A Great 4th of July

Well, all, I had a really good 4th of July holiday. I was able to spend the day with two great friends, Meg and the Marquise.

I went over to Meg's place that afternoon. She recently adopted a very pretty kitty she has named Gustav (I'll see if she'll let me post a picture of Gustav). Her father is somewhat of a tinker and built her a kitty condo. Now, her father lives several states away so he dissassembled the **** thing and mailed it to her. It is my job as the resident testosterone generator and repository to put this kind of stuff together for her. So, I loaded my little bundle of joy, AJ (a 85 lb goldendoodle) and off we went to Meg's place. You kinda need to know that AJ's experience with cats is that he chases them and they run away from him. He has never gotten face to face with a cat before!!! (I knew this was gonna be fun) I really have to give Gustav a lot of credit, he (all 2 lbs) stood up to AJ very admirably. Needless to say, it turned out that AJ was relatively well behaved and Gustav finally decided he was OK and started to "stalk" AJ's tail. Well, in between AJ wanting to be petted/played with and Gustav wanting to play with AJ's tail, the kitty condo was finally assembled. I DO NOT certify that it will stay assembled, but it is assembled right now.

So after performing my responsibilities and assisting the damsel in distress, we went out for lunch and parted ways.

That evening, I met up with the Marquise for dinner and drinking and Hercules Mulligan. We decided to eat at Carraba's Italian Grill (mostly because it was next the Hibernian). Neither of us had been there before, so it was a new experience. I was not the brightest bulb in the restaurant that night. I have mentioned before that I am in the process of getting braces (read the post below), well, my teeth still hurt. Friends, do not eat a house salad with carrots and celery when your teeth hurt. Very Bad. Very, Very Bad. However, the entree was great, the salad dressing was much better on bread than on the salad. The sangria was good (a bit expensive) and the Marquise made damn sure that every drop was poured from the pitcher.

After dinner we walked down the road a bit to the Cary Hibernian to cheer on our favorite band Hercules Mulligan. The beer was good (Paulaner Heffe-Weisz), the band was even better, the irish carbomb (Guinness and irish cream) sucked. The beer is not something I would really want to drink all the time, but it was good for the evening. It didn't get upset that it had to share a room with sangria, if ya get my drift. The band was really good last night. We had a really responsive crowd and Chris K. was determined he was gonna have a good time and determined the rest of us were gonna have a good time also. He started off with a rousing rendition of "Star Spangled Banner". I can honestly say that I have never been in a bar before when the anthem was sung. It is a lot more intimate than at a ball game with 50 or 60 thousand of your closest friends. And finally the carbomb, oh the carbomb. Just say no! Every once in a while you come accross a concoction that just doesn't work. A half/quarter pint of Guinness and a shot of irish creme just don't mix.