Well the time has come, I’m leaving for Deer Creek in just a couple of minutes. Kim had her fun this weekend, now it is time for mine. :) Actually the wedding was a ton of fun, although I was volunteered for every job possible. I ended up filming almost the entire mass and the first half of the reception for Emily’s family. Hopefully it turns out to be alright for them.

The first two shows of this DMB/OAR tour have looked awesome. OAR gets 45 minutes to play and have been turning some heads apparently. I can’t wait to see 2 full shows over the next couple days!

It looks as if my parents are here to drop me off out there, so I will return with a full review…

So the weekend was another fun one in Cincinnati! Kim and I drove straight from work and got into town at 2:30 in the morning, and immediately went to sleep. We then hung around my parents house for awhile on Saturday, and later on went to her friend Julie’s new place. This was my first exposure to the cicadas since they aren’t at my parents house. These things really gross me out, they are HUGE and dumb. They can hardly fly and often end up running into everything. I have some close up pictures of them to put up here eventually. After attempting to avoid them for what seemed like hours, we headed over to Kim’s parents place. We were going to take her brother Jason down to the Taste of Cincinnati along with a few of his friends. We had a couple hotel rooms downtown so we could enjoy the festivities without having to drive around. We all had a great time down there, and met up with a bunch of people. The Rusty Griswolds were great as always!

Sunday Kim and I visited her brother Michael for a little while and then headed back out to my parents house for the graduation party. Good time at the party for sure. I got to see a bunch of the family as well as meet some of Tim’s buddies. I even convinced my buddies Jon and Ken to come over. We ended up drinking beers and chatting until 3 AM. Always good times with them.

Yesterday we drove home of course. We did get to stop and see Kim’s sister Bobbi’s new apartment. It is really nice, well much better than my old place near school. The cicadas were all over Clifton though too, so I tried to stay inside.

This week I think we are going to be working out at Woodside a bunch as well as starting some golf lessons. The Hemmelgarns gave me an old set of clubs to use, so big thanks to them!!!

Well Friday Kim and I headed off to Cincinnati. We were flying delta so that we could go directly there, but we always end up getting delayed on delta. They board everyone on the plane and then say that we are overweight, so they had to kick 3 people off the plane. We did eventually get to Cincy, and were able to easily rent a car. We headed downtown to the Hyatt to check in to our hotel. I got the room for $35 using biddingfortravel and priceline. We quickly got ready and met up with Liam, Fighty and Reif. From there we walked in the rain down to the show. We were just in time to get some beer before it was cut off at 10:45 (an hour and 15 minutes before the show would end). We then headed over to see Howie Day. I haven’t see him in a long time, and haven’t really had a desire to do so. He has been playing with a full band and that just ruins his old sound in my opinion. The good thing about this show was that it was just Howie solo, like it used to be. I was still unimpressed with most of the show though. After seeing Keller Williams a few times, I don’t find Howie’s looping skills to be all that great as I did before. I enjoyed some of the older songs that I heard so many times before but overall I doubt I’ll see him again anytime soon. After that we went to the hotel bar for a drink and went to bed…

Saturday we heading to the Hais’ household. It is always fun hanging out over there! I saw a few cicadas, but that was just because Kim’s brothers were out hunting them for bait. I bet they will be really bad when I got back to Cincy in a couple weeks. I also visited my mom and brothers. We took Tim with us back to Jammin On Main. We had a few rounds of beers in the hotel bar and headed to the show. Right as we were walking in Marc Broussard started his set. Good little show from Marc and the band. I think they gained some new fans for sure. We then spent the rest of the night running into old friends. I heard a few tunes from both G Love and the Offspring. We headed out to a bar downtown but didn’t stay very long.

Sunday I had LaRosa’s pizza! Man I have missed that place. Kim and I went to a few soccer games, and then headed back to the Hais’ for Amy’s birthday bash. We got to play some cornhole, although Chip and Chris killed me and Kim. We’ll get them next time…
I then had to head to the airport for my flight home. Before leaving I was making jokes about the plane being overbooked and that I would have to stay another night, etc. Well I get to the gate and the flight actually was overbooked. They were offering $400 in vouchers plus hotel and meals for switching to the first flight out Monday morning. I couldn’t refuse this offer, so I am now back in KC $400 richer than before!
Kim is in Ohio for the whole week, so I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to get work done as well as time to get out with the guys!

We are back from Vegas and poor. We didn’t gamble that much at all, it is just that everything is so expensive there. The pizza hut cheese pizza meal which costs between $4 and $5 normally was over $7 in Vegas. You can’t get a beer for under $5 on the strip, unless you are buying cases from the store. Even then it is expensive, probably 50% more than what it is here in KC. Most of our gambling was done at penny or nickel slot machines waiting for a waitress to come around so we can get free drinks. One time Kim did find about $14 in chips which we did gamble on the roulette table. We put $10 on black and it was black so all of the sudden we had $20. Pretty easy money huh? But that was about the only time we really gambled, and that was with money we found.

Recapping each of the nights:
Wednesday Phil and I got into Vegas about 7. We met up with the girls at our hotel, the Tropicana and soon headed out on the strip. We visited some of the nearby hotels and casinos. First stop was the MGM, and we immediately saw a feeding of their lions. We visited Paris, Ballys among a few others and called it a fairly early night.
Thursday we sat around the pool for the entire afternoon. I put sunscreen on everything but my legs apparently, and I got burnt on my shins pretty good. They are still fairly red today. In the evening we headed to downtown aka the old strip aka fremont street. Everything was much more economical in this area. We had 20+ ounce glasses of microbrew for cheaper than a bud light bottle on the strip. We visited a handful of the casinos here and stuck to the slot machines. We saw the disco version of the light show, which was pretty cool. I think that the next time I go to Vegas I will spend more time down here.
Friday we did more lounging around the pool. Then later in the evening we went to Luxor and then to Mandalay Bay. After some gambling at Mandalay Bay, we headed to the concert which was outside on the beach. Basically the beach is a large sandy area that connects to a fairly large wavepool and some very shallow standing areas in front of a highly elevated stage. The Gin Blossoms played first, and played about an hour long set. They started with a few of the radio songs to grab the crowds attention, followed that up with some new stuff, and then finished the set with 3 or 4 of their radio hits. Next up the Spin Doctors, who didn’t quite have as many radio hits. With this being said, I guess it is easy to understand why they only played for 45 minutes. They seriously must have played 6 songs total, but did so with tons of energy. They actually sounded really well. I guess I was just disappointed in the show based solely on the price of admission, but other than that it was a great show.
Saturday we took a tour of the Hoover Dam. That was quite a site to see, and I’m glad we did it. I’ll just have to get to the Grand Canyon next. After that Kim and I rushed all around town to see all of the free shows that we could. We had previously seen the volcano at the Mirage on Thursday. We walked all the way north to Treasure Island to see the pirate show. I was not very impressed with this show at all. There was way too much singing and dancing and not enough stunts. We then went and saw the Bellagio fountains which were set to Elton John’s “Your Song.” This was a pretty cool sight to see, as most people will probably tell you. After that we went back to Mandalay Bay to see PJ Loughran. This guy is good, that’s all there is to it really. We stayed until the end of his 3 sets, so Kim must have liked it too. Hopefully I can see him again sometime soon.
Sunday we went back to Mandalay Bay once again, this time to go to the aquarium there. They have the first and only hammerhead shark in captivity in the US. That was pretty cool to finally see (she hid from us for awhile). The aquarium itself was alright, but definitely not the best. For one the glass used is not seamless like others I have seen. I guess just like everything else in Vegas, I felt like it was overpriced. :)

Overall the trip was fun, just expensive but I knew it would be. I would like to go back again, and actually would want to stay longer. I felt rushed a bunch of the time, and there are still plenty of things I didn’t do. I really liked Mandalay Bay though, maybe I can stay there the next time I go. :)

We had another night out last night, but not nearly as long. We had dinner and drinks at a new place called Lew’s while watching the Royals choke again. We then headed to Bobby Bakers for a “nightcap.” Pretty good night out!

I’m heading to Vegas today! I’ve been waiting for this for a little while now, and it’s finally here. Phil and I fly out at 6:30, and thanks to Todd we now have drink tickets to start of the vacation! I know we are going to that Spin Doctors and Gin Blossoms show, but not much else is planned. I do want to go see PJ Loughran at least once. I’ve really been getting into his music. I think I have read enough to play some craps while I’m there. Hopefully I don’t go broke! I shall be back on Sunday…

It’s official, I will be home from 05.14 through 05.16! I do plan to hit up Jammin’ On Main, but I might have time to squeeze in some other things. :)

The Damien Rice show was pretty good, however it was different than what I expected. His CD is mellow and full of solo singer songwriter type songs. I figured that this would be how the show was as well. I’ve even heard people complain about the radio version of Cannonball (his single), since it has drums and other instrumentation. All of these expectations were shot down from the start though. He plays with a drummer, bass, cello, and sometimes keys, electric guitar, etc. Distortion is another thing that was really shocking to hear. He even has 2 mics, the first is normal, but the second is a totally distorted mic that he often yells into. This gave the show an almost Radiohead like feel. Some songs had the mellow feel that I was expecting, but more than half were the other songs that I wasn’t expecting. Much more rockin’ that what I was thinking it would be, but still a good show. Hopefully I’ll get another chance to see him…

I forgot to mention before, but the gap coverage for my car came through. I don’t owe anything more on the loan, and to make it even better the gap coverage was for more than needed. Just over $500 was put into my saving account at the credit union. Kim is making me keep it there for now, I was thinking I would just gamble it all. :b

I may be going to Cincinnati the weekend of May 14 & 15. Kim is going to be working in Cincy the week before, so I’m considering flying out for the weekend. I’m sure it would be a good one, especially since it is Jammin’ On Main weekend! I’ll let you all know…

I’m guessing that most of you saw the pics of the blue fountain. The city is pretty obsessed. :)
I think that we are heading to a Royal’s game this weekend actually, on Easter!

Work has been really busy lately. I’m searching for the perfect automated testing tool for our company. It’s pretty cool that they are letting me pretty much decide what software we should purchase, but it is also kind of stressful…

Kim and I have been contemplating going on the rock boat this year. It’s an extended weekend cruise with something like 30 bands on the boat as well. It sounds like it would be nonstop fun, and for a pretty reasonable price, I think. You can check it out here and let me know what you think…

As I was saying, we went to St. Louis for the weekend with Doni and Phil. St. Louis is a cool town, we all had a great time. We visited the Budweiser brewery, union station, the arch, and finished it all off with our own pub crawl that took us to some interesting places. The most interesting was a place called the Royal Dumpe. The entire staff was dressed up in medieval clothes. We later found out that there was a dinner theatre attached to the bar, but that didn’t stop us from getting some funny pictures. Hopefully I’ll have them all up by tomorrow!

I’m sure some of you have been waiting for me to post the following story about totaling my new car. Sunday morning we left the hotel around 11 so we could get back home and watch the end of the UC game. Before we could make it 5 miles along the way, the car in front of me swerved from the left lane into the center lane of the highway. This revealed a pick-up truck bed liner sitting in the left hand lane which I was in. I swerved in the same manner that the car in front of me did, and then quickly went back towards the left lane. I guess this with the combination of my braking sent the car into a fishtail like pattern. It felt as if we were on ice, but the road was perfectly dry. This pattern worsened and the car ended up spinning 180 degrees so that Kim and I were face to face with a semi truck. There was nothing I could do now, but just hang on. Obviously we are both ok, and only had minor scratches and soreness. The car is totaled though, at least that is what progressive is telling me now. All that work from so many people, and now it is all wasted.

I asked progressive to send me the pictures they take of the car, so hopefully I can get those up sometime. I had my camera on me the whole time, but didn’t think to take any pictures.

Kim and I have decided to hold off on getting another car. We really only use one car, and with my rising insurance costs I don’t know if it will be worth it at all.

I’m having such bad luck lately, hopefully something turns around…

Cincinnati barely squeaked a win out today, hopefully they do better the next game…

I’m off to St. Louis for the weekend, I’ll write more when I get back! :)