• Up early; time for work.
  • After work we were both pretty tired so we ordered in some Chinese food and relaxed around the house for a while.
  • Killed some more weeds in the back yard. We’re actually gaining ground now. It’s a bloodchlorophyllbath back there. Not pretty, but it must be done.
  • My homebrew is finally finished. It’s supposed to be a “robust porter” but I’m not so sure about the “robust”ness. It might help if I actually drank it cold.
  • Finished re-reading American Gods. Every bit as good as I remember. Still one of my favorite books of all time.

  • Up early. Went to see Emily play at church.
  • Killed some more weeds in the back yard. I’m not proud of it but it had to be done.
  • Emily and I rode our bikes downtown to see Buckwheat Zydeco play at the Arts Festival. Love the free bike valet from Bike Pittsburgh.
  • Mr. Zydeco’s show was energetic and had people dancing in the park. He made many references to being brought up on the bayou and even lapsed into Creole/French occasionally. Loved his set, but was disappointed not to hear “When the Levee Breaks”. I know it’s a cover but it was the song that first introduced me to his music.
  • After consuming greasy fair fries and funnel cake we rode back home. Greenfield Avenue is quite a challenge now that I don’t ride up it every day. One of the few drawbacks of my new job.

  • Up somewhat early. To church. Interesting sermon on Alzheimer’s patients.
  • Brunch at Double Wide Grill. Waitress was new and didn’t quite get my order (barbecue burger with a portabella cap instead of beef) right, but I didn’t communicate it clearly enough and failed to clarify when an opening came up. Ended up with a beef patty plus a portabella cap. Still tasty.
  • Ventured down into the back yard and hosed down the jungle of poison ivy that covers it with Round-up. This was not our first choice for a solution but the problem has become so bad that we felt we had few options. I take full responsibility and will turn in my liberal card at the next meeting.
  • Greg came over and the three of us headed to the new Mad Mex location in Shadyside. The Thai curry burrito is still top-notch. Also tried some Atwater Vanilla Java Imperial Stout. Much like the similarly flavored porter the stout was smooth and went down easy for an imperial, but also like the porter the vanilla flavor was really strong from the draft. Maybe a bottled version would be more balanced.
  • Ted joined us back home, originally to play “Last Night on Earth”. However, since none of us actually remembered how to play we ended up going with “Settlers of Catan” instead. We got through two games, the second of which was a monster.