One of those rare, if you’ll pardon the pun, joys in life is a holiday weekend during which one is allowed to consume respectable amounts of fire-grilled meat. Yesterday it was burgers at home; today it was steaks at Lil’ & Geoff’s place. In both cases, I enjoyed it to the fullest and then some.

As a guy who’s pretty much broke, I’m considering this the feast before the famine, but you know what? It’s meals like this that see you through the days of sandwiches and ramen noodles. Heck yeah.

On a side note, I also only have a three day work week ahead. I’m taking Friday off because someone special is coming to town. As the kids say, “Sweet!”

There are certain rituals when the kids come to my place for a visit that are becoming, if not time-honored, at least somewhat amusing. For instance: Erica must not like what’s for dinner. Alex must pace, a lot. Erica must give the kitties lots of love. Alex must gaze longingly at the Playstation 2 long enough to work up the nerve to ask if he can play on it. And so on.

Seriously, though, it was a pretty good visit. We even got in a game of Carcassonne… during which I lost by ten points (and I only did that well because I was master of the farmland and the trade goods) and the kids had six points separating ‘em. Erica won, mind you. Maybe I shouldn’t have finished that city of hers, but I couldn’t let her tie me on textiles, now could I?

I also talked Alex into rolling a new character in City of Heroes. I suspect his new Sonic/Sonic Defender will replace his Force Field character before too long.

Anyway, I was glad to have them over. It’s nice to have a change of venue from time to time, you know?

My teenaged son is learning to skateboard. (That is a verb, right?) Now, there are parents out there who would be mortified at this prospect, but to us it just means he’s getting outside… on purpose… voluntarily! As long as he’s reasonably careful, I’m totally okay with this.

My daughter is learning to cope with life in a more positive and responsible fashion. She’s become much more respectful, more helpful, and more protective of her family than ever before. I mean, it’s not like we expect her to be a Perfect Little Angel ™ all of the time, but she’s doing what counts, when it counts. Isn’t that all any parent can ask?

I don’t know how we got lucky enough to end up with such awesome children. I know it’s not anything I did…