Oktoberfest now Rhythm and Ribs...FU Economy

I'm going to apologize for this in advance 'cause it's been a shitty day and that's going to come out in this post.

So some of you may recall my first blog about the cancellation of Oktoberfest. No I am not happy about it...still. And today, the news got worse. You may remember that funding for the traditional fest was pulled in favor of supporting Rhythm and Ribs, which I was totally fine with. Well not totally but you get the idea.

Apparently, as reported today by the KC Star, declining sponsorship money has forced the cancellation of this festival as well. WTF? Not only do I have to miss one of my favorite events, but now I don't get a chance to support it's replacement. Maybe its' selfish, maybe it's me being bitter, but this blows.

What we really need is something we can rally around as a community. All we hear about is who cut jobs, or things getting canceled due to lack of funding. Somebody step up and give our city some good news for a change. Fuck.

How Steve the DUI lawn mower made an appearance at Easter

So I'm not one to wax on about my family because I know most of you could probably care less. But something really interesting to me happened this past weekend at our family's Easter dinner.

I'll preface by saying that when I think of family meals, at least with my family, I think about food and overdue conversation. Holidays give us the chance to catch up with each other outside of the day-to-day grind. But this was different.

We'd just finished eating our meal when my aunt asks me if I've seen Steve the DUI lawn mower guy. It's important to note that this is the same aunt that does not own a cell phone or a computer. I had no idea what she was talking about but admit I was intrigued. So my cousin pulled up the video on my sister's computer to show us what they were talking about.

It's not that the video was that funny. Clearly it's a comedian putting on a skit and posting it online. It's the fact that instead of sitting around the table discussing the recent happenings of our lives, we were sitting around a laptop and asking each other if we caught the scene of Steve trying to pee while the cop was trying to arrest him. I'll admit, I thought it was pretty cool.

Clearly things are changing and I'm definitely not opposed to it. Laptops have replaced the dinner table for families to gather around and "catch up." Technology is going to keep changing...I'm glad my family is beginning to embrace it instead of fearing change.

Home Buying...yikes.

So I'm finding myself stuck in a whirlwind of what some (myself included) consider the perfect storm for buying a new home. With mortgage prices falling at a rapid pace and fixed APR's nearing lowest levels on record, I can't help but daydream about owning my own home. Oh yeah, throw in the $8,000 credit that the Obama administration's stimulus plan is offering for first-time home buyers.

Honestly, a year ago, I would have never thought I was ready to purchase anything of this magnitude. I was scraping by, a year into my first job, hoping I was doing well enough to stick around and make my next rent check.

Now I find myself searching Trulia every day hoping that "perfect" house jumps up and bites me in the ass. I'm not under some illusion that the financial burden of a purchased home won't be difficult. I know that even though I'll only be paying a couple hundred bucks more than I am now, things are bound to go wrong. Yes there'll be updates that need to be made. Yes there will always be a project to be done, or something to be replaced. But I know I'll be kicking myself if I don't take advantage of this while I can.

I'm 25, in a great relationship, and still have a job. I'm really feeling that it's time to make that first big step into adulthood and "become a man." Though right now I feel more like a little kid trying to grow up as fast as possible. Ahh, the irony.

Should I stay or should I go?

Sorry for the brief absence. I've been caught between March and madness and March sadness in the past week and have ignored any reason to write. My Jayhawks were sent packing at the hands of Michigan State. I can't say I didn't see it coming as I have Michigan State in the title game of my office pool to face, and eventually lose to North Carolina.

It wasn't disappointing to see my boys lose, but the way they lost was tough. Leading the entire game only to collapse after the under 4 timeout was slightly gut-wrenching. It is true that they will be back next year as a better, more experienced group. That is, if the rumors are true about Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins staying with the eminent commitment of "Born Ready" Lance Stephenson at Tuesday's McD's All American Game. This could be a extremely special group.

In my opinion that means next to nothing, I think Cole should definitely hang around for another year. His post moves are borderline elementary for the collegiate level and he needs to add some strength to handle the rigors of a full college basketball season.

Sherron on the other hand should bid farewell. His stock isn't going to get any higher than it is right now. He's an undersized powerhouse that doesn't have much to prove. Everyone that watches him knows he can turn the game around, for better or worse, in the blink of an eye. He's always going to be prone to turnovers just like he's always going to bring his Chicago toughness when he steps onto the floor. Selfishly I hope he stays but nobody can be upset if he decides to provide for himself his young child.

Whatever happens in the next few weeks you can be sure that the Jayhawks will again be a team to be reckoned with in '09-'10.

Grooming in the workplace

So there was a really awesome photo I was going to attach to this but while trying to reformat my camera yesterday at the NCAA's I managed to lose all of my pictures. Clearly I need some lessons in digital photoing so here's some stock that is equally as gross and sums up the scene of the crime pretty well.

There's a lot of things you should never do at work. I won't get into the details because that would make this way too long (that's what she said), but one of the things that really bugs me is grooming in the workplace. Not the brushing your hair kind of grooming ladies, but anything that could be described as "trimming" or "manscaping" should never...ever be done at work.

Last week in searching for some files, some of my co-people found remnants of human nail clippings stashed in the top drawer. Pretty f-ing sick. It reminded me of a few key instances in my groom-hating social life. Not all of these happened in the workplace so maybe I should clarify that you should never groom in "public" aka anywhere but your house is off limits:

1. Walking into the men's locker room to find a guy shaving at the gym. Can you really not wait until you get home to do that? Or maybe take care of it before you hit the gym? Sick.

2. At work in Lawrence when my manager was using a Q-Tip in his office. Now to be fair, everyone uses Q-Tips but please do it in privacy. And please don't look at the treasure you found while digging a mine. Sicker

Those two and the one before them are definitely in my top 3 of grooming sickouts.

So please remember to never...ever groom yourself at work. If you do some jackass will write a blog about it then you'll have to kick his ass in public to make a point.

John's Big Deck

I was a little more than excited to try this local eatery for an unexpected, mid-week lunch outing. It's a place I've been meaning to try for over a year but just haven't gotten around to it. After the actual experience I realize that if I only ate at John's Big Deck everyday, I would have finished about 3 meals in the past year. See below.

11:54 a.m. -- We arrive at John's
12:02 p.m. -- We order our St. Patty's Day beers.
12:07 p.m. -- We order our food. This is where it gets complicated. And by complicated I mean all 6 of us order the exact same thing, boneless wings and fries.
12:32 p.m. -- The first question of "where the fuck is our food" is asked.
12:41 p.m. -- Second beers our ordered as we're assured our food is "almost ready."
1:05 p.m. -- All second beers have been consumed and by this point we just want to get the fuck outta there so we ask for and pay our tabs.
1:16 p.m. -- JJ asks if we can just get our money back since we still have no food.
1:25 p.m. -- Our food finally arrives without the courtesy of an apology or an offer to make it right. We proceed to leave as soon as our boxes are secured.

Now, to it's credit, the boneless wings and fries were really, really good. But this was by far the worst lunch experience I've had since I moved downtown. As we continued to watch other people sit down, order their food, eat their food, pay for their food, then leave, we at least had some good conversation to rely on to keep us busy.

As a former server, I am just amazed that our waitress and the manager didn't do anything to make our awful experience right. Not an apology, not a discount, nothing. And believe me, they weren't even close to busy. Our lunch crew tries to eat at local places whenever we got out but I think it's safe to say that John's is checked off our list of options.

On a lighter note, look for the next installment when I discuss why you should never, ever clip your fingernails at work...and then keep them in your desk.

The Madness of March

It's day 1 of the NCAA postseason. The pairings were announced yesterday and my Jayhawks were sent packing for Minneapolis. A little more than 2 weeks ago, I was feeling pretty good about the $400 I spent on NCAA tickets last May. Worst case scenario, KU gets sent somewhere else but we at least get Mizzou or someone that seems to care about basketball to come to KC for the 1st 2 rounds of the tournament.

Well skyrocketing ticket prices have hit an "economic downturn" and now I'll feel fortunate to get face value for my "investment." Yes, OU and Memphis are coming to Kansas City...Kansas City here they come. But nobody is holding their breathe that our beautiful, tenant-less arena will be much more than half full. Not that I'm complaining. Buying and selling tickets is always a crapshoot. If it wasn't, everyone would do it.

Moral of the story...always have friends with rooting interests for every school that could possibly get into the tourney and you'll be sure to make a lot of money. Not only that but there are only this many ways things could play out in the most exciting 2 weeks in sports. Easy enough.

KC Oktoberfest Obituary

So I'm still setting this up but I figured what better way to kick this off than the death of one of my favorite KC events. Oktoberfest, in all of its cheesiness of funny hats and temp tats was one of the greatest places to get a footlong hotdog (yeah, yeah that's what she said) with everything you could ever want on it. It was also my favorite spot to spend at least $6 on a 16 oz. stein. Or if you're like my friends Joe, Joe and Eric, drop $15 that they justify by getting a plastic boot thrown in to drink out of.

While I think it's great that people can rally behind the history of the 18th and Vine district, I will still be sad to see this great fest go. In all seriousness, it got my friends and I so excited every year that we have planned to go to a different city's version annually, concluding with a trip to Deutschland for the real thing.

So here's to you Oktoberfest. And here's to your hopeful return to the city of fountains in the coming years.

Check back in the next few days as I update my profile, about me, and all the interesting stuff that you're refreshing your computer every minute to find out about.

Here's what you can expect to see or probably not see in the watered-down blogosphere:

1. KC local topics, reviews, etc.
   
2. KU sports
   
3. Advertising thoughts (though I'll probably stay away from that because that's my day job
   
4. Random findings
5. Current Events

Basically anything you might see at a 5th grade show and tell you can expect to see here.

So, if any of that interests you, or you just want to link this to someone and tell them how lame it is, come back and check it out.