So, like I said, I did see a movie, went to BR for ice cream a few times, and met up with some friends for lunch, dinner, etc. Ate a decent sandwich at the Blue Moose in Prarie Village. They don’t have great food, but I do like their sandwiches. Also, ate at Italian Delight, and again, went with the pizza. Good stuff, and HUGE slices. If you haven’t been, I recommend it. And the food is all good.

I did buy some new shoes. Hopefully (at least I’m telling myself this) it will help my back. My old shoes were really worn out. I played some video games with a friend of fine, which I don’t do very often. Of course, I spent enough time in my youth playing video games. A little tecmo bowl, brought back some good memories. My mom and I ate at Chili’s one night. I love Chili’s. I could eat that grilled chicken sandwich or the Old Timer all week long. I still to this day haven’t had the baby back ribs though.

I went to a frisbee golf course in Olathe, played a 2 man scramble. We got beat by 5 strokes through the first 18 holes, so in my poor attitude state, declared that if we played again, our team would win. My brother and his teammate obliged, and we played well for 7 holes, down one, but then after 9 were down 3, hec, maybe 4. It was over. I melted down at one point and threw (what I thought was going to be a great shot) one of my shots 20 yards backwards and about 30 yards to the right. I’ve never seen a shot so bad. And apparently neither had my teammate, who was the only witnesss, but he told the other guys about it as we were finishing the hole. I thought that I had gotten away with anyone seeing it, but no. I was mocked, as I should have been.

And, my mom and I went to a friends house for dinner one night as well. Had some wonderful lasagna, topped off with a slice of tippins pie. The pie came after dinner of course, not on top the the lasagna.

So, the St. Johns social and seeing Inception could be the last items on the list, although just hanging out with family is a good option too. Although, the wildcard is the Royals play 2 games tonight. One starts at 6, the other after 9:30 I would assume. Midnight at the K! Probably won’t happen, but the weather would have cooled off by then. So, here’s to another good trip in KC. Oh yeah, I headed downtown as well, and went to lunch with a friend who took me to see the Bridge of the town of Kansas, near 3rd and Main. Cool view. If I ever figure out how to take pics from my phone onto the computer, I could post them so you could see. KC has a lot of bridges, like Portland.

So, its been a great trip. I got whooped at dominos last night with my family. I finished 5th out of 6, not a great showing. I couldn’t believe how mad I was getting. I kept it all in, but that just made it worse. Clearly I’ve got competition issues when I ticked off that my great aunt and uncle are beating me in a game of dominos. But, like Herm Edwards says, “Hello?! You play to win the game!” The slice of tippings chocolate silk pie made things slightly better though, and seeing them and my bro, sister in law and mom have fun, and I was having fun too, laughing a bunch as we all were during the night, made it a great evening.

So, my niece is having a birthday party, should be fun. Good weather to be swimming today. So, I will be present for that. Note, I say present, not necessarily active. I’ll just supervise. I did go see Despicable Me and got some ice cream a couple of times with my niece, which was fun. The movie was good. I enjoyed it.

Just watching the chicken being cooked at Strouds made me hungry. Man that looked soooooooo good. I think that I did a man. v. food challenge once in Phoenix a few years back, maybe 2009. I ate two 4×4’s at In N out Burger. Basically, two quadruple burgers. I had some fries with that also. I haven’t been back since but I’d like to do that again, but also add a shake to it. I want to try the Buffalo Wild Wing challenge as well. I think that it’s 12 hot wings in 6 minutes. I need to research that one a bit more. I’m just a JV eater, but I can hold my own in the food eating challenges. Is that something to put on a resume?

I’m hoping to head out to a place called Hagg Lake near Portland (well, within an hour). I’m still searching for that first Oregon bass.

I have taco via and planet sub in my sights. I think a mini blizzard should do also. I’ve been working my back into shape, about 10 weeks of flexibility and core exercises. I want to run an 800 this spring, that would be fun. Not sure why, mostly the fun of competition. Not sure how the blizzard is going to help, but I know it will. Spring is so far away. I’ve got about 4 more weeks and I will hit the pavement for the first time in 13 months. That’s a lot time without any athletic movements. Not that I have many moves left, but I am interested to see what’s left in the tank.

I’ve tried some fishing out here in Oregon. Not much luck. I’ve driven many miles to find a good fishing pond. That’s really not Oregon style. It’s more rivers and oceans and streams. But, there is a nice lake that I’ve heard about that has bass and crappie, which for now is what I’m looking for. Eventually I’ll get the hang of trout fishing and salmon fishing, but for now, I’m looking for bass. I’ve driven to many parts of the Portland area, and fished in a few places. For me though, I just like getting out there and relaxing, just chillin out. I could do that for hours. The only problem is the ponds that I’ve found are not well kept, which makes it less enjoyable.

Peace out. Have a good week.

KC:

- Ate a several great places that I love and had some cooking from mom…enchildadas, tacos. Went to Johnny’s bbq, thai palace on westport, salty iguana, chili’s (don’t have em in Portland), italain delight, jack stack bbq (remember now, I went almost 2 years without bbq), among other places. NOTE: this time, I’m going to taco via, planet sub

- Played frisbee golf. I’m awful, but this is my new game. It’s free, easy on my back, and did I say free?

- Fishing. Oh yes! Didn’t catch much, small bass and catfish, but man it was great. I can’t even tell you how much I love to fish. Took me back a few years to some good fishing times in hs and college.

- Family gatherings on the deck. Tough heat in kc in the summer, but get some mosquito candles and good food, and it’s great. When I say family, that includes a lot of people. Friends are family.

- Royals game. Cheap craiglist tickets, virtually free. Got the hot dog derby shirt. What a stadium. Hadn’t been in about 5 years. I loved it.

- Went to 3 and 2 stadium with family to watch a ball game. It was great. And, I went to the concessions to eat. If you ever went out there in your life, you know what I’m talking about. One item that they took off the menu was the burrito. Remember the fried burrito? Well, they have a new one. The sign that day said, “Back by popular demand: The burrito”. What a day. I didnt get it, but I told them how they used to make it. Let’s see if they listened to my advice.

- I spent a lot of time taking an online class. Reading a book, etc…That helped that I was taking that class, to keep me busy during the day. I also spent 3 times a day stretching. My version of yoga and flexibility. I am now doing my back/core excersices. I haven’t done a running workout, or really any workout, since Aug. 1 2009. I hope to hit the paveement late Aug. 2010. Wish me well. One mile at a time.

-Saw some fireworks KC style. Hadn’t been in KC since 2007 for the 4th. That was nice. It just popped in my head, I also ate at town topic. Good burger. Oh, my fave, winsteads as well. Love that place.

-Had a great time at my mom’s 60th. Got to see some folks I hadn’t in a while. I’m telling you, this was a good fiesta. Good food for days.

-Went to chuckecheese with my niece. We won a lot of tickets. We have good skiball players in the family. She is next in line. Made some of the best shots i’ve seen, and the technique is solid. Some work to do still, but I see talent.

-Played some nintendo wii. My favorite game without a doubt is the bike racing game. I know, some will tell you its lame. Real lame. I love it.

- Got to hang with my family. #1 on the list, if that is the only thing I did, it was worth the trip.

-Fish dance at SMP. Great time.

-Watched cable tv like it was going out of business.

KC is always full of things to do, but with 5 weeks, no car, and people working during the day, I had plenty of time to relax as well. It was a great time because there was a lot of family time, and time to catch up with friends. Family and friends, I love them, even if I don’t always show it.

During the first week, my mom’s 60th birthday was the focus. And yes, I mean the first week. Big party, and family over at the house. 8 people in about 700 square feet, one bathroom. It’s tough being the lowest on the totum pole at age 32, especially with family under the age of 10 in the house. So goes life.

From there, we spent a lot of time at my bros house, on the new deck. Sweet set up. Talk about suburban paradise. Man, he put some hard work into it, and it showed. I could live out there. I wish I had that drive to work with my hands. He’s got it. I could write literally 100’s of pages on this trip alone. I love to think about my days. Mabe I dwell on them too much in my mind, but I often replay moments. Usually, I wish I hadn’t been so sarcastic or mean, or that I had said something nice. In my heart I’m always glad to be with my family though.

I am a fan of hard work, and teamwork. That seems to fit the Kstate mold more than the style Kansas played this year. Not to say that Kansas didn’t have teamwork and hard work, but that Kstate seems to demonstrate that more often.

Good for the state of Kansas that there is still a team going. On Saturday I am going to a concert at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, a Rock and Worship show. I’ll let you know how it goes. I don’t know many of the bands, but I’m hoping to learn a few and hopefully will like their sound.

I committed to going to this concert two weeks ago, and I knew that there would be a chance that Kansas was playing at the same time of the concert. It didn’t seem to matter to me. I have reset my priorities, and while I do love basketball more than most people, I’m sure that I will get more out of this concert and worship than a few games. Hec, I didn’t even watch the KU game on Sat. Not that I don’t care, because I am still a big fan of KU athletics, and track season is starting now too, but I need to put athletics, whether watching, or competing (which for me, is at an stalling point) into perspective.