Right now, I’m at a bar called the Boulevard up in the Woodlands. We’re sitting in the rooftop area, and we got to see the Woodlands firework show clear as day. It’s a pleasant night, too.

Chris’s mom just joined us, too; Chris, his girlfriend Brandy, George, and I are just sitting here enjoying a few drinks and catching up. I hadn’t planned to do anything tonight, but this is quite fun.

I hope you’re all having fun, and may post a short video of the fireworks later. :-)

I’ve probably mentioned this before, but my father has a joke he does around about Thanksgiving. As is commonly known, my parents emigrated to the States from England in the late 60’s, and he still has his accent. So, people say to him, “You guys don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, do you?” My father usually replies with, “Yes, we do, but being British, we celebrate it on the Fourth of July.”

Well, a couple of days ago he tried the reverse version of the joke while at the barbershop, and it backfired on him. Knowing how our barber (a real redneck sort) doesn’t even know this website exists, I think I’m kind of safe to tell this story…

Anyway, Dad was in the barbershop, getting his hair cut, and it was just him, the barber, her son, and another customer were in there. The barber asked if Dad had any plans for the Fourth of July. Dad responded with, “No, I don’t have any special plans for Thanksgiving.”

The other customer looked at Dad with a very pissed-off expression, but didn’t say anything. The barber, on the other hand, gave Dad a blank look. It was obvious to him that neither one actually got the joke, so he attempted to explain it to her.

“What is the Fourth of July?” Dad asked.

“Independence Day,” the barber replied.

“And who did you win independence from?” Dad asked again.

“Mexico,” the barber replied.

Dad didn’t say how he reacted, but the look of horror on my face and Mom’s face pretty much said it all. I’m actually glad I wasn’t there, really, because my response would likely not have been very polite. *sigh* It’s times like that where my faith in humanity, small as it is, dies a little more…

So, tomorrow is the Fourth of July (otherwise known in this house of Brits as Thanksgiving), and as a result I get a three day weekend. Whether or not I’ll actually get to spend much time relaxing tomorrow is open to debate, considering the fact that our Mexico and Canada locations at work will NOT have the day off, and knowing them they’ll be contacting us with support issues. Ah, well… truth be told, other than a bit of a personnel shakeup at work, it’s been relatively quiet this week. Let’s just hope it stays that way through the rest of the weekend. I could use the rest. :-)

I have to admit, though, that the highlight for me of the past week or so has been trying the Melting Pot, after hearing Jesse rave about it for so long. Mom decided she wanted to go there for her birthday dinner, so Dad and I went ahead and indulged her. So, what was our verdict, you may ask? Well… if we go back, we’ll do the cheese and chocolate fondue thing only. We won’t do the full experience; if I ever go with Jesse and Rob I’ll skip the entree. We loved the cheese fondue part and we loved the chocolate fondue part. However… having to cook our own meat at the table? No. My idea of a good meal is not looking at my cell phone’s clock to see when I should be removing my skewers from the pot and hope the meat is sufficiently cooked. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t regret going. It was a learning experience… and I learned the full experience isn’t my cup of tea. :-)

Ah, well… it’s getting late, and I need to catch up on sleep. I plan on doing a lot of that this weekend, to make up for lost sleep this last week. So, off to bed I go… :-)