Another frigid morning – 23F right now.  Has it always been this cold this time of year and I just never noticed it?

Had a fun weekend in Saratoga Springs, but I think that I am getting too old for super fun weekends.  Mere and I stayed out late both Friday and Saturday nights, and as a result we were barely able to function yesterday.  In spite of that I feel fortunate to be able to have the experience of visiting Saratoga and Skidmore quarterly.  When I sit down with Mere’s friends and colleagues on the alumni board, I can have a wide-ranging discussion with any of them.  There is something to be said about the benefits of a liberal-arts education.

On our way back from Saratoga yesterday, we stopped at Mere’s parents’ place as Mere’s mom had minor heart surgery on Friday and we wanted to check in.  We made dinner for her parents (nothing fancy, just a semi-scratch spaghetti dinner) and it was nice to treat them for a change.  When we got home, we were so exhausted all we did was sample our latest homebrew and head to bed.

Our latest homebrew is an Irish Stout, and we are quite pleased with it.  While it doesn’t have the “creamy” consitency of a Guinness that you’d get on tap, it still has the classic stout flavor.  Definitely a good beer to be drinking on these cold late-fall evenings.  Will need to make something like an Irish Stew or shepherd’s pie in the next couple of days to enjoy with the stout.

Had a very scattered week last week at work, looking forward to a more productive week this week.