In years past I made a trip back to Cincinnati nearly every other month or so.  We always had weddings and parties to attend.  This year has been a little slower for us, and I actually haven’t been back to Cincy since Christmas.  That will all change tonight.  Kim and I are taking the late flight out of Denver tonight and flying to Indianapolis.  This is our preferred way to get to Cincinnati, for cheaper flights, dirt cheap rental cars, and we get to fly on Frontier, our favorite.  When I was working in my old position I often worked from Cincinnati, but I will actually take tomorrow off from work and spend even more time with family.  We have lots of events planned already, but let me know if there is something that we shouldn’t miss.  I’m excited to see everyone!

Today I’m taking a break from your regularly scheduled blog postings to contribute to kimandedjr.com:

Lately Kim has been soliciting advice from many of her female friends, family, and coworkers who have kids. She is asking them what items they couldn’t live without when starting to raise a child. The response has been great so far, with lots of advice ranging from strollers, car-seats, and furniture all the way to toys, playpens, and even nursing supplies. While some of this has been really interesting to me, especially the stroller and toys, I can’t help but wonder if there are some items that the moms are missing from their lists. What items do dads find necessary for raising children? With few friends having kids of their own, I’m forced to rely on the wisdom of the Internet. 

I missed the third game of the hockey tournament I mentioned yesterday due to the annual Flipcup’alooza flipcup tournament and party.  You may remember this party from many years before.  This time was a little different from past years, as Kim didn’t attend.  Obviously she couldn’t play in the tournament, and she decided to skip the drinking centered event altogether.  The guys on our team remained the same as last year: myself along with our friends Ken and Pulli.  We relied on Ken to provide some girls for our team, and he did eventually come through, even though one participant didn’t show up until a minute or two before the games started.  I guess that was better than last year, when we pulled a random out of the bar to join our team.

Despite some changes, the results were much the same for our team as years past.  The tournament was setup as a round-robin style at one of sixteen tables.  At each table there were five teams all competing for a single spot in the sweet sixteen elimination style bracket.  My team, Sunday Morning, started off with a couple of losses right away.  We did eventually win our third game, but were quickly back to losing the fourth.  We finished 1-3 in the round-robin with no chance of advancing through to the next round.  Despite the results, we had a good time with many of our friends from Denver.

Over the weekend I participated in a hockey tournament as a fill-in for the Dawgs.  I used to play against one of the Dawgs teams when I played in another league at the different rink, but I think this team was down a level from my normal level of play, thus I didn’t recognize many of my teammates.  There were a couple of other players from my current team also on the roster, and one guy I had played with in an earlier tournament.  Our first game was after 10pm on Friday night against Blueline.  I ended up playing on a line with another guy from my normal team, so at least I had someone on the ice with me who I connected with.  Our team came out strong and there was no looking back.  Then final score was 9-2 and I talied a couple of goals and probably some assists as well.

Our second game was on Saturday at just past noon.  Our opponent for this game was the Knights, a team that I knew nothing about.  During warmups I quickly realized that this team was much better than the team from the night before.  It was a good game through the first period, but by the second my team was really struggling to keep up and our opponents quickly built a sizeable lead.  Some of the players on our team thought that the team had dropped down a league from where they should have played, but I felt that our team was nearly as good as they were and that it could have been a differnent game.  The end result was a 5-1 loss.  My team also had another game at three that afternoon, which I had to miss due to prior obligations.  I’m told it was a nailbiter, and it went all the way to a shootout, which my team won finally after around a dozen shooters from each side.

The two wins (and presummably some tie breaking) sent our team into the championship game on Sunday morning.  I didn’t know who we were playing, but I sort of guessed it would be the Knights again.  And I was right.  This time the game started a little better for us.  We actually built a 2-0 lead by the end of the first period.  But after that it was another brutal second period.  Our team allowed five goals in the second and once that started happening, we ended up in the pentalty box rather frequently, just like the first time we played them.  We had a better third period, but couldn’t find the back of the net.  The final score was 5-2, as we finished in second place.  After losing to them twice, I guess the Knights were just a better team.

Today at work was another day spent nearly entirely in our lab.  That means limited access to the internet, close working quarters with others, and lots of things to do.  Normally I’ve written my blog during my lunch break, but today that was interrupted by some critical issues that were happening at one of our client sites.  With all of that said, I am still enjoying working on this newer project.  It does mean lots of hours at work, but at least I feel like I’m accomplishing something useful and the challenges have been very rewarding once solved.  With that said, it’s late on a Friday.  Time for me to get out of here and enjoy the weekend.

For breakfast on Sunday, Kim and I headed to the Krameria Cafe.  I think she found it through a brunch suggestion in her email, and after checking it out online we decided to give it a shot.  It was a little further from our house than we typically drive for breakfast, but they did advertise the best breakfast in Denver on their website.  We arrived to find a mostly deserted restaurant save for a few tables of people inside and one out on the patio.  Not exactly what I expected to see from the self-proclaimed best breakfast spot.  We were seated right away and looked over the menu while we waited for a server.  Well we waited and waited.  Finally Kim caught the attention of one of the servers, who immediately apologized and took our order, after we had sat there for ten to fifteen minutes.

Fortunately the food came out really fast.  I was starving, and a little under the weather from the previous night’s pub crawl, so this made me happy.  I don’t think I could have waited much longer for food.  If I remember correctly, Kim had an omelette of some sort.  While I ordered the biscuits and gravy (on the “sides” portion of the menu) along with some hash browns.  Immediately I was thrown off by the lack of sausage in the gravy, but at least it appeared to be homemade.  It was okay, but definitely not the best biscuits and gravy in town, that title belongs to Lucile’s.  The side of hash browns was an entire plate of potatoes, which helps explain the nearly $4 price tag.  Again, not the best food in town.  I think Kim pretty much agreed with me as far as the food goes.  The service ended up being good, but I doubt we ever go back as the food just didn’t cut it.

After including the Kings of Leon song “Sex on Fire” on NOW That’s What Ed Calls Music 2008, I finally made it out to see them play live last night.  Much has changed since late 2008, including the massive popularity of the band, along with a couple of other top singles.  I missed their performance at Red Rocks last summer due to Pig-Fest, though I’ve heard from multiple sources that it was a great show.  The Red Rocks show was sold out, so this summer they decided to move to the newly renamed Comfort Dental Amphitheatre (formerly Fiddler’s Green), which is around twice the capacity of Red Rocks.  Again, I’m told it was a sellout show, but there was plenty of room in the lawn where we stood.  I’m sure the nonstop rain yesterday helped to deter people from coming out for the show.

I met a group of friends at a nearby restaurant before the show started.  We had planned to get in early to watch the opening bands, but the rain forced us to stay inside and have another round of drinks.  We thought the five and six-dollar drinks were expensive there, but once we finally made it to the venue we quickly realized we’d be paying nearly ten bucks for beer for the rest of the night.  We did arrive while it was still drizzling, just before the Kings of Leon took the stage.  We were able to easily find a good spot on the lawn and patiently waited the start of the show.

The band took the stage with dueling canons erupting red fog throughout the stage.  The opening song was a familiar one for myself titled “Crawl” from their most recent release Only by the Night.  From there the band detoured into lesser known material from their earlier albums.  “Sex on Fire” came near the middle of the set, which was a little surprising, but it could be fitting as most people are likely growing tired of the song by now.  The sound mix heavily favored the bass notes, which normally isn’t a bad thing, but it left the lead guitar nearly inaudible at times.  I wish I could have heard the limited solos a little better.  Caleb Followill, the lead singer of the band, sounded great and his commanding voice is definitely what leads the band.  I also thought that the drummer, Nathan Followill,  was especially good last night.

The stage production was pretty good.  Though really simple, their massive light structure was effective and interesting.  It consisted off many randomly placed stage lights pointed in every direction, all in white.  I definitely could have used more color in the mix, but the cool part was that pieces of the structure would move up and down at various points throughout the night.  Going along with the lighting scheme, the screens showing the band were in full black and white.  It was done rather interestingly though, with what appeared to be rather cheap cameras constantly switching from one to the next, along with interesting angles and shots.  It sort of reminded us of an old video from a recording studio.  To cap off the night, the light structure collapsed on itself, accompanied by a series of firework explosions.  Overall it was a good night out watching a good performance.

If you haven’t been back to kimandedjr.com since I last wrote about it, here is a friendly reminder.  Kim has already written two blog posts and there are some good conversations going on over there.  She seems to be falling into a weekend blogger, which is the complete opposite of myself, so be sure to check in at least weekly.  We haven’t added any new baby pictures yet, but lately all the talk is about baby names.  We had the chance to visit some friends of ours who just had twin boys, and they also got us thinking about all the fun stuff we are going to need in the near future.  Busy times are ahead!

After work on Friday I had a craving for some pizza.  Kim and I decided to try something new and found Fuhgidabowdit Pizzeria over near the University of Denver.  At first I wasn’t too sure of our decision after walking into a small and dingy restaurant.  I was expecting more than just a few tables and chairs and order from the counter service.  We quickly looked over the menu and decided to start with some garlic knots and also to split the Venetian Pizza with Ricotta, Spinach, Mozzarella, and Marinara sauce.  We were told that there weren’t any knots ready, so it would take time to prepare.  I’m glad we decided to wait for them to be prepared fresh as they were very good and were served with a large cup of marinara.

Our pizza came out shortly after the garlic knots, and was a large 18″ pie that was cooked perfectly.  This is New York style pizza with huge slices and rather thin crust.  Our choice in pizza turned out to be pretty unique and also really delicious.  One of the two employees commented that one of the owners came up with this pizza on his own and that he thought it tasted a lot like lasagna.  He was definitely right about the ricotta and marinara blending together to give a lasagna taste.  The huge pizza was more than enough and we ended up taking half of it home.

Despite my thoughts on the physical restaurant, the food is great, and the service was excellent.  I’m sure it’s much busier when school is in session at DU, but it was a perfect quiet night out for the two of us.

Last night we headed up to Red Rocks to see O.A.R. with opener Citizen Cope.  This was O.A.R.’s third time playing at Red Rocks, and of course it was my third time seeing them play there, taking my grand total up to ninety-one.  I’m inching closer to one hundred, but I don’t see them anywhere near as much as I did while in college.  This was my third time seeing Citizen Cope, the other two times were in 2004 and 2005.  I’ve always enjoyed their music, but found their live show to be a little bit of a downer.  Last night was better than I remembered them sounding, with most upbeat songs, besides a slower stretch in the middle.

O.A.R.’s set was great!  I wouldn’t say that it was the best setlist ever, but the band sounded really good and were very energetic.  I’d image playing Red Rocks at any point in your career would be an amazing experience, and Marc definitely stopped at various points in the night to let the crowd know how wonderful it was and to take it all in.  Some new songs were played last night, one of which is titled “Light Switch Sky.”

Last June, O.A.R. asked [their fans] to help them write a song by submitting lyrics via twitter. After collecting submissions for 10 days on the @ofarevolution twitter page and much deliberation, the band chose 6 overall winners – 5 lyrical contributions, and one song title, “Light Switch Sky”. The band created the music for “Light Switch Sky” using the lyrics as their driving inspiration…”Light Switch Sky” [is] available for purchase at liveoar.com for just $0.99. All proceeds from the tracks purchased through July, 22nd 2010 will be donated to Paralyzed Veterans of America, an organization that works to maximize the quality of life for Veterans suffering from Spinal Cord Injury or Dysfunction (SCI/D). Paralyzed Veterans of America is a leading advocate for SCI/D research and education and veterans’ benefits and disability rights.

The weather was perfect, with very little wind and comfortable temperatures.  Often times the wind at Red Rocks can be bad, as it was for O.A.R.’s first ever performance there.  Last night it seemed that everything connected perfectly.  After the show Jerry mentioned that he didn’t think they could have played a better show.  That’s what I love to hear, leaving it all on the stage.