.

I'm not jealous. Much.

Just to list the things I've spent money on since I got my refinance money. Keep in mind that I'm supposed to be spending all this on home improvements and repairs.

1. Trip to Omaha. Airfare, Hotel, Car Rental, etc. adding up to about $700.

2. A new cue to use when I was in Omaha. $400.

3. A 7-foot pool table. Probably the stupidest purchase I've ever made in my life. $900.

And now today I found myself checking out the bigscreen TVs on the Internet. I'm glad that there's not an Ovation on the way home from work or I'd probably have spent another couple of thousand dollars.

Well, the week is still young.

Just a quick report, without all the individual critiques because everybody was boring.

JPL: Reminded me of that drunk friend that gets up and sings karaoke and surprises you by being halfway decent.

John: Why is this fucker still on my TV every week? Took a song that his "voice" is perfect for and still messed it up.

One more comment. Filming the commercial with the bathtub scene a week after Camille has left the show is just plain mean.