Going Home

One good thing about the KC airport...it has free WiFi. However, it's kinda funky in that there is a small security checkpoint every 5 gates or so, which is probably good. However, this means that there are limited food options once you get into the gate area. My gate had a Wolfgang Puck. Hey Wolfie, thanks for the delish $12 sandwich, chips and coke.

I had the change to drive around a bit when it wasn't either dark or raining. KC lives up to its name as the city of fountains. They are everywhere. And, given how much it rained the last three days, they are going dry any time soon. Oh, another observation: folks here aren't as into the dental work thing as in LA. Very British of them, I suppose.

So, my meetings went fine and the client was great about setting everything up. She's a late 20's, one kid, marathon/tri-athlete over achieving type. She's a totally can-do person, which makes my job a lot easier.

Fortunately, the worst of the thunderstorms have left the area. My flight (coming in from Tampa) is on time and it looks like we'll have clear sailing....or at least we'll leave on time, which is what counts. I'm looking forward to getting home and seeing the HB and sleeping in my own bed with my wife. Since we've been on a week drought I'm hoping that she's in the mood since I'll be gone beach camping in San Diego this weekend with the HB and my nephew.

More KC

Things are going well with my client here, which is nice. If things go well on this project I'm sure that there will be some follow-up work. Everyone's been midwest friendly, etc.

There are some things I have noticed in my short time here. Certain areas of KC are gentrifying, which is probably good as it enabled me to find a good new restaurant. Second, and there's just not a nice way to put it, but there are a lot of seriously fat people in this town. Don't get me wrong. Me and the wife are pretty averaged sized (I'm 5' 10 and btw 160-170 and she's 5'4 and in the one 135ish neighborhood), so I'm not comparing the locals to Nicole Richie. But gheeze, I must of had at least one 3oolber in all of my meetings the last two days. They're nice people and all, but I'm used to being around healthier people in LA and other places I go. Made me skip the brisket and go for chicken for dinner tonight.

The KC Royals beat the LA Angeles AGAIN today (3 in a row), so one one guy here has been giving me some good natured ribbing. I'm looking foward to heading home tomorrow and sleeping in my own bed for a night. Then it's off to beach camp on Friday and Saturday nights with the HB and my nephew.

Speaking of the nephew, my uncle REALLY wants to go back to Yosemite in the fall for some hiking and I was going to invite the nephew to come along. No, I doubt the HB would join us since he's just not into hiking and I don't want him making all of us miserable. But, the nephew's a bit hesitant about going without the HB. A nice sentiment on his part. I'll chat with him about it this weekend. Of course, I just found out this morning that I need to be in Chicago the Sunday of the weekend we were planning on, so back to the drawing board for that plan. Sigh....I'll make it work.

Kansas City, Kansas City Here I Am

Greetings from Kansas City. It's my first time here. I always like to go someplace new and, as a jazz fan, I'm glad that I'm here. Unfortch, not much jazz is happening on a Tuesday night. But, I did find some cool places to hang her in the Westport section of town.

Getting here kind of sucked. My flight landed at about midnight and I had to wait about 45 fucking minutes for the shuttle to where all of the rental cars are. So, it was about 2am before my head hit he pillow. Good thing that my first meeting wasn't until 10:30am.

After the morning meetings, my clients took me to a local place for bbq. Now, I'm not a huge red meat eater, but this place was amazing. I had a sausage and brisket sandwich. Shit, I'm drooling again just thinking about it. One of my clients isn't much of a meat eater either, so I don't know if I'll get a second batch for lunch tomorrow. But, there's always dinner.

We've got typical Midwest summer weather--hot, humid and thunderstorms. About as unlike LA as one can get.

Back tomorrow and hopefully after hearing some music.

Being a Homebody

This time a year my Friday's at work can be pretty slow. Lots of people taking 3-day weekends, being on vacation, etc. So, it leaves me plenty of time to get other shit done.

First off was doing some backyard upkeep. Right before I started this blog we completely redid our backyard. We took out nearly all of the trees and put in native plants, cut back on the grass and started using stones for ground cover and got a hot tub (that was the key to the deal). The woman who helped us design all of this was great, though she seriously under charges, so we invited her back. I wanted to be sure that the sprinkler system was set properly for the summer and put in some trellises since our vines are growing, well, like weeds. So, after doing putting up the trellises (eye hooks and wires) on the wood fence, it was off to Osh to get some more serious hooks and a masonry drill bit so we could set the up on the wall. We finished off the afternoon by fertilizing just about everything. I'm not really much of a gardener, but it was a fun way to spend a few hours. The backyard lady is good conversation, so the time went quickly.

After putzing around in the backyard, I picked up the HB at camp (my wife had some late meetings). Usually when I pick him up I like for us to go do something as opposed to him playing gameboy for an hour and/or getting into it with the budding sociopath. So, we went kayaking in the marina. We had gone previously and he was so-so on it, I think because he wasn't physically strong enough. But, this time he really dug it and paddled most of the time. We'll give it another try in a week or two to see if he's still interested and/or it's worth getting a season pass or buying one.

Back in the Swing of Things

I made it back from Salt Lake without any serious problems, besides this guy talking incessantly in line while we were waiting to board. At least that was off-set by the smokin' hot woman who was behind me.

Speaking of smokin' hot, my Angels are on fire. Even when they were down 4-0 to the Pirates last night I had the feeling they would come back and win, as they did. Tonight the wife and I are going to the game. I have a buddy, we'll call him TL, who has season tickets. I've known TL since junior high school. He was a guy who didn't have much direction, so he joined the service. He ended up going into special ops and apparently was involved in some fucked up shit in the late 80s. After he was discharged it really ate him up for a while and he started drinking a lot. Eventually, he got popped with a few months in jail for a DUI. He was able to keep his job (which is a pretty good one) and figured out that he didn't really have to try and be a bad-ass anymore. He still drinks (ironically, his favorite bar is right across the street from where he was in jail), has a steady girl (who likes to party) and seems to have a better perspective on things.

When we were younger he wasn't into baseball. Both he and I are HUGE Raider fans and I converted him into a University of Tennessee fan as well. But, his company has had tickets for a while and when his boss started giving him some and he went to more games he developed more of an appreciation. Now, his boss essentially buys the season tickets for LT to use (a nice off the books bonus). He invites me a few times a year and I'll put down the tip at his fave bar (he essentially drinks there for free) and buy the first round at the games. Tonight's the first time the wife and I will double-date with him and it should be fun. The stadium's on the way to my parents' house (woot! Free baby-sitting) so we'll meet up and have a couple of pops and got to game. Afterwards, the wife and I will probably hit our fave bar for a night cap (it's near my parents). Should be a fun night.

I'll write some more in a bit.

Greetings from SLC

So, I'm in the 2002 Olympic City for the Rotary International Convention. I haven't been here in a few years and I must say things are better. First, there are some micro-breweries in downtown and the beer is pretty good. Second, it's a bit more of, well, a city. Monday night I found a blues club. Now, I'm not gonna say that anyone playing in the jam session was gonna make you forget about Buddy Guy or Eric Clapton. But, there were a fair number of decent musicians, including an Asian-American who sang some pretty good Elmore James. What struck me was the number of inter-racial couples and women with tattoos. As for the former, there just aren't that many African-Americans in town, so it shouldn't be too surprising. As for the latter, Utah has always attracted its fair share of bikers, and with the great snowboarding and mountain biking it's not really a shocker that the city is attracting more 'outsiders'. But, it makes for a good vibe.

My hotel is quite fashionable with vertically stripped wall paper and leopard patterned bathrobes. It even has a FREE happy hour. Oh, did I mention it is a very gay friendly hotel? No matter. The service is great and it has an awesome gym and restaurant. I'd totally stay here again.

The convention is OK. I like meeting Rotarians from New Zealand because they are so much fun and I know a lot of people there from my club's work with New Zealand high school students. But, I've met Rotarians from Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and Australia since I've been here. It's very cool.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, y'all. Had quite the family 24 hrs here. First, my my b-i-l was in town. He's always on the death watch for my m-i-l. She's in bad shape, but not going any time soon, but he made the visit anyway. So we kicked around with him yesterday. That evening my nephew asked if the HB could sleep over at his house, so that meant that the wife and I had an impromptu date night. So, we.....ripped out the dilapidated remains of the HB's closet organizer. Ok, then we knocked it out.

The next day we got together with my wife's family and went to the Getty Museum. I was OK with this as long as I had time to watch the last round of the US Open, which I was recording (man, Tiger just could not make a good shot when he needed one). There were two great things at the Getty. First, was this Manet.



Also, there was an excellent photographic exhibit on the LA river. So, that was time well spent.

We got home, I watched the Open the we went to my parents for dinner (spag and sausages). It was a good Dad's day.

I'm off to Salt Lake City tomorrow. With good internet access I'll post while I'm there. Otherwise, it won't be until Thursday.
It's a very modern painting with the two perspectives.

Fix It Day

I can tell it's summer because my Friday's are getting slow and/or I have a day at the office. This was OK today since the HB had an off (no camp) day and my wife still isn't feeling well. I was bailed out a bit when we lined up for the HB to go to a friend's house (they usually have marathon play sessions). Then it was time to knock stuff off of my list.

First, like a dumbshit, I lost the e-mail with my hotel confirmation for my trip to the Rotary International Convention next week. I tried to call the Salt Lake convention bureau (who said they could get me the reservation info since I made it through them). But, their call center closes at 5pm PDT (well, based on m phone all 4:45) and they have a sllllooooowwww e-mail response system. So, I put the phone on speaker and sat on hold for a while. But, I did finally get a person and she sent me the info (right before the 12-hour auto-response from their system from my request last night).

Next, off to solve some office problems. First, my phone crapped the bed while we were in Yosemite. Radio Shack diagnosed the phone problem not as the battery, but in the handset. So, I went to Fry's, where I got it to see if they had replacements. I also needed to go there to get a gender changer (9 pin F/25 pin F) so that my monitor would plug into my port replicator. I wanted to get a credit/refund for a part I had bought a couple of months ago, but a long line and down systems discouraged me from that. So, I find out that they don't have the connector I'm looking for AND my phone's been discontinued. So that was a waste. I went back to Radio Shack to try a new battery just in case, and, well, the first person was right. So, I checked on Consumer Reports, found a good phone on the Fry's website. I called my local store and they didn't have it in stock (of course). But, the website also had the connector I need. So, I said, "Fuck it, I can wait a few days to get the phone since I'll be out of town most of next week" and ordered the shit online.

Next up was draining, then refilling, the jacuzzi. It's actually a pretty easy process that doesn't take all that long. In fact, I'll probably jump in after making this post.

Then I had to take my car in. I had my windshield replaced after getting tired of hearing my wife bitch about the crack. So, I got it changed, but they left a rattle. I took it in once and they didn't fix it, so I took it again and gave the mechanic a test drive so he could hear it. After listening to the usual mechanic crap (I don't see how changing the windshield would cause that...) he said if I left it for a day he would check it out. So, I'll drop it off there before heading to the airport on Monday.

Last trip was to the bike shop. I got mine tuned up and needed to get the HB a new helmet. The wife bought him one with a Schwinn label, but it's a piece of shit in terms of fitting. It has the weirdest straps. I tried to find a site on how to properly adjust it, but found nothing and the guys at the bike shop were at a loss as well. The HB and I stopped off at the park for some Frisbee.

I started whipping up an early dinner as the HB and the wife were off to a Mother-Son dance (awwwww) that's put on by a friend of mine from another Rotary club. The wife really sucked it up to go because she's not feeling well.

I'm off to watch the Angels-Dodgers game.

Back from the Mountains

Thanks for hanging in there with me while I was gone in Yosemite with my family and my uncle and aunt. The hotel where we were staying did not have local dial-up service and the "high-speed" wireless was for shit (my uncle bought it and I tried it), especially since they were charging $10/day. So, I barely got to check any e-mail, let alone make any blog posts.

Getting to Yosemite on Sunday was a breeze. No LA traffic to contend with and we didn't get stuck behind any trucks on the way up the mountain. So, we made the 280 mile trip (with a lunch stop) in about 4 hours and 15 minutes. Earlier in the day my aunt and uncle made the obligatory stops in the valley floor (Glacier Point, Bridalveil Falls, Lower Yosemite Falls, etc) so we met them at the hotel in the afternoon. Being a trooper on the way earned the HB some pool time and my uncle and I got to hike to a waterfall behind the hotel. This was our first indication that the drought in LA extended to the Sierra Nevada in that there wasn't nearly as much water in the creek as last year. We went to a decent local place for Mexican food and stopped in a market for some food basics for the next few days.

The next day we headed out on Highway 120 (Tioga Pass) to the north part of the valley. We hadn't been that way before and we didn't feel any great need to battle the crowds in the valley. We saw redwoods in Tuolumne Grove then went to Olmsted Point. Needless to say, this was spectacular.



The next day, my uncle and I went on the BIG HIKE to the top of Chilnualna Falls. We chose a hike on this side of the valley rather than the other because when he and my aunt were at Glacier Point they said that the falls were better on that side. It was a great day for hiking and the journey was almost a great as the destination. When we got to the top we found what I would like to think was a Miwok jacuzzi.




And, some spectacular vistas.




When we got back from the hike we had some great news. The HB had lost a tooth!




We didn't have big plans the last day, but my wife had the shits and bad stomach (that continued our sex drought when we got back). She was feeling so crummy that we got a late check out so the imodium had a chance to work for the drive home.

But, everyone had a good time and my uncle wants to hike the eastern portion of the park in the fall. We'll see.

Saturday 8

1. do you have an exercise routine currently?

I'm good for 30 minutes a day. I prefer to go for a bike ride at the beach, but I also have a NordicTrak for days when the weather or work won't allow for the ride.

2. what's the most amount of money per month that you would pay for a gym?

$0. I think they are a waste.

3. have you ever been unable to exercise, for instance, due to an injury, lack of funds or time, etc.?

I've had issues with my back being really tight. But a physical therapist gave me some great stretches which has really gotten rid of the problem.

4. have you ever had a friend or family member that exercised TOO much, to the point that they were anorexic (or very, very close)?

No, unless you count Nicole Richie;-)

5. have you ever exercised too much, to the point where it was unhealthy?

Naw....I'm not that much of a fanatic.

6. have you ever had a negative experience at a gym (with other patrons, equipment, trainer) or with the gym themselves (billing, closings, etc.)?

No.

7. one form of exercise that seems bizarre to me is spinning as i cannot understand sitting on a stationary bike for an hour with some little skinny bitch screaming at you from HER stationary bike. what form of exercise do you not 'get' or would never try because it seems too weird to you?

I could never get behind aerobics because the music is like knives in my ear. Oh, the fashion aspect is just too over the top.

8. if you had two free, dedicated hours each day to do something athletic that would NOT take away from work, friends, or family time, and the unlimited funds to do it, what type of exercise would you do daily? lipo, by the way, does not count... ;)

Hm....either biking or hiking.

Getting Ready to Head Out

The family and I are heading to Yosemite on Sunday (hopefully I'll have some good pics to post). The HB's in hog heaven right now. Besides today being the first day of summer vacation, I got him a new bike today. I love our local bike shop. They sell good stuff and have great service (y'know, fixing little stuff without charging and giving accurate estimates), so I didn't mind paying a bit of a premium getting the bike there rather than at Target. Finally, the HB's having a buddy stay over (right now they're immersed in 8 year old porn....Gameboy).

Yosemite is a pretty regular destination for us. We really weren't planning on going this year. However, last year my uncle met us there and was blown away, so much so that he wanted to bring my aunt out this year. She wasn't able to make it last year since she had recently had neck surgery, but now they are convinced (rightly so) that there is plenty of stuff she'll really enjoy there. It's not a bad drive from here (about 4.5 hours) and it is just an amazing place. I'm looking forward to exploring parts of it outside of the valley floor.

In the mean time, my mom turns 70 this weekend, so we're going out for a fancy dinner tomorrow. It's a place she and my dad haven't been to and my mom LOVES seafood.

Today was (another) big day for my wife at work. She officially got her promotion (and the 8% raise that goes with it). Also, another one of her grants got funded. She's totally on a roll. I'm very proud of her.

On the work front, my new client signed on the dotted line (yay!) so I'll be heading to KC for the first time at the end of the month (too bad the Royals aren't in town).

Dunno if I'll be able to blog from our lodge near Yosemite, but I will if I can.

Memo to White House: The Constitution Works

Of the many things that gall me about Bush's "War on Terror" is his rationale that there are lots of Muslim's who hate freedom and, therefore, hate us. I'm no fan of Sharia Law or it's implications for society. But I sense that it's not so much our freedoms that the terrorist despise but how we willfully fall short of the promises of our Constitution. It's the promise of the document that leads to so many people from around the world to continue to come here.

As the Bush administration selectively shred what makes our country great, it was nice to see three affirmations that our system of government still works and that we are a nation of laws, not individuals.

1) Scooter's (probably) going to jail. I'm thinking those pleas for leniency by Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld probably didn't do him much good. His argument of, "I've been a good person, I shouldn't go to the slam" is a bunch of crap. He says that he should get leniency because he's spent so much of his adult life in public service the ultimate in hypocrisy. Cut me some slack because I undermined everything I worked for by trying to torpedo a federal investigation? Please. Having powerful people pay for their crimes separates us from banana republics. Which brings me to...

2) William Jefferson gets indicted. How this guy got re-elected shows how powerful a victim mentality can be in Louisiana. In brief, he's accused of using his office to steer business in Africa to his friends as long as he got a cut. Political parties hate throwing out their own, but to Speaker Pelosi's credit she has denied Jefferson some chairmanships that he normally would have gotten due to seniority. Of course, why he doesn't have the decency to resign (or be forced to) is beyond me. I just can't wait to hear his story about the $90k in cash he had in his freezer. What, he doesn't trust banks? Again, when the powerful get caught, democracy flourishes.

3) Military judges tell the White House that military tribunals in Guantanamo are a bunch of crap. Nothing is making us look worse in the world than our treatment of the prisoners in Gitmo. Preaching freedom to others while Bush comes up with different ways to hold kangaroo courts is shameful. Hm...so, the Supreme Court AND the military have told Bush that these people are entitled to a modicum of rights. What's he waiting for, Cheney to say it's OK? We are so far behind the curve on this I don't know how we can dig our way out. Given these guys legitimate trials would be a start.

Race and Sports

Gary Sheffield of the Detroit Tigers had this gem to offer when asked by GQ why there are not more blacks playing baseball. I'll cut him some slack that when he talks about 'his race' he really means African Americans and not necessarily Africans from Mozambique.

He was responding to the 'crisis' in baseball that there are so few African Americans playing the game. I blogged about this earlier, so I won't go into my arguments again. But Sheff brings up a point worth exploring. Are big league teams more interested in controlling their players than having the best ones out there? Is this control issue limited to baseball, or does it apply to other sports as well? If it applies to all sports, does this mean that we'll be seeing more Latin Americans (or Europeans or Asians) and fewer African Americans in the NBA?

Where his argument breaks down is when he says that if an African American and a Latino player are of the same ability the Latino player will make the team because, and these are Sheff's thoughts, the African American players give management too much shit. No kidding? Hm...two guys who play equally well, but this guy's a pain in the ass. Who should I keep? That's not racism, that's avoiding problems. Gary's got to put himself in management's position for a second.

Now, if the African American players are being treated worse and and rebelling against it, that's a different story. But, he's not saying that. Rather, he's implying that black players play the 'disrespect' card faster than Latin players. And, if that's the case it's a shame. Sports is one of the true meritocracies in our society. There is too much at stake for a team to reject someone for a reason other than his playing ability. I'm thinking if I saw a guy get cut/sent down instead of another guy of equal ability because he was running his mouth, I'd shut my pie-hole. I guess Sheffield has a different view.

Date from Heaven

In yesterday's post you (may) recall that my wife and I had big evening plans. In an almost unheard of event, things actually got better. She took the HB down to her mom's place (two doors down from where her sister and our nephew live) to help with her weekend stuff (shopping, hair done, etc.). I called her while I was out and about and figured that we'd all meet up around 5. About that time she called saying that they would probably stay down there for a while longer AND the HB was going to spend the night at my s-i-l's. Woot! This means I was able to watch both the Ducks-Sens Stanley Cup game and the Cavs-Pistons playoff game (ilu HDTV-DR).

The wife made it home at around 8. After her obligatory puttering, she made it pretty clear that sex was the top priority, which worked for me. She's one-and-done in the orgasm department and she definitely had a great one. After chatting about several post-coital options, we decided to go check out Spiderman 3 at the IMAX theater. Great popcorn movie in terms of the actions, etc. Not as good in the plot department or character development of the bad guys as the first two. But, I thought it was pretty cool.

Cleaning Up

There are many ways in which my wife and I are very compatible. One is that neither of us are pack-rats. The HB, being 8, has a LOT of shit. Well, yesterday we had a happy occurrence in that the HB's closet organizer (which came with the house) collapsed. No, he wasn't in the closet (he was probably singing and dancing to the Spamalot CD), so nobody got hurt. But, it does give us a chance to go through a bunch of stuff we don't need. I've already made one Goodwill run (hoping for another), given some stuff to a neighbor with grandkids, and now I'm off to a place in LA where they take household chemicals for proper disposal and electronics for recycling. I could spend the whole day doing this.

Crazy Week

Things just got nuts towards the end of this week. The HB was off of school both Th and Fri for parent teacher conferences and I had a lot going on with my Rotary Club and business.

The HB's conference went well. Yes, they'll continue to cash our checks. Also, he showed improvement where he needed to in school. The HB definitely has only child syndrome. If things don't go his way he'll tend to get more upset than a kid with siblings. He also longs for a 1 best friend. He's got plenty of buddies and fortunately he's getting less and less attached to the budding sociopath who lives a couple of doors down. He was pretty upset about this last night. The wife and I explained that we just can't drop a best friend out of the sky and reminded him on how he can be a better friend to others. Unfortch, this is something he's going to have to work through, though we did talk about finding him more activities in the afternoon.

The wife and I finally caught up on some sleep last night. Tonight she promised me a good anti-pasto, meaningful conversation and meaningless sex (her words), so we'll see where that takes us.

I'm waiting for one more person to sign off on a big new project. Hopefully that'll happen early next week. Even better is that one of my clients invited me to hang with a group of folks in their sky box at the Angels' game this Wednesday afternoon. I know, usually the consultant invites the client, but I've gotten him his company's tickets on several occasions (I do some projects for the folks who control such things) so he wanted to repay the favor, which I appreciate.