Peoria, IL (RLO News Service) - President George Bush will be staying overnight in Central Illinois after flight crews had difficulties with Air Force One. Bush was in town to spearhead a fundraiser for Aaron Schock, who is running as the Republican candidate for the 18th Congressional District.
Bush had originally asked Schock if he could just "flop on his couch for the night." Schock claimed that his house was already full of family guests and that there was no room to spare. "If I still had one of my rental houses near Bradley University, it would have been perfect for the President," Schock testified.
Instead, Schock summoned his assistants to secure lodging facilities for the President. Within the hour, President Bush and the First Lady were booked for the night at the Ragon Motel in Creve Coeur, IL.
"I am truly honored to stay at a motel that bears the name of my favorite president and role model, Ronald Reagan," stated Bush as he entered the room. No one informed the President that the spelling of the name was different.
As the Bushs' entered the room, the President's eyes lit up and he exclaimed, "Hot Damn! Look honey, they got the magic fingers bed." Bush handed one the Secret Service agents a $10 bill and ask if he could go get change.
As the evening drew to a close, Secret Service reported that the Bushs' ordered a pay-per-view movie, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, and were settled in and comfortable.
Parody - Not To Be Taken Seriously
Friday, July 25, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Obama To Stump For Votes Overseas
Baghdad, Iraq (RLO News Service) - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama visited with some of the 140,000 US troops in Iraq on Monday as part of a vast campaign tour overseas. His latest campaign tour started off in Afghanistan and will finish up in parts of Europe.
While in Kabul on Saturday, Obama told a crowd of supporters, "It's great to be back in Afghanistan! I just got in from New Jersey and let me tell you, that place is a jungle." After a quick lunch with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, Obama was off to Iraq. In Baghdad Monday morning, Obama greeted other supporters. "Let me tell ya," Obama stated, "it's great to be here in Iraq. I was just in Afghanistan, and let me tell you, that place is a jungle. There's no place like Iraq." The crowd became ecstatic and shot firearms off haphazardly in the air.
Meanwhile, back in the US, Republican presidential candidate John McCain was asked by reporters to comment on Obama's wildly popular whirlwind tour. "Campaigning overseas?" McCain asked, "Huh? Huh? Iraqis can vote in US elections?" McCain's campaign staff immediately announced an overseas tour to campaign in China.
Parody. Not To Be Taken Seriously.
While in Kabul on Saturday, Obama told a crowd of supporters, "It's great to be back in Afghanistan! I just got in from New Jersey and let me tell you, that place is a jungle." After a quick lunch with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, Obama was off to Iraq. In Baghdad Monday morning, Obama greeted other supporters. "Let me tell ya," Obama stated, "it's great to be here in Iraq. I was just in Afghanistan, and let me tell you, that place is a jungle. There's no place like Iraq." The crowd became ecstatic and shot firearms off haphazardly in the air.
Meanwhile, back in the US, Republican presidential candidate John McCain was asked by reporters to comment on Obama's wildly popular whirlwind tour. "Campaigning overseas?" McCain asked, "Huh? Huh? Iraqis can vote in US elections?" McCain's campaign staff immediately announced an overseas tour to campaign in China.
Parody. Not To Be Taken Seriously.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Bizzaro Tomatoes
Maybe this is the way they grow vegetables in the topsy-turvey world of the Bizzaro.
This planter allows for you to plant a tomato plant (or other plants) upside down. I planted what was called a "Boxcar Willie," a brand of tomato plant from country star Willie Nelson. I thought it odd because there's another country star with the stage name Boxcar Willie.
It was off to a great start as the plant was vastly outgrowing my other conventional tomato plants. Buffy has added more soil to it and we've had to relocate it once. Recently, it has started to droop and wilt a bit as I think it needs yet more soil. I can't put that much more into it. While it looks like it's doing better now, I don't know how long it will last as it just continues to grow more and expand it's root structure.
By the way, despite it's size, it has only produced 1 small tomato thus far.
A Wet Weekend
This past weekend, Buffy and I joined a group of roughly 20 other Jaycee members and friends for an annual camping and canoeing trip. We always stay at "Tree Island" at the Cherokee Village campground outside Turkey Run State Park in Indiana.On the way there, we were running into and out of rain storms. Past Champaign, IL, we were finally out of it, but it eventually caught back up with us once we arrived and set up camp.
Buffy and I purchased a new, bigger tent along with cots for this year's trip. That was a good move! Sometime after I went to bed (2:30 - 3am), a thunderstorm came up. As I laid there, half asleep, I wondered how well this new tent will hold out the water. As rain dropped from the sky and onto the nylon tent, also equipped with an additional tarp, coupled with thunder and lightning, it made for very good sleeping weather. And the tent stayed high and dry.
Saturday morning was a muddy mess. We ate breakfast and called a few times to check on canoeing availability. We were scheduled to go at 11am and we were told to call 30 minutes in advance of that to check if any canoeing would be allowed. Our trip "leader" Kate suggested that the booze consumption be limited should go out on the creek as the water level could be high and somewhat dangerous. This would have severely hampered the entertainment of everyone at the expense of a certain member of our excursion.
We were called back with bad news. No canoeing, not only due to rain in the vicinity, but due to rain up north which was flowing our way.
As the weather cleared, many of us decided to hit a swimming pool at Turkey Run State Park. It was somewhat interesting to find many Amish people hanging out at the pool. I felt sorry for the Amish kids, especially the girls, as they wanted to get into the pool but were not permitted.
That evening, the sky clouded and the wind picked up. Thunder roared throughout the area and lightning occasionally flashed. This did not look good. The rain eventually started, but did not bring any violent weather. But at any rate, the steady rainfall brought miserable conditions as we all sat huddled under a couple of canopies placed side by side of each other.
Sunday morning, Buffy and I departed the Cherokee Village. On our way out, we crossed Sugar Creek where we would have canoed. Water completely filled the banks and was moving downstream quite rapidly. This is why the State of Indiana canceled all canoeing.
We all still had a good time and always seem to manage to do so regardless. It could have dropped to 28 degrees and snowed a half a foot and we'd still manage a good time. But maybe later this summer we might get in some canoeing yet.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Route 66 Part Two: Day Three
If you recall from yesterday, we stayed with Buffy's friend Betsy at her place near the north side of Chicago. Other than a couple of emergency vehicles running their sirens early this morning, it was fairly quiet in the big city. Once we awoke, got cleaned up and a cup of coffee for Buffy, we were on the road.
We filled up, figuratively and literally, with breakfast and fuel in Willow Springs. And in the Chicago area, fuel can be purchased as high as $4.35/gallon regular unleaded. We got a bargain today in Willow Springs at $4.22/gallon. If you're running diesel, you luck out at an affordable $5.00/gallon.
This is where we more or less planned our route back home. We decided to take US Route 6 along the Illinois River until we hit Rt 29. You'd think a river route might be scenic. Not really so along here. But what do you expect... it *is* the Illinois River. In all fairness, there was a lot of nice wooded areas, but starting out, there was a lot of industrial property. Not all that scenic unless heavy machinery turns you on.
So like I said earlier, don't expect this trip to be as grand as last year's excursion on the Mother Road to California. In all though, a good time was had. I will leave you with additional photos from concluding our Route 66 journey.
Buffy and Rick with Tall Paul, the Buyon's Giant Hot Dog man in Atlanta, IL. Tall Paul originally came from Cicero, IL, where he belonged to Bunyon's Drive-In.
Buffy pretends to refuel Ringo at a refurbished Standard Oil station in Odell, IL. It was first built in 1932 and was refurbished to what it appeared during the 1930's - 40's.
Rick reads the paper at the Route 66 cafe near Gardner, IL. This was previously a horse drawn street car. Sitting behind the Riviera Roadhouse, it was converted to a diner in 1932. It closed in 1939. Recently restored, no food is served there, but the 100 year old trolley remains so history is preserved... and that people like me can get photos like this.
More photos available at my MySpace page at www.myspace.com/rlojr.
Stats:
We filled up, figuratively and literally, with breakfast and fuel in Willow Springs. And in the Chicago area, fuel can be purchased as high as $4.35/gallon regular unleaded. We got a bargain today in Willow Springs at $4.22/gallon. If you're running diesel, you luck out at an affordable $5.00/gallon.
This is where we more or less planned our route back home. We decided to take US Route 6 along the Illinois River until we hit Rt 29. You'd think a river route might be scenic. Not really so along here. But what do you expect... it *is* the Illinois River. In all fairness, there was a lot of nice wooded areas, but starting out, there was a lot of industrial property. Not all that scenic unless heavy machinery turns you on.
So like I said earlier, don't expect this trip to be as grand as last year's excursion on the Mother Road to California. In all though, a good time was had. I will leave you with additional photos from concluding our Route 66 journey.
Buffy and Rick with Tall Paul, the Buyon's Giant Hot Dog man in Atlanta, IL. Tall Paul originally came from Cicero, IL, where he belonged to Bunyon's Drive-In.
Buffy pretends to refuel Ringo at a refurbished Standard Oil station in Odell, IL. It was first built in 1932 and was refurbished to what it appeared during the 1930's - 40's.
Rick reads the paper at the Route 66 cafe near Gardner, IL. This was previously a horse drawn street car. Sitting behind the Riviera Roadhouse, it was converted to a diner in 1932. It closed in 1939. Recently restored, no food is served there, but the 100 year old trolley remains so history is preserved... and that people like me can get photos like this.
More photos available at my MySpace page at www.myspace.com/rlojr.
Stats:
Travel Time: 5.83 hours
Miles Travelled: 182
Avg Speed: 31.22 mph
Total Miles: 486.6
Fuel Mileage: 24.94 mpg
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Route 66 Part Two: Day Two
We are now in Chicago staying at the residence of a friend of Buffy's from high school for the evening. We had a charming evening having drinks on the back deck and enjoying some fine cuisine of BBQ chicken and brats. But what led us here???
We began our day leaving the Holiday Inn Express in Pontiac, IL at 9:21am for a Walgreen's (briefly) and then McDonald's for breakfast. Roughly an hour later, we were on our way heading north on 66. We made a stop in O'dell(sp) to check out a refurbished gas station, originally built circa 1932. Continuing on 66, we also stopped in Wilmington, where the "Gemini Giant" resides at the Launching Pad diner. This was another giant figure of a man, only this has somewhat of a science fiction flare as he wears a helmet and hold a rocket in his hands. After a few photos, we stayed for a milkshake.
Back on the road, we headed on into Chicago. There really wasn't much to stop at between Wilmington and Chicago. We saw a few sites, but nothing that warranted us stopping.
Our voyage into Chicago was much faster than the 4 hours of stop and go getting into Santa Monica last year. But one thing that was confirmed for me today was that Los Angeles drivers are far more courteous than Chicago drivers. If you recall from last year, we accidentally got on the LA freeway for a brief while. To my surprise, I found them to be courteous, allowing me to get off the freeway. No chance of that in Chicago. At one point, I only wanted to go straight through a green light; but the oncoming traffic wanting to turn left just went on, regardless that I had the right of way. Assholes!
Anyway, once our journey on 66 was now over, we parked the car and walked over to Navy Pier for some drinks at the Billy Goat tavern (you know, the "Cheezborger, cheezborger" place). Not knowing what we were going to do now, we started coming up with ideas.
"I wonder what Betsy is doing?" Buffy asked. "Call her up. We can party with them if they are up for it," I responded in so many words. The call was made, Betsy and her "man-friend" were not doing anything and they invited us to their place for dinner and for the night. We had another drink and then headed north to Betsy's and here we are.
What are we doing tomorrow? Check back to find out because I have no idea right now.
Stats:
Travel Time: 5 hours
Miles Travelled: 105
Avg Speed: 21 mph
Total Miles: 296
We began our day leaving the Holiday Inn Express in Pontiac, IL at 9:21am for a Walgreen's (briefly) and then McDonald's for breakfast. Roughly an hour later, we were on our way heading north on 66. We made a stop in O'dell(sp) to check out a refurbished gas station, originally built circa 1932. Continuing on 66, we also stopped in Wilmington, where the "Gemini Giant" resides at the Launching Pad diner. This was another giant figure of a man, only this has somewhat of a science fiction flare as he wears a helmet and hold a rocket in his hands. After a few photos, we stayed for a milkshake.
Back on the road, we headed on into Chicago. There really wasn't much to stop at between Wilmington and Chicago. We saw a few sites, but nothing that warranted us stopping.
Our voyage into Chicago was much faster than the 4 hours of stop and go getting into Santa Monica last year. But one thing that was confirmed for me today was that Los Angeles drivers are far more courteous than Chicago drivers. If you recall from last year, we accidentally got on the LA freeway for a brief while. To my surprise, I found them to be courteous, allowing me to get off the freeway. No chance of that in Chicago. At one point, I only wanted to go straight through a green light; but the oncoming traffic wanting to turn left just went on, regardless that I had the right of way. Assholes!
Anyway, once our journey on 66 was now over, we parked the car and walked over to Navy Pier for some drinks at the Billy Goat tavern (you know, the "Cheezborger, cheezborger" place). Not knowing what we were going to do now, we started coming up with ideas.
"I wonder what Betsy is doing?" Buffy asked. "Call her up. We can party with them if they are up for it," I responded in so many words. The call was made, Betsy and her "man-friend" were not doing anything and they invited us to their place for dinner and for the night. We had another drink and then headed north to Betsy's and here we are.
What are we doing tomorrow? Check back to find out because I have no idea right now.
Stats:
Travel Time: 5 hours
Miles Travelled: 105
Avg Speed: 21 mph
Total Miles: 296
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Route 66 Part Two: Day One
We left the house this morning and first stopped at the local SuperPantry to fill up with fuel... at the bargain price of $4.07 a gallon. For this trip, we opted to take "Ringo" (the name Buffy gave her car, since Ringo is her favorite Beatle). We were finally on our way at 9:30am.
Our first stop was at the Cracker Barrel in Morton for breakfast. Currently, they're breakfast special is "Grandma's Blueberry Pancakes." I highly recommend it. I also proved how dumb I was while trying to solve those puzzle games they have at Cracker Barrel. The best I could do was get it down to 3 pegs.
We finally arrived in Springfield, IL at exactly 12 noon. We parked and headed into the Abe Lincoln Presidential Library.
The place is very modern and there are some high tech stuff there. We first looked around at some of the other non-tech exhibits before heading into the high tech hologram stuff. One stop was a room that looked reminiscent of the back control room of a TV station. It showed a number of monitors as if it were broadcasting a news program. It featured Tim Russert, the now late NBC political commentator. The program it was showing was a mock TV news program from the hot presidential race of 1860. It was kind of humorous as the news ticker at the bottom of the screen claimed that France was considering allowing the new motorized cars to run on the streets.
There were two other high tech shows that were very interesting. Definitely, if you haven't been here, try to visit sometime.
Our first stop was at the Cracker Barrel in Morton for breakfast. Currently, they're breakfast special is "Grandma's Blueberry Pancakes." I highly recommend it. I also proved how dumb I was while trying to solve those puzzle games they have at Cracker Barrel. The best I could do was get it down to 3 pegs.
We finally arrived in Springfield, IL at exactly 12 noon. We parked and headed into the Abe Lincoln Presidential Library.
The place is very modern and there are some high tech stuff there. We first looked around at some of the other non-tech exhibits before heading into the high tech hologram stuff. One stop was a room that looked reminiscent of the back control room of a TV station. It showed a number of monitors as if it were broadcasting a news program. It featured Tim Russert, the now late NBC political commentator. The program it was showing was a mock TV news program from the hot presidential race of 1860. It was kind of humorous as the news ticker at the bottom of the screen claimed that France was considering allowing the new motorized cars to run on the streets.
There were two other high tech shows that were very interesting. Definitely, if you haven't been here, try to visit sometime.
We were finally done around 2:30pm and then left for Rt 66. We stopped at a few locations to check out some oddities. This would include seeing the Tropics sign in Lincoln and the giant hot dog man in Atlanta (were we stopped for a drink at Chubby's).
We finally stopped for the day in Pontiac and set up camp at the Holiday Inn Express. We went out for dinner at a local family restaurant and then adjourned to a local watering hold called Bob & Ringo's. This establishment features a number of stuffed animals, ranging from deer to bison to squirrel to rooster. It also features a number of firearms hung on the wall. And they had at least I'm guessing $15 grand in bottled booze behind the bar.
People in the joint were very friendly. We couldn't help but notice a note hanging above the cash register that says "Do Not Serve (name withheld)." We had to inquire.
Apparently, Ms (name withheld) has multiple personalities, and on several occasions, she has forgotten to take her medication, so she sits and has conversations with herself, laughs to herself and argues with herself. In all, quite entertaining, but she also causes some difficulties with the patrons. So, the management would rather not serve her at all.
This was a really cool place. After a couple of other drinks, we headed back to the Holiday Inn for the evening.
Tomorrow, we plan to get to Chicago and have absolutely no idea what to do next. We'll keep you posted.
Stats:
The stats are in the car and I'm too lazy to go out and get them. I'll post them tomorrow... sorry for the inconvenience.
Update: As promised, here are the stats...
Elapsed Time: 8.375 hrs
Avg Speed: 22.8 mph
Miles Travelled: 191
Total Miles: 191
Quote of the day: "and there's that 'ol onry John Wilkes Booth!" from an Abraham Lincoln Library worker, telling us that we could not use our camera in many of the areas of the library, but we could photograph the wax figures.
Friday, June 13, 2008
New Toy
I have ventured into the world of the Mac. I broke down and purchased a MacBook Pro and so far, so good. My previous laptop was a Sony Vio with a 17 inch monitor. I got it least 5 years ago. It was a great computer in its day and still a decent computer. However, I pick up the MacBook and it is so much lighter than the "lead weight" of the Sony.
I got it home and the thing was pretty much ready to go. But... I had some difficulty using my wireless network to get on the Internet. After some trial and errors and some research, I finally deduced that my old 5 or 6 year old Linksys router just did not work with newer technology. So it was back to the store to pick up what Apple calls "Time Capsule." It's basically a wireless-n router with a 500GB hard drive for backups... and they claim it's compatible with PCs. We will see.
So tonight, after some minor difficulties, have been setting up the Time Capsule and the MacBook. I cannot believe how much faster the Internet has been running using the new Apple router/Time Capsule. Much faster than that old Linksys wireless-g router. There's a couple of different quirkly little things I'm trying to get used to on the MacBook, but so far, I'm really liking it.
Next week, Beth and I plan to travel the section of Route 66 we have not been on, so I will have the MacBook with me to travelblog.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Happy Anniversary
Today marks Buffy's and my 10 year wedding anniversary! And we have nothing really planned.It was Friday, June 12, 1998 (photo on left) when at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas, NV we said "I do." It's sort of difficult to believe it's been 10 years. A lot has happened since then... built a new house and moved in, gained an extra nephew, lost an array of family members, job changes, made new friends, terrorist attacks, war, got a mid-life crisis, started a band, became a blond. Yep, we're now just your typical old married couple.
Our anniversary was somewhat overshadowed by Buffy's parents 50th wedding anniversary last weekend. All the family came in town for happy hour on Friday then a dinner the next night. But, we are tentatively planning to finish our Route 66 trip for our anniversary, perhaps next week. If you recall, we followed Route 66 for over 2 weeks last year (which was travel-blogged about here). We got onto 66 just north of Springfield, IL. So we plan to go to Springfield and check out the new Lincoln Library, then follow 66 north from Springfield to Chicago. It will only be about a 3 day trip.
UPDATE: We wound up going to dinner at Tavern on the Water and then to the first night of "Scumboat Days" for our anniversary. We met up with Ted Sumner, Dubby and Rusty Greene and watched Rachel's Hippo play.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Nootril Drop To Play At Oliver's
Just wanted to leave a quick, shamless post to plug a Nootril Drop gig on May 30, 2008.
Nootril Drop to play live at Oliver's Pizza, 1231 Samual in Peoria Heights (near the corner of Samual and Prospect) on May 30, 2008. The band is scheduled to play in the outdoor beer garden from 8 - 11pm. Bring your friends! Bring your family! Bring the kids! Bring your wives/husbands and girlfriends/boyfriends (recommended not to bring them both, whichever the case may be)!
Hope to see you there!!
Nootril Drop to play live at Oliver's Pizza, 1231 Samual in Peoria Heights (near the corner of Samual and Prospect) on May 30, 2008. The band is scheduled to play in the outdoor beer garden from 8 - 11pm. Bring your friends! Bring your family! Bring the kids! Bring your wives/husbands and girlfriends/boyfriends (recommended not to bring them both, whichever the case may be)!
Hope to see you there!!
Friday, April 18, 2008
Did You Sleep Through The Earthquake?
Surprisingly enough, I woke up and asked myself the question "Is this an earthquake?" I normally sleep through anything; severe storms, tornadoes, loud parties,etc.
This morning around 4:30, a 5.2 magnitude earthquake hit New Salem, IL and could be felt as far away as Chicago, Indianapolis, Iowa and Georgia.
I awoke at this time as the bed rocked back and forth in perfect rhythm. I first thought to myself "Is this an earthquake?" I could also hear one of our doors intermittently bang against a wall. I then thought it was Buffy with a nervous twitch in her leg or something that's causing the bed to rock. She then woke up to secure the door and close a window or something (we had the windows open last night). I want to say the bed still moved a little even though she got out of it (isn't the bed suppose to rock when we're both in it? ha).
I asked what she was doing. She claimed she was moving stuff so the wind wouldn't bother it. We were expecting storms last night... which never materialized.
I got up like I normally do, took a shower, fixed my oatmeal and then logged on the Internet. By this time, I've completely forgot about the experience at 4:30 this morning. Then I saw the headline Quake Shakes Parts of Midwest. I knew exactly what happened at 4:30 this morning.
The only other thing to report from last night was my dream of being at a Paul McCartney concert. Paul was sporting a mustache like from the Sgt Pepper album and he was playing his bass right handed (Paul is left handed). I have got to get qualified for the McCartney Liverpool show giveaway on 93.3 The Drive!
This morning around 4:30, a 5.2 magnitude earthquake hit New Salem, IL and could be felt as far away as Chicago, Indianapolis, Iowa and Georgia.
I awoke at this time as the bed rocked back and forth in perfect rhythm. I first thought to myself "Is this an earthquake?" I could also hear one of our doors intermittently bang against a wall. I then thought it was Buffy with a nervous twitch in her leg or something that's causing the bed to rock. She then woke up to secure the door and close a window or something (we had the windows open last night). I want to say the bed still moved a little even though she got out of it (isn't the bed suppose to rock when we're both in it? ha).
I asked what she was doing. She claimed she was moving stuff so the wind wouldn't bother it. We were expecting storms last night... which never materialized.
I got up like I normally do, took a shower, fixed my oatmeal and then logged on the Internet. By this time, I've completely forgot about the experience at 4:30 this morning. Then I saw the headline Quake Shakes Parts of Midwest. I knew exactly what happened at 4:30 this morning.
The only other thing to report from last night was my dream of being at a Paul McCartney concert. Paul was sporting a mustache like from the Sgt Pepper album and he was playing his bass right handed (Paul is left handed). I have got to get qualified for the McCartney Liverpool show giveaway on 93.3 The Drive!
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Playing at the Opera House at Expo Gardens
I've seen this video a few times at a couple of other websites. The Who, live at the Opera House in Peoria on March 10, 1968. I've also heard that Ted Nugent and the Kinks have played there too.
This weekend, the Peoria Jaycees International Beer Festival is taking place in the Opera House. Waterstreet and Stepdown are the featured acts this year, which will be playing in the Opera House.
This weekend, the Peoria Jaycees International Beer Festival is taking place in the Opera House. Waterstreet and Stepdown are the featured acts this year, which will be playing in the Opera House.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Elvis Needs To Re-Enter The Building
This was a little disturbing to read this week. Pop-star Mariah Carey has surpassed Elvis Presley in the quantity of number 1 songs on Billboard magazine's charts. Madonna, has also surpassed the King of Rock n' Roll in the number of top ten hits. Apparently, Mariah now has 18 number 1 songs compared to Elvis' 17 and Madonna now has 37 top ten hits compared to 36 from Elvis. My all time favorite, the Beatles still have them all beat with 20 number 1 hits... and that was done between 1962 to 1970 (8 years). The group broke up before any of them were 30 years old. Then factor in their post-Beatle/solo number one's and top ten hits... but I digress.
Just let me say this. In many years to come, we will still know who Elvis was and could name a number of his songs. I could name over 20 just off the top of my head. And he died when I was 12. But, in those many years to come, we will say "Mariah who?" I couldn't even name one song of hers. Madonna years from now, we'll for sure know who she was. But we probably won't know much more about her past Like A Virgin, Material Girl and her bad acting abilities (Elvis could fit into the latter category).
I guess this was bound to happen since there's hardly any decent new music out there these days. Just wait until Nootril Drop busts out on the scene!
Just let me say this. In many years to come, we will still know who Elvis was and could name a number of his songs. I could name over 20 just off the top of my head. And he died when I was 12. But, in those many years to come, we will say "Mariah who?" I couldn't even name one song of hers. Madonna years from now, we'll for sure know who she was. But we probably won't know much more about her past Like A Virgin, Material Girl and her bad acting abilities (Elvis could fit into the latter category).
I guess this was bound to happen since there's hardly any decent new music out there these days. Just wait until Nootril Drop busts out on the scene!
Friday, March 07, 2008
Oh Canada! Part Three
Well we are home now, but this is how the rest of the trip turned out.
On Tuesday (March 4), Beth slept in as her cold was not getting any better. Bill scheduled most of the day for a massage (without the "happy ending"). So Pam and I headed out on a hike up to the Chateau Lake Louise. I am guessing it was a good 3 miles to hike up there, and it was uphill all the way. At least the trail had a gradual incline. Once we arrived at the Chateau, we called Buffy to come pick us up in the rental car.
In the afternoon on a couple of occasions, we went to the hotel's piano bar. It is complete with a fireplace and mounted moose head over the mantle place. The drinks are bit expensive, but a good atmosphere. We'll find someplace to eat, but many times went back to Pam and Bill's room where they have a fireplace. We purchased our own beer and/or wine and drank there several nights.
On Wednesday (March 5), we left the Post Hotel, Lake Louise and the Banff National Park for Calgary. Since our flights leave very early on Thursday, we've scheduled lodging at the airport hotel this night. On the way to Calgary, we decided to take the Province Highway 1A and visit Johnston Canyon between Lake Louise and Banff. It was a good hike for about 2.5 km (approximately 1.5 miles) to see the upper falls. The lower falls was cool to see too as you got to walk through a short tunnel to get there. Most of the falls were frozen. The hike there could get a bit dangerous and tricky as the trail is not maintained in the winter and many sections are very icy. Tim would of had a field day with his camera here.
On early Thursday (March 6) , we began our trek back home. Getting through Customs and security was not bad at all. By 6:30am, we were sitting eating a couple of donuts and waiting for our departure at 8am. While waiting, I got out my iPod to listen to some music. It starts up just fine, but moments later, it shuts down. The battery is completely dead! Shit! Shit!! Pam did bring a battery charger for iPods and I meant to power it up earlier in the week. I just kept forgetting to do it. Now I've got no music for the way home. Shit!!!
We got into Minneapolis early so it made our layover 4+ hours. I was careful when using the rest rooms there so I wouldn't get caught up in some gay solicitation operation or get hit on by Sen. Larry Craig.
I hope to have some photos up on my regular Internet site and/or my MySpace page.
Other Canada trip tidbits:
On Tuesday (March 4), Beth slept in as her cold was not getting any better. Bill scheduled most of the day for a massage (without the "happy ending"). So Pam and I headed out on a hike up to the Chateau Lake Louise. I am guessing it was a good 3 miles to hike up there, and it was uphill all the way. At least the trail had a gradual incline. Once we arrived at the Chateau, we called Buffy to come pick us up in the rental car.
In the afternoon on a couple of occasions, we went to the hotel's piano bar. It is complete with a fireplace and mounted moose head over the mantle place. The drinks are bit expensive, but a good atmosphere. We'll find someplace to eat, but many times went back to Pam and Bill's room where they have a fireplace. We purchased our own beer and/or wine and drank there several nights.
On Wednesday (March 5), we left the Post Hotel, Lake Louise and the Banff National Park for Calgary. Since our flights leave very early on Thursday, we've scheduled lodging at the airport hotel this night. On the way to Calgary, we decided to take the Province Highway 1A and visit Johnston Canyon between Lake Louise and Banff. It was a good hike for about 2.5 km (approximately 1.5 miles) to see the upper falls. The lower falls was cool to see too as you got to walk through a short tunnel to get there. Most of the falls were frozen. The hike there could get a bit dangerous and tricky as the trail is not maintained in the winter and many sections are very icy. Tim would of had a field day with his camera here.
On early Thursday (March 6) , we began our trek back home. Getting through Customs and security was not bad at all. By 6:30am, we were sitting eating a couple of donuts and waiting for our departure at 8am. While waiting, I got out my iPod to listen to some music. It starts up just fine, but moments later, it shuts down. The battery is completely dead! Shit! Shit!! Pam did bring a battery charger for iPods and I meant to power it up earlier in the week. I just kept forgetting to do it. Now I've got no music for the way home. Shit!!!
We got into Minneapolis early so it made our layover 4+ hours. I was careful when using the rest rooms there so I wouldn't get caught up in some gay solicitation operation or get hit on by Sen. Larry Craig.
I hope to have some photos up on my regular Internet site and/or my MySpace page.
Other Canada trip tidbits:
- I'm still trying to find the black diamond run I took on Sunday on the map. It doesn't appear to be there.
- Buffy never freaked out when I would say the temperature is minus 0 (she knew Canada used the metric/Celsius measurement).
- We never saw any moose... or much wildlife for that matter.
- There were no crowds when skiing during the week. Many of my lift rides were solo.
- The Banff channel is on 17 and is nothing but documentaries about Banff and surrounding areas.
- We lost the ice scraper for the rental car we had and forgot to replace it. I don't know what the charge for that is.
- We didn't get any stamps in our passports when entering Canada.
- The iPod is a indispensable piece of equipment for skiing.
Sample of songs on the iPod when skiing:
- All American Rejects - Dirty Little Secret
- Buck Cherry - Crazy Bitch
- B-52's - Roam
- Elvis Presley - Burning Love
- The Killers - Somebody Told Me
- Tom Petty & Heartbreakers - Runnin' Down A Dream
- Matchbox Twenty - How Far We've Come
- Loverboy - The Kid is Hot Tonight
- Jimmy Eat World - The Middle
- Weezer - Hash Pipe
- INXS - Pretty Vegas
- Sheryl Crow - Superstar
- Nick Lowe - Cruel to be Kind
- Brian Ray - I Liked You Better
- Modest Mouse - Dashboard
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Oh Canada! Part Two
Things have been great in Lake Louise Canada.
On Sunday, I was the only one who went downhill skiing. Beth, Pam and Bill headed into Banff to see what was there. They came back and reported that there was not much there. They did drive by the infamous Grizzly's restaurant. This was an establishment that I had visited 12 years ago. A fondue joint that took us nearly 4 hours to finish dinner.
They also checked into cross country skiing lessons. I stressed that we didn't need them; simply rent the equipment and go! However, all the lessons had been booked by large groups so they decided cross country skiing was out for this trip. And that was one of the reasons we came out here.
Meanwhile, I spent the entire day downhill skiing. The only place for breakfast we could find was at the Lake Louise Ski Area. After breakfast, Buffy, Pam and Bill saw me off as went to get my lift ticket. That was around 10am. I took the Glacier Springs lift first just for a warm up. The sun was shining and ski conditions were near-perfect (could have used a little more snow). Then I later took the Top of the World Lift which takes you close to the top of the mountain. It is also nicknamed the "6-pack" as it is a 6-man lift.
It was pretty windy on top, but the view of the mountains is much better than seeing it from a car. I eventually headed on the Grizzly Gondola and wondered over to the Lange area, where there was less wind.
I spent most of the time on the blue runs. But the Wolverine run, which was labeled as blue, turned out to be false advertising. This should have been a black diamond. I ran into another skier who admitted the same thing. Like me who stated "I didn't sign up for this," this gentleman stated "I'm getting too old for this much work." We were able to ski off to the side and avoid the steep moguls. I did do a couple of black diamonds, but just not into that much anymore.
And the lift lines in this area were almost not existent during lunch time. But by 3pm, I had enough and headed into the Powederkeg Saloon to meet up with the others. It was about 3:30pm by the time I arrived. Over 5 hours skiing. I was wiped.
However, Pam and Bill decided to give downhill skiing a try for Monday. They signed up for lessons starting at 9:15am. On Monday, Beth stayed in as she has not been feeling good this week. Pam, Bill and I had breakfast at the ski area again. After breakfast, I headed out to the lifts; Pam and Bill went to "get learned."
I came back around 11am to see how they were doing. Pam was having problems breathing and I knew this was going to be short lived. Bill was doing pretty good as a student and actually stuck with it until 3:30pm. Pam quit at lunch time. I came back around 2:00pm to see how he was doing and skied a bit with him on the bunny hill. I was hoping I could get him on the real lift and try a green run down but no dice. By this time Beth and Pam were in the Powederkeg.
Today we are taking it easy. Tomorrow we plan to leave Lake Lousie and spend the night in Calgary since our planes leave early Thursday.
Later
On Sunday, I was the only one who went downhill skiing. Beth, Pam and Bill headed into Banff to see what was there. They came back and reported that there was not much there. They did drive by the infamous Grizzly's restaurant. This was an establishment that I had visited 12 years ago. A fondue joint that took us nearly 4 hours to finish dinner.
They also checked into cross country skiing lessons. I stressed that we didn't need them; simply rent the equipment and go! However, all the lessons had been booked by large groups so they decided cross country skiing was out for this trip. And that was one of the reasons we came out here.
Meanwhile, I spent the entire day downhill skiing. The only place for breakfast we could find was at the Lake Louise Ski Area. After breakfast, Buffy, Pam and Bill saw me off as went to get my lift ticket. That was around 10am. I took the Glacier Springs lift first just for a warm up. The sun was shining and ski conditions were near-perfect (could have used a little more snow). Then I later took the Top of the World Lift which takes you close to the top of the mountain. It is also nicknamed the "6-pack" as it is a 6-man lift.
It was pretty windy on top, but the view of the mountains is much better than seeing it from a car. I eventually headed on the Grizzly Gondola and wondered over to the Lange area, where there was less wind.
I spent most of the time on the blue runs. But the Wolverine run, which was labeled as blue, turned out to be false advertising. This should have been a black diamond. I ran into another skier who admitted the same thing. Like me who stated "I didn't sign up for this," this gentleman stated "I'm getting too old for this much work." We were able to ski off to the side and avoid the steep moguls. I did do a couple of black diamonds, but just not into that much anymore.
And the lift lines in this area were almost not existent during lunch time. But by 3pm, I had enough and headed into the Powederkeg Saloon to meet up with the others. It was about 3:30pm by the time I arrived. Over 5 hours skiing. I was wiped.
However, Pam and Bill decided to give downhill skiing a try for Monday. They signed up for lessons starting at 9:15am. On Monday, Beth stayed in as she has not been feeling good this week. Pam, Bill and I had breakfast at the ski area again. After breakfast, I headed out to the lifts; Pam and Bill went to "get learned."
I came back around 11am to see how they were doing. Pam was having problems breathing and I knew this was going to be short lived. Bill was doing pretty good as a student and actually stuck with it until 3:30pm. Pam quit at lunch time. I came back around 2:00pm to see how he was doing and skied a bit with him on the bunny hill. I was hoping I could get him on the real lift and try a green run down but no dice. By this time Beth and Pam were in the Powederkeg.
Today we are taking it easy. Tomorrow we plan to leave Lake Lousie and spend the night in Calgary since our planes leave early Thursday.
Later
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Oh Canada!!
Coming to you live from the Post Hotel in Lake Louise, AB, Canada today, from the complementary computer of the hotel.
We left very early yesterday from Peoria, with our flight leaving for Minneapolis at 6:15am. After the routine strip search and cavity check from the TSA, we were on our way. After a couple hour layover in Minneapolis, we headed for Calgary. There we met up with Beth's sister Pam and brother in law Bill at an airport pub. Beth had some difficulty reading military time. She thought their plane was delayed a couple of hours. It was due to land at 2:41pm and the airport used military time. Comfortably seated in the bar, she began to question herself. Beth told me the arrival time stated 14:41. And I said, "Yea, that's 2:41."
"No it's not, that's 4 o'clock."
"No, 12 noon is 12 hundred hours. Add two hours. Fourteen hundred hours is 2 o'clock. Sixteen hundred hours, now that's 4 o'clock."
All's well that ends well as Beth headed out to Customs to meet them.
Then it was ground transportation from Calgary to Lake Louise... a short 113 mile jaunt. We finally settled into the Post Hotel, just right across the interstate from the Lake Louise Ski Area.
This morning we had breakfast and looked around the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise and the lake itself. We later got into the car and headed out north on 93 and check out some other frozen lakes, glaciers and mountains.
Tomorrow I plan on heading out to do some downhill skiing. It's been snowing on and off today. I'm hoping we get a good amount of snowfall tonight and sunny skies for tomorrow. I don't have a clue what the others will be doing.
Neither Bill nor myself have our laptops this week, so travelogue-blogging will be light.
Later
We left very early yesterday from Peoria, with our flight leaving for Minneapolis at 6:15am. After the routine strip search and cavity check from the TSA, we were on our way. After a couple hour layover in Minneapolis, we headed for Calgary. There we met up with Beth's sister Pam and brother in law Bill at an airport pub. Beth had some difficulty reading military time. She thought their plane was delayed a couple of hours. It was due to land at 2:41pm and the airport used military time. Comfortably seated in the bar, she began to question herself. Beth told me the arrival time stated 14:41. And I said, "Yea, that's 2:41."
"No it's not, that's 4 o'clock."
"No, 12 noon is 12 hundred hours. Add two hours. Fourteen hundred hours is 2 o'clock. Sixteen hundred hours, now that's 4 o'clock."
All's well that ends well as Beth headed out to Customs to meet them.
Then it was ground transportation from Calgary to Lake Louise... a short 113 mile jaunt. We finally settled into the Post Hotel, just right across the interstate from the Lake Louise Ski Area.
This morning we had breakfast and looked around the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise and the lake itself. We later got into the car and headed out north on 93 and check out some other frozen lakes, glaciers and mountains.
Tomorrow I plan on heading out to do some downhill skiing. It's been snowing on and off today. I'm hoping we get a good amount of snowfall tonight and sunny skies for tomorrow. I don't have a clue what the others will be doing.
Neither Bill nor myself have our laptops this week, so travelogue-blogging will be light.
Later
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Death Race 2000
One of the first movies I saw when we originally got HBO in the late 70's was this fine motion picture. Released in 1975, it was an early Sylvester Stallone movie of a cross country race where racers ran over and killed pedestrians for points to win. It's morbid, it's horrible, it's bad but in a good way.
I was checking the on-screen TV guide tonight and then noticed it was on DirecTV Free 101. I decided to watch it as I hadn't seen it for more than 20 years. I think I can still recite most of it line by line like I could from the multiple times I've seen Smokey and the Bandit. As I watch it, I can't help but get plenty of good belly laughs.
In the beginning when the race is about to start, Stallone who plays the bad guy, gets booed by the audience. He responds by taking a sub-machine gun and shoots at the crowd.
In another scene, a group of 3 punks try to play chicken with one of the racers who will undoubtedly try to run them over. They open a man hole so they can escape quickly. The first punk goes underground, followed quickly by the second person. The second person, unbeknowst to the third guy, closes the man hole. This left the third guy out there by himself. The racer comes around the corner and the third guy tries to jump straight into the man hole. Too late. "Oh Shit!" he says only moments before he's run over. Next, the two other guys stick their heads out of the man hole to see what happened. Another racer (Stallone, as "Machine Gun" Joe Vaturbo) comes from the opposite direction and runs them over too!!
At the end of the movie, the hero, named "Frankenstein" played by David Carridine, runs into the platform where the US president gave a speech and kills him.
Good stuff, man!!
Tonight on Free 101, they cleaned up all the profanity and nudity. Every time someone cusses, they bleep it out with the sound of a car horn. All in all, it's still worth watching.
I was checking the on-screen TV guide tonight and then noticed it was on DirecTV Free 101. I decided to watch it as I hadn't seen it for more than 20 years. I think I can still recite most of it line by line like I could from the multiple times I've seen Smokey and the Bandit. As I watch it, I can't help but get plenty of good belly laughs.
In the beginning when the race is about to start, Stallone who plays the bad guy, gets booed by the audience. He responds by taking a sub-machine gun and shoots at the crowd.
In another scene, a group of 3 punks try to play chicken with one of the racers who will undoubtedly try to run them over. They open a man hole so they can escape quickly. The first punk goes underground, followed quickly by the second person. The second person, unbeknowst to the third guy, closes the man hole. This left the third guy out there by himself. The racer comes around the corner and the third guy tries to jump straight into the man hole. Too late. "Oh Shit!" he says only moments before he's run over. Next, the two other guys stick their heads out of the man hole to see what happened. Another racer (Stallone, as "Machine Gun" Joe Vaturbo) comes from the opposite direction and runs them over too!!
At the end of the movie, the hero, named "Frankenstein" played by David Carridine, runs into the platform where the US president gave a speech and kills him.
Good stuff, man!!
Tonight on Free 101, they cleaned up all the profanity and nudity. Every time someone cusses, they bleep it out with the sound of a car horn. All in all, it's still worth watching.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Dog Show
Well, the Labrador retriever got screwed again.
Monday and Tuesday nights were the 132nd Annual Westminster Kennel Club dog show, which Uno the beagle won Best in Show. I was kind of rooting for him last night because 1) the beagle has never won the event and 2) I liked his personality. But I would have been happy with Duce the Australian Shepard or Marge the Weinereiner.
But another dog which has never been Best in Show in this event is the beloved Labrador retriever, nor the Golden retriever. Both of these dogs are the most popular dogs in the world. The Lab falls into the sporting group catagory... and I've never seen a lab or golden win this group either.
But like I said, I'm happy for Uno and also happy that a poodle didn't claim the accolade.
Monday and Tuesday nights were the 132nd Annual Westminster Kennel Club dog show, which Uno the beagle won Best in Show. I was kind of rooting for him last night because 1) the beagle has never won the event and 2) I liked his personality. But I would have been happy with Duce the Australian Shepard or Marge the Weinereiner.
But another dog which has never been Best in Show in this event is the beloved Labrador retriever, nor the Golden retriever. Both of these dogs are the most popular dogs in the world. The Lab falls into the sporting group catagory... and I've never seen a lab or golden win this group either.
But like I said, I'm happy for Uno and also happy that a poodle didn't claim the accolade.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Stacks of Wax
The latest project in the home is one of Buffy's... converting old vinyl LPs to .mp3 files and eventually CDs. She has a number of songs that appearently have never been put on CD or she's not willing to spend the money to buy the entire disc for only one song. So she wants to break out her old records and convert them into a 21st century medium. Of course, I said to her that if these songs have not been converted to CD by now, well, there may be some things best left on vinyl.
Note for the kids: Vinyl LPs, or commonly known as records, was how we listened to music back in the day. There were no .mp3s, iPods, CDs, DVDs, etc. We took basically a wax disc, placed it on a turntable (which is now a musical instrument for the hip-hop crowd to do scratching), placed a needle on the disc and let it play. It came complete with scratches and pops so you had to be careful how you handled the record. And I'm not even going to get into 8-track tapes.
This past Saturday, I dug out my old JVC turntable of about 25 years. After about a couple of minutes of use, the first in essencially 18-20 years, it worked! I ran the RCA cable to the sound card in her computer. Now, I needed something to play on it. Looking through a few old records, I found The Who's 1982 album, It's Hard (now keep your thoughts clean). I thought, "hey, I don't even have a CD copy or .mp3 of any of the songs from this album."
I loaded up the record, started the wav editor program on the computer and started playing around with converting the music. It worked, but the volume level was very low. After recording the song into electronic format, I could adjust the level of the volume, but it also adjusted up all the hissing and pops and scratchs from the source album.
Recently, there has been some sort of revival of the record album. Even a story was featured in the Journal Star last week. Upon listening to this vastly inferior sound reproduction, I thought to myself, "Who in their right mind wants to go back to this?!" But Buffy said to me, "Oh, I like all the hissing and pops in the song." Whatever!
While converting some of the songs off of this album, I took a moment to look at the album cover and artwork. It then hit me. On the cover of It's Hard, there's a kid playing a video game. I wondered if that could have been the modern day Tommy. For those unaware, in 1969, The Who produced a 2-record album called Tommy. It was billed as a "rock opera" and was about a deaf-dumb blind kid who could play some mean pinball. Hence, he was deemed the Pinball Wizard. So was the kid on 1982's Who album a video game wizard?
I have to admit, I do miss having the big album sleeve with the artwork and lyrics. While you do get some artwork with the CD jewel cases, it is so small that you will ruin your eyes trying to read and look at it. But I guess you can't have everything.
Note for the kids: Vinyl LPs, or commonly known as records, was how we listened to music back in the day. There were no .mp3s, iPods, CDs, DVDs, etc. We took basically a wax disc, placed it on a turntable (which is now a musical instrument for the hip-hop crowd to do scratching), placed a needle on the disc and let it play. It came complete with scratches and pops so you had to be careful how you handled the record. And I'm not even going to get into 8-track tapes.
This past Saturday, I dug out my old JVC turntable of about 25 years. After about a couple of minutes of use, the first in essencially 18-20 years, it worked! I ran the RCA cable to the sound card in her computer. Now, I needed something to play on it. Looking through a few old records, I found The Who's 1982 album, It's Hard (now keep your thoughts clean). I thought, "hey, I don't even have a CD copy or .mp3 of any of the songs from this album."
I loaded up the record, started the wav editor program on the computer and started playing around with converting the music. It worked, but the volume level was very low. After recording the song into electronic format, I could adjust the level of the volume, but it also adjusted up all the hissing and pops and scratchs from the source album.
Recently, there has been some sort of revival of the record album. Even a story was featured in the Journal Star last week. Upon listening to this vastly inferior sound reproduction, I thought to myself, "Who in their right mind wants to go back to this?!" But Buffy said to me, "Oh, I like all the hissing and pops in the song." Whatever!
While converting some of the songs off of this album, I took a moment to look at the album cover and artwork. It then hit me. On the cover of It's Hard, there's a kid playing a video game. I wondered if that could have been the modern day Tommy. For those unaware, in 1969, The Who produced a 2-record album called Tommy. It was billed as a "rock opera" and was about a deaf-dumb blind kid who could play some mean pinball. Hence, he was deemed the Pinball Wizard. So was the kid on 1982's Who album a video game wizard?
I have to admit, I do miss having the big album sleeve with the artwork and lyrics. While you do get some artwork with the CD jewel cases, it is so small that you will ruin your eyes trying to read and look at it. But I guess you can't have everything.
The Dubby Dance
This is the dance Dubby performed after the last NE Patriots touchdown in Super Bowl XLII. With less than 3 minutes left in the game, Dubby (as well as many others) prematurely believed they had the game wrapped up. Instead, the NY Giants won, 17 -14. Sorry, Dubby.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
The Year of the Floods
The 2008 year is shaping up to be one of a number of floods. Lately that's been one of the top stories this week.
Dennis' and my new rental property suffered a bit of water backing up into an office from all the rain the other day. I think we found the problem there as water from the downspout was draining too close to the building. That was easily correctable.
But the big flood that I encountered was last week and wasn't even caused by rain. Last Friday, I awoke and went straight to take a shower. Beth came in later, not for a little fun, but somewhat panicked, told me to hurry and rinse off. I first thought we had to leave immediately because someone got hurt, killed or some other emergency. No, she said she had to shut the water off. A pipe had burst in the laundry room and was leaking all over the place. I relaxed after that... only a minor emergency I thought.
I started drying off and then realized that the laundry room was directly over the basement guest room. If the water had been running for some time, water would probably leak to the basement. On the closet shelf directly under the laundry room is where I kept my Grandpa Harvey's and my Dad's guitars. These guitars are 50 years old, worth a lot of money and most importantly, what I consider family heirlooms. I quit drying off. I wrapped the towel around me and bolted downstairs.
When I got down there, it looked like it was raining. Sure enough, water was dripping down from the laundry room upstairs. I feared the worst. Walking through the freezing water now drenched into the leopard-print carpeting, I went to get the guitars. Surprisingly, there was not a drop of water on them (even though they were in cases). The shelf was recessed back far enough to where the surface tension of the walls sent the water in the opposite direction. I felt much better now. The guitars are safely tucked away in my office.
I then called a plumber, insurance agent and Menold's Restoration. We picked up a wet/dry vac to get the place cleaned up and put fans all over the place. We now have a commercial dehumidifier and even more fans in place. In all, the damage looks minimal and the risk of mold is pretty low... I'm told. Some of the base boards and/or door frames took some water stains and that is probably the biggest damage. Some of the dry wall will need to be repaired/replaced and we'll probably open up some of the basement ceiling to ensure there's no water or mold. It might require tearing up some wallpaper in the basement bathroom. Beth is hoping it doesn't have to come to that.
In all, I think we got lucky because that could have easily happened when we were away for a period of time. And that is our flood story of 2008.
Dennis' and my new rental property suffered a bit of water backing up into an office from all the rain the other day. I think we found the problem there as water from the downspout was draining too close to the building. That was easily correctable.
But the big flood that I encountered was last week and wasn't even caused by rain. Last Friday, I awoke and went straight to take a shower. Beth came in later, not for a little fun, but somewhat panicked, told me to hurry and rinse off. I first thought we had to leave immediately because someone got hurt, killed or some other emergency. No, she said she had to shut the water off. A pipe had burst in the laundry room and was leaking all over the place. I relaxed after that... only a minor emergency I thought.
I started drying off and then realized that the laundry room was directly over the basement guest room. If the water had been running for some time, water would probably leak to the basement. On the closet shelf directly under the laundry room is where I kept my Grandpa Harvey's and my Dad's guitars. These guitars are 50 years old, worth a lot of money and most importantly, what I consider family heirlooms. I quit drying off. I wrapped the towel around me and bolted downstairs.
When I got down there, it looked like it was raining. Sure enough, water was dripping down from the laundry room upstairs. I feared the worst. Walking through the freezing water now drenched into the leopard-print carpeting, I went to get the guitars. Surprisingly, there was not a drop of water on them (even though they were in cases). The shelf was recessed back far enough to where the surface tension of the walls sent the water in the opposite direction. I felt much better now. The guitars are safely tucked away in my office.
I then called a plumber, insurance agent and Menold's Restoration. We picked up a wet/dry vac to get the place cleaned up and put fans all over the place. We now have a commercial dehumidifier and even more fans in place. In all, the damage looks minimal and the risk of mold is pretty low... I'm told. Some of the base boards and/or door frames took some water stains and that is probably the biggest damage. Some of the dry wall will need to be repaired/replaced and we'll probably open up some of the basement ceiling to ensure there's no water or mold. It might require tearing up some wallpaper in the basement bathroom. Beth is hoping it doesn't have to come to that.
In all, I think we got lucky because that could have easily happened when we were away for a period of time. And that is our flood story of 2008.
Just Schocking!!
I usually don't get around to reading the paper until the evening. Yes, I know, it's old news by then. But it's the relaxing thing to do after dinner while watching yet another rerun of Seinfeld. RLO Today has always been a blog without any political comments... until now.
On the front page of today's paper featured a story stating that US Representative candidate Aaron Schock is now claiming that his position of selling nuclear weaponry to Taiwan "was in jest." What dope is this kid smoking? First he makes this reckless position. Then he retracts it. Now he says it was a joke. If I remember correctly, didn't he present this position when he announced his candidacy a couple of months ago? If this was really a joke at that time, you would think he would say "Just kidding," or something to that effect and then explain his real position. But he didn't. And with his candidacy announcement, you would think there would be a lot of people watching.
Since I don't live in Peoria or in the 92nd District, I've never had to vote for or against him. But I've had a brief encounter with the "boy wonder" in the past. As a member of the Peoria Jaycees, I volunteered to co-chair the Distinguished Service Awards Banquet in 2004. It was my last year until I aged out and wanted to chair one last project. The DSA Banquet is like a 40 under 40 awards program. Of the categories awarded is in government.
Aaron Schock was nominated and selected for the Good Government Award. In coordinating with his nominator for dinner arrangements at the event, she stated that Schock could not attend do to a conflicting event. I said that was no problem as we've had these problems from time to time in the past. I asked if he could have a family member, friend or co-worker accept the award for him. I was told that there was no one available to do this on that evening. "Not one person can accept this for him?" I asked. "No" was the answer I was given. I was actually dumbfounded.
I then said, "You mean to tell me that out of all the people he knows, with all his connections and popularity, there is not one person who can attend the dinner and accept an award he is winning?" Schock's nominator said, "Tell me about it." I could sense some disgust about him the way she said it.
We held the event and all went well. I think we basically told the audience that Aaron Schock won the Charles C. Schlink Good Government Award but was unable to accept it or make arrangements for someone to accept in his behalf. Basically, we told them the truth. Shortly after, I get a call asking if we can present the award at the District 150 School Board meeting. Wanting to keep the Peoria Jaycees in a good light and positive image, I agree.
My co-chair and I presented the award to Schock and he was very sincere and thankful. He seemed very honored and appreciative to win the award. We then went our separate ways. Now fast forward to 2007. Aaron Schock refuses to go to any debate if any his opponents will be video taping the session. He claims he's afraid that his opponents might use something he says out of context. I begin to think that may have been why he did not want to go to the DSA Banquet that February evening in 2004. Someone might have been video taping him. Instead, he was seen by several as a no show. If you're going to be a public figure, you have to get use to people using recording equipment on you.
If our boy wonder keeps up all this odd behavior, the real joke will be him. And I'm speaking from experience!
On the front page of today's paper featured a story stating that US Representative candidate Aaron Schock is now claiming that his position of selling nuclear weaponry to Taiwan "was in jest." What dope is this kid smoking? First he makes this reckless position. Then he retracts it. Now he says it was a joke. If I remember correctly, didn't he present this position when he announced his candidacy a couple of months ago? If this was really a joke at that time, you would think he would say "Just kidding," or something to that effect and then explain his real position. But he didn't. And with his candidacy announcement, you would think there would be a lot of people watching.
Since I don't live in Peoria or in the 92nd District, I've never had to vote for or against him. But I've had a brief encounter with the "boy wonder" in the past. As a member of the Peoria Jaycees, I volunteered to co-chair the Distinguished Service Awards Banquet in 2004. It was my last year until I aged out and wanted to chair one last project. The DSA Banquet is like a 40 under 40 awards program. Of the categories awarded is in government.
Aaron Schock was nominated and selected for the Good Government Award. In coordinating with his nominator for dinner arrangements at the event, she stated that Schock could not attend do to a conflicting event. I said that was no problem as we've had these problems from time to time in the past. I asked if he could have a family member, friend or co-worker accept the award for him. I was told that there was no one available to do this on that evening. "Not one person can accept this for him?" I asked. "No" was the answer I was given. I was actually dumbfounded.
I then said, "You mean to tell me that out of all the people he knows, with all his connections and popularity, there is not one person who can attend the dinner and accept an award he is winning?" Schock's nominator said, "Tell me about it." I could sense some disgust about him the way she said it.
We held the event and all went well. I think we basically told the audience that Aaron Schock won the Charles C. Schlink Good Government Award but was unable to accept it or make arrangements for someone to accept in his behalf. Basically, we told them the truth. Shortly after, I get a call asking if we can present the award at the District 150 School Board meeting. Wanting to keep the Peoria Jaycees in a good light and positive image, I agree.
My co-chair and I presented the award to Schock and he was very sincere and thankful. He seemed very honored and appreciative to win the award. We then went our separate ways. Now fast forward to 2007. Aaron Schock refuses to go to any debate if any his opponents will be video taping the session. He claims he's afraid that his opponents might use something he says out of context. I begin to think that may have been why he did not want to go to the DSA Banquet that February evening in 2004. Someone might have been video taping him. Instead, he was seen by several as a no show. If you're going to be a public figure, you have to get use to people using recording equipment on you.
If our boy wonder keeps up all this odd behavior, the real joke will be him. And I'm speaking from experience!
Thursday, December 13, 2007
2007 Christmas Letter
It seems more and more, people send some sort of Christmas letter with their Christmas cards. I know some people hate them because, as they claim, all they do is showcase how great their lives are. I did a tongue-in-cheek Christmas letter about 10 years ago, with the same name as this blog. I chronicled the not-so-positive events of that year... an investment club with capital losses, playing on a losing softball team... you get the idea. But I think people really want to update those who they don't see very often of what has been transpiring in their lives.
2007 started just like any year for us. But about 3 weeks into it for me I suffered from a bout with the flu. Of course, that's when my new 32 track digital recorder finally arrived, so I'd have to wait to play with it. I have since used it over the past year to record music. Some of which you can hear at my MySpace page.
One of the high points of 2007 was in May when Beth and I drove across country on America's Mother Road, Route 66. It was a 16 day odyssey following a path taken by millions of others before us to the Pacific coast. We saw some interesting and bizarre sites, met very nice and very strange people and had a great time. Once in California, we stopped to visit Tom & Kim Stevens. Luck would have it, Tom's band Midnight Sun was playing. We stayed an extra day so we could see them. I was even invited up on stage to play a couple of songs. I hope I didn't do the band any damage. The trip was blogged about right here, so feel free to check the past posts for our misadventures along Rt 66.
The low point of 2007 was in March when we finally had to say goodbye to Trixie. At 12 years old, she was still energetic and playful. Fortunately, no arthritis or hip dysplasia. However, a tumor emerged which caused her spline and liver to enlarge and there was nothing we could do for her. Luckily, she was not in pain; maybe a little uncomfortable. 2007 was not a good year for the dogs of our family and friends. Beth's friend Jennifer Brackney lost Lexie, Beth's sister Pam and her husband Bill lost Rutherford and just in the last couple of days, we hear Beth's sister Kerri and her family's dog, the Muffin dog, has been diagnosed with cancer and the prognosis is not good. Of course, Dennis and Shari continue to lose their cats to coyotes. A moment of silence please...
The band Nootril Drop had a number of good gigs this past year. We actually hit gig #30 this past September. We did probably 3 or 4 benefit shows in all, but still a good year and playing better all the time. Concerts I checked out this year include The Police at Wrigley Field. I heard that this was the 2nd concert ever held at the stadium; the first being Jimmy Buffett. I also got to see ZZ Top for the 2nd time... and from the center 3rd row. I also saw John Mayer, Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan.
And if playing in a band and driving a sports car is not enough for my mid-life crisis, I'm now coloring my hair blond. It really hides the grey hairs and I get a lot of comments on it.
Beth has been keeping busy with her new hobby... sewing... if you can believe that. Mom has been doing well. At the start of the year, we were under the impression that she would need to start kidney dialysis. Turns out she doesn't need it, yet anyway. Keep your fingers crossed. Jack is now 7 years old and in the second grade. Dennis and I have been going into business together more and more. This time in the field of property management, becoming landlords of commercial property. Good livin' thus far. We hope to keep it that way.
Anyway, hope all is well to whomever is reading, have a Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2008!
2007 started just like any year for us. But about 3 weeks into it for me I suffered from a bout with the flu. Of course, that's when my new 32 track digital recorder finally arrived, so I'd have to wait to play with it. I have since used it over the past year to record music. Some of which you can hear at my MySpace page.
One of the high points of 2007 was in May when Beth and I drove across country on America's Mother Road, Route 66. It was a 16 day odyssey following a path taken by millions of others before us to the Pacific coast. We saw some interesting and bizarre sites, met very nice and very strange people and had a great time. Once in California, we stopped to visit Tom & Kim Stevens. Luck would have it, Tom's band Midnight Sun was playing. We stayed an extra day so we could see them. I was even invited up on stage to play a couple of songs. I hope I didn't do the band any damage. The trip was blogged about right here, so feel free to check the past posts for our misadventures along Rt 66.
The low point of 2007 was in March when we finally had to say goodbye to Trixie. At 12 years old, she was still energetic and playful. Fortunately, no arthritis or hip dysplasia. However, a tumor emerged which caused her spline and liver to enlarge and there was nothing we could do for her. Luckily, she was not in pain; maybe a little uncomfortable. 2007 was not a good year for the dogs of our family and friends. Beth's friend Jennifer Brackney lost Lexie, Beth's sister Pam and her husband Bill lost Rutherford and just in the last couple of days, we hear Beth's sister Kerri and her family's dog, the Muffin dog, has been diagnosed with cancer and the prognosis is not good. Of course, Dennis and Shari continue to lose their cats to coyotes. A moment of silence please...
The band Nootril Drop had a number of good gigs this past year. We actually hit gig #30 this past September. We did probably 3 or 4 benefit shows in all, but still a good year and playing better all the time. Concerts I checked out this year include The Police at Wrigley Field. I heard that this was the 2nd concert ever held at the stadium; the first being Jimmy Buffett. I also got to see ZZ Top for the 2nd time... and from the center 3rd row. I also saw John Mayer, Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan.
And if playing in a band and driving a sports car is not enough for my mid-life crisis, I'm now coloring my hair blond. It really hides the grey hairs and I get a lot of comments on it.
Beth has been keeping busy with her new hobby... sewing... if you can believe that. Mom has been doing well. At the start of the year, we were under the impression that she would need to start kidney dialysis. Turns out she doesn't need it, yet anyway. Keep your fingers crossed. Jack is now 7 years old and in the second grade. Dennis and I have been going into business together more and more. This time in the field of property management, becoming landlords of commercial property. Good livin' thus far. We hope to keep it that way.
Anyway, hope all is well to whomever is reading, have a Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2008!
Have A Wonderful Christmas Time
Wishing all Happy Holidays, I wanted to post Tom Petty's Christmas All Over Again. Apparently, there is no 'offical' video for it. Paul & Wings will instead wish all a wonderful Christmas time.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
What's The Deal With All These Lists?
For the past few years, I've noticed several networks, especially all the music and entertainment channels, running programs counting down something. You could call this debacle "When Kasey Kassem Goes Bad."
Sure, it was somewhat amusing at first. We got to see William Shatner count down the top 100 one hit wonders. Some other network informed us of the top most-shocking moments in rock and roll. But any more, these lists are getting ridiculous... and I should know something about lists. I spent a good part of the 90's writing David Letterman-style top ten lists for the Peoria Jaycees newsletters.
The latest countdown I've seen was the Top 40 Softlicious Soft Rock Songs of All Time. I don't remember what network brought us this informative program. It listed things like America's "Horse With No Name," 10cc's "I'm Not in Love," and REO's "Can't Fight This Feeling." Many of the songs were from the 1970's. I could only stomach about 30 minutes of this crap until I had to turn it off.
And another question, who are the judges who decides on this shit?
Anyway, it's been a while since I composed a top ten list, but here we go:
Top Ten New Countdown Shows For '08
10. Top 70 Oddest Celebrity Baby Names
9. Top 20 Lindsey Lohan's Fave Things About Rehab
8. Top 60 Wildest Hillary Rodham Clinton Pant Suits
7. Top 100 All Time Greatest Spam E-Mail Messages
6. Top 33 Lame Reality Series
5. Top 12 Really Bad Hair Bands
4. Top 5 OJ's Other Crimes
3. Top 30 Lead Filled Toys From China
2. Top 20 George Bush-isms
... and the number one New Countdown Show for '08...
1. Top 69 Sex Positions
Sure, it was somewhat amusing at first. We got to see William Shatner count down the top 100 one hit wonders. Some other network informed us of the top most-shocking moments in rock and roll. But any more, these lists are getting ridiculous... and I should know something about lists. I spent a good part of the 90's writing David Letterman-style top ten lists for the Peoria Jaycees newsletters.
The latest countdown I've seen was the Top 40 Softlicious Soft Rock Songs of All Time. I don't remember what network brought us this informative program. It listed things like America's "Horse With No Name," 10cc's "I'm Not in Love," and REO's "Can't Fight This Feeling." Many of the songs were from the 1970's. I could only stomach about 30 minutes of this crap until I had to turn it off.
And another question, who are the judges who decides on this shit?
Anyway, it's been a while since I composed a top ten list, but here we go:
Top Ten New Countdown Shows For '08
10. Top 70 Oddest Celebrity Baby Names
9. Top 20 Lindsey Lohan's Fave Things About Rehab
8. Top 60 Wildest Hillary Rodham Clinton Pant Suits
7. Top 100 All Time Greatest Spam E-Mail Messages
6. Top 33 Lame Reality Series
5. Top 12 Really Bad Hair Bands
4. Top 5 OJ's Other Crimes
3. Top 30 Lead Filled Toys From China
2. Top 20 George Bush-isms
... and the number one New Countdown Show for '08...
1. Top 69 Sex Positions
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Heather's New Hat
Peoria, IL (RLO News Service) - Heather Zech is at it again. This time she wants to set the new trend in hats... maybe better explained as an old trend in hats.
At a recent holiday event, Ms. Zech was sporting a black feather hat, reminiscent of a 1940s era style. "Yes, I'm bringing it back," exclaimed a jubilant Zech, who is no stranger to attempting to start new trends, not that she's exactly successful at it. "The 70's is so old school, 80's is overdone anymore, the 90's is way to soon," Zech explained, "so I'm bringing back something we haven't seen in a long, long time." Zech's current boyfriend, Chuck is preparing to launch an "old is new again" line for men's fashions with the 1950's zoot suit.
Heather Zech became a follower and disciple of radio personality Art Bell and began an extensive campaign to educate the public about a 1947 UFO crash in New Mexico and ensuing government cover-up. Zech is a staunch proponent of uncovering the government's knowledge on the event. Odd, the hat she was wearing that day could have come right out of 1947.
At a recent holiday event, Ms. Zech was sporting a black feather hat, reminiscent of a 1940s era style. "Yes, I'm bringing it back," exclaimed a jubilant Zech, who is no stranger to attempting to start new trends, not that she's exactly successful at it. "The 70's is so old school, 80's is overdone anymore, the 90's is way to soon," Zech explained, "so I'm bringing back something we haven't seen in a long, long time." Zech's current boyfriend, Chuck is preparing to launch an "old is new again" line for men's fashions with the 1950's zoot suit.
Heather Zech became a follower and disciple of radio personality Art Bell and began an extensive campaign to educate the public about a 1947 UFO crash in New Mexico and ensuing government cover-up. Zech is a staunch proponent of uncovering the government's knowledge on the event. Odd, the hat she was wearing that day could have come right out of 1947.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Bad Boys... Bad Boys... Whatcha Gonna Do
This post is a bit late in reporting, but well entertaining.
Randy and I headed down to the Illinois Jaycees General Assembly in St. Louis a couple of weekends ago to meet up with some fellow Peoria Jaycee members. We first met up with Mary, Dave, Kate, Danielle and Steve... sounding like a line up of the usual suspects already... on the Landing at the Morgan St BrewPub.
Earlier this year, for whatever reason, Kate would get Randy's and my name mixed up; so for the weekend just to screw with her, I became Randy and Randy became Rick. We also clued everyone else on it to to push it further.
We eventually made it to the Marriott where the GA was held. Rick and I belligerently crashed the invite-only Presidential Cocktail Hour for the state president. At that point, we ran into Becky, Roxy, Gretchen, Scott and other Jaycees we know around the state. Rick and I then crashed the banquet dinner where we had no ticket for a plate. While seated with our Jaycee friends, Rick commented in a manner to transmit guilt, that the fried chicken sure looked good. Rick had just finished consuming the complementary lemon slices for the glasses of water in a feeble attempt at fighting hunger. While I resorted to drinking beer to accomplish this, at least Rick won't suffer from scurvy.
Once the buffet line subsided and entrees replenished, Rick and I went up to sneak a dinner plate for ourselves. We only got as far as placing green beans on our plate when someone from the Gateway Region Jaycees (the GA host organization) came up and busted us. They claimed a dinner ticket would cost us somewhere around $37 and we said "No thanks." They confiscated our plates with the green beans and took it back to their table. We walked from the buffet table still hungry and empty handed while the adjacent table had two plates of only green beans.
The awards ceremony was next, where I'm happy to say the Peoria Jaycees cleaned up nicely for the 3rd quarter of 2007. The libations of New Castle Brown Ale flowed into the night as well until around midnight for me. This is when Mary suggested I should retire and offered to escort me back to my room. It really didn't make any sense to me at the time, but in hindsight, it was a very good move as it probably eased lingering symptoms on the day after.
Rick however partied on for at least another hour. With our sober friend Bob, he chauffeured Mary and Rick to a local White Castle for some sliders. And what happens when you change from Brown Castle to White Castle... hey, what goes on at a GA stays at a GA.
The next day was rough for Rick. But yet we still stopped at a White Castle so I could get some breakfast. Rick had only soda.
On the way home, we were pulled over by whom I called "Ponch" for doing 75 in a 65. Around Hopedale, IL, the road curved to the right, and while I just finished passing another car, I saw the elusive motorcycle cop put away his radar gun. I knew he already had me. Shit! Shit! My 16 year hiatus of speeding tickets was over. And I had just told Rick's wife the day before that I hadn't had a ticket in many years... especially, I jinxed myself.
But alas, we finally made it home for much needed rest. Until the next GA!!
Randy and I headed down to the Illinois Jaycees General Assembly in St. Louis a couple of weekends ago to meet up with some fellow Peoria Jaycee members. We first met up with Mary, Dave, Kate, Danielle and Steve... sounding like a line up of the usual suspects already... on the Landing at the Morgan St BrewPub.
Earlier this year, for whatever reason, Kate would get Randy's and my name mixed up; so for the weekend just to screw with her, I became Randy and Randy became Rick. We also clued everyone else on it to to push it further.
We eventually made it to the Marriott where the GA was held. Rick and I belligerently crashed the invite-only Presidential Cocktail Hour for the state president. At that point, we ran into Becky, Roxy, Gretchen, Scott and other Jaycees we know around the state. Rick and I then crashed the banquet dinner where we had no ticket for a plate. While seated with our Jaycee friends, Rick commented in a manner to transmit guilt, that the fried chicken sure looked good. Rick had just finished consuming the complementary lemon slices for the glasses of water in a feeble attempt at fighting hunger. While I resorted to drinking beer to accomplish this, at least Rick won't suffer from scurvy.
Once the buffet line subsided and entrees replenished, Rick and I went up to sneak a dinner plate for ourselves. We only got as far as placing green beans on our plate when someone from the Gateway Region Jaycees (the GA host organization) came up and busted us. They claimed a dinner ticket would cost us somewhere around $37 and we said "No thanks." They confiscated our plates with the green beans and took it back to their table. We walked from the buffet table still hungry and empty handed while the adjacent table had two plates of only green beans.
The awards ceremony was next, where I'm happy to say the Peoria Jaycees cleaned up nicely for the 3rd quarter of 2007. The libations of New Castle Brown Ale flowed into the night as well until around midnight for me. This is when Mary suggested I should retire and offered to escort me back to my room. It really didn't make any sense to me at the time, but in hindsight, it was a very good move as it probably eased lingering symptoms on the day after.
Rick however partied on for at least another hour. With our sober friend Bob, he chauffeured Mary and Rick to a local White Castle for some sliders. And what happens when you change from Brown Castle to White Castle... hey, what goes on at a GA stays at a GA.
The next day was rough for Rick. But yet we still stopped at a White Castle so I could get some breakfast. Rick had only soda.
On the way home, we were pulled over by whom I called "Ponch" for doing 75 in a 65. Around Hopedale, IL, the road curved to the right, and while I just finished passing another car, I saw the elusive motorcycle cop put away his radar gun. I knew he already had me. Shit! Shit! My 16 year hiatus of speeding tickets was over. And I had just told Rick's wife the day before that I hadn't had a ticket in many years... especially, I jinxed myself.
But alas, we finally made it home for much needed rest. Until the next GA!!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Homecoming 2007
Well, I'm back safe and sound from my college/fraternity Homecoming at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois. And anyone who knows me at all, Homecoming is an annual pilgrimage every October. There was a different twist for this year's event; it was my 20 year reunion. Yikes! Twenty years since I graduated college... doesn't seem right.
The only other person who matches my record is a fellow fraternity brother, whom we will just call "Magilla." Several times in the past, Magilla and I would rent an RV so we could park and party close to house and be near all the action. Then the college caught on and started placing "No RV Parking" signs all over the place. Did that stop us... not really. We know some people who live about 2 houses from the campus, so we'd park the RV in their back yard. The vice president of development would become annoyed with our antics. It was one Homecoming we heard that he was going nuts because he didn't know where we were parked and he couldn't keep an eye on us. We also later found out that the No RV Parking signs were a direct response to us, let alone anyone who wanted to follow our footsteps.
I could actually write an entire book on all the stuff we've done over these 20 years. But for this year, it was really low key. Instead of an RV or sleeping in the fraternity house, we opted for the local Super 8... which I claimed to everyone we were staying in the Presidential Suite of the Monmouth Super 8.
Friday evening was a good steak dinner, followed by drinks at the Pub 83 and then karaoke at The Well. Unbelievably, they didn't carry my standard Just A Gigolo so I sang Love Stinks and Little Sister. Saturday we slept in and missed the Homecoming parade which started at 10:30am. We miss this parade every year. But after a brief visit with some friends who live in town, we stopped by the house to check out what was going on. The beer started flowing about 1:30pm when the football game started (at least they say there's a football game... I never go to it). Hanging at the house during the game is sort of a quasi-tailgate; other alumni show up and we tell the undergraduates some war stories.
Well after the game, we headed out to Danny's Tap which was a popular place to be back in my day. After a couple of drinks their, we realized that we're going to need something to eat, so we went in for a meatball sandwich across the street. This would be our only intermission from the party. Upon finishing dinner, back to Danny's. Then it was off to the local Legion Hall for a "reunion party" where I really didn't see a lot of people from my class. But I did spend some time to chat with the few that did return. Then it was off for Pub 83, which was quite nice as it wasn't very crowded. We were a bit entertained by some of the bar-hoppers being dressed for Halloween.
At 2:00am, the bar manager kicked us out and claimed that they had to close. Magilla and I headed back to the Presidential Suite of the Monmouth Super 8 and crashed. Sunday morning we met up with some friends at their place in town for breakfast and then got the hell out of Dodge.
Despite no virgin sacrifice or taking advantage of our female party guests, we still managed a good time and non-stop belly laughs through the weekend. I probably came home with an extra laugh line on my face.
The only other person who matches my record is a fellow fraternity brother, whom we will just call "Magilla." Several times in the past, Magilla and I would rent an RV so we could park and party close to house and be near all the action. Then the college caught on and started placing "No RV Parking" signs all over the place. Did that stop us... not really. We know some people who live about 2 houses from the campus, so we'd park the RV in their back yard. The vice president of development would become annoyed with our antics. It was one Homecoming we heard that he was going nuts because he didn't know where we were parked and he couldn't keep an eye on us. We also later found out that the No RV Parking signs were a direct response to us, let alone anyone who wanted to follow our footsteps.
I could actually write an entire book on all the stuff we've done over these 20 years. But for this year, it was really low key. Instead of an RV or sleeping in the fraternity house, we opted for the local Super 8... which I claimed to everyone we were staying in the Presidential Suite of the Monmouth Super 8.
Friday evening was a good steak dinner, followed by drinks at the Pub 83 and then karaoke at The Well. Unbelievably, they didn't carry my standard Just A Gigolo so I sang Love Stinks and Little Sister. Saturday we slept in and missed the Homecoming parade which started at 10:30am. We miss this parade every year. But after a brief visit with some friends who live in town, we stopped by the house to check out what was going on. The beer started flowing about 1:30pm when the football game started (at least they say there's a football game... I never go to it). Hanging at the house during the game is sort of a quasi-tailgate; other alumni show up and we tell the undergraduates some war stories.Well after the game, we headed out to Danny's Tap which was a popular place to be back in my day. After a couple of drinks their, we realized that we're going to need something to eat, so we went in for a meatball sandwich across the street. This would be our only intermission from the party. Upon finishing dinner, back to Danny's. Then it was off to the local Legion Hall for a "reunion party" where I really didn't see a lot of people from my class. But I did spend some time to chat with the few that did return. Then it was off for Pub 83, which was quite nice as it wasn't very crowded. We were a bit entertained by some of the bar-hoppers being dressed for Halloween.
At 2:00am, the bar manager kicked us out and claimed that they had to close. Magilla and I headed back to the Presidential Suite of the Monmouth Super 8 and crashed. Sunday morning we met up with some friends at their place in town for breakfast and then got the hell out of Dodge.
Despite no virgin sacrifice or taking advantage of our female party guests, we still managed a good time and non-stop belly laughs through the weekend. I probably came home with an extra laugh line on my face.
Monday, October 22, 2007
A Legend Visits Bloomington
... and we were there to witness it.
Dave Cookson and I travelled to US Cellular Coliseum last Saturday night to see Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan. The show opened with Amos Lee, whom I'd never heard of before; but he put on a good show.
After a quick intermission, Elvis Costello took the stage, with him and only his guitar. The guy can really sing. He engaged the audience between songs with stories about his dad. It was Elvis who provided us with our brush with greatness earlier that evening.
We sat in section 102, which was lower bowl, but close to the stage. For those few sections, there is the Jack Daniels Lounge, complete with easy chairs. As Dave and I sat awaiting for the show to begin, I watched the Coliseum employees go in and out of an adjacent hallway that had glass walls separating it with the lounge. Then I saw an individual dressed all in black, with a black coat, hat and the recognizable horn-rimmed glasses. It was Elvis walking towards an elevator meeting up with someone else. I frantically point and exclaim to Dave, "Check it out, check it out, check it out, check it out.." I couldn't even think of his name and thought Dave might miss out. Dave slowly turned around and asked, "Is that Elvis Costello?"
They got on the elevator and disappeared. Moments later, they reappeared only to discover they were on the wrong floor. I guess that can happen to anyone.
Elvis finished up his set, which featured of course Allison and Peace, Love & Understanding. Bob Dylan then took the stage after another intermission. And as I joked before seeing Bob Dylan, we couldn't understand a word he was singing. Dave and I must have laughed all the way through the first 2 songs he did. I only knew 2 of the songs he performed that night.
I was never a big Dylan fan, but I do respect all that he's done. He is a good songwriter and his band that night was excellent and tight. They proved that they could rock. And there were plenty of energetic fans in the audience. There was a couple, probably around 18 years old, dancing around like hippies from the 60's to most of Dylan's songs. It was entertaining to watch.
Dave and I skipped out on the encore, which I hear was only 2 songs. It was getting late and we were tired of trying to make heads or tails of the unintelligible lyrics that were sung. But in all, a good evening with a living legend.
Dave Cookson and I travelled to US Cellular Coliseum last Saturday night to see Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan. The show opened with Amos Lee, whom I'd never heard of before; but he put on a good show.
After a quick intermission, Elvis Costello took the stage, with him and only his guitar. The guy can really sing. He engaged the audience between songs with stories about his dad. It was Elvis who provided us with our brush with greatness earlier that evening.
We sat in section 102, which was lower bowl, but close to the stage. For those few sections, there is the Jack Daniels Lounge, complete with easy chairs. As Dave and I sat awaiting for the show to begin, I watched the Coliseum employees go in and out of an adjacent hallway that had glass walls separating it with the lounge. Then I saw an individual dressed all in black, with a black coat, hat and the recognizable horn-rimmed glasses. It was Elvis walking towards an elevator meeting up with someone else. I frantically point and exclaim to Dave, "Check it out, check it out, check it out, check it out.." I couldn't even think of his name and thought Dave might miss out. Dave slowly turned around and asked, "Is that Elvis Costello?"
They got on the elevator and disappeared. Moments later, they reappeared only to discover they were on the wrong floor. I guess that can happen to anyone.
Elvis finished up his set, which featured of course Allison and Peace, Love & Understanding. Bob Dylan then took the stage after another intermission. And as I joked before seeing Bob Dylan, we couldn't understand a word he was singing. Dave and I must have laughed all the way through the first 2 songs he did. I only knew 2 of the songs he performed that night.
I was never a big Dylan fan, but I do respect all that he's done. He is a good songwriter and his band that night was excellent and tight. They proved that they could rock. And there were plenty of energetic fans in the audience. There was a couple, probably around 18 years old, dancing around like hippies from the 60's to most of Dylan's songs. It was entertaining to watch.
Dave and I skipped out on the encore, which I hear was only 2 songs. It was getting late and we were tired of trying to make heads or tails of the unintelligible lyrics that were sung. But in all, a good evening with a living legend.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
This & That
A fellow Jaycee and blogger, Tim Sheets asked me a few nights ago about when I'm ever going to blog again or put something up on my main web site, rlo.com. Well... here we go...
Sleeping Good
Last week, Beth and I finally got our sleep number bed. If you recall, we had the experience of sleeping on one out in California during our Rt 66 trip. It was great. I would wake up with absolutely no aches, pains or stiffness and an abundance of energy. The original Bionic woman tells no lies on this!
Our previous mattress we purchased about 3-4 years ago and was a complete piece of shit. It was one of those space-aged, memory foam, astronaut beds. Yea, right. The thing lost all of its memory and we slept in worn out, sagging holes. I think it was plain foam that they give prisoners to sleep on. Good riddance.
My sleep number is on 100. I think Buffy's is around 40 or 50.
ZZ Top
Dave Cookson and I attended the ZZ Top concert a few weeks ago here in Peoria. The show was scheduled for a Sunday night. The Wednesday before, I stopped at the Civic Center box office and inquired about tickets. At this late date, they could get me center floor, row 3, aisle seats. Any closer and we can run our fingers through their beards. I asked the girl, "Did they sell any other seats and will this be a private show for us?"
The dudes are aging a bit, but still put on a great show. They opened with Got Me Under Pressure and played most of their hits, Cheap Sunglasses, Legs, Lagrange, Tush, Pearl Necklace and Sharped Dress Man. There were a couple of other songs I wish they played, but didn't.
The other entertainment was watching the really drunk chicks try to get closer to the stage, only to be stopped by security.
Fall Bash '07
Last Saturday, Beth and I held our annual Fall Bash. It was a good turnout and good time. Our niece Sara commented that all our friends who once became drunk reminded her of kids in her middle school. Yes, we never grow up.
Someone either slipped me a mickey or I purchased an extra fermented case of Heineken as I was out for the count by midnight. And the next day was not good... beer and especially Heineken doesn't drag me down that bad (that's why I drink it). That was on top of a sensible dinner as well. Occupational hazard I guess.
There are currently photos at http://www.rlo.com/.
Homecoming '07
Only 14 days until ATO Homecoming 2007. Yikes! This will be my college 20th reunion.
Sleeping Good
Last week, Beth and I finally got our sleep number bed. If you recall, we had the experience of sleeping on one out in California during our Rt 66 trip. It was great. I would wake up with absolutely no aches, pains or stiffness and an abundance of energy. The original Bionic woman tells no lies on this!
Our previous mattress we purchased about 3-4 years ago and was a complete piece of shit. It was one of those space-aged, memory foam, astronaut beds. Yea, right. The thing lost all of its memory and we slept in worn out, sagging holes. I think it was plain foam that they give prisoners to sleep on. Good riddance.
My sleep number is on 100. I think Buffy's is around 40 or 50.
ZZ Top
Dave Cookson and I attended the ZZ Top concert a few weeks ago here in Peoria. The show was scheduled for a Sunday night. The Wednesday before, I stopped at the Civic Center box office and inquired about tickets. At this late date, they could get me center floor, row 3, aisle seats. Any closer and we can run our fingers through their beards. I asked the girl, "Did they sell any other seats and will this be a private show for us?"
The dudes are aging a bit, but still put on a great show. They opened with Got Me Under Pressure and played most of their hits, Cheap Sunglasses, Legs, Lagrange, Tush, Pearl Necklace and Sharped Dress Man. There were a couple of other songs I wish they played, but didn't.
The other entertainment was watching the really drunk chicks try to get closer to the stage, only to be stopped by security.
Fall Bash '07
Last Saturday, Beth and I held our annual Fall Bash. It was a good turnout and good time. Our niece Sara commented that all our friends who once became drunk reminded her of kids in her middle school. Yes, we never grow up.
Someone either slipped me a mickey or I purchased an extra fermented case of Heineken as I was out for the count by midnight. And the next day was not good... beer and especially Heineken doesn't drag me down that bad (that's why I drink it). That was on top of a sensible dinner as well. Occupational hazard I guess.
There are currently photos at http://www.rlo.com/.
Homecoming '07
Only 14 days until ATO Homecoming 2007. Yikes! This will be my college 20th reunion.
Monday, August 27, 2007
LST 325
Today Beth and I toured a small piece of history.
In the past week, the USS LST 325 made a stop in Peoria for people to visit. This was the ship that in November of 2000, was sailed back from Greece over the Atlantic Ocean with a skeleton crew of WWII veterans. Their average age was 72. Thirteen days out of port and in the Mediterranean Sea, the LST 325 had to stop in Gibraltar for major repairs. By December 2000, the crew dwindled to 29. It arrived in Mobile, AL on January 10, 2001 after a 6,200 mile voyage.
The ship was only to be on display for 1 week, however with the recent rains, the Illinois River is now too high for it to clear the Murry Baker Bridge. It was scheduled for a stop in Henry, but I doubt it could make it under the bridge at Lacon. So it's here for an extended stay in Peoria.
LST stands for Landing Ship Tank and it is used for the transportation of troops, tanks and supplies right up onto enemy shorelines. This particular vessle was used on June 6, 1944 in Normandie on D-Day. In May of 1945, it headed back to the US to be modified with different equipment to launch and retreive observation aircraft. The LST 325 went on a shakedown cruise in August 1945 and was to later set sail for the Pacific for the war against Japan. However, the day before she was to head to the Pacific, Japan surrendered and the war had ended.
The LST 325 saw light duty after the war until the early 60's when she was transferred to Greece and then served in the Greek Navy until 1999.
The ship is still operated by volunteers who are veterans from all branches of the military... and many who appear to have served in WWII, Korea or Vietnam. They continue to make us proud to be Americans!
So you learn something new everyday.
In the past week, the USS LST 325 made a stop in Peoria for people to visit. This was the ship that in November of 2000, was sailed back from Greece over the Atlantic Ocean with a skeleton crew of WWII veterans. Their average age was 72. Thirteen days out of port and in the Mediterranean Sea, the LST 325 had to stop in Gibraltar for major repairs. By December 2000, the crew dwindled to 29. It arrived in Mobile, AL on January 10, 2001 after a 6,200 mile voyage.
The ship was only to be on display for 1 week, however with the recent rains, the Illinois River is now too high for it to clear the Murry Baker Bridge. It was scheduled for a stop in Henry, but I doubt it could make it under the bridge at Lacon. So it's here for an extended stay in Peoria.
LST stands for Landing Ship Tank and it is used for the transportation of troops, tanks and supplies right up onto enemy shorelines. This particular vessle was used on June 6, 1944 in Normandie on D-Day. In May of 1945, it headed back to the US to be modified with different equipment to launch and retreive observation aircraft. The LST 325 went on a shakedown cruise in August 1945 and was to later set sail for the Pacific for the war against Japan. However, the day before she was to head to the Pacific, Japan surrendered and the war had ended.
The LST 325 saw light duty after the war until the early 60's when she was transferred to Greece and then served in the Greek Navy until 1999.
The ship is still operated by volunteers who are veterans from all branches of the military... and many who appear to have served in WWII, Korea or Vietnam. They continue to make us proud to be Americans!
So you learn something new everyday.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Bureaucracy
From Webster's New World Dictionary, bureaucracy means:
There should be an alternative meaning, i.e., "the following of incompetent, illogical and non-common sense procedures." This would fall under my recent dealings with a major financial institution, which will remain nameless, over Beth's 401(k) account.
Since Beth left her employment, we rolled over her 401(k) to her IRA, which is the correct course of action. She wanted me to handle it as she doesn't like taking care of these details. In order for that to happen, I needed to fill out some form authorizing me to take care of this for her. Makes sense to me.
Earlier this summer, it has now come to our attention that a small residual balance still remained, probably from accrued interest and part of a bonus that was still due to Beth at year end 2006. We need to roll that over to her IRA.
Beth this time calls to take care of this matter, but the representative needs to speak with me to get my authorization. I was not home at the time. But the question is... why do they need my authorization? It's Beth's account, solely in her name. The representative said he'd mail out a form for spousal consent that I should fill out and sign, which we'd receive in 10 days. Then mail it back and call after that.
Ten days have come and gone. To date, we have not received the form. I tried to call back today to follow up, but after waiting on hold for over 10 minutes, I gave up.
If by August 6, 2007 they do not get any instructions from Beth, they will make a mandatory payout, which would be subject to income tax and possibly a 10% tax penalty. So what?! The $2.22 we're trying to get rolled over is not worth this kind of hassle. That's not even minimum wage.
1. government by departmental officials following an inflexible routine; 2. the officials collectively; 3. governmental officialism; 4. the concentration of authority in administrative bureaus
There should be an alternative meaning, i.e., "the following of incompetent, illogical and non-common sense procedures." This would fall under my recent dealings with a major financial institution, which will remain nameless, over Beth's 401(k) account.
Since Beth left her employment, we rolled over her 401(k) to her IRA, which is the correct course of action. She wanted me to handle it as she doesn't like taking care of these details. In order for that to happen, I needed to fill out some form authorizing me to take care of this for her. Makes sense to me.
Earlier this summer, it has now come to our attention that a small residual balance still remained, probably from accrued interest and part of a bonus that was still due to Beth at year end 2006. We need to roll that over to her IRA.
Beth this time calls to take care of this matter, but the representative needs to speak with me to get my authorization. I was not home at the time. But the question is... why do they need my authorization? It's Beth's account, solely in her name. The representative said he'd mail out a form for spousal consent that I should fill out and sign, which we'd receive in 10 days. Then mail it back and call after that.
Ten days have come and gone. To date, we have not received the form. I tried to call back today to follow up, but after waiting on hold for over 10 minutes, I gave up.
If by August 6, 2007 they do not get any instructions from Beth, they will make a mandatory payout, which would be subject to income tax and possibly a 10% tax penalty. So what?! The $2.22 we're trying to get rolled over is not worth this kind of hassle. That's not even minimum wage.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Technical Difficulties
Thanks for all those who read about our antics across the country and for all your posts. I have heard from several people that they wanted to post comments, however, the blogger system would not display the automated codewords to input to verify the comment as real. In turn, they were not able to leave any of their thoughts.
Nowdays, there is something called comment spam. Like spam we receive in our e-mail inbox, this spam places itself onto people's comment section of their blogs. This system uses a automatically generated image file of several letters you must input with your comment to verify you are not sending any unwanted spam. Appearently, Blogger needs to work out a few kinks.
But the best missed comment from our trip would have probably come from my Mom. She wanted to say that the first time I saw the Grand Canyon, I was so impressed that I pooped my pants (I was only 6 months old). The view of the Grand Canyon still comes close to achieving the same results.
Nowdays, there is something called comment spam. Like spam we receive in our e-mail inbox, this spam places itself onto people's comment section of their blogs. This system uses a automatically generated image file of several letters you must input with your comment to verify you are not sending any unwanted spam. Appearently, Blogger needs to work out a few kinks.
But the best missed comment from our trip would have probably come from my Mom. She wanted to say that the first time I saw the Grand Canyon, I was so impressed that I pooped my pants (I was only 6 months old). The view of the Grand Canyon still comes close to achieving the same results.
It Was Actually Them
When we were on our vaction, I posted how we strolled down Venice Beach and saw a film crew shooting scenes of some guy with a hot dog hat giving out samples. And in and around the area was what we believed were celebrity look-alikes of Paris Hilton and Kelly Osborne. We were only half right.
In the latest issue of People magazine, there is a snapshot of Kelly Osborne and Kim Stewart (Rod Stewart's daughter) filming the pilot episode of a new reality series on Venice Beach on May 30, 2007. Wow, I was only one degree of separation from the "Prince of Darkness" that day. I guess it was our brush with greatness... another reality series... however great that is.
In this photo, I tried to capture the two of them. Unfortunately, I think Kelly is behind the photographer. But I did get a good picture of Kim.
In the latest issue of People magazine, there is a snapshot of Kelly Osborne and Kim Stewart (Rod Stewart's daughter) filming the pilot episode of a new reality series on Venice Beach on May 30, 2007. Wow, I was only one degree of separation from the "Prince of Darkness" that day. I guess it was our brush with greatness... another reality series... however great that is.In this photo, I tried to capture the two of them. Unfortunately, I think Kelly is behind the photographer. But I did get a good picture of Kim.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Route 66: Day Sixteen - Home Sweet Home
Our adventure on historic Route 66 and ensuing travel had come to an end shortly after 3:30pm this afternoon when we finally arrived home. And it was cicadas who welcomed us back after their 17-year absence.
We started to leave Topeka, KS at 7:40am and the rest of the trip was mainly uneventful. We travelled along I-70 through Kansas City until Kingdom City, MO where we turned off on East US 54. I know this road very well as I have taken it many times when visiting relatives.
After we stopped in Pittsfield, IL for some lunch, we put the top down for the first time in a few days for the remainder of the way home.
Though I may from time to time complain about Peoria and the state of Illinois, it is always good to get back home... especially after almost 2 and a half weeks of living out of a suitcase and different hotels, not to mention eating in restaurants every night. And finally, not to be in a car for several hours each day. My car is very nice, but I think this is going to be the last "long" road trip for it. For long road trips, it really needs a little more leg room and storage. But fuel mileage, you can't beat it. We filled up in Topeka last night and I still have just under a quarter tank left here in Dunlap.
It has been a unique adventure this past 16 days. After I roughly tallied up our expenses, I thought "Wow, we could have went somewhere really nice." But we couldn't have stayed as long or have seen as much or have had the experiences we had from getting our kicks on Route 66.
I want to thank everyone who visited this blog to somewhat live vicariously through us as we made our trek across the USA.
Final Stats:
Miles Travelled, today: 438 miles
Miles Travelled, total trip: 4,866 miles
Today's travel time: 8 hrs
Travel time, total trip: 122.3 hrs
Today's avg speed: 54.75 mph
Today's fuel mileage: 31.1 mpg
Fuel Mileage, total trip: 29.9 mpg
Number of States Travelled: 11 (IL, MO, KS, OK, TX, NM, AZ, CA, NV, UT, CO)
Number of Digital Pictures taken: 484 (not including pictures taken w/ film)
Reg Unleaded Gas Price/Gallon, High: $3.99 (Needles, CA... the desert)
Reg Unleaded Gas Price/Gallon, Low: $2.89 (today, western Missouri)
Gasoline Expense, Entire Trip: $628.86
Lodging Expense, Entire Trip: $2,075.59 (or about $129 per night)
Meals, Booze, Shopping, Misc (est): $1,300 (yikes!)
Vacation & Memories of a Lifetime: Priceless... it pays to Discover!
We started to leave Topeka, KS at 7:40am and the rest of the trip was mainly uneventful. We travelled along I-70 through Kansas City until Kingdom City, MO where we turned off on East US 54. I know this road very well as I have taken it many times when visiting relatives.
After we stopped in Pittsfield, IL for some lunch, we put the top down for the first time in a few days for the remainder of the way home.
Though I may from time to time complain about Peoria and the state of Illinois, it is always good to get back home... especially after almost 2 and a half weeks of living out of a suitcase and different hotels, not to mention eating in restaurants every night. And finally, not to be in a car for several hours each day. My car is very nice, but I think this is going to be the last "long" road trip for it. For long road trips, it really needs a little more leg room and storage. But fuel mileage, you can't beat it. We filled up in Topeka last night and I still have just under a quarter tank left here in Dunlap.
It has been a unique adventure this past 16 days. After I roughly tallied up our expenses, I thought "Wow, we could have went somewhere really nice." But we couldn't have stayed as long or have seen as much or have had the experiences we had from getting our kicks on Route 66.
I want to thank everyone who visited this blog to somewhat live vicariously through us as we made our trek across the USA.
Final Stats:
Miles Travelled, today: 438 miles
Miles Travelled, total trip: 4,866 miles
Today's travel time: 8 hrs
Travel time, total trip: 122.3 hrs
Today's avg speed: 54.75 mph
Today's fuel mileage: 31.1 mpg
Fuel Mileage, total trip: 29.9 mpg
Number of States Travelled: 11 (IL, MO, KS, OK, TX, NM, AZ, CA, NV, UT, CO)
Number of Digital Pictures taken: 484 (not including pictures taken w/ film)
Reg Unleaded Gas Price/Gallon, High: $3.99 (Needles, CA... the desert)
Reg Unleaded Gas Price/Gallon, Low: $2.89 (today, western Missouri)
Gasoline Expense, Entire Trip: $628.86
Lodging Expense, Entire Trip: $2,075.59 (or about $129 per night)
Meals, Booze, Shopping, Misc (est): $1,300 (yikes!)
Vacation & Memories of a Lifetime: Priceless... it pays to Discover!
Monday, June 04, 2007
Route 66: Day Fifteen - Road Warriors
As the great American poet Jonathan Cash put it:
Beth awoke me this morning at 6:15am Mountain time right in the middle of a dream. I was completely out, not even realizing where I was. The travel home is starting to take a toll on us road warriors.
Anyway, we started back out on the road at 7:42am from Grand Junction, CO. The western side of Colorado was very scenic riding. We saw many views of the hills, mountains, Colorado River, condos, pine trees and so on. We went past many popular ski areas including Powderhorn, Aspen, Vail, Beaver Creek and a few others. Denver wasn't too bad to drive through as we missed rush hour. But after that, it got to be a very boring drive. Just flat terrain for miles and miles. And then there was Kansas.
What happens in Kansas stays in Kansas and do you know why? Because nothing happens in Kansas. No offense to the fine citizens here, but this has been one long ass dull state. As we've hit the eastern half of the state, the scenery has been slightly improving. But because of this, we don't have much to report.
Tonight, we have set up camp at the Sleep Inn in Topeka, KS... and guess what... this is a SVI property! This is the first and only SVI property we've encountered thus far in our 2 weeks of travel.
Tomorrow, we plan to finally arrive at home sometime late afternoon. According to the Garmin GPS, it is 465 miles away. So sometime tomorrow night, I plan to post the final stats and anything interesting that may happen to us tomorrow. But for now, I'll leave you with some more photos from the two weeks past while we've been on Route 66, America's Main Street.
Big blue whale in Oklahoma.
The round barn in Arcadia, OK.
Leaning water tower; Texas.
Cadillac Ranch; outside Amarillo, TX
Wigwam Village; Holbrook, AZ
The shoe tree; Amboy, CA
Stats:Miles Travelled, today: 784 miles
Miles Travelled, total: 4,428 miles
Today's travel time: 12.38 hrs
Today's avg speed: 63.3 mph
Today's fuel milage: 32.8 mpg
Encounter with wildlife: 1 (turtle crossing I-70 west of Salina, KS)
"I've been everywhere, man,
I've been everywhere."
Beth awoke me this morning at 6:15am Mountain time right in the middle of a dream. I was completely out, not even realizing where I was. The travel home is starting to take a toll on us road warriors.
Anyway, we started back out on the road at 7:42am from Grand Junction, CO. The western side of Colorado was very scenic riding. We saw many views of the hills, mountains, Colorado River, condos, pine trees and so on. We went past many popular ski areas including Powderhorn, Aspen, Vail, Beaver Creek and a few others. Denver wasn't too bad to drive through as we missed rush hour. But after that, it got to be a very boring drive. Just flat terrain for miles and miles. And then there was Kansas.
What happens in Kansas stays in Kansas and do you know why? Because nothing happens in Kansas. No offense to the fine citizens here, but this has been one long ass dull state. As we've hit the eastern half of the state, the scenery has been slightly improving. But because of this, we don't have much to report.
Tonight, we have set up camp at the Sleep Inn in Topeka, KS... and guess what... this is a SVI property! This is the first and only SVI property we've encountered thus far in our 2 weeks of travel.
Tomorrow, we plan to finally arrive at home sometime late afternoon. According to the Garmin GPS, it is 465 miles away. So sometime tomorrow night, I plan to post the final stats and anything interesting that may happen to us tomorrow. But for now, I'll leave you with some more photos from the two weeks past while we've been on Route 66, America's Main Street.
Big blue whale in Oklahoma.
The round barn in Arcadia, OK.
Leaning water tower; Texas.
Cadillac Ranch; outside Amarillo, TX
Wigwam Village; Holbrook, AZ
The shoe tree; Amboy, CA
Santa Monica pier; Santa Monica, CA
Stats:
Miles Travelled, total: 4,428 miles
Today's travel time: 12.38 hrs
Today's avg speed: 63.3 mph
Today's fuel milage: 32.8 mpg
Encounter with wildlife: 1 (turtle crossing I-70 west of Salina, KS)
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Route 66: Day Fourteen - Eastbound & Down
"Eastbound and down, load it up and truckin',
we're gonna do what they say can't be done.
We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there,
I'm eastbound just watch the Bandit run."
Today has been a long day. It essentially started when we got on the road from the Holiday Inn in Santa Maria, CA at 4:40am, Pacific Time. It was still dark as we started to head eastward towards home. But once the sun started coming up, we were entering the desert and it was very picturesque. Before long, we were encountering Joshua trees, which look really cool. And speaking of cool, it was that in the desert at that time of the day.
In one respect, we came full circle when we reached Barstow today as we came across Historic Route 66. But sadly, we did not get on this route and instead took I-15 towards Las Vegas. We entered back into Arizona, but only briefly until Utah. And Utah was a really scenic state... lots of rock formations and badlands (pictured left is Beth in Utah). In Utah, we got on I-70 and headed on into Grand Junction, CO where we are hold up for the night at... you guessed it... Holiday Inn Express. We stayed at Holiday Inn so much that I've already signed up for their Priority Club.By now, it seems like its been so long ago when we were in California. But it was just about 17 - 18 hours ago.. or something like that. The voyage home hasn't been that bad as we've had lots to look at while we travel. That will probably change in east Colorado or Kansas. Oh well.
Stats:
Miles Travelled, today: 913
Miles Travelled, total: 3,644
Today's travel time: 14.58 hours
Today's avg speed: 62.6 mph
Today's fuel mileage: 30.1 mpg
Today's low temperature: 50 degrees F
Today's high temperature: 104 degrees F
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Route 66: Day Thirteen - The Voyage Home
Well, we haven't made it too far today on our return home... we're still in Santa Maria! Although at different hotel. So I guess we did make it a few miles.
The embarrassing story will get out somehow, so let's get it over with. As I mentioned in the previous post, the party last night carried on at Tom and Kim's, and some of us over-indulged. Actually, it really wasn't over-indulgence, but rather the wine just hit sudden and fast. This morning the hangover was so severe that it wasn't likely that the voyage home would begin. And to make matters worse, the hotel we were staying at was booked for tonight!
I thought about staying at Tom's place, and they had already offered. But Beth's allergies to dogs, and the kids being kids, would not make for a suitable environment. In addition, we really didn't want to impose. We looked into different hotels and many were booked because the Rodeo is in town. Fortunately, the Holiday Inn had availability. So we had to pack everything up, check into the Holiday Inn, come back to pick up the injured and return back to the Holiday Inn.
We expect to return home on Tuesday. As for starting out tomorrow, it will be very, very early.
Stats:
Miles travelled, today... I don't know, 5-10 miles
The embarrassing story will get out somehow, so let's get it over with. As I mentioned in the previous post, the party last night carried on at Tom and Kim's, and some of us over-indulged. Actually, it really wasn't over-indulgence, but rather the wine just hit sudden and fast. This morning the hangover was so severe that it wasn't likely that the voyage home would begin. And to make matters worse, the hotel we were staying at was booked for tonight!
I thought about staying at Tom's place, and they had already offered. But Beth's allergies to dogs, and the kids being kids, would not make for a suitable environment. In addition, we really didn't want to impose. We looked into different hotels and many were booked because the Rodeo is in town. Fortunately, the Holiday Inn had availability. So we had to pack everything up, check into the Holiday Inn, come back to pick up the injured and return back to the Holiday Inn.
We expect to return home on Tuesday. As for starting out tomorrow, it will be very, very early.
Stats:
Miles travelled, today... I don't know, 5-10 miles
Route 66: Day Twelve - Santa Maria
Day twelve (Fri 6/1/07) of our trip was very fun. We are staying an extra day in California so that we can see the band Tom Stevens is a part of perform tonight. The name of the band is Midnight Sun and it is a five piece band (Tom plays the drums... here he is with his daughter Megan) that plays a lot of covers from the 50's up to today. They even have a few original songs as well. The gig they had was at the Cottonwood Creek Winery for some type of open house event they had going on.
Tomorrow, day 13, we will begin to make our trek back home. We don't plan to go through South Dakota and see Mt. Rushmore or the badlands, but instead plan to take I-70 through Colorado, Kansas & Missouri.
Tom took half the day off and I offered to be a roady. Meanwhile, Beth went shopping and hung out with Kim while we were getting ready. It was kind of interesting to see how another band is organized and how they set up their set. They were scheduled to play from 6 - 9 pm.
During the show, I worked as photographer and I believe I'm probably the first to video tape them. I hope I did them good. Then in the last set, they invited me up to play with them for a couple of songs. So, having never ever played one note with these guys before, the 2 songs we did were ones I do with Nootril Drop... and in the same key! Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison, which I dedicated to Beth and Surrender by Cheak Trick. It was a blast.
While the audience wanted more even after the 2 encores, we had to shut down as the winery wanted to close. The party continued afterwards at Tom and Kim's place, where some folks might have over-indulged.
Tomorrow, day 13, we will begin to make our trek back home. We don't plan to go through South Dakota and see Mt. Rushmore or the badlands, but instead plan to take I-70 through Colorado, Kansas & Missouri.
Later.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Route 66: Day Eleven
Yesterday (5/31/07) we said goodbye to Santa Monica and proceeded up the Pacific coast (at least as much as we could) to Santa Maria to visit Tom and Kim Stevens and kids. The weather was in the mid-60s and a bit cloudy, which was OK with me as I got even more sun from the previous day's walk on the beach. I'm more a "redneck" with a farmer tan than before.
The drive up California Hwy 1 was nice until we had to get on US 101. There were some detours in Oxnard, which was confusing to follow. North of Santa Barbara, we stopped to refuel... and I hate these gas pumps out here in California. For starters, they don't allow the little metal clip that allows the fuel to pump automatically. You have to hold the handle the whole time. If that's not enough inconvenience, there's also a rubber mask that is to fit over your (don't know what to call it at the moment) fuel tank interface so gas fumes won't escape. Of course, this tricks the gas pump that your tank is full, so every .2 gallons that gets pumps, it shuts off. So with my left hand, I hold back this mask and my right hand has to continue to pump fuel. And it's all self-serve now days.
We arrived in Santa Maria around 3:30pm. Kim and her daughter Megan were home along with Ginger the 120 lb. yellow lab. We had a couple of beers and later Kyle and Kevin arrived home next, wondering who's cool car was in the driveway. Later, I dropped Kyle off for a ball game in that really cool car. Tom then came home from work and we had another couple of beers. Kim called the local Radisson and got us a room for a couple of nights. We checked in and discovered that they have the sleep number beds; two of them. I looked forward to try them as I am not really impressed with the astronaut/memory foam mattress we have at home.
We met back up with the Stevens family and went to dinner at Cool Hand Luke's. Dinner was pretty good as I had never heard of this chain before. The kids really liked it and were the ones that suggested going there. We went back to the house and watched a little TV and then called it a night. Can't wait to try the sleep number bed.
Stats:
Ooops... left the notes in the car. I'll have to check back later.
Update (stats for 5/31/07):
Miles Travelled, today: 168
Miles Travelled, total: 2,731
Today's avg speed: 37.33 mph
Today's fuel mileage: 27.9 mpg
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