Blog Stuff: A sure sign of the apocalypse.

For an unprecedented third Friday in a row, I managed to avoid setting foot in the shop; not an easy thing for me to do. (Did I schedule enough coverage? Suppose it gets busy? Oh, god, I hope nobody called in sick...) Still, it's a much-needed mental health break.

A trip to Borders netted this month's copy of Reason magazine; the latest David Weber paperback, The Shadow Of Saganami; and a couple of newer selections from Osprey Publishing, one on Navy SEALs, and one on the battle of Vimy Ridge.

Sticking my head in the door at Charlie Pepper's confirmed that they still don't have Sierra on draft, so I tootled over to Calhoun's on Kingston Pike (I love the major league irony of there being a brewpub atop Bearden Hill right on Thunder Road,) for their in-house pale ale and their delicious pretzels and beer-cheese dip. After getting cheesy fingerprints all over the Milton Friedman article, I said my good-byes, put the top down on the Beemer, and roared off. (Okay, actually nobody roars anywhere on Kingston Pike at 4PM on a Friday, but "Stop-and-goed off" just doesn't flow.) On the way home, I serendipitously found a birthday gift for a friend who I was having trouble shopping for. What to get the Nipponophile who has everything? A bonsai tree, of course.

Around sunset, Bob the gunsmith dropped by, and we had an enjoyable evening chatting on the porch. After he left, I called my Dad down in Georgia and caught up on family news. A pleasant ending to a pleasant day off.

And now it's back to work.