Tag: Kansas City (Page 2 of 3)

Go West Old Man

March 23, 2012 / DB

Tomorrow morning, we’re packing up the family truckster and heading west. By mid-afternoon, we will be in the land of burnt ends, fountains, and boulevards.

It’s the first time we’ve taken the girls back to Kansas City in over two years, so it’s a special trip. Well, other than the eight hours in the van. But we have lots of movies and books, snacks, and a couple surprises to try to keep the girls occupied. They’re very excited to make the trip and see some old friends. But most of all, they’re excited about making a stop at the American Girl Doll store. Is it bad for me to hope KU is playing Sunday and they drop me off somewhere to watch the game while they head to the store without me?

Anyway, we’re looking forward to seeing many of our Kansas City friends.

ↁ

The Coolest

January 24, 2011 / DB

There was a thread on Twitter Sunday soliciting suggestions as to who the coolest Kansas City athletes of all time were. While I was never a true Chiefs fan, I did spend 23 years in the city and have some thoughts on the subject.

First, let’s go ahead and admit this covers the 30-35 years that I’ve been aware of Kansas City athletes. So there won’t be any members of the Scouts or A’s included. And Tom Watson dominated golf for a few years, but I wouldn’t ever say he was cool.

I think I was seven, and not yet a KC resident, when an uncle mentioned the name Amos Otis to me. I didn’t know anything about AO, but his name sure sounded cool. And the way Willie Wilson ran was cool. Phil Ford and Otis Birdsong were cool when the Kings were still in town. Gino Schiraldi, Enzo Di Pede, and Yilmaz Orhan all seemed cool for about five minutes when the MISL was hot. But none of those guys were transcendently cool. Well, maybe Willie was, but he had some competition on his own team for coolest guy status.

Anyway, this are the guys who stood out for me. I’m sure I’m forgetting one or two people who are obvious to others.

Bo Jackson. One of the coolest athletes ever, in any sport, in any city. It wasn’t just that he could, seemingly, do anything. It was that he didn’t act like any of his freakish accomplishments were that big of a deal. To him, throwing a ball 400 feet on a rope¹ was like you or me tossing a wadded up piece of paper three feet into a trashcan. Bo was so cool that when I was debating what Royals jersey to have Santa bring me for Christmas this year, I spent a lot of time with a Jackson 16 jersey at the top of my list.
Joe Montana. He wasn’t really Kansas City’s, the city just rented him for the final two years of his career. But it was a big freaking deal when he arrived. The city tried desperately to claim him, and he politely kept his mouth shut. He knew it was silly. No matter how the 49ers treated him in his final year there, he was always going to be associated with San Francisco. But there’s no doubting that when the Chiefs acquired him, they went from just being a good team to being one of the NFL’s marquee teams.
Frank White. He wasn’t cool in an awe-inspiring way. He was cool in a smooth way that made you admire the way he went about his business. I love the shot of him right before George Brett exploded in the Pine Tar game: casually sitting next to Brett with one foot up on the bench. Brett was already stewing, telling teammates that if they called him out he was going to go kick someone’s ass. Frank just chilled, not seeing any reason to get worked up about something that hadn’t happened yet. He exuded cool.
Derrick Thomas. DT had all kinds of issues off the field. But he was so good on the field that most Chiefs fans looked the other way. Even non-Chiefs fans could not help buy admire the havoc he brought to the football field. Once George Brett began to fade, DT was the most nationally recognized athlete from KC. Unlike Montana, he always seemed to embrace the city as it embraced him, giving him some bonus coolness.
George Brett. The coolest ever. There was a 10-15 year period where every little boy in Kansas City wanted to be him. He was one of the five best players in baseball and played every game all-out. Fathers would point to Brett and say to their sons, “That’s how you play the game.” That style cost him numerous games to injuries each season, but you knew when he was on the field he was going to try to stretch every single into a double, break up every double-play ball, and not take any shit from anyone in the other dugout. Throw in his well known hard partying ways off-the-field, and to a little boy he seemed like everything you wanted to be when you grew up. In many ways, Thomas mimicked his career as his popularity made people overlook a lot of sins in Westport.
Buck O’Neil. OK, this is a stretch. He became famous and cool well after his playing and managing career ended. So I suppose he was more of a cool sports figure than an actual athlete. The dignity with which he lived his life, and the causes that he embraced, were a way of life we can all aspire to.

Still my favorite Bo moment that I witnessed first hand. Anyone who follows baseball knows about his famous throw in Seattle that nailed Harold Reynolds at the plate. I was at a game when he grabbed a ball at the wall, turned, and fired home. The ball didn’t just reach home in the air. It went 20 feet over Mike Macfarlane’s head and hit the screen another 25 feet behind him. And it was still at least 10 feet off the ground. So Bo threw a ball at least 400 feet and it still had another 15-20 feet of range if the net hadn’t interrupted its flight. ↩

Top Five Weekend

September 13, 2010 / DB

I expected my weekend in Kansas City to be good. A surprising performance by the KU football team made it even better.

First off, thanks to the R’s and B’s for hosting me last week. And thanks to Mary Y for insisting I attend her 30th birthday blowout. That alone would have made for a fine weekend.

I was not looking forward to the KU – Georgia Tech game all that much, to be honest. After KU’s horrendous loss a week earlier, what already looked like a difficult game seemed to be a hopeless cause. While it was going to be fun to return to Lawrence for the first time in five years, and to Memorial Stadium for the first time in nine years, the small detail of getting blown out by a very good team tempered that excitement. I’ve seen plenty of blowouts in that stadium over the years. I didn’t want to spoil the trip by seeing another.

It was a glorious day on Mt. Oread, though. The weather was near-ideal for a late summer weekend. While I think true football schools would still dismiss the KU football experience as small-time, it’s much better than it used to be. Get within a mile of the stadium and the tailgaters in every open space make it obvious there’s a football game. That didn’t used to be the case.

The team helped the cause by hanging in there early. They quickly matched down the field and tied the game after a quick Tech TD. They bottled up Tech’s tricky offense. Then they took the lead. This was fun! We were going to make it to halftime and still be in the game!

When Tech kicked a late field goal to take a three-point lead into the half, there was a feeling of satisfaction in the stadium. Sure, Tech was getting the ball first after the break, and would likely take over the game, but we didn’t look inept. Jordan Webb looked solid at QB. James Sims was a revelation in the backfield. Other first year players were making big plays. The constant refrain in the stands was “How did we lose last week?” While there was still a lot of football to be played, this clearly wasn’t going to be the disaster most KU fans expected.

The second half was even better.

Tech couldn’t move the ball early. Another strong drive put KU back in the lead. Seconds into the fourth quarter, Webb hit Daymond Patterson with a quick screen. After bouncing off a couple tacklers, Patterson broke into the clear and scampered 32 yards for a touchdown. It was a <a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jC0vc5HirU”>Monte Cozzens-esque</a> run. Suddenly KU was up 11 on the #15 team in the country with less than a quarter to play. The stadium was beginning to believe.
Could we hold on?

After exchanging punts, Tech took over on their own four. If we could hold them here, the game was over. Busted coverage on a quick screen put the Yellow Jackets at midfield. Then a beautiful pass and a two-point conversion cut the lead to three with 7:48 to play. The mood in the stadium shifted 180 degrees: it was a nice effort, but we were all sure KU was going to lose.

A friend tried to pump us up. “If I told you we were going to give up over 300 yards rushing and still be up by three with seven minutes to play, you would take that, wouldn’t you?” Still, we weren’t optimistic.

It was a tense few minutes, but when a Josh Nesbitt pass fell incomplete on fourth down, we could finally celebrate. KU 28, Georgia Tech 25.

All day I felt jealous of the fans that got to experience the renaissance of KU football after I moved away. The first win over K-State in 12 years in 2004. Breaking the Nebraska streak in 2005. The entire 2007 season, capped by the 72 points hung on the Huskers. There were a handful of good wins when I was in school, notably the 1992 win over Oklahoma. But that came in a different era. To have experienced the more recent big wins, as the stadium and crowd have changed, was something I was bummed to have not seen first hand. Saturday was my chance to experience one of those moments.

It was also a terrific day for the program after the previous week. There were serious questions whether Lew Perkins had made the correct choice when choosing a new coach. There was a fear that a horrific season that ended with just one or two wins would destroy the recruiting momentum Turner Gill had been building. The team may still only win a couple games this year; it’s too soon to declare all the errors of week one permanently corrected. But this win goes a long way towards getting KU football back on track.

Other random bits:

A bit odd being back in Lawrence after so long. We didn’t spend a lot of time in town, but the areas I did see had changed a lot. The biggest shock was the Big Yellow House I lived in for two years is now brown. How dare they!

The beer is still cold and tasty at Louise’s West.

Love how it’s been beaten into most KU fans’ heads that we should wear blue on game days. I don’t think I owned a true KU blue shirt when I was in school. Now everyone rocks the proper color at games. A very good change.

Not a fan of the uniform tweaks this year. I preferred the gray pants to the white and the black shoes to white. Not having names on the backs of jerseys is just dumb.

In the era of Madden and lengthy NFL breakdown shows, it’s fun to go to football games and hear every guy complaining about every play during breaks in the action. “Did you see the linebackers come up? Why the hell are we doing that?” “What are we thinking not keeping a back in to block on third and nine?” Everyone is an expert now.

Taco John’s failed to properly season our post-game Potato Oles. An indefensible tragedy.

You know you’re old when you spend a lot of time in a college time saying, “I hope these kids are appreciating their college years.”

Oh yeah, Rock Chalk, bitches!

❖

Mixed Bag

March 22, 2010 / DB

Some weekend. Two days in Kansas City to honor a good friend who is getting married in about a month. Plenty of good food* and good times. A spring snow storm that made travel treacherous Saturday night and the weekend extra memorable. A dicey Sunday morning in which I wasn’t 100% sure I was going to be in any condition to fly home.

(Oklahoma Joe’s, Gates’, and The Peanut.)

And then the bad, a certain basketball game in Oklahoma City.

I’m terribly disappointed that my Jayhawks decided to play their worst game of the season in the second round of the NCAA tournament. I think this team was capable of winning it all, despite the flaws they exhibited all season that were most pronounced Saturday. It’s frustrating that Bill Self appears, for now, to be more Lute Olsen than Coach K.* And worst of all is that Sherron went out so poorly, both individually and with the loss.

(Not that that’s all bad. A lot of schools would have taken Lute’s Arizona career.)

I must admit, I’m not taking this loss as badly as some of the past losses. First off, when evaluating a loss, I think you have to take the big picture into account. An early loss is far worse when a team had a chance to win it all. So this certainly joins the UTEP, Arizona, and Rhode Island losses at the top of the list. While it took time, Arizona has been removed from the top of the list since they went on to beat two other #1 seeds and win the tournament.

What differentiates 2010 from 1992 and 1998, though, is 2008. Winning the title two years ago erased much of the pain of those earlier losses, along with the various Final Four and Elite Eight losses that happened since 1988. I think most non KU fans outside of the Kansas City area operate under a kind of Bill Simmons’ Five Year Rule. I’ve had several people around Indy tell me there was no pressure on KU fans this year because we had just won it. Aside from the anti-KU contingent in KC, I think that absolves some of the pain, too. We have the recent memory of that great team and their run to fall back on. Mizzou and K-State fans might mock, but that’s part of any rivalry.

Oh, and getting older helps, too. As much as 2008 helped wipe out some of those old losses, it also closed a chapter in the lives of many of us who were in school in the late 80s and early 90s and had our fandom colored with the “great but never quite great enough program” stamp. With Mario’s Miracle, suddenly we were free to act like near 40-year-olds instead of being stuck in our mid-20s.

Anyway, for whatever reason, this hurts less. The most disappointing thing to me is all the people, both fans and pundits, who are throwing the “I saw this coming” or “Certain players were problems all year” cards around. Many of those same people were picking KU to win it all just a week ago. Many of those people were lauding KU for beating K-State, a Sweet 16 team, for the third time a week ago. The football fight, Tyshawn’s issues, and whatever unconfirmed drama that may surround the Henry brothers didn’t suddenly torpedo a team that had won 33 games.

We played poorly and were matched against the prototypical mid-major team that is well equipped for a March upset: UNI had legitimate size, deep shooting threats, good ball handlers, and experience. I hoped the fact UNI was a known factor by most in the basketball world would get the guys focused. Guess not. They came out flat and other than the late rally, never looked good.

So now I’m trying to adhere to the policy I adopted a few years ago: don’t let one game ruin an entire season. While we are, without a doubt, the disappointment of the tournament, it was still a fantastic season. A sixth-straight conference championship. A conference tournament title. The #1 overall seed in the tournament. One loss should not outweigh the joy that 33 wins brought. One bad game should not erase all the good memories of a four-plus month season.

When I look back on the 2010 Jayhawks, I’ll always be disappointed that they came up short. Even at KU, teams that are the favorite to win the national championship don’t come along every year. We’ll still be quite good next year, and the year after that, and the year after that. Whether we’re a #1 seed again in the next couple years, or only a two or three or four, we’ll have enough talent to win four games and get to the Final Four. Whether we add to our history of big wins in March or upset losses remains to be seen.

Rock Chalk, bitches.

❖

KC Trippin’

October 26, 2009 / DB

The travel gods were with us, for the most part, and we had a successful trip to-and-from Kansas City over the girls’ fall break.

First, our biggest thanks to our many friends who cleared their schedules, opened their homes, and loaded up on Boulevard Wheat to spend time with us. While the large number of kids under six running around both Friday and Saturday nights meant our adult conversation to kid chasing ratio was approximately 1:3, we still enjoyed seeing everyone.

As I said, the traveling went pretty well. On the trip out, the girls were excellent. As tends to happen when we travel on I-70 with girls in the van, we ran into a one-hour delay due to an accident that blocked both sides of I-70 near Columbia, but the girls were troopers and were just slightly fussy by the time we rolled into the Plaza.

The trip back was not quite as good; C. was suffering from the funk that comes with sleeping in a bed other than your own for three nights. She was a bit of a beast for the eight hours we were in the van, but the other two girls were excellent. Again we ran into an accident just east of Columbia, but fortunately this one was minor and only delayed us about 15 minutes. And we drive through 45 minutes of rain rather than four hours as we did on Thursday.

As for the eats, I have to admit, 2009 was not a good eating year for me in Kansas City. I spent parts of seven days in the city this year, and only had real Kansas City barbecue twice. What the hell is wrong with me? Our obstacle this time was the lack of kid food options at most barbecue joints. Our girls are opening up their palates a bit, but I think pulled pork or ribs is still a bit of a stretch for them. Thanks to the N’s, we had Gates for dinner on Friday (And a President’s Platter at that! Memories of Royals O’Bashes past…) Our other best shot for barbecue was Friday at lunch. I was going to run out and grab something to bring back to the hotel, but given that it was already noon, I figured it would be a quicker trip to Planet Sub* than to Oklahoma Joe’s. Since the girls were hungry and cranky, speed was paramount.

(I realized that this fall is the 20th anniversary of my first trip to Yello Sub in Lawrence, and thus my first every Yello Sub sans dijon, my regular order for these past 20 years. Although I’m pretty sure my first ever had dijon on it. I don’t think I strayed from that order until 2001 or 2002, when Planet Sub opened on the Plaza and I was able to eat it more frequently, and thus try new things. I did eat a Creamy Crab once in college when a roommate ordered one and didn’t like it, but I never actually ordered something other than the Yello (Planet) Sub for 12-13 years.)

Friday day kind of sucked. It was nasty cold and windy. We tried walking the three blocks from our hotel to Barnes and Noble and the girls did not tolerate it very well. My step-dad drove up to meet us and we ended up driving over to the Starbucks rather than walk. So one day of Plaza strolling eliminated.

We stayed at the Sheraton Suites, which I highly recommend. The girls did pretty well at night. M. and C. slept on the pull-out, usually with S. or I needing to lay between them until they drifted off to eliminate “C./M. stop touching me!” type comments. L. slept with us, which she adored. All the girls loved looking out our windows, which from our 15th floor perch, offered a nice view of the Plaza. We could see my old apartment building, as well, which the girls thought was cool. I enjoyed looking down on the hill I used to stroll down to go out on weekend, to go to S.’s, or just take on my path over to the Trolley Trail when I was running.

I made the mistake of telling M. to get away from the windows when we were in the process of changing her clothes Friday afternoon. Naturally she took that as a challenge and spent the next five minutes flashing the people in the office building opposite our room. Is it child porn if you don’t stop your kid from showing her who-ha to the world?

Our girls joined with Caroline N. and Meredith M. to form a girls club Friday night. No boys allowed! The four of them seemed to hit it off, although C., as is her current default, was a but aloof from the group, playing in parallel but not necessarily with all the time.

Saturday was a gorgeous day, perfect for walking around and taking in all the Plaza fountains, which the girls loved. We met my dad for lunch, then went back to hotel, where everyone proceeded to crash for the next two-plus hours. By the time we were all awake, the KU game had started and we needed to begin getting ready for our evening commitments.

For old-time sake, we cruised over to the Hen House in Fairway to pick up some items for breakfast and van snacking on Sunday. If we went to Hen House, that means we had to go to BerbigL. on the way back to the hotel, just like every Sunday grocery shopping trip from 2000-2003. I carefully placed a 20-pack of Unfiltered Wheat in the back of the van to carry home.

Saturday evening we met many friends at the B’s home. Lots of kids running around, and I think they all did remarkably well. I don’t remember any tantrums; no need to correct me if I’m wrong. It was funny watching L. jet around and check everything out. I think this was her first big social gathering since she started walking, and she seemed to enjoy it.

When we left, I was a bit bummed that I had such brief conversations with all my KC friends. I realized, though, that in only a few more years, we’ll be able to do this again and ignore the kids and talk all we want. So it will get better as the kids get older.

That’s 1000 words, probably more than any of you care to read. As always, it was fantastic being back in KC. The visits are always bittersweet, but I’m fortunate that I get to make them often and see both my best friends and the city I grew up in regularly. It’s good to be home, but I’m looking forward to 2010, which promises several trips to KC, thanks to weddings and whatnot.

Again, huge thanks to everyone who spent time with us over the weekend. We loved seeing you and all of you are welcome here in Indy any time.

❖

Trippin’

July 1, 2008 / DB

Another outstanding trip back to the motherland of Kansas City. My thanks to all of those who hosted me, dined with me, provided Royals tickets, etc. Chris N., John and Christie N., Erick and Ann R., Sean and Sarah M., Dave V., Omar E., Billy and Stacey B., Steve and Jennifer B., Mary and Derek Y. I think that’s everyone. Forgive me if I left your name out.

We’ll run through some details quickly.

I did quite well dining.

Friday lunch: Ted’s Montana Grill. I know it’s not a local place – we have one here in Carmel that I’ve managed not to visit in four years – but it did allow me to check out the Power & Light district for the first time.

Friday dinner before Royals game – Gates. After being denied on my last two visits, they finally had some burnt ends for me. Worth the wait. Although our party did learn that you shouldn’t order the turkey leg and yam dinner until the fall, despite it being on the menu.

Lunch Saturday – Oklahoma Joe’s. Carolina Style and Fries. Classic.

Dinner Saturday at Royals game – Sheboygan brat. I thought about doing Gates again, but figured I needed a little real ballpark food.

Lunch Sunday – Jack’s Stack. Martin City Mayor and beans.

Dinner Sunday – My step-dad and I went to a little, quick Italian place near his home that is owned by one of the Cascones, so I got some authentic KC Italian food as well.

And at least 11 Boulevard Unfiltered Wheats, at least eight of which game Saturday.

Speaking of Boulevard, one of the highlights of my visit was getting the worst hangover I’ve had in years. I thought my guys’ weekend at the lake in May prepared me for a busy night at the K and on the Plaza afterwards. Not true. I think I was still hanging on Monday. I know I’ve had one bad hangover since moving here. The last time I remember feeling as crappy as I did Sunday was December 1998, after the first Sinatra Party.

I got to see the Royals extend their winning streak on Friday with a fine win over the Cardinals, then I saw the streak end Saturday night with a bad loss. I liked the changes to the ballpark and will be eager to see it again when everything has been completed.

I’m sure a certain segment of my friends is annoyed by having to deal with this every day, but I enjoyed all the KU fans who are walking around with their chests puffed up a little while wearing their crimson and blue gear. I made a purchase for the girls so they can show off when preschool begins in the spring.

I think normally in these posts I say a little something about what it’s like to return to KC and how things have changed since my most recent visit, since I lived there, and so on. I’m not sure if I’ve had this revelation before, but I really noticed this time that I can’t always have the trip I planned before my visit. I think I still expect for my experience to be like living there again. Here’s the best way I can explain it: since I came without the wife and kids this time, I thought I would have lots of free time to do the little things I used to do when I was a resident. I figured I’d walk around the Plaza each day, maybe take a walk on the Trolley Trail one morning (since I don’t run anymore), etc. The small things I took for granted when I could just walk out my door and do them. Even with the extra time that comes with traveling alone, I wasn’t able to do those things. I was busy visiting with friends, commuting, and nursing my hangover (admittedly that’s my own fault). But as with every vacation, time just flies too fast. I can’t complain, because I spent a lot of quality time with friends and family, which is the most important reason for making the visit. I guess this is the final element of coming to terms with the fact I’ve moved, five years later. While I can cram in a lot of fun stuff on a visit, there will always be things that I just can’t get to.

I have a couple fun travel stories. I flew through Chicago O’Hare both ways. I expected to have a lengthy lay-over coming back, but when I landed I saw there was an earlier flight to Indy. I got on the stand-by list and I was listed as fourth on the screens at the gate. The screens also said the flight was full, but I hung around just in case. At the last moment, they started calling stand-by names and hustling people on-board. They called my name, gave me a new boarding pass, and basically ran me down the jet-way. I got on and saw the flight attendant was blocking the path to where my seat was, which I assumed meant all the seats behind her were full. Great, I thought, they made a mistake. She checked and saw someone had decided to switch seats on their own and was refusing to move, so she asked me if I would take his seat. No problem. I sit down, send a quick text message to let the people in Indy know I’d be early, and look up to see the gate agent is running by me, back to where I was supposed to be sitting, calling my name. I got his attention and he said they had to take me off the flight. I made a noise of disappointment and he began apologizing loudly and profusely. Turned out one of the people who didn’t show up was an unattended minor. Since United agents were bringing her from her earlier flight, and she was their responsibility, they had to let her on. Understandable. But the guy apologized about four times once we got back out to the gate. I think he thought I was really pissed. I kept telling him it was no problem and that I’d just go eat some lunch. Other than that, my flights were uneventful.

When I dropped off my car at KCI, the young man helping me noticed the Jayhawk on my shirt and made a joke about how he doesn’t see too many North Carolina shirts since the Final Four. We talked about that for a few minutes and then he asked me if I went to KU and when I graduated. I said yes. He then asked me if I had a Master’s degree and where I got it. He told me he was attending Park University but wanted to transfer to KU. He asked me, “Please give me your honest opinion: would that be a good idea?” I should point out the young man was from Kenya and had a lovely east African accent. We talked through that a bit and I asked what part of Kenya he was from. He is from Nairobi and I told him my wife spent some time in Eldoret when she was in medical school. He got really excited about that and we talked about that for a few moments. Finally, sensing he needed to get back to work, he said, “I have enjoyed our conversation. Thank you.” I forget his name (Ronald? Roland?), but if any of you encounter a nice Kenyan lad at the Kansas City Avis office, tell him hello for me.

Thanks again to all who adjusted their weekend plans to hang out with me. It was great seeing you all and I hope we can do it again soon.

Good Weekend

December 11, 2006 / DB

Many things happened this weekend. For those of you who missed it, I made a surprise (to some) visit back to KC for the annual Sinatra Party. I dusted off the suit, made some cursory efforts to get the liver in shape, and although I didn’t do nearly as much damage to the scotch supply as I have done in years past, I did enjoy my time in KC immensely. It was great to see all of you who were present to honor Frank. It is worth noting that in the one year that I missed the Sinatrafest, things have calmed down significantly. Two years ago, a few of us jokers were still pouring scotch down our gullets at 3:00 AM. Saturday, right around 10:30 there was a mass exodus. Seriously, roughly half the people at the party at the time fled within five minutes of each other. Smart money guessed that all those folks needed to relieve their sitters by 11:00. A core group of eight or so made it to 1:15ish, and then we gave up. I will say, though, I felt much better on Sunday than I did two years ago the day after the party.

For those who track my food intake during my travels, it was a pretty solid 32 hours or so. Gates for lunch on Saturday (more about that in a second), Minsky’s for dinner before the party officially got under-way, and Jack’s Stack for lunch Sunday. The only downer was the fact that for the second straight time, Gates on Paseo was out of burnt ends. How can that happen? It’s Kansas City’s signature barbecue specialty, and they’re out for at least two times, both if which happen to be days I’m there to order them. Oh well.

There was more to the weekend, though. Things got started with a bang Friday afternoon. I was about to go run some errands when I noticed the house was a little chilly. I bumped the heat up a degree or two to kick it on and….nothing happened. I bumped it up a few more. Still nothing. Finally, I pushed it up to 80 and still no sounds of burners firing up from the basement. I went down and checked what I know how to check. The power was on, the gas was working, the breaker hadn’t been tripped. I figured I better call someone since it was 3:15 on a Friday. They got out fairly quickly and found that the inductor motor, or something like that, had failed. Great. It had been 7 above the night before. Not a good time for the heat to be out. They said they had the part, but would have to have it sent up from the warehouse downtown. That took about two hours, they got back to work, and around 8:15 discovered the wrong part had been sent up. Terrific, no heat for the night and the girls were already in bed. So we piled some blankets on M. and hoped she’d sleep through. We put C. in our bed and rounded up more blankets and crawled under them. It didn’t get too bad; I was even hot under all the layers, and our house stayed above 50. We had a friend of a friend who lost her heat the night before and her house was below 40 the next morning. Still, it was pretty brisk when I got out of bed to go to the airport Saturday. Happily, the heat was fixed by the time I landed in KC that afternoon. Home ownership is grand.

KC Trip Summary

July 31, 2006 / DB

I made it back to Indy as scheduled, and as tired as expected, yesterday. C. gave us a pretty good night, which was much appreciated all around. My step-dad seems to be doing pretty good, and when I talked to him this morning, the plan is still to release him sometime tomorrow. I think he’s still got some work to do in areas unrelated to his heart, but I’m encouraged by how quickly his body is coming around.

Despite the weighty family issues going on, I was able to drop in on some of my favorite KC spots. Here’s a quick list:

Lunch at Houlihan’s. Yeah, a chain, but a KC-based chain at least, and even after they got booted off of the Plaza, it’s still a quintessential KC spot.
Dinner (and leftovers the next day) at Garrozzo’s. I chose much better this time as compared to my selection in April (Capelli D’Angelo vs. Three Way Pasta).
A Sheboygan brat at a Royals game.
Lunch at D’Bronx, my old stand-by the Wild Bill. Mmmmm, pastrami! First trip there in well over three years.
Dinner from Oklahoma Joe’s.
Lunch at Gates.
Take-out wings from The Peanut for dinner.
A stop into the Gran Falloon along the way.
Seven Boulevard Wheats, three Boulevard Pale Ales, and five Fat Tires.
Pretty good eating and drinking, all things considered.

It was great to see everyone I saw last week, and I appreciate the kind thoughts and prayers from those of you who expressed them. They’ve helped tremendously.

Post Vacation Blahs

July 11, 2005 / DB

There’s nothing like the feeling of coming home after a vacation. You get to sleep in your own bed, control the food in the refrigerator, don’t have to be polite to people anymore. Yet there’s also the sense of malaise that kicks in. After all, you’ve probably been looking forward to the trip for several months and now it has come and gone.

I must say, our daughter did phenomenally well on the trip. She survived an extra hour tacked onto the trip to KC with only a slight meltdown. Hell, I was ready to get out of the car by that point too. Curiously, she averaged about an extra hour of sleep each day. Couldn’t have anything to do with the sun coming up later there, now could it? I was also a little surprised at how well she did when forced to interact with lots of strangers. She’s met many people in her 11+ months, but rarely has she had to go through as many large social gatherings as she did last weekend. Kudos to M. for holding it together and generally being quite friendly with people.
As always, going back to KC is a bit weird for me. Lots of nostalgia. This time, I spent a lot of time thinking about how our lives would be if we had not moved to Indy. Where would we eat? Where would we buy groceries? Where would we take our dry cleaning? If we spent most of our time with friends A, B, and C two years ago, would we still be spending a proportional amount of time with the same friends? Or would it now be A, D, and K? (Please note, these letters have no significance, so don’t try to figure out if we’re snubbing anyone.) I mean, our lives did change dramatically when S. ended her residency and began practicing. If we were still in KC, would the only thing that was different now be that we owned a home rather than rented two apartments? And, as we shared with a few of you, we thought it interesting that since we’re leaning towards the Catholic school route for our kids, while we might have enjoyed 3-6 years living with 75% of our friends within walking distance, at the end of the time frame many of you would be moving to the suburbs as your kids started school. Sometimes it feels like not that much changes in our lives, since I think I stay in reasonably good contact with many of you. Then when we see each other, I realize that we’ve all changed a lot. And in very good ways.
S. did express some frustration that each time she tried to tell someone a story, she got this response. “Yeah, I read about that on the blog.” So I’m simultaneously proving how effective I’ve been at accomplishing my biggest goal in blogging and undermining my wife’s story-telling opportunities. Not sure if that’s good or bad in total.
Big thanks to everyone who hosted us at any event last weekend. It made it much easier to see the majority of our friends in a fairly brief visit. As several of us noted, however, with kids to look after and lots of adults to mingle with, at times it was difficult to truly catch-up with each other. My apologies to anyone I didn’t spend quality time with. It was not intentional, I assure you.
On the agenda for this week is finally completing my grad school application and getting that fired off to Bloomington by the end of the week. Cleaning off my desk. Sorting through some boxes of books and other things I brought back from my step-dad’s house. And hopefully some interesting topics to blog about.

Now Playing: <strong>The Stone Roses – I Am The Resurrection</strong>

Damn

October 15, 2004 / DB

1:00 AM, my night home alone with M., and I can’t sleep. I don’t get it. I’m basically off the caffeine. It’s not like I did anything this evening that got me hyped up so that I couldn’t sleep. Perhaps, though, this is how I get her to sleep when S.’s working. Of the last five nights, M. has slept for at least seven hours during four of those nights. The other night, she slept only four hours then had a two hour fit. If you guessed the night she didn’t sleep was the night S. was working, you just won yourself a duck. The 8 1/2 hour sleep is the shit, though. There’s nothing like getting up at 4:00 to make the preemptive bottle because you hear some noise coming from the baby’s room, and then getting to sleep 3+ hours before you actually have to use the bottle.
I praised the virtues of watching the St. Louis Cardinals play earlier this week. Allow me to break it down a little and say Albert Pujols might be the most enjoyable hitter to watch in the game right now. It’s absolutely sick how good that guy is. Fox is using some funky camera angle at Busch so I have no idea where pitches are, but he crushed a pitch that appeared to be up and away tonight to left field. In modern baseball, you send that same pitch to right. No way do you pull it. But Albert did. Sure he grew up elsewhere, but it’s pretty cool that his US roots are in Kansas City and there’s a small claim to him.
If you look up prick in the dictionary, will you find Jeff Kent’s picture there? To parrot Jim Rome’s line, this is the guy that made Barry Bonds seem like a decent guy. Kent always looks like he’s ready to whine about something, and generally does anytime someone gives him an opportunity. He didn’t even look happy after he hit a home run in game one; he was too busy bitching about something Mike Matheny said to him once he got back to the dugout.
Speaking of Kansas City, I caught a portion of A&E’s More American Eats yesterday that had a lengthy section on barbecue that was truly fascinating. I had no idea that barbecue was often used as a social event by politicians in the pre and post-revolution days. Kind of an old school Get Out The Vote effort. The bigger barbecue you threw, the higher your social status was. I need to really go all out when I finally buy a smoker, I guess. The program went into a little detail on the different styles of barbecue, but rather smartly focused on Kansas City, stating it was the capital of corporate barbecue. Here’s one for you KC residents to put into your caps: the old Penny’s barbecue, which became Arthur Bryant’s, is in many ways credited with speeding integration in Kansas City. It was so good that even affluent whites went into the heart of black KC to purchase fine smoked meats. Noted food historian Calvin Trillin painted the lovely picture of troops coming over from Fort Riley in integrated groups and “walking into the greatest restaurant in the world” and seeing whites and blacks dining in the same room. The message of integration that had been drummed into their heads in basic training was validated in the real world. See, barbecue isn’t just tasty, it’s helped bring us together as a people. So take that Memphis, Texas, and Carolina! Bonus points to A&E for making sure KC specialty burnt ends got some air time.