Wasted days

Once again it’s Monday and I’m faced with a significant number of days off.
The number in question this time, though, is even more significant, as I’m taking vacation this coming weekend.
I’m not actually going anywhere, and I don’t have any plans, I just needed to burn some of my accumulated vacation time, as only 40 hours will carry over into the next year.
So here I am with even more time on my hands than usual and nothing in particular to do with the time.
Last night on the way home from work I stopped to eat at the Outback with Brian and Kathleen.
While we were at work Kathleen, Scott, and I had been discussing the various methods that men use to talk their significant others into giving them the go-ahead to make major purchases. I had mentioned that my approach, when such a thing had been a necessity in my life, was to engage in a gradual and methodical campaign of persuasion, and that if I’d had it available to me back then I would have been likely to put together a Power Point presentation.
Everyone got a laugh about that, but we got an even bigger laugh later on when Brian actually made a Power Point presentation explaining to Kathleen why they should go to Outback for dinner.
Because it was funny, Kathleen had no choice but to give in, and everyone else was asked to join in, but I ended up being the only one to take them up on it.
While I was there I noticed that there were several cute waitresses and a very attractive young woman whom I guess would be the “hostess” or something along those lines.
Of course, we were actually waited on by a guy. That invariably happens to me at any business; there can be dozens of hot female employees and I’ll end up having to interact with the one guy working there.
Still, there was one thing that was even more depressing than that.
There was a teenaged girl sitting at one of the other tables. She was 16, maybe 17 at the most. Being human, and more specifically, a human male, I can’t help but notice if someone is attractive, even if she happens to be a teenager.
What keeps me from being a total creep is the fact that I don’t do anything about noticing.
In this case, though, that’s all entirely irrelevant as the fact of the matter was that I was actually checking out her mom.
As few as five years ago I doubt that would have been the case. Still, considering that I was undoubtedly much closer to the mother’s age than the daughter’s, it only makes sense.
But that doesn’t keep it from being depressing.
If I have to be old, I want to be a dirty old man, dammit!
*Sigh*
Today was rather uneventful.
I got up, called my mom, took a nap, got up again.
I continue to have difficulties burning DVDs, but discovered that I can successfully burn them if I use a rewritable. It figures that the only real solution to the problem I have is to buy something more expensive…
I typically don’t cook on Mondays, and today was no exception.
A new restaurant opened in town recently and they had sent out a coupon for 10% off and a free appetizer, so I walked over to check it out.
The food (sort of general “Asian” cuisine) was very good, but since it is a new restaurant, and I went there a little on the early side, there was no one else there, so the owners and staff were kind of hovering.
But as I said, the food was good. I doubt that I’ll head back there anytime soon, though, simply because I so seldom go out to eat. The only reason I went today was the coupon (which had to be used by Wednesday), and the new-ness.
In any case, I need to try to figure out exactly how I’m going to spend my remaining days off. I’m certain that there will plenty of progress reports here…