NW Missouri State: 33
Bloomberg (PA): 3
Back to the playoffs again .... but against whom?
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
I Cannot Tell a Lie ... I'm a Bearcat Fan
It's football playoff time in Maryville; the Bearcats are one game away from playing for the Division II national championship, and to show off their pride for the upcoming game, someone on the second floor of the Admin building outside the Admissions Office has decorated the statue of Abe Lincoln with some Bearcat wear.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
The New Honda, Well ... Fits
Just got back from St. Joseph, MO this evening; after we had dropped the rental off, we went over to the Honda dealer to chat with them about the Honda Fit they had on their lot as of Dec. 1 (we had started talking to the dealer by e-mail after we got back from KC). After negotiating through the maze of acquiring financing, discussing warrenty and add-ons, and such, we drove home with it.
On the plus side, we managed to get a new car with a slightly lower monthly payment than I was paying for my Accord, so I was happy. By and large, it's a nice car for a compact; in size, handling, and zippy-ness, it does remind me of the Honda Civic or the Accord hatchback (which I used to own as well), and it has plenty of cargo room. I also think I'll like the car's gas mileage; on the way back, I think we got almost 38-40 miles per gallon ... much improved over my old Accord, and certainly better in this day and age of high gas prices.
The Fit at the Dealer
On the plus side, we managed to get a new car with a slightly lower monthly payment than I was paying for my Accord, so I was happy. By and large, it's a nice car for a compact; in size, handling, and zippy-ness, it does remind me of the Honda Civic or the Accord hatchback (which I used to own as well), and it has plenty of cargo room. I also think I'll like the car's gas mileage; on the way back, I think we got almost 38-40 miles per gallon ... much improved over my old Accord, and certainly better in this day and age of high gas prices.
The Fit at the Dealer
Friday, December 01, 2006
Symmetry and Convergence
To continue from yesterday's post, I spent most of Wednesday afternoon waiting at the towing company in Kansas City so I could remove the plates and remaining personal belongings from my car. It was ironically appropriate that the final resting place for my Honda was the interior of the former Leeds GM auto plant off Stadium Road, and I came there driving a Chevy, the rental provided by Enterprise.
Built in 1928, the Leeds plant was stripped years ago of its machinery, but you can still tell where the equipment once had been ... swing tracks for assembly hangers, the long, long enclosure for the assembly line, the paint rooms and sub-assembly rooms separated by rolling chain link gates, and the equally long finish out line leading to the holding yard and rail sidings, where Union Pacific stores several older passenger cars and locomotives.
Inside, I drove through the long, long cavern that once held a bustling assembly line until approximately 1998, the year before my car was even built. Empty bays still sit where the production line itself must have run, and not too far from the finish out line, I found myself chatting about previously owned Hondas with the owner of the storage space while taking the back license plate off the fender piece ... this piece I could now carry with two hands, as it was no longer attached to the car.
I finished pulling items out, and by this time, the weather that I'd hoped to avoid was worsening ... the winter storm that KC was slated to get had started to move in, and by that time, I knew I was going to have to spend the night in KC ... fortunately, the owner of the storage space, who knew I wasn't from the area, offered to lead me over to my friends' place safely.
Built in 1928, the Leeds plant was stripped years ago of its machinery, but you can still tell where the equipment once had been ... swing tracks for assembly hangers, the long, long enclosure for the assembly line, the paint rooms and sub-assembly rooms separated by rolling chain link gates, and the equally long finish out line leading to the holding yard and rail sidings, where Union Pacific stores several older passenger cars and locomotives.
Inside, I drove through the long, long cavern that once held a bustling assembly line until approximately 1998, the year before my car was even built. Empty bays still sit where the production line itself must have run, and not too far from the finish out line, I found myself chatting about previously owned Hondas with the owner of the storage space while taking the back license plate off the fender piece ... this piece I could now carry with two hands, as it was no longer attached to the car.
I finished pulling items out, and by this time, the weather that I'd hoped to avoid was worsening ... the winter storm that KC was slated to get had started to move in, and by that time, I knew I was going to have to spend the night in KC ... fortunately, the owner of the storage space, who knew I wasn't from the area, offered to lead me over to my friends' place safely.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Waiting
It's about 12:48 in Kansas City, MO. Following my job interview this morning, I'm waiting for the partner of the towing service to get here from Blue Springs, so we can retrieve the plates and remaining personal belongings from my (now former) car ... former after State Farm took possession of it following the wreck and we reached a settlement.
After I get home, we'll continue car shopping. I've had good luck with car purchases so far ... I'm hoping that it still holds true.
I'm probably being a bit maudulin about the whole thing. Cars come, cars go, right?
Monday, November 27, 2006
Post-Wreck
By 2:00, we were at Larcoms, extricating our luggage from the remains of the trunk, and being very thankful that we and the other driver/passenger were fine. Our seatbelts did their job and kept us healthy (I only had front airbags, and they didn't deploy), and the other driver's airbags kept them safe. We ended up with some muscle strains and bruses, and we'll probably go have a doc check us out to be sure we're okay.
Shortly thereafter, we hooked up with the rest of our family (they had been coming back to KC from Pittsburg, and they were about a half-hour out of KC at the time of the accident), and later, after filing the claim with our carrier (both I and the other driver had been on State Farm), and discovering that airport car rental locations (at least for Enterprise) don't do insurance replacement rentals, we went down to the Plaza in KC to see the lights.
Fortunately, on Sunday, following breakfast with Teresa and Cindy, we made it to an open Enterprise location, rented an SUV (which State Farm will pay for most of), loaded our things, and made it home to Maryville in good time.
In one sense, I'm very grateful, and thank God, because it could have been worse. We could have been directly broadsided, and we could have needed extricating with power tools. There could have been serious injuries on either side, but there weren't. Now all that's left is for State Farm to process the claim and then use that money to pay off the car loan: I notified the loan company this morning, and oy, THAT was a fun experience. The CSR went quiet after I told her that the car would likely be totalled out, and when she asked if I needed anything else, I said wryly with a short laugh: "Yeah, I might need some help with financing for a new car once I pay the rest of the loan off."
So we'll see about buying another car ... it's going to be a bit dicey since I'm still unemployed, but I'm hoping that God will, as always, take care of us in this instance. We really could use a break financially.
I'm going to miss my Honda, too. I only had it for three years, but it did what it was supposed to at the end: keep us safe.
Shortly thereafter, we hooked up with the rest of our family (they had been coming back to KC from Pittsburg, and they were about a half-hour out of KC at the time of the accident), and later, after filing the claim with our carrier (both I and the other driver had been on State Farm), and discovering that airport car rental locations (at least for Enterprise) don't do insurance replacement rentals, we went down to the Plaza in KC to see the lights.
Fortunately, on Sunday, following breakfast with Teresa and Cindy, we made it to an open Enterprise location, rented an SUV (which State Farm will pay for most of), loaded our things, and made it home to Maryville in good time.
In one sense, I'm very grateful, and thank God, because it could have been worse. We could have been directly broadsided, and we could have needed extricating with power tools. There could have been serious injuries on either side, but there weren't. Now all that's left is for State Farm to process the claim and then use that money to pay off the car loan: I notified the loan company this morning, and oy, THAT was a fun experience. The CSR went quiet after I told her that the car would likely be totalled out, and when she asked if I needed anything else, I said wryly with a short laugh: "Yeah, I might need some help with financing for a new car once I pay the rest of the loan off."
So we'll see about buying another car ... it's going to be a bit dicey since I'm still unemployed, but I'm hoping that God will, as always, take care of us in this instance. We really could use a break financially.
I'm going to miss my Honda, too. I only had it for three years, but it did what it was supposed to at the end: keep us safe.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
More Things to Be Thankful For: Dodge Ram 1, Honda Accord 0
We spent this weekend in Kansas City to meet up with family and friends, and during the weekend, we discovered how thankful (and fortunate) Lauren and I are.
We'd spent yesterday afternoon at City Market in KC for lunch and browse shopping. We'd hoped to get on the road by 1:00, to make it over to the Larcoms (Teresa and Cindy), where we were going to meet my family and they could meet Lauren.
At about 1:30, we had stopped at the intersection of 59th and Ward Parkway, about to cross Ward Parkway. We had a green light, and we had just pulled out into the intersection when we were partially broadsided (driver's side) by another out of town driver who went through the intersection with his pickup, hitting our left side and rear.
The resulting impact spun the car around so that we ended up against the opposite corner curb, with the left quarter panel and most of the trunk crumpled in and fiberglass and shattered auto glass flying. Shaken and a little sore from seatbelt strain, we climbed out of the car. I had to exit out of the passenger side because the impact had buckled the quarter panel into the driver's side door.
It was one of those cases where the wreck itself was pretty unavoidable; we didn't see the vehicle coming because our line of sight was blocked off by the vehicle in the right lane ... although I do recall trying to crank the wheel at the last moment to avoid the worst of the accident, which in retrospect might have saved us from a worse fate.
After making sure that Lauren was okay, I reached back inside, shutting the engine off. I started to collect items that had fallen to the floorboard, realizing belatedly that the claims adjuster would probably factor in the car's age, the shredded quarter panel and trunk, the broken rear windshield and glass, the buckled left axle (the left rear wheel was pushed in), and the (probable) frame warping, and total the car. Then I looked over at the other driver's pickup: some left fender and bumper damage, and popped airbags ... about $1,000 in body work, and a few hundred more for refilling and resetting the airbags, and he'll be back on the road again.
Fortunately, KCMO police and fire (and two tow trucks) responded immediately, and short of sweeping up the broken auto glass and parts, all that was left was exchanging drivers info and plate and insurance information. The officer (who did an incredible job of keeping things orderly), made sure everyone was okay, and, after talking with the witnesses to the wreck as well as both parties, we found out what had happened:
The other driver was from out of town, and he had gotten distracted because shortly past the intersection the road narrowed down to one lane because of road work. We think that he got tunnel vision about the merge, and for all we know, may have dodged into the left lane to try to get around the cars ahead before the lanes merged. (We base that assumption on the skid marks, which ran to 3-4 car lengths going into the intersection). He also might have panicked, suddenly realizing that a)he was at an intersection, b) didn't see the red light (or maybe he saw it but he was too late to stop at that point), and c) that there was a car in the intersection.
The officer cited him for failure to yield. He finally admitted that it was his fault to the officer, but only after two witnesses first told her that he had run the light. He'll likely have a court date down in KC in the future, and his insurance rates will likely climb.
Lauren and I agreed that it was very stupid driving on his part.
We'd spent yesterday afternoon at City Market in KC for lunch and browse shopping. We'd hoped to get on the road by 1:00, to make it over to the Larcoms (Teresa and Cindy), where we were going to meet my family and they could meet Lauren.
At about 1:30, we had stopped at the intersection of 59th and Ward Parkway, about to cross Ward Parkway. We had a green light, and we had just pulled out into the intersection when we were partially broadsided (driver's side) by another out of town driver who went through the intersection with his pickup, hitting our left side and rear.
The resulting impact spun the car around so that we ended up against the opposite corner curb, with the left quarter panel and most of the trunk crumpled in and fiberglass and shattered auto glass flying. Shaken and a little sore from seatbelt strain, we climbed out of the car. I had to exit out of the passenger side because the impact had buckled the quarter panel into the driver's side door.
It was one of those cases where the wreck itself was pretty unavoidable; we didn't see the vehicle coming because our line of sight was blocked off by the vehicle in the right lane ... although I do recall trying to crank the wheel at the last moment to avoid the worst of the accident, which in retrospect might have saved us from a worse fate.
After making sure that Lauren was okay, I reached back inside, shutting the engine off. I started to collect items that had fallen to the floorboard, realizing belatedly that the claims adjuster would probably factor in the car's age, the shredded quarter panel and trunk, the broken rear windshield and glass, the buckled left axle (the left rear wheel was pushed in), and the (probable) frame warping, and total the car. Then I looked over at the other driver's pickup: some left fender and bumper damage, and popped airbags ... about $1,000 in body work, and a few hundred more for refilling and resetting the airbags, and he'll be back on the road again.
Fortunately, KCMO police and fire (and two tow trucks) responded immediately, and short of sweeping up the broken auto glass and parts, all that was left was exchanging drivers info and plate and insurance information. The officer (who did an incredible job of keeping things orderly), made sure everyone was okay, and, after talking with the witnesses to the wreck as well as both parties, we found out what had happened:
The other driver was from out of town, and he had gotten distracted because shortly past the intersection the road narrowed down to one lane because of road work. We think that he got tunnel vision about the merge, and for all we know, may have dodged into the left lane to try to get around the cars ahead before the lanes merged. (We base that assumption on the skid marks, which ran to 3-4 car lengths going into the intersection). He also might have panicked, suddenly realizing that a)he was at an intersection, b) didn't see the red light (or maybe he saw it but he was too late to stop at that point), and c) that there was a car in the intersection.
The officer cited him for failure to yield. He finally admitted that it was his fault to the officer, but only after two witnesses first told her that he had run the light. He'll likely have a court date down in KC in the future, and his insurance rates will likely climb.
Lauren and I agreed that it was very stupid driving on his part.
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Gobble, Gobble, Gobble
"One of the best meals I've ever eaten" - Woodgie, commenting on Thanksgiving lunch/dinner, after sampling the roast turkey. That turned out very nice and juicy following the overnight brining, the spice rub, and the roasting on high heat, followed by further roasting at a lower temp with cheesecloth soaked with sage mead atop it to protect the skin the remainder of the way ... thank you, Alton Brown and an unnamed Food Network competition chef ... your input both made this a turkey to remember. It was a lot of effort, but it worked out very, very well.
The remainder of the dinner (ham, stuffing, etc.) was just as good, and after a morning of cooking and parade watching and playing with the kitties, we're settled in for our Thanksgiving nap.
Happy Thanksgiving! to all of our family and friends.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
The First Leon
The first Leon my family did face
was when Dad took some letters and moved them from place
When my mother found out, she exclaimed, "Dear John,
can you tell me why 'Noel' now proclaims 'Leon'?"
Leon, Leon, Leon, Leon
It's all the fault of a father named John.
From there, "sending the Leon" has become a family tradition in Woodgie's family ... it's taken different forms and come from different locations ... one year it was the form of block candles from Leon to Woodgie's mom. Last year, Woodgie's niece, Robyn, was the recipient of the Leon, with toy building blocks spelling Leon that were sent from - where else? - Leon, Iowa.
And that begins the tale of the family holiday season ... we don't know yet who will be the next recipient to carry on the Leon tradition, but we've got a couple of weeks to figure that one out.
We had been planning to turn on the Christmas lights and decorations after Thanksgiving ... however, after all of the next door neighbors turned their lights on this evening, we decided that we would do the same:
Angel Tree:
This is our "bird feeder" tree, which Lauren bought last summer at the closing sale at a thrift store which went out of business. When we were pulling out Christmas decorations, I discovered two packs of icicle lights from my stores. I didn't want to do icicle lights on the house, because that's been so overdone, so in a moment of inspired creativity, I looped the lights onto the bird tree ... imagine my surprise when we turned the lights on, as we were left with an abstract Christmas angel.
Front Porch: We're still working on the trim for this one, but it's your basic, dual-wreath setup.
When we were decorating the living room, two of our kitties (Opie and Stinky) decided to take possession of the garland.
Here's the garland after we reclaimed it from the kitties.
Here's our outdoor tree in all its glory.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Things to Be Thankful For
It's going to be an interesting week coming up, with Thanksgiving on Thursday with one of Woodgie's friends coming up from KC, and then perhaps on Saturday, a chance to see half of my family, who are coming to Missouri to visit friends in KC.
With that for a theme ... here's our list of "things to be thankful for":
1. It looks like the gallbladder tests came out fine, and Woodgie is feeling much, much better than she was a week and a half ago, just in time for feasting on Thursday.
2. I have a screening phone interview for a position with a company in KC on Wednesday. No details yet, but I hope to have better news after this week.
3. After Sunday, we have 95 percent of both the Christmas shopping and Christmas decorating done as of this week ... the decorating will be 100 percent done this evening after finding some sticky hooks for the last piece of garland, and the Christmas shopping will be done after one or two more purchases, hopefully this next weekend.
4. Friday is the one year anniversary of the start of our relationship ... even though we "met" officially back in Spring of '05, we count Thanksgiving as the "official" date (yes, this year it falls on Black Friday ... don't read anything into that, please).
5. Family and friends - I haven't seen my family since New Years, 2004, due to conflicting holiday schedules, but I'll see part of them this weekend, and also thanks for the "extended family" at our church, as well as those friends at my former churches back in Des Moines, and for Lauren's friends (now our friends), too.
With that for a theme ... here's our list of "things to be thankful for":
1. It looks like the gallbladder tests came out fine, and Woodgie is feeling much, much better than she was a week and a half ago, just in time for feasting on Thursday.
2. I have a screening phone interview for a position with a company in KC on Wednesday. No details yet, but I hope to have better news after this week.
3. After Sunday, we have 95 percent of both the Christmas shopping and Christmas decorating done as of this week ... the decorating will be 100 percent done this evening after finding some sticky hooks for the last piece of garland, and the Christmas shopping will be done after one or two more purchases, hopefully this next weekend.
4. Friday is the one year anniversary of the start of our relationship ... even though we "met" officially back in Spring of '05, we count Thanksgiving as the "official" date (yes, this year it falls on Black Friday ... don't read anything into that, please).
5. Family and friends - I haven't seen my family since New Years, 2004, due to conflicting holiday schedules, but I'll see part of them this weekend, and also thanks for the "extended family" at our church, as well as those friends at my former churches back in Des Moines, and for Lauren's friends (now our friends), too.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Secret Santa
This morning, Woodgie sent me a link to a story in the KC paper. I must admit, being unemployed and going into the holidays has left me feeling a little blue, but reading this story left me feeling a bit more thankful for what I do have ... and grateful that there are still people like him still around:
Secret Santa Revealed
Secret Santa Revealed
The Thanksgiving Menu
After watching last night's Food Network extravaganza on Thanksgiving (Emeril Live, Good Eats, and a Thanksgiving meal competition), our menu plans for Turkey Day have been finalized:
1. Roast turkey breast (of course) - only we're pulling out all the stops - brine soaking it the evening before, followed by a traditional spice rub and then roasting ... one of the competitors last night did a nice technique we're going to adapt: covering the meat with a wine soaked cheesecloth to keep the meat moist as it roasts. We're going to try that, using either a sage-honey mead (if we can find any in Woodgie's remaining homemade stock, that is), or a cranberry wine that her dad made last year.
2. Ham - we almost didn't include this on the menu. Woodgie has some nasty allergies to nitrates and normally, she can't eat ham because of the curing. Fortunately, a packing company out of Iowa named Beelers has started producing a very nice set of uncured products (sausage, weiners, bacon, brats), and now they've finally put out an uncured ham chub at a decent price. We'll probably do a typical glaze - brown sugar (probably a Splenda blend), cloves, prepared mustard, and perhaps a little honey.
3. Cranberry relish - Woodgie has a nice recipe for this we're going to try.
4. Multi-grain stuffing, with pecans, golden raisins, and apple juice - I started making this about six years ago when the recipe first appeared on the Butterball website, and it has a very nutty texture that holds up very well to gravy ... it helps that it's the only stuffing that Woodgie likes, as she normally doesn't like stuffing.
5. Mixed greens salad, with almonds and dried cranberries, topped with a balsamic vinagrette.
6. Green beans with almonds, mushrooms, and a small handful of Beeler's uncured bacon, for taste.
7. Roasted and seasoned red potatoes - after weighing everything, we decided that we'd forego the mashed potatoes this year in favor of roasted/seasoned ... while they are a usual staple of the Thanksgiving table, mashed potatoes are a bit hard on the calorie count.
8. Turkey gravy (our one concession to pre-packaged), using a brand called Simply Organic. We sampled some at the local Hy-Vee, and it was very, very good, as well as being low-fat.
Finally for dessert, we'll be trying out a sweet potato flan recipe that we first sampled at Friday Night Cafe several weeks ago.
After we'd hashed out the menu, Woodgie did point out that we were making a large amount of food, but I noted that we could count on having leftovers, also a Thanksgiving tradition.
1. Roast turkey breast (of course) - only we're pulling out all the stops - brine soaking it the evening before, followed by a traditional spice rub and then roasting ... one of the competitors last night did a nice technique we're going to adapt: covering the meat with a wine soaked cheesecloth to keep the meat moist as it roasts. We're going to try that, using either a sage-honey mead (if we can find any in Woodgie's remaining homemade stock, that is), or a cranberry wine that her dad made last year.
2. Ham - we almost didn't include this on the menu. Woodgie has some nasty allergies to nitrates and normally, she can't eat ham because of the curing. Fortunately, a packing company out of Iowa named Beelers has started producing a very nice set of uncured products (sausage, weiners, bacon, brats), and now they've finally put out an uncured ham chub at a decent price. We'll probably do a typical glaze - brown sugar (probably a Splenda blend), cloves, prepared mustard, and perhaps a little honey.
3. Cranberry relish - Woodgie has a nice recipe for this we're going to try.
4. Multi-grain stuffing, with pecans, golden raisins, and apple juice - I started making this about six years ago when the recipe first appeared on the Butterball website, and it has a very nutty texture that holds up very well to gravy ... it helps that it's the only stuffing that Woodgie likes, as she normally doesn't like stuffing.
5. Mixed greens salad, with almonds and dried cranberries, topped with a balsamic vinagrette.
6. Green beans with almonds, mushrooms, and a small handful of Beeler's uncured bacon, for taste.
7. Roasted and seasoned red potatoes - after weighing everything, we decided that we'd forego the mashed potatoes this year in favor of roasted/seasoned ... while they are a usual staple of the Thanksgiving table, mashed potatoes are a bit hard on the calorie count.
8. Turkey gravy (our one concession to pre-packaged), using a brand called Simply Organic. We sampled some at the local Hy-Vee, and it was very, very good, as well as being low-fat.
Finally for dessert, we'll be trying out a sweet potato flan recipe that we first sampled at Friday Night Cafe several weeks ago.
After we'd hashed out the menu, Woodgie did point out that we were making a large amount of food, but I noted that we could count on having leftovers, also a Thanksgiving tradition.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Something New For the Blog
For the techie minded among our readers, I'm including something new for the blog. Below the "I Power Blogger" logo, I've included the capability to add this blog to your RSS (syndicated) feed-reader, and included add links for My Yahoo and also a generic RSS 2.0 feed.
What this means for non-techies is this: if you wanted a quick way to see if there were new postings, you can use an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed reader such as the one in My Yahoo or Google (or any RSS reader application) to set up a feed for the blog.
After you subscribe (by clicking on the RSS or My Yahoo icons), the next time there is a new entry, you'll see a link to it in your feed reader, courtesy of the Feedburner service.
Quite nifty, eh? The kitty chorus (Kitty, Opie, and Stinky), all give it six paws up ;-).
What this means for non-techies is this: if you wanted a quick way to see if there were new postings, you can use an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed reader such as the one in My Yahoo or Google (or any RSS reader application) to set up a feed for the blog.
After you subscribe (by clicking on the RSS or My Yahoo icons), the next time there is a new entry, you'll see a link to it in your feed reader, courtesy of the Feedburner service.
Quite nifty, eh? The kitty chorus (Kitty, Opie, and Stinky), all give it six paws up ;-).
Where No Man Has Gone Before ...
Today was quite interesting ... after church, Cheshirewoodgie wanted to go down to the bridal fair at the community center ... I suspected that I'd be the only guy there. As it turns out, I was one of three ... however, the other two had booths for services (DJ'ing and tuxes). I was the only one there who was a potential customer.
It was rather funny ... based on a comment in the Indiebride boards, Woodgie noted that this would be an excursion to see the local "marital-industrial complex". Come to think of it, since
the community center and local National Guard armory share the same space in town, it was a convergence of both the "marital-industrial complex" and "military-industrial complex" as well.
First impressions for guys:
1. Bridal fairs do serve lots of samples ... wedding cake, wedding cupcakes, and chocolate, especially. This is a good thing; it helps to keep you going when you realize how much you could, in theory, spend on your wedding.
2. Wedding photographers, as a constant, are expensive ... when you realize that the prizes they are offering are discounts to make their wedding photo packages more affordable, you realize how expensive they are to hire.
3. In some ways, it's rather like a home show, only different.
4. Even though you liked the scent of the Mary Kay after-shave lotion, don't admit this until you are out of earshot of the consultant.
It was rather funny ... based on a comment in the Indiebride boards, Woodgie noted that this would be an excursion to see the local "marital-industrial complex". Come to think of it, since
the community center and local National Guard armory share the same space in town, it was a convergence of both the "marital-industrial complex" and "military-industrial complex" as well.
First impressions for guys:
1. Bridal fairs do serve lots of samples ... wedding cake, wedding cupcakes, and chocolate, especially. This is a good thing; it helps to keep you going when you realize how much you could, in theory, spend on your wedding.
2. Wedding photographers, as a constant, are expensive ... when you realize that the prizes they are offering are discounts to make their wedding photo packages more affordable, you realize how expensive they are to hire.
3. In some ways, it's rather like a home show, only different.
4. Even though you liked the scent of the Mary Kay after-shave lotion, don't admit this until you are out of earshot of the consultant.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Mid-Week
Another day here at Chez Richard and Lauren, where we're both recovering from staying up to 1:00 to watch election results ... tomorrow will be a rest and recuperation day; Cheshirewoodgie goes to the docs tomorrow for medical tests (gallbladder function), and some dental work after that, so tomorrow will be a day of caretaking, since the test in question involves no eating prior to the test and leaves her a little woozy afterward.
Earlier this year, we'd thought about going down to Arrowhead Stadium to tailgate and watch our respective schools (Pitt State and Northwest) play, but we held off ... as much as I'm a Pitt alumni, I thought they had a slim chance against the Bearcats last weekend, which turned to none after listening to the first five minutes of the game ... it hurts to hear your alma mater get pasted on the field.
Cheshirewoodgie says there's an easy cure for that ... just become a Bearcat fan ;-).
We did have some good news ... in an earlier post, I'd mentioned that we were going through the required pastoral pre-marriage counseling and getting ready to petition the diocese bishop for approval to be married in the church. Thankfully, we got word that the bishop had approved us ... yay! Now we can start more detail planning (or at least, start on those items we had to hold on until we knew for certain that we were approved for). Like sitting down with the organist and organizing musicians. And working up a service order. And selecting readings. And writing vows. That sort of thing ....
Earlier this year, we'd thought about going down to Arrowhead Stadium to tailgate and watch our respective schools (Pitt State and Northwest) play, but we held off ... as much as I'm a Pitt alumni, I thought they had a slim chance against the Bearcats last weekend, which turned to none after listening to the first five minutes of the game ... it hurts to hear your alma mater get pasted on the field.
Cheshirewoodgie says there's an easy cure for that ... just become a Bearcat fan ;-).
We did have some good news ... in an earlier post, I'd mentioned that we were going through the required pastoral pre-marriage counseling and getting ready to petition the diocese bishop for approval to be married in the church. Thankfully, we got word that the bishop had approved us ... yay! Now we can start more detail planning (or at least, start on those items we had to hold on until we knew for certain that we were approved for). Like sitting down with the organist and organizing musicians. And working up a service order. And selecting readings. And writing vows. That sort of thing ....
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Gearing Up for the Holidays
How hard is it to buy a Christmas tree? Given we have 3 cats, one of which has a rapidly-developing vertical jump, we had to ask ourselves that question earlier in the week ... especially since the youngest, Stinkerbelle, has a well-documented tendency to go after ornaments, tinsel, or Christmas lights. Never having had pets, I've never had to worry about keeping the bright shiny things away from the kitties, but this year, we had to strategize tree placement and decorating. It looks like we'll be doing a small tree in the living room (placed high enough so Stinky can see the tree but not destroy it), and a slightly larger tree in the bedroom, with a door/porch wreath, an outdoor (wire frame) tree, and also some lighting on the bird feeder tree (also a wire frame tree). We also hope (if Brookstone can ship them before Thanksgiving) to also have some decorative candles (electric and cat-safe, of course), for the windows.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Celebrating Homecoming ... By Staying at Home
This weekend at Chez Lauren and Richard was pretty quiet ... Friday was Walkout Day, a pre-Homecoming tradition at Northwest where the school closes down the day before Homecoming weekend. I was a little tired from the day before; the weather cleared off enough mid-week to let me take care of some to-do list items: weed whacking around the house, edging and mulching the rose garden, edging and re-mulching the rock garden, and edging and mulching the garden strip at the front of the house, but she wanted to do something productive on the day off, so Lauren and I spent most of Friday rehabbing the bedroom closet.
"Rehabbing" meant taking out the existing hangar bar, sorting winter/summer clothes to send downstairs, selecting older clothes to put out on Freecycle, and putting in a new double hangar bar with shelving on either side. After nine hours straight, we had a much better organized closet. We're saving reorganizing the office/storage closet of chaos for another week.
Homecoming itself we took a pass on, because we weren't able to get tickets to the game. Just as well ... it was wet, cold, and miserable, so instead, we spent the weekend at a slower place: some cooking of comfort food (Lauren's patented chicken noodle soup) on Saturday evening, followed by a crafts project for Lauren (repairing a keepsake box made by her parents).
On Sunday, we walked to church despite the cold weather (and ultimately, halfway into the walk and again after church, through light snowflakes). This evening was our next to last "pre-letter" meeting with our minister before he submits the letter to the diocese bishop asking for permission to marry Lauren and myself, and now, I'm in the living room, updating the blog with Opie on my lap while Lauren grades student assignments.
"Rehabbing" meant taking out the existing hangar bar, sorting winter/summer clothes to send downstairs, selecting older clothes to put out on Freecycle, and putting in a new double hangar bar with shelving on either side. After nine hours straight, we had a much better organized closet. We're saving reorganizing the office/storage closet of chaos for another week.
Homecoming itself we took a pass on, because we weren't able to get tickets to the game. Just as well ... it was wet, cold, and miserable, so instead, we spent the weekend at a slower place: some cooking of comfort food (Lauren's patented chicken noodle soup) on Saturday evening, followed by a crafts project for Lauren (repairing a keepsake box made by her parents).
On Sunday, we walked to church despite the cold weather (and ultimately, halfway into the walk and again after church, through light snowflakes). This evening was our next to last "pre-letter" meeting with our minister before he submits the letter to the diocese bishop asking for permission to marry Lauren and myself, and now, I'm in the living room, updating the blog with Opie on my lap while Lauren grades student assignments.
Friday, October 13, 2006
One Ring to Rule Them All ....
One more step toward marriage: Lauren and I chose our rings this week ... after sorting through a few designs, we settled on this one.
We wanted something stylish, but not too extravagant, and settled on a titanium design (very light and hypoallergenic), that nicely complemented the Claddagh rings we chose for our engagement.
When it came to choosing an inscription, we were making the usual Lord of the Rings jokes about the "One Ring to rule them all ...", and it took a bit of thought to come up with an appropriate engraving other than that. Since the two of us are both fans of mystic poet Jalal-Uddin Rumi, we arrived at this:
"Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along."
Of course, we'll probably continue to joke that in order to read the inscription properly, you'll have to throw the rings into a fire ....
We wanted something stylish, but not too extravagant, and settled on a titanium design (very light and hypoallergenic), that nicely complemented the Claddagh rings we chose for our engagement.
When it came to choosing an inscription, we were making the usual Lord of the Rings jokes about the "One Ring to rule them all ...", and it took a bit of thought to come up with an appropriate engraving other than that. Since the two of us are both fans of mystic poet Jalal-Uddin Rumi, we arrived at this:
"Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along."
Of course, we'll probably continue to joke that in order to read the inscription properly, you'll have to throw the rings into a fire ....
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Fine Dining in Maryville???
This week's been kinda slow ... for me that is, not for Lauren. It's mid-term season for her. Me, it's been quiet, apart from the usual fun with job hunting (still looking), wrestling with bureaucracy (towards filing for unemployment ... not what I wanted to be doing at this point in my life but the right job hasn't shown up yet). In the meantime (and this is by no means filler ... okay, some of it is), after a trip to Des Moines to pick up the last load of items I'd left pre-move with a friend, I thought I'd reflect upon the change in dining opportunities.
When I first moved to Maryville, I was used to a variety of good, ethnic restaurants in Des Moines ... ADong downtown for Vietnamese, with its 137 menu options, succulent springrolls, and never-fail bowls of steaming, fragrant pho, for Thai-leaning Chinese Cafe Su (home of the best, biggest crab rangoon anywhere and the only place to find dim sum in Des Moines), Cookry for traditional African (the groundnut stew is a must, as well as the jerk chicken, and if you're there on a Saturday, you must try the fufu), Thai Flavors on 14th or Cool Basil for excellent Pad Thai, and the Des Moines Art Center restaurant on weekends and First Fridays for the monthly-changing "surprise me" and excellent desserts, among other restaurants I haven't named yet. When I moved to Maryville, I was wondering if I was downgrading that area of my life. Although there aren't as many restaurants here as in Des Moines, there are a couple of notable places (and some I haven't tried yet), ranging from upscale ethnic, to BBQ, to authentic truck-stop cafe, so it's been pretty good so far.
I should point out that apparently, the best non-commercial ethnic offering in town is sponsored by the college's FACS department (yes, I know, this is a shameless plug for something my fiancee's department sponsors ...). Starting this Friday, my fiancee's department hosts a series of ethnic meals on Friday evenings called Friday Night Cafe. While I have yet to experience it, she assures me that I won't be disappointed, and we do have tickets. (Okay, end of shameless plug.)
Otherwise, for commercial ethnic, we have several different choices. For Greek, Italian, and otherwise fine dining, there's A&G next to downtown. It's nicely appointed, with outdoor patio and bar, and it's most notable for Friday night Greek nights, as well as some nicely done entrees. In particular, the rack of lamb is exquisite, but a little steep at $22.00 per person, which is why it's best done for special occasions or split between 2 people. For Greek, they serve a full range of Greek specialties (gyros, souvlakia, mousska, spanikopita, souvalaki, roasted chicken, accompanied by pita, salad, and rice pilaf, etc.). On average, prices range from $5-10 dollars for lunch menu items, to $17-22 for dinner entrees.
http://www.a-g-bar-grill.com/
The salads include some unusual ones, including a pecan crusted, blue cheese chicken, as well as the usual Cobb and chef varieties. The entrees range from upscale bar-grill items through nice entrees, with restaurant burgers, chops, steaks, sandwiches, pasta entrees, and a wonderful lunch menu (lighter pasta entrees, some of the chop and steak options from dinner, twice-baked potatoes, a Greek sampler plate if you're eating there other than Friday night, and wraps). The lower-priced lunch menu includes soup and salad combos, a reasonably priced quesadilla with dipping sauces, and even liver and onions (yeah, I know, it's sick, but I like liver and onions).
They also do a spa menu with some lighter pastas and salads, including a honey-balsamic glazed salmon and spinach combination, and most of the entrees are accompanied by A&G's home-baked bread and honey-butter ... one loaf of that, and you're almost full already.
Their desserts are also well-done, including a tiramisu that's slightly more frozen/chiled than the average, a wonderfully done bread pudding (Lauren's favorite), which for a little extra can be served flaming (soaked with Barcardi 151 rum), and a newly introduced frozen lemon custard/cake that also does well. However, my favorite dessert there is a baked apple pastry (baked apple wrapped with pastry, dusted with cinnamon, and served with ice cream and whipped cream).
For Chinese, we have a few options here ... The Mandarin (American Chinese, nothing fancy, and Happy Garden, which again is fast-food Chinese). The other alternative for Chinese here, strangely enough, is the local Hy-Vee supermarket. Surprisingly, they do put out a good product ... again, nothing fancy, but not bad, either.
The other ethnic alternative is Mexican: La Bonita and a new place which will replace the former Julios (which was closed due to alleged undocumented illegal alien staffing problems).
The remainder of Maryville's restaurants can be broken down into the following categories:
1)Sports Bars and Grills
For the most part, this is taken up by JWs, the revamped former Bobcat Grill on campus, and Carsons, a newly opened sports grill downtown.
In the Student Union at the college, JW's is basically a sports bar with free trivia machines and games, but without the alcohol (since Northwest is a dry campus). They serve a pretty decent (and decently priced) range of burgers, entrees, soups, and salads. Lauren puts a vote in for the buffalo chicken salad, while I've found that they do a mean BBQ beef sandwich on Texas toast. We both agree that their best offering is a homemade kettle-fried potato chip that is worth indulging in once in awhile (otherwise, it would be detrimental to our health). JWs is mainly used by students and faculty, but anyone can eat there.
The other, recently opened sports bar is Carsons ... we haven't eaten there yet, but once we do, we'll let you know how it was.
2)The aforementioned BBQs ... Bubbas BBQ and Fixins, Pink Floyd (catering, but they sometimes do parking lot sales) and Hey Vern (also parking lot sales). Lauren has mentioned Bubbas before. It's owned by a local American Royal competitor who has won several times there ... if you want large portions, incredibly large pulled meat BBQ sandwiches with an incredible dry-rub (that should not be profaned with sauce, according to Bubba), and award-winning bacon/cheddar/onion smashed potatoes, Bubbas is where to go (although it's now only open on Wednesday-Sunday, probably due to BBQ competition season). Pink Floyd and Hey Vern, I haven't had yet, so I'll have to reserve an opinion on them for later, too.
3)Fast food and family food chains - Subway, Pizza Hut, KFC, Sonic, Applebees, McDonalds, Hardees. Been there, done that before. Enough said about them.
4)Truck-stop cafes - Gray's. Outside of town on Highway 71, Gray's is your typical truck-stop cafe ... inexpensive burgers, breakfasts, weeknight specials, and daily desserts. Not bad.
5)Coffeeshops - right now, we only have two, Main Street Coffee, a small coffeeshop located next to the fitness center on Main, and a small one embedded in a local used antique/bookstore. We used to have a third, but it went out of business. We have heard rumors that a Starbucks may be coming into town (part of that 22,000 new stores they have planned), but so far, that's just a rumor. A St. Joe based coffeeshop may also expand here, but that's also a rumor as well.
I should point out that most of our eating out usually takes place at the local Hy-Vee salad bar, inexpensive and good for our diets, or else we grill out or stay in and cook ... speaking of which, I need to dig out that lamb curry recipe I promised to make Lauren this weekend ....
When I first moved to Maryville, I was used to a variety of good, ethnic restaurants in Des Moines ... ADong downtown for Vietnamese, with its 137 menu options, succulent springrolls, and never-fail bowls of steaming, fragrant pho, for Thai-leaning Chinese Cafe Su (home of the best, biggest crab rangoon anywhere and the only place to find dim sum in Des Moines), Cookry for traditional African (the groundnut stew is a must, as well as the jerk chicken, and if you're there on a Saturday, you must try the fufu), Thai Flavors on 14th or Cool Basil for excellent Pad Thai, and the Des Moines Art Center restaurant on weekends and First Fridays for the monthly-changing "surprise me" and excellent desserts, among other restaurants I haven't named yet. When I moved to Maryville, I was wondering if I was downgrading that area of my life. Although there aren't as many restaurants here as in Des Moines, there are a couple of notable places (and some I haven't tried yet), ranging from upscale ethnic, to BBQ, to authentic truck-stop cafe, so it's been pretty good so far.
I should point out that apparently, the best non-commercial ethnic offering in town is sponsored by the college's FACS department (yes, I know, this is a shameless plug for something my fiancee's department sponsors ...). Starting this Friday, my fiancee's department hosts a series of ethnic meals on Friday evenings called Friday Night Cafe. While I have yet to experience it, she assures me that I won't be disappointed, and we do have tickets. (Okay, end of shameless plug.)
Otherwise, for commercial ethnic, we have several different choices. For Greek, Italian, and otherwise fine dining, there's A&G next to downtown. It's nicely appointed, with outdoor patio and bar, and it's most notable for Friday night Greek nights, as well as some nicely done entrees. In particular, the rack of lamb is exquisite, but a little steep at $22.00 per person, which is why it's best done for special occasions or split between 2 people. For Greek, they serve a full range of Greek specialties (gyros, souvlakia, mousska, spanikopita, souvalaki, roasted chicken, accompanied by pita, salad, and rice pilaf, etc.). On average, prices range from $5-10 dollars for lunch menu items, to $17-22 for dinner entrees.
http://www.a-g-bar-grill.com/
The salads include some unusual ones, including a pecan crusted, blue cheese chicken, as well as the usual Cobb and chef varieties. The entrees range from upscale bar-grill items through nice entrees, with restaurant burgers, chops, steaks, sandwiches, pasta entrees, and a wonderful lunch menu (lighter pasta entrees, some of the chop and steak options from dinner, twice-baked potatoes, a Greek sampler plate if you're eating there other than Friday night, and wraps). The lower-priced lunch menu includes soup and salad combos, a reasonably priced quesadilla with dipping sauces, and even liver and onions (yeah, I know, it's sick, but I like liver and onions).
They also do a spa menu with some lighter pastas and salads, including a honey-balsamic glazed salmon and spinach combination, and most of the entrees are accompanied by A&G's home-baked bread and honey-butter ... one loaf of that, and you're almost full already.
Their desserts are also well-done, including a tiramisu that's slightly more frozen/chiled than the average, a wonderfully done bread pudding (Lauren's favorite), which for a little extra can be served flaming (soaked with Barcardi 151 rum), and a newly introduced frozen lemon custard/cake that also does well. However, my favorite dessert there is a baked apple pastry (baked apple wrapped with pastry, dusted with cinnamon, and served with ice cream and whipped cream).
For Chinese, we have a few options here ... The Mandarin (American Chinese, nothing fancy, and Happy Garden, which again is fast-food Chinese). The other alternative for Chinese here, strangely enough, is the local Hy-Vee supermarket. Surprisingly, they do put out a good product ... again, nothing fancy, but not bad, either.
The other ethnic alternative is Mexican: La Bonita and a new place which will replace the former Julios (which was closed due to alleged undocumented illegal alien staffing problems).
The remainder of Maryville's restaurants can be broken down into the following categories:
1)Sports Bars and Grills
For the most part, this is taken up by JWs, the revamped former Bobcat Grill on campus, and Carsons, a newly opened sports grill downtown.
In the Student Union at the college, JW's is basically a sports bar with free trivia machines and games, but without the alcohol (since Northwest is a dry campus). They serve a pretty decent (and decently priced) range of burgers, entrees, soups, and salads. Lauren puts a vote in for the buffalo chicken salad, while I've found that they do a mean BBQ beef sandwich on Texas toast. We both agree that their best offering is a homemade kettle-fried potato chip that is worth indulging in once in awhile (otherwise, it would be detrimental to our health). JWs is mainly used by students and faculty, but anyone can eat there.
The other, recently opened sports bar is Carsons ... we haven't eaten there yet, but once we do, we'll let you know how it was.
2)The aforementioned BBQs ... Bubbas BBQ and Fixins, Pink Floyd (catering, but they sometimes do parking lot sales) and Hey Vern (also parking lot sales). Lauren has mentioned Bubbas before. It's owned by a local American Royal competitor who has won several times there ... if you want large portions, incredibly large pulled meat BBQ sandwiches with an incredible dry-rub (that should not be profaned with sauce, according to Bubba), and award-winning bacon/cheddar/onion smashed potatoes, Bubbas is where to go (although it's now only open on Wednesday-Sunday, probably due to BBQ competition season). Pink Floyd and Hey Vern, I haven't had yet, so I'll have to reserve an opinion on them for later, too.
3)Fast food and family food chains - Subway, Pizza Hut, KFC, Sonic, Applebees, McDonalds, Hardees. Been there, done that before. Enough said about them.
4)Truck-stop cafes - Gray's. Outside of town on Highway 71, Gray's is your typical truck-stop cafe ... inexpensive burgers, breakfasts, weeknight specials, and daily desserts. Not bad.
5)Coffeeshops - right now, we only have two, Main Street Coffee, a small coffeeshop located next to the fitness center on Main, and a small one embedded in a local used antique/bookstore. We used to have a third, but it went out of business. We have heard rumors that a Starbucks may be coming into town (part of that 22,000 new stores they have planned), but so far, that's just a rumor. A St. Joe based coffeeshop may also expand here, but that's also a rumor as well.
I should point out that most of our eating out usually takes place at the local Hy-Vee salad bar, inexpensive and good for our diets, or else we grill out or stay in and cook ... speaking of which, I need to dig out that lamb curry recipe I promised to make Lauren this weekend ....
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
At the Faire
This weekend found Lauren and I at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival. Lauren's been a regular Faire-goer since her grad school days, and I've been to the Faire a couple of times before, but never "in garb" (i.e. costumed). That changed this weekend. Surprisingly, we found enough accessories to take the basic "peasantware" Lauren found for me off eBay and turn it into a fair approximation of a merchant's costume.
Lauren also wanted to go see her one of her favorite Ren Faire music groups, a "fusion" bagpipe group (seriously!) named Tartanic. Tartanic mixes non-traditional piping with Middle Eastern and Irish drums, sometimes taking indecent liberties with traditional 'pipes music, and tossing in a little live comedy, all to prove - as their lead bodhran player asserts - that "bagpipes aren't just for funerals anymore".
http://www.kcrenfest.com
http://www.tartanic.com
Tartanic at the KC Ren Faire
On the way home Sunday, we stopped at Lauren's favorite Indian restaurant, Swagat, for lunch. Words can't do justice to this North KC restaurant, which features frankly the best Indian buffet that both of us have ever had, from over 12 choices of fresh tandoor-baked breads, to curries, vindaloos, tandoor-chicken, and desserts, including carrot halva.
http://www.visitswagat.com/
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