And it goes a little something like this...

Friday: work und more work. Left earlier than I had planned in order to meet up with Los Os, JG and JW. Tonight's destination: Hard Times Cafe, Alexandria style. Of course, I still got there later than the designated 6:30pm start time. It was a good time, as I got to catch up with Los Os, while JG and I gave Mr. O a hard time for being a bit of a name-dropper in his blog. (He's not really that guy, but it's much more fun to pretend he is and give him shit for it. This harassment would last well into Saturday night. More on that later.) The food, as always, was fat-packed with deliciousness. I ordered and appetizer of southwestern egg rolls (forget their menu name), and then, after seeing JG's order, eventually got myself some Coney Island dogs. Now that's tasty! After much conversation and food consumption, we's called it a night. I returned home, did a load of laundry, goofed off, then went to bed.

Saturday: On Thursday evening, via telephone conversation, JG and I hatched a plan. We sprung this plan on the Hard Times attendees to try to drum up a little group road trip. Alas, they were all pussies. Consequently, it was only JG and I who made the trip to Pennsylvania for a journey into deliciousness. That's right, it was another journey to Hoss's. As JG put it: carpe salad bar.

So, I wound up getting up butt-ass early for a Saturday (and a dreary morning Saturday to boot), 'round 8:30, just so I could get to the gym before meeting with Mr. G. Did that, returned to my tasteless hovel, cleaned myself, and set off to start my day at about 10:30. Met JG just after 11am in the Best Buy in Tenleytown and we began to make our way there. We get to Hoss's, place our orders, and we're heading for the salad bar. JG, being a Hoss's veteran and (as I discovered) a salad artiste, got in line ahead of me. We're moving down the length of the bar, assembling our salads, when all of the sudden, there's a halt in our progress. It turns out that JG's favorite salad dressing, the dressing to which he was building this particular salad (a sight to behold for sure), was no longer available. In its place was some heinous, non-fat raspberry vinaigrette concoction. Feh! I chuckled at first, but it was no laughing matter. Salad philistine that I am, I was not able to comprehend just how important this particular dressing was to the overall salad experience. Its absence knocked JG for a loop and he had no idea how to proceed. Italian? French? Buttermilk ranch? I'm not even sure on which dressing he eventually settled, but the experience was certainly an eye-opener for both of us. The lesson learned? Always check what dressings are available before you start throwing salad fixins together. On the fly salad making is not recommended.

Anyway, after stuffing ourselves thoroughly, we made our way back to JG's spot to watch the Saturday afternoon tournament games. Of course, there was about 45 minutes until tip-off, so JW and I squared off with a trash-talking filled game (or three) of Hot Shots Golf 3. Needless to say, he put a solid beating on me. Someday, though, his virtual reign of golf terror will end. JG, meanwhile, fell into a food coma, not to emerge until the first half of the first game was nearly complete. When he finally did make his way downstairs, we just chilled until C (a co-worker of JG's) showed up and we were ready to make our way toward our next destination: The Red Room Bar at the Black Cat. The four of us got there and planted ourselves at the end of the bar (our usual spot) and proceeded to drink up. Mr. O eventually joined us for the merriment (at which time JG and I proceeded to give him more shit for his alleged "name-dropping" crime). As time passed, Mr. O, JG and C decided to call it a night, leaving only JW an I to fend for ourselves. The rest of the night was rather non-eventful for the two of us, the high point being my clumsy flirtation with some girl who seems connected in odd ways to D.C.'s music/arts scene and who also seemed to be in the red as far as her drama-ometer was concerned. But she was friendly enough, so no harm in talking to her. Eventually, JW and I made our way out of there sometime between 1:30 and 1:45, where he would make his way back on that long ass ride to Alexandria, while I walked the 15 minutes or so back to my spot (with the obligatory stop for ghetto chinese).

And that was Saturday.

Sunday (today) has been a total wash. Didn't get out of bed until it was firmly in the PM, and have done not much of anything since, save going to CVS for a couple of items. I need to put a serious cleaning on this place, I'll tell you what. But no energy for that today. Mmmmm.....slothful.

This week could have some interesting possibilities, as there's a position open at the hotel that I'm considering applying for. Word on the street is that the director in that department has actually considered me for this, but is afraid my current boss wouldn't let me transfer. That, of course, is not true, as he has already told me he's willing to promote me wherever I want in the hotel, and even gave me first shot at a position that came up in engineering back in November. But we shall see. I do hope the pay is a significant increase, as I'd like to start saving more money and, more importantly, move out of my current apartment and find something nicer/bigger.

Also, The Black Dahlia Murder will be playing at The Ottobar in Baltimore next Friday. I may try to make that, if I can get all of the logistics worked out. I wish they would play in D.C. proper (is there any place in D.C. that books metal shows?), and it's either this or Jaxx. We'll see.