Biggest news first. The car was broken into two nights ago. Window was shattered and they didn’t open the doors at all to prevent the alarm from going off. They got away with the stereo, some miscellaneous CDs, and my stack of shopper discount cards. A guy walking his dog later found the shopper cards and our woodside ID’s, so I got all of that back. Among the CDs was Marc Broussard’s new disc, so he is gonna be blowing up in the ghetto shortly. Kim had a CD book filled with her “chick music” that is now gone as well. Thanks! :b So we filled the police report and called the insurance. They sent a guy out and he found over $1000 in damaged pieces on the car. There are few scratches on the outside and inside of the door, but I think we can work those out our self. So after the $500 deductible and the $180 new window we should actually make a little money out of this deal. We’ll have to get a new stereo, but that shouldn’t be much more than $100. Progressive loves us…

Besides that this weekend has been great. We picked up Eric and Nick from the airport and later headed to Tomfooleries on the plaza. I think this is my favorite place on the plaza. Late night happy hour from 9 until close has $1.50 domestic pints, that’s pretty hard to beat anywhere. The food is also excellent, skillet pizzas are the greatest! So we stayed there for an hour or so, and then came back to the apartment to play darts for the rest of the night. Yesterday we had to hang out for awhile until the window was replaced, but once that was all taken care of we headed to Westport. We went to Harpos because it was a nice night out and their back deck is pretty hard to beat. There was a three piece cover band playing Coldplay as we walked in. Sounded pretty good, but then they took a break after it. We hung out there for awhile and watched two full sets from these guys. Pretty solid as far as covers go, and there was even an original song that I enjoyed. Problem now is that I cannot find out who it was. At first I thought it was local guy Ryan Patrick Imming but I don’t think he plays with a band at all. He also has covered OAR and the frontman here said they like OAR but don’t do any covers. Don’t you think you would say your bands name at least once in 3 sets of music? I know I would, and plug a website too…

Today I’ve been sitting around in my new running shoes “breaking them in.” I think we are gonna head to McGonigles in a bit to pick up some meat to grill out tonight. Our visitors are heading out tonight around 8, so I guess we should get moving…

So I almost quit running last night, forever. I’ve had problems with my IT band as I’m sure you are aware. Well I wasn’t enjoying my run from the beginning, so when my knee started hurting at 2 miles I quit. I was swearing off running forever, so Kim made me go to a running shoe store. This is a different place then where we bought my last pair of shoes. They make me take my shoes off and run on their treadmill. So I take my shoes off and immediately the chick says “Woah, you have the flattest feet ever.” Well is that what the problem is? I’m just not built for running? I think that is what I was hoping for. :) Instead, she has me run on the treadmill and video tapes it. Then they play it back on this TV right above the treadmill. She must have had some idea in her head as to what I would look like running, and apparently she was totally off. I guess I’m neutral as far as my foot goes, meaning I don’t pronate, which isn’t very common. She immediately tells me the shoes I have are wrong, and starts the whole fitting process. I run in 2 new pairs of shoes and they see slight improvements I guess. Anyway, I end up buying a new pair of shoes for like $90. They are a trail running shoe, but I guess they will be fine for me to run anywhere with. The name is Montrail (click for a pic of my shoes). I guess this place is willing to do whatever it takes to get the pain away. I can keep coming in and running on the treadmill and trying to make it all better. Needless to say, we didn’t make it to that pub crawl. We were at this store for like 2 hours. I was ready to pass out…

Two of Kim’s cousins are flying in today to visit for the weekend. Hopefully we find some good things to do!

Spinning was fun. The instructor (Jeff) was happy to see “the buckeyes” as he calls us. Kim is somehow buckeye #1 and I’m #2, what’s that all about? I think I’m a much better spinner. :) I forgot how much of a workout that was. He had us turning the resistance up so much my wheel stopped. I had to start all over at one point. It’s not one of those super sweaty workouts, like running is, but it is a longer workout.

After that we cooked chili with ground turkey. I’ve never cooked ground anything, so that was kind of interesting. I still couldn’t eat the chili plain in a bowl though, I had to put it over spaghetti just like my skyline. I guess I’m a weirdo, but I find it hard to eat something I don’t like just because it was made with turkey, which is something I do like. I don’t eat turkey burgers, never have and I don’t want to try one either. The thought of eating a burger does not appeal to me, so I’m not going to eat a burger. Once I got it on spaghetti though and topped it with a bunch of cheddar it wasn’t that bad. I had a couple bowls of it actually. I just found the whole thing kind of strange, but I bet this won’t be the last time we make it. Kim really enjoyed it…

There is supposedly a blues pub crawl in westport tonight that we might go to, that is if we can find any info on it. I’ve been googling for hours over the past day and haven’t found anything. Little help anyone? :)

My hockey game for tonight was cancelled because the Zamboni is broken. Guess what that means? Kim and I are going to do the spinning class once again. It has been over a month since we last went, so hopefully it doesn’t hurt too bad. I hope that our favorite instructor Jeff is going to be there, then it won’t be so bad…

Last night was run your butt off then eat mexican night. That about sums it up. Although lately I have been having pains in the back of my right knee when running for awhile. It’s the same leg that had the IT band problems, but I’m not sure it is related. Kim says my hamstrings are just too tight…

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I headed to Lawrence on Saturday night, Kim stayed behind because she was feeling a little sick. I met up with Steve and his brother Jeff, at Jeff’s apartment in Lawrence. We headed down to the show which was at Abe & Jake’s. This was the first place that OAR played in Kansas according to Steve. It’s a pretty large place, but they have some strange “obstacles” all over the place. There is a small pool in the middle of the place, and towards the back there is what appears to be a McDonald’s jungle gym.

The show was awesome, we had a great time. The crowd was pretty big and enjoying the night as well. I ran into Tanner Walle at the show, so I talked to him for awhile. His CD just got mastered in NYC, so the release date is going to be a little further away than expected. I can’t wait to hear it though!

Yesterday we had to drive all the way out to the airport so that we could get a flight back to Cincy for Halloween. We did it though, so we’ll be home then. That is the next time for me, although Kim goes back the first week of October for work…

Last night Kim’s cousin stopped by with a friend while on their way to San Francisco. Her friend is moving out there, so they are on their cross country trip. We went out to dinner and drinks, which they bought since we were letting them stay the night with us. Can’t complain with that! :)

We are sitting over at Doni & Phil’s doing some laundry and watching a movie. We attempted to go see The Presidents of the United States of America, you know the old 90s band who sang “Peaches” and “Lump”??? I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t know who I was talking about, Kim didn’t know until I played her those songs. The show was down at Westport, and was outside in a parking lot and the nearby street. It was packed full when we got there, full of teeny boppers and seemed to be a kind of rough crowd. The funniest part is that it was a “rock the vote” kind of show, but most of the crowd probably wasn’t even 18. Kim and I quickly gave up on that idea and ducked into McCoy’s for a few beers. I got to drink a couple more of my favorite beers around. It’s a mix of their Hog Pound Brown and Red Light Raspberry, called an “Artie” or something. It sounds interesting and tastes even better. I need to find a way to have those at home. Or something similar…

I think we are going to go see Pomeroy tonight in Lawrence. My buddy Steve Christy is heading to the show with his brother who lives in Lawrence. That gives us a place to crash and a good show to attend. I believe this is one of their last shows around here before they go overseas to play for the troops for three weeks. Go to their site to read about that…

If you didn’t already know, I’m planning my next trip home for Halloween weekend. OAR is once again playing a Halloween show in the Midwest, and I’m not going to miss this one. Actually I’m not going to miss these 2 Halloween shows, the first one is on Saturday in Cincinnati and the second is in Columbus on Sunday the real Halloween. I just requested Monday off of work, one of my few remaining vacation days, so I look for some flights. Did you know that Delta reduced their fares in and out of Cincy? Awesome! I earned $400 in Delta miles one of the last times I flew out of Cincy by giving up my seat on an overbooked flight and taking the next flight. So I find a roundtrip flight for just over $200, so that would be just over $400 for Kim and I. Perfect, I can use my “Delta Dollars” and then pay the difference. I sign us up for the flights, go to the payment page and enter in some numbers on my voucher, but the damn system won’t take any of the numbers. I search by my frequent flyer number, nothing. I search with my credit card numbers, nothing. I then start reading a few things on their site and find a statement that says vouchers earned from giving up your seat can only be redeemed at a Delta ticketing center. Wonderful, I have money that only Delta will take, but yet their website won’t take it. It wouldn’t be so bad if there were Delta ticket offices like there are in Cincy, but in KC no such thing exists. I am forced to go to the airport this weekend, and hope that the rates haven’t gone up. What a pain, but at least the flight will be very cheap…

That makes one thing to do this “poor” weekend of ours. We came to the conclusion that we don’t have much money to blow this weekend, after the fun we had the last weekend. So, I think we might go hike around a lake, or head down to a bike trail, or some other kind of outdoor activity. Should be fun, especially since we haven’t done anything like that in awhile.

Kim is taking some sort of insurance exam today, I think it’s about boats and stuff, what they call ocean marine. Do you know the difference between a tug boat and a tow boat? That’s what I thought. :) It seems pretty tough, but I think she’ll do fine!

Doni & Phil are taking a long weekend trip to Chicago I believe. Kim and I get the pleasure of watching their cats again. We loved taking care of them so much the last time, that we are going to go over twice a day now! I just hope that they are either perfectly trained to crap in the toilet or they gave up on the whole concept and are back to the litter boxes. Picking the poop up off the floor and putting it in the toilet for the cat is not a good form of training, but who knows maybe it helped…

So I’m sitting here eating Kim’s leftover Ponaks, pretty good even when warmed up…

Yesterday I took a field trip for work, something I haven’t done since high school. Were they still called field trips in high school? I can’t remember. Anyway, we went to Columbia, MO to visit a television station that is one of our clients, to see exactly how they use our software. For those of you not familiar with the area, Columbia is about 2 hours away. So 4 hours in a car, along with a 2 hour tour and an hour lunch means very little work was done yesterday!

Irish Fest was a good time. The Elders were excellent! I will definitely have to try and see them again. A rockin’ Irish band, arse kickin’ as they say!

Sunday we lounged around for awhile and then had some mexican food at Ponaks. Doni & Phil invited us over for a cookout, etc. After some more lounging we went over there and sat outside until the sky unloaded on us unexpectedly. Still a good time despite the weather. From there we went over to Fred P Ott’s on the plaza for some cheap beers. We played pinball, megatouch, etc. and left soon after some loud band started playing. That place is too small to have full bands, at least I think so…

Yesterday we took Amy to the airport, then ended up playing 9 holes of golf. Both Kim and I improved from our scores from the last time we played. I even got my first career birdie (well not counting the first “drive” that I sent flying into the woods). It was on the last hole of the course, a pretty long par 4 actually. I had given up on using my 3 wood earlier in the day, and for the at least half of the holes I was driving with my 3 iron. I was actually hitting it really well. I think I must have lined up bad on my first attempt on this hole, so I did end up hitting it straight into the woods. I then hit another one pretty far and right down the fairway. My second shot I hit a 9 iron which struck the green within a few feet of the hole and rolled to maybe 10 feet away. I sank that putt for my birdie! I kind of liked playing yesterday, well at least the second half. My problem now is starting off the hole. I often hit 2, 3, maybe even 4 or 5 balls before I get one to land in a spot that is playable for my second shot. I think I need to hit up the driving range again soon.

Today I’m back at work, but at least it’s Tuesday already!

This was a pretty boring week if you couldn’t already tell. It did go by super fast though with the office move and such. I like the new place more and more, and I think it’s a quicker drive for me now…

Kim’s college roommate (Amy) is here visiting for the weekend. She got in on Thursday night, so of course the girls wanted to go out that night. We ended up just going down to Tomfooleries for a few drinks and some decent cover band music. Last night we went down to see The Samples play. Todd came along with us, and we stuck around for a little while then ended up back at our apartment to play some euchre and darts. Todd and most other Missourians have no idea what euchre is, so we had to teach him the game, which he actually picked up on really quickly. If you are reading this and have never played the card game euchre, do yourself a favor and look it up online and then find 3 friends to play it with. Good times!

Have you ever held $1000 cash in your hands before? I actually did this last night. I went to the ATM before heading downtown for the concert. I accidentally hit an extra zero when pulling out some money. I thought there were usually limits on this kind of thing, but apparently not for this machine. It ended up spitting out 50 $20 bills. I couldn’t believe it. This bank wasn’t really in the best of areas either, so I quickly grabbed a deposit envelope and headed to the car, locked the doors, and prepared the envelope for a $900 deposit. Luckily I got it all back in the ATM safely. Good thing this was Kim’s account and not mine. :) We often wondered why this particular ATM was always out of cash, I guess we know now…

Tonight we are going to grill out some prime meats and then head down to the Irish Fest that is going on. Should be another great night!

Have a good and safe holiday weekend everyone!!!