M-I-Z, BOO HOO HOO

Although a couple of weeks removed, I still love this picture. Stewy, JJ, and I enjoyed the game from a lower level Mizzou section, and we revelled in the mass exodus from Arrowhead. It was easily the best game since the National Championship. I love that they came out in those dumb ass mustard yellow jerseys. Just another distraction that big game Pinkel gives his players. Love it!

Rowdy gets ready for winter

As he ages, Rowdy has gotten to be more of a lazy bum. No longer does he get up at 6 a.m. to go outside, like when he was a puppy. No longer does he even get up at 8 a.m. He is usually pretty happy to get up whenever I do. Lately, he jumps up into bed when I get in the shower and makes himself a little nest. I help cover him up a little bit for added effect. He seems to like it.

Rowdy smiles when he has been bad

Muthagrabbin' Leaves!

Well, these pics are a little old especially since there is now snow on the ground, but deal with it. I know the leaves in P.V. are ridiculous, but this year seemed to happen all at once. It took me most of a day and 23 55gal. trash bags just to "clean up" the front yard. I waited another couple of weeks before tackling the remainder of the front and the back. After another full day of raking, blowing, vacuuming, and mowing.........I had another 20 some bags! Surely there is an easier way. I think PV needs to adopt a curbside leaf pickup since our taxes are so high anyway. By the way, I do have a driveway, yard, and sidewalk underneath the mess.

Vacancy

I apologize to all of those faithful bloggers out there for my lack of posts, especially to you Chris Lane, my biggest fan. I don't have much to add right now, and the main problem is just taking pictures. It is such a pain to carry around a camera.....and I often feel pretty gay whipping it out somewhere. I forsee more posts in the future with less pictures.

The one thing I do have is a link to google maps that reflects all the golf courses that I can remember playing. Most all of the push-pins and golfer icons have tidbits of information either about the round or about the course. The golfer icons usually have pictures and links to the course website as well. For all you non-golfers, this will be a big snore fest. For the rest of you, this will be a big snore fest. Enjoy!

Ward Strahan's Golf Tour

Rowdy vs. Bee

A couple of weeks back, Rowdy came flying in from outside acting all manic. I had no idea what he was doing, but I may have yelled at him cause he was flying around the house like a banshee. He settled down, but just cowered in the corner. Weird. Then I saw a bee in the kitchen.....but I couldn't put 2 and 2 together until I came home later to see Rowdy's eye almost swollen shut. I was worried.....can dogs to into anaphaylactic shock like humans? Anyway, he got a benedryl and went beddiebye sleep sleep. He was better in a couple of hours, but I thought the picture was hilarious....poor guy.

Far above the Golden Valley

Thank the lord that football season is finally here. Its good to be a Jayhawk these days. Never in my life have I seen the stadium this packed for the first game of the year. You know those first games......teams you never heard of, blazing heat, sun glaring in your eyes for an entire half, and a KU beat down. Well, the beat down wasn't as severe as last year, which I feel is a harbinger of things to come. But remember I took a shit on our b-ball team after the loss at Okie State.......look where that got us! Thanks again to the Lane's who graciously throw tailgate after tailgate. After hitting the Wheel after halftime, we ventured into uncharted territory. At least for me. Coyote's. Yikes. Talk about good people watching......definitely entertaining. From the worst DJ(you try mixing 2 Pina Colada's with Baby Got Back) to the 18 y/o slutties from the other side of the tracks grinding with each other on the dance floor. Good times......I even tolerated the country music.

Compton in da house

Scenes from my broke-ass wanna be gangsta BBQ party. Thanks to all who showed up, sorry it was pretty broke. For myself, I guess it was a good time. I mean, how can you beat 40's of OE, Alize, Hennessey, Gin and Juice, and crazy gansta beats? As you can see in the last picture, I cannot even muster a pseudo-gang sign I was so wasted(4 40's kept cold with my 40 coozy). Thumbs up really says "this guy is from the streets............of Salina." What a douche. Maybe Lisa will put me on her D-bag of the week.

Going Out?

Rowdy loves his new door. He can come and go as he pleases. He can also test the waters a bit, see what's happening. Are there any animals to chase, is it raining, is it too hot? The later is depicted in these pictures. What a baby, its not even sunny out.

Speaking of baby......I took Rowdy out for a jog on the hottest night of the year. I am not sure why, but I always find myself running when its the hottest time of the year. Anyway, I usually only take Rowdy on walks because on runs he has to stop every five seconds to 1) sniff 2) mark 3) #2. I don't mind stopping every once in awhile, but when you have to dump 3 times, it gets a little annoying........carrying the steaming bag of poo in one hand and holding on to the leash in the other........all while plodding your fat ass along in the 100 degree heat listening to gangsta beats. Long story short, Rowdy gets walks after the run. I feel bad, so I took him last night. Whoa.........is he out of shape. Worse than I am. Towards the end of the run, I was practically dragging him. We have just turned the corner into the home stretch, when I hear a whimper over Outkast's Southernplayalisticadillacmusic. Not sure what he did, but he pulls up lame and wouldn't take a step further. I carry the dummy the remaining 100 yards worried about his safety. I really just think he was so tired, he was going to do anything to make the run stop including "pulling up lame." Within an hour, he was walking just fine. What a baby.

Operation Doggie Door

I admit that I am not the most responsible doggie parent when it comes to taking care of Rowdy. This just means he probably doesn't get walked enough, and sometimes he endures late nights. Plus, I just feel bad leaving him home all day with only a window to look out of, and no comfy furniture to "nest" on (see much earlier post on the furniture battles). Coming from STL, Rowdy did not have a fenced-in yard. A radio fence worked for a little bit, but for the most part he knew his boundries. Yet, you would still have to keep a bit of an eye on him, just to keep in honest. Now, a fenced-in yard makes life for me much easier. But is Rowdy happy? Hopefully he is now, with his brand new "jerry-rigged" doggie door.
Of course nothing is easy, especially when I am doing the handiwork, but my door did not want to cooperate very well. If you look closely in the picture, you can see some of my demo work on what I though was some trim on the paneling of the door. I thought removing this was the solution to getting an even surface to attatch the door. Not so fast.....the paneling was grooved into the trim. Completely out of character, I threw caution to the wind and just cut the hole to size. I NEVER DO THIS. All my life I analyze and calculate as to not make a mistake. I hate mistakes. This would of been a huge one. No back door? Or at least a door with a trashbag over the opening. Which would require buying/ordering anothe door, several more trips to Lowe's, and then actually mounting the door. Luckily, it all worked out without too much rigging.

It took Rowdy only 2 hrs to get the hang of the door. The guy is pretty damn smart, glad I haven't rubbed off on him. He was apprehensive at first, but warmed up with the prospect of a smoked pig ear. Soon, he was independently going in and out on his own. He has made me proud. The picture above depicts him "scoping out" the weather outside. It was raining at the time, and he wanted nothing to do with it. I still don't know if he is using it during the day, but I have a good feeling he is a happy dog. I am proud of my little boy.....he's all grown up.

Winning is Everything

KCCC Champions!

May through June marked my first experience with Corporate Challenge. Actually, everyone in the company was pretty much a newbie. This was ARC's first attempt at Corporate Challenge, and we took Division H by storm. Not only did we win the championship, but we won 1 of 3 spirit awards given out to the entire field. It was a great experience, and it definitely brought our company together. I participated in several events.......only two of which I am really any good at. And even then, I am not that good. Stewy and I teamed up to win golf, and CEO Matt joined us for a silver in basketball. After that, it was all about participating. Volleyball, flag-football, raquetball, pool, and long jump (yes, I said long jump.....you ever see a fat guy fly?). Thank goodness the rest of the company had varied and special athletic talents to take home the championship. The picture is from the KCCC banquet last Friday night.

I guess I am back

Rowdy and Zena "warrior princess"

Trying to get these guys to take a good picture was not easy

Long Day at the Links

Cory getting ready to engineer a good golf shot

Thompy getting ready to "beat feet"

I knew this day would come......the day I would come crawling back to the blog world. Thanks to Lisa and Gutie who groveled for me to stay. I suppose a lot has gone on since my last post. A quick summary is needed. In late May it was time again for Brett's annual charity golf outing in OKC. He is a 5th grade teacher in the hood of OKC, and the charity allows a few kids from his class to go to D.C. for a leadership conference. Good work....and as I always say "Trick loves da kids." The golf was sub-par at best, but we won the best prize.....an all-you-can-eat wings for 10 at Hooters.......classy! There may have been a mohawk involved.

Father's Day weekend I was back in Salina. A ton of things going on......River Festival, class reunions(not mine), and the Salina Charities Golf Tournament. The golf was my main draw, but it was fun to be back in town with friends. I am mad at myself for missing Cassie's booth at the River Festival......even missed Moe who came in from the Chi (pronounced shy for all those haters). Sorry ladies, guess I will have to commission a piece and make a trip to the Chi. Or maybe an August trip to Colorado would make up for it? Anyway, it was the standard Charities weekend with late nights, early tee times, and WWW. Brett and I won the tournament, or at least the Championship flight. We won all matches except one(damn you Joe Rheem) and won all bets. I made the horse race and took second. All in all, a good trip.

Rowdy has been having fun lately too. He had a friend over this past weekend......Zena. She is a black lab mix, very sweet older dog. My neighbor Julie was so nice to take care of Rowdy when I went to San Antonio, it was only a matter of time before my obligation was called upon. Zena was great and almost easier than Rowdy to take care of. She is kind of a fraidy cat, but her and Rowdy were boyfriend/girlfriend when it was all said and done. I think Rowdy likes black females.....he always had a thing for Shamrock back in StL. Well, that is all......hopefully I can keep up on posts. Later

The "Hawk".....looks bad from up top, wasn't all that bad of a look

Deleting blog

Ok, I really didn't try that hard to find the delete blog button........but it is easily found. I am going to leave this up for the time being. I am giving this until the end of the week......if something hasnt changed my mind by then, it is ADIOS.

Long Delay and Goodbye

Sorry for the long delay in updating my blog, but really who am I apologizing to? I am kinda over the blogging, but I cannot find a way to delete it. Oh well, guess you guys are stuck with checking my blog only to find this message over and over. Not sure why I started the blog....but I think it was mainly competition against u-know-who. Wanted to prove I was doing well and having fun in KC I suppose. How silly is it that we both have links on everybodies blogs? And really, what is a 32 y/o single man doing blogging. No offense to you ladies. So this is bye for now. OUT.

Finally Spring

Just a picture of a tree in full bloom in the backyard, and Rowdy enjoying the warmth from the sun. Its crazy to say, but it's nice to be able to do yardwork again. Looking forward to many BBQ's and cold frosty ones on the deck. Who wants to come over and have some beers?

National Champs!!

So, there is not much else to say about the trip to San Antonio. It was amazing, and I was so glad I was there to witness the National Championship. Check out the pics, and the video with sound is pretty good if you like hearing me scream.

Celebratory Cigar

A SBJ sighting

Rough morning, game faces

La Canteras signature hole

Sunday golf in San Antonio where they play the Valero Texas Open

Stewy's swing has always been a roller coaster, but who would have thought the two would meet. Click on pic to check out the view

A Lifelong Kansas Basketball Fans Dream....the new blog colors worked!!

Ever since I can remember, I have been a Kansas Basketball fan. It was the way I was brought up.....live and die by the Jayhawks. I remember thinking I could change the Jayhawks fortune by shooting really well in my driveway at halftime. Pretending I was Ron Kellogg draining long two's from the top of the key(yep, before the three-point line). And then finally going to KU during which we never lost a game at home(94-98....look it up). With such great teams like the 96-97 team with Vaughn, Hasse, Pollard, Pierce, LaFrentz. Then after college, going to two Final Fours in back to back years. I was fortunate enough to go to the 2002 Final Four in ATL. Then to the Bill Self era with a crop of stellar recruits. But all of it ended in disappointment as it usually does for all but one team. But this is Kansas basketball, we expect greatness. We have suffered(please take lightly) through agonizing defeats to the likes of Syracuse(twice....remember Otis Hill), Arizona, Rhode Island, UTEP, Duke, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Bucknell, Bradley, and UCLA. Most of the time, we were favored to win these games being higher seeds. So this year, I bitched and moaned on this very blog about our team. I saw another disappointment coming. And when we played Davidson, I thought there was no way we were winning that game. I mean, it was a perfect set up for the underdog to take out the big dog again. I was extremely pessimistic especially when we played the way we did. But we pulled it out and a huge weight was lifted. You could just see it on everyone's faces.......finally the Final Four. It allowed us to not worry about expectations because we had made it.

So I almost didn't go to the Final Four. My friend Stewy had been saying all year that he was going for sure. Once we only had Davidson left, my dad wanted me to look at tickets. Too expensive for tickets and for flights. I didn't see myself being able to go. But my dad came through in the clutch, getting tickets and a room. Thanks pops! Stew and I drove 12 hrs after work on Friday arriving at 6 am. Because my dad had a room, we were able to catch some shut eye before heading downtown. We hit Rita's on the River, the KU headquarters for the tournament and enjoyed the atmosphere. Stewy made a deal for a ticket, so it was go time. Here are some pics from Saturday

Rita's Revelry

Lucha Libre

The Alamodome

View from our seats

Scoreboard bitches!!

More to come from this trip......there is just too much to cover.

New colors

I have temporarily ditched the Miami beach theme in favor of KU colors. Let's hope it brings some magic

Randoms

I don't have a whole lot to talk about, but I am sure the people who visit my blog are sick of my O-state picture and slanderous Jayhawk talk. So here are some random thoughts, just straight off the dome.



Why are Cheetos so good? And why couldn't you make something similar at home....a gourmet Cheeto with fun cheeses you have never heard of? Of course, you probably wouldn't get orange fingers which is half of the fun. Rowdy is a good orange finger licker.



I have had a good run at the Casino's lately. A good run meaning I haven't lost money. I rarely go, but sometimes I am persuaded by my degenerate friends. Funny thing too is that I have stayed at a table for a couple of hours. Usually, the longer you stay at a table, the more time you have to lose. The odds are not in your favor. I guess luck is on my side. Rowdy hates cards unless there is beer in his water dish.



Stevie Jo cut my hair today.....love that name.



The automatic car wash at 110th and Parallel does a suprisingly good job. Rowdy's absolutely least favorite thing to do is take a bath. He will run and hide even if he suspects a bath. He might be hard to get to the tub, but I have no carpet and he cannot dig his claws in.



I feel like golf season is creeping up on me and I haven't done any preparation. But when do I ever prepare for golf season. It has always come so easy for me, I never had to work. Last year, I lost it all. Well, my distance at least, which was always a big part of my game. I hopeful that a long cold winter has erased those memories of hitting weak drives and poor irons.



I am excited to see the crowds and fans down at the Big 12 Championship. It should be crazy. I am glad that some of the bars and restaurants have opened their doors in the past week. I thought OKC was a great venue and I would hate to see KC fall flat on their face. Stevie Jo told me that both KU and K-State students are on Spring Break starting Friday, so there should be a good student contingent.

I just realized I must sound like a complete 'tard writing all this random stuff.......that's all for now

What's up with the Jayhawks?

Well, I am officially off the KU Final Four bandwagon. Which hopefully is a good thing, because when you least expect it is when they come through. But how awful have we looked lately? It seems like the team has some internal strife going on. I know, there has been some tradgedy surrounding the team lately, but does anyone else feel that Mario and Brandon don't like each other? Personally, I think Mario despises Rush for being such an ass-hat on the court. If anyone drafts this retard, it will go down as one of the biggest draft day bungles since Sam Bowie over Jordan. He is on my last nerve. It seems like every team I watch lately has a "go-to" guy in the clutch that is guaranteed to create his own shot and get a crucial basket. Our supposed NBA draft pick is guaranteed to dribble off his leg, shoot lame 18 footers, and dribble into the lane to shoot an overhand floater that clangs off the rim. Sorry to be so critical, but I traveled to the depths of hell to watch these guys fail this year. Ok, it was only Columbia and Stillwater, but black n gold and black n orange make my skin crawl. Hopefully we can turn it around......Rowdy is sick of me yelling all the time.

Missing Festus

You know, here lately I have been missing my old stompin' grounds. Although I am treating a cast of characters at KCK, nothing beats my experiences in Festus, MO. Thanks goodness for My Redneck Wedding on CMT. Now, I normally never watch CMT, but this show is just too good to pass up. I really recommend it. If you are feeling down about yourself or your status in life, it will really pick you up. WOW, what a bunch of degenerates. The sad part is that the people on these shows probably make up the majority of our great country. You just have to see it to believe it. The episode tonight really reminded me of and old patient "AH-Tooth." You see, there could be a song about Festus and Jefferson County called "O Little Town of METHlehem." And with that problem comes poor dental hygiene and rotten teeth. Check out the pics and you will get an idea of what I mean. I only hope I can find a lady this classy.