The whole travel thing...

After I got done with work Friday afternoon, we were dead set on making our way out of Kansas and visiting Colorado. And we did. It was rough traveling the first ninety miles or so. We went straight north on the highway out of Wichita, which was tense because the road crews hadn't quite made it out of the city yet, so there was plenty of accumulation on the highway. A little bit of snow and sleet made for a fun drive, but a bit unnerving.

I feel that I am confident in my winter weather driving, but was a bit concerned while we were making the trek up. It may be because the people around me don't know how to drive when any kind of precipitation is coming down from the sky. We saw a couple of accidents, one or two semi-trucks that were jack-knifed on highway, but that was about it. Oh, and there was a section of the highway that was blocked off because of several semis that were turned, but we were detoured so we didn't get a chance to see it. *sad*


That is all, and if there are any kind of spelling or grammatical mistakes, get bent. I am on a long weekend trip and may or may not have had any kind of alcohol during this evening.

weekend trip

We are planning to take a trip to Colorado Springs this weekend to see Adam.  Very exciting for a couple of reasons.  

1.) I have never been to Colorado.  I have, however, been to every state that surrounds it.  Kind of strange that I was that close and was never within the state border.  Granted, I was not driving.  I was only about nine years old.  

and.....

2.) We get the hell out of Kansas.  The only problem is the fact that we have to drive through western Kansas.  Flat as a pancake, in fact, flatter than a pancake.  And full of the religious right wing whack jobs.  

We will be leaving after work Friday afternoon and won't be back until Monday some time.  Longer weekends rock.  

saint patrick's day

A side note before I get going.  I don't get the whole twitter thing.  Is it the same thing as the Facebook status, but on a more regular basis?  The only reason I was thinking about this today is that an NBA player was reprimanded by his team for updating his twitter information during the half time of a game the other day.  Because the NBA is an underground sport and people aren't watching throughout the country and the world.  Whatever.  

Once again, we had a subdued Saint Patrick's Day, which was great.  We went out to dinner with some people from work and I had just a couple of stouts.  What more could you ask for?  I guess I should have shot some whiskey, but that's okay.  I've stated this before, and I will state it again:  I would rather stay at home on Saint Patrick's Day and have a stout or a whiskey as opposed to going out and dealing with the drunken masses thinking it is a day for drinking green beer.  

Green beer is for Miss Nancys.  

Cleaning off the bookshelf

With the amount of books that A and I have, we need shelves about three inches thick made of oak.  The bookshelf we have now we got from my sister and is from either wal-mart or k-mart (because that is what we have in the Soo).  So it isn't the best quality, but it has survived quite a number of moves, which is a good sign.  A few months ago, we realized that the shelves were starting to sag.  Literally bending in the middle.  

The unfortunate result is trimming the personal libraries we have.  It is good and bad I suppose.  Good that we have a ton of books and that someone else will get a chance to read them (more on that in a moment).  And bad that as I was going through my books, I forgot that I  owned some of them.  As I was taking them off the shelves, there were a few that I don't remember reading.  I found some books from college that I was determined to read again, but just ended up pushing them to the back to collect dust.  It was fun to take a moment and look at some older books.  A ton of Stephen King books.  I'm keeping the ones that are important to me.  It, for example, was the first of his books that I read.  The Stand, just for the pure epic significance of the book.  The unlitmate good versus evil plot ever.  And just a couple of short story collections.  I ended up taking about two dozen books off the shelf.  

The good thing about living in a bigger city such as Wichita is that there are many options for getting rid of these books.  Lots of Goodwills and other organizations like that.  There are a few second hand book stores that will take books (either pay for them or give out store credit, which can lead to the situation we are in now with our books).  In the past, we have taken bags and bags and bags to goodwills and DAVs.  I do feel better about myself whenever we give organizations like that useful items.  Recently, A found a website where you can exchange books with other people.  Which is great.  It is a simple process.  You post your books, people find them and tell you that they want a certain book and you mail it to them (using media mail because it is cheap).  You in turn, get a 'credit' on the website and go and pick a book you want.   

The prices of new books now is insane.  It makes me sad to go into bookstores and look at the prices.  I haven't purchased books in quite a while, and I am determined to go to used bookstores and buy them.  I only keep up with one or two authors and they aren't really pumping out the books, so I have no need to be buying books anyways.  

Besides, I have about a dozen books I haven't read yet sitting on the bookshelf.  

What to do at concerts

I was listening to The Young Turks the other week and they were talking about concerts because of some Michael Jackson clip, in which a grown man was jumping and screaming over him, they had on.  The host, Cenk Uygur, mentioned that he doesn't know how to act at concerts.  It was kind of random.  The other people on the show were giving him a hard time because he is music illiterate (a self imposed title).  

I suppose it depends on the concert venue.  I have not been to many concerts in my day, but I have been to the ones where everyone is sitting down and others where everyone is standing up.  There is also pain in both settings.  Sitting down for a two hour concert, especially in uncomfortable seats, can take your mind away from the music while you adjust yourself when your back hurts.  And then there is standing for two hours.  Very painful on the legs.

When in doubt, be a follower.  Don't be the first one to stand up and get on your chair.  Wait for someone else to do it, and if a bottle comes flying at them from behind, keep your ass in your seat and enjoy the show.  

u.s. of 'a'?

I have to weep, not for the future, but for the present.  Why?  Because I heard this on the radio today:

'Did you know that California is the only state in the U.S. that ends with the letter 'a'?'   

Yeah, this is from a professional radio show, granted, they are a bunch of douchers, but still they get paid for this show.  In case you are missing any of them, the states are:

• Alaska
• California
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• North Dakota
• Montana
• Virginia
• West Virginia
• Alabama
• Arizona
• Oklahoma
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Louisiana
• Minnesota
• Florida
  
• Nevada
• Nebraska
• Georgia
  
• Pennsylvania

That is just over twenty states, two out of every five states.  Four states away from being half of the country.  How do people not at least think of some of these state?  

Were they educated in Kansas?

Another reason to dislike Kansas

I may have stated this before, but one thing that I dislike about this state is the lack of hockey.  I knew that I missed watching it, and at times seeing it played in person, but it wasn't until we were home a few weeks ago that I truly missed it.  I think I know the reason why.  

It is because the games that we watched while we were home were in a small arena and on a pond.  Yes, a pond, well, a bay.  But it was on open water and it was awesome!  My brother in-law has played hockey his entire life, and partook in a tournament on a bay south of our home town.  It is what hockey is really about.  Open to the elements, uneven ice, and the fresh air.  Now watching the game in the weather that we did, was kind of awful.  The wind cut through our coats, our hats, and gloves.  But oh, to be out there and watching it.  Indescribable.  It may not sound great to people who have never experienced it, or have no interest in hockey.  But if there is ever an opportunity to watch a tournament or a game like that again, I would.  

It was like the outdoor game the NHL has done a couple of times, but better because you were right there on the bay with the players right next to the rink.  

WHAT?

I met someone tonight who doesn't like the Beatles.  Who the fuck doesn't like the Beatles?  You don't have to like all of their music, but you need to respect them.  She liked the Rolling Stones but not the Beatles.  What do you say to that?  

I was speechless.