Hey, damn. It's Tuesday already. As much as I'd love to give you kids a real in-depth recap of what I've been up to since Friday...Well...I'm "ill," which means that I'll only be able to muster up kind of a synopsis (at best) of what's been goin' on...Ready? good. Here it comes.

Apparently, when you set up the rules for a tournament, you can then go ahead and ignore them...
So from Friday to Sunday, the wife and I played in a co-ed hockey tournament up in Littleton. Overall, we had a lot of fun but, due to the screwy "points" system that the tournament organizers set up, we ended up playing for 3rd place in the consolation game despite the fact that we hadn't lost any games in the pool play segment. As it turned out, we played the team that featured those same tournament organizers who, in blatant violation of the guidelines which THEY THEMSELVES established, stacked their team with high school players in a bid to "win it all." What's funniest is the fact that, even though they beat us and took third, they still couldn't win their own tournament even despite their chicanery. Regardless of the fact that said tournament organizers were dishonest and the officials were mostly incompetent, we all had a good time and plan on doing it all again next year. Of course, we'll likely ignore the "rules" too and bring a few more "heavy hitters" to teach those cocky little high school pricks a lesson...Should be fun...

Rockies game...Grand Prix of Denver...Dinner at the Spaghetti Factory...
So, because we were "in town," we had dinner on Saturday evening with the Angellos. Due to the fact that they had a gift certificate burning a hole in their collective pocket, Pat and KT chose to meet at The Old Spaghetti Factory which, as the name would suggest, is a chain Italian joint (conveniently) located in the heart of downtown Denver. Well, maybe not the "heart" per se...19th and Lawrence may well be the "kidney" or "spleen" of downtown, but it was still downtown. Due to the fact that the Rockies were playing the Cubs that same evening (and also the fact that the Grand Prix of Denver had some of the streets closed off), we expected traffic to be horrendous but, much to our surprise, it wasn't that bad. Finding parking, though, turned out to be a bit of a challenge. Regardless, we DID make it there and we DID park and we DID enjoy our dinner and the conversation during dinner. Our only regret is that, due to the combination of being near completely exhausted from playing in the tournament and the fact that we had to play again at 7:30 the next morning, we had to forego the rest of our plans for the evening (which would've included bowling 'cause Pat was "horny for bowling"). Regardless, thanks for dinner, Pat and KT!

You Should Always Reward Yourself With A $200 Dinner When You Lose...Takes Away The "Sting"...
So, while we were IN Denver, we ate at a couple good places (like mother-fuckin' Fuddrucker's, which I hadn't enjoyed in like...20 years) but, when we got home on Sunday, I was kind of in the mood for...Oh, I dunno...Wild game and single-malt scotch whiskey. You know, the kind of fare which one can only really find at the Craftwood Inn in Manitou. Luckily for me (and my last minute decisions), Sunday isn't a real booming business day at the Craftwood and the wife and I were able to secure reservations for two at 5:30. As always, the food was outstanding (I had the trio of tenderloin cooked rare. That meal features sage seared beef, bison and boar). I've gone in depth about the Craftwood before so I don't need to do it here. Just suffice to say that, if you ever find yourself in my neck of the woods with a couple hundred dollars to blow on dinner, blow it at the Craftwood and you won't be disappointed (unless you're really hard to please in which case...um...Whatever).

So that's it for today. As always, thanks for stopping by...Remember that tomorrow is Awesomecast day! Until then, you all have a fine Tuesday...

Labels: get outta town, hockey stuff, I eat food, indignities, lame stories, sports, tales of triumph