It seems that Sam, our cat, has made it his personal mission to prepare us for parenthood: yowling incessantly while trying to take a Sunday afternoon nap; constantly needing to be picked up and carried around; inhibiting showers, meals, dishes, sewing, hair curling, and pretty much everything you NEED to get done right now; and the usual eating, shedding, puking, trying to escape, and annoying the dog. Anybody want a cute orange monster in February??
Brooke and I were in different parts of the Midwest last week (or even two weeks ago, almost). Here’s the first post relating to all that – Brooke’s will follow once she pulls pictures off the camera.
So, I went to Chicago this year for our annual Society for Neuroscience meeting (I only took a few pictures, but here they are if you care…). We decided to take the train this time around, as something of a change from the typical “hop on a plane” experience. To be honest, the trip up there via Amtrak was actually pretty nice compared to flying Coach on an airplane: you get much more leg room, slightly more comfortable seats, AC plugins for your laptop (if you want to watch a movie, for example…no WiFi available, sadly…), roomy bathrooms, and a full-service snack car. The trip was a bit over 5 hours, so it was basically as long as a car ride, but quite a bit more comfortable.
Anyway, we made it to Chicago and got off at Union Station. Once there, we found a taxi and started heading toward it. A “gentleman” grabbed our bags and put them in the trunk of the car. At this point, Dr. Macarthur got in the back seat, and we both noticed that the driver of said car was still in the car, making me wonder who this guy was. He then demanded a tip. I was, of course, rather confused by this whole situation, not being used to taxi service in major metropolitan areas, but Dr. Macarthur was kind enough to get rid of him for me. Once we started driving, Dr. Macarthur told him “Palmer House Hilton” as the destination. The driver was talking on his cell phone (which he wasn’t supposed to do…), and a few minutes later, we made it to the Hilton Chicago. Not where we wanted to go. Then Dr. Macarthur tried explaining this to him, and he actually argued with her about it. She was not pleased about this, of course. Long story short, he ended up turning off the meter so we weren’t double-charged, so that was a bit better… My first exposure to “Chicago,” proper.
The conference itself was pretty good. Over 30,000 attended, making it pretty crowded. I wasn’t a huge fan of McCormick Place (the convention center), as it seems pretty poorly laid out (multiple levels, funky entrances, etc.) and not in an area populated by any restaurants, making lunch a bit difficult. We saw some interesting posters and heard a talk from Dr. Francis Collins, the current head of the National Institutes of Health. My presentation wasn’t until Wednesday afternoon, the final day of the conference, making me wonder if anyone would still even be around to see my stuff. Thankfully, I garnered some interest and got to present it multiple times…not as many as last year, but still, much more than I’d expected.
So, we left Wednesday afternoon, again via taxi. This time, the driver didn’t come to a complete stop at a stop sign, so we got chased by a cop on a 4-wheeler (yes, they have those in Chicago…with sirens…). The cop was on a power trip, taking advantage of this poor Asian guy that spoke little English. When the cop went back to his 4-wheeler to input the license and registration information, the driver made the unfortunate choice of getting out of the car to go talk to the cop, who then proceded to yell at the driver: “GET BACK IN THE VEHICLE! DO NOT EXIT YOUR VEHICLE!” He knows better now, I guess… Considering how many people don’t come to complete stops at stop signs, I kinda felt sorry for this particular driver, as he was actually a much better driver than the vast majority of taxi drivers out there, weaving in and out of lanes. How about you cops on 4-wheelers try picking up some of them, eh?
Finally, we hop on the train for the ride home. About 5 minutes north of Joliet, IL (which is around 30 minutes outside of Chicago…), we stopped to allow freight traffic to pass by. Well, they couldn’t re-start our train. Apparently, one of the computers wasn’t rebooting properly (probably running Windows Vista…). We spent 2 hours sitting there waiting for the train to get going, and during that time, we were low on power as they’d shut the engines down. Without power, you a). don’t have lights (making reading difficult) and b). don’t have snack car service, as you can’t use the cash register and can’t use the microwave. They never actually re-started the train, but instead waited for the next train from Chicago to come down and attach itself to us, so we ended up having two trains heading down to St. Louis, making two stops at each town on the way because there were two trains-worth of people trying to get to their destinations. Thankfully, Brooke was kind enough to pick us up 2 hours later than planned (12:45 am…).
So, that was my trip. There were more good things than this (restaurants, some sights, etc.), but these are the more interesting aspects to report.
Brooke and I went to Cabin Fever at the Schlafly Bottleworks back in January and had an excellent time. The festival features 20+ beers to taste for $20. The beers were pretty malty, and pretty high in alcohol content, but they all tasted great. The weather was shockingly good and they had some fire pits set up, so we had a great time.
Every fall, however, an even larger festival is held at the Schlafly Tap Room called Hop in the City. This one features 40+ beers for the tasting for $30. While Cabin Fever could only hold, maybe a few hundred people…but Hop in the City had a thousand. I met up with some folks this time, as Brooke is not drinking much these days. I took note of all the beers I tried while I was there. The list is 22 types long, so I won’t list them all here (but each “taste” was around 3 oz…add that up and I “only” had 4-5 pints during the 4 hour period I was there)…however this is a list of some of my favorites.
Believe you me, if we would still be here next Fall, I’d go again. Sadly, however, it’ll probably be my last Hop in the City for awhile.
Growing up, Mom made “maid rites” pretty often for dinner. They’re loose meat sandwiches made with ground beef and onions and served with pickles, ketchup, and mustard. The Mark Twain Dinette in Hannibal serves them, as well as various Maid Rite franchises around the country, but it seems like very few people know what they are when I mention them. So, for your eating pleasure, here’s the how-to:
Start with a pound or so of ground meat. Traditionally, maid rites are beef, but we had this pork from the Columbia Farmers’ Market in the freezer.
Chop a medium white or yellow onion into smallish chunks.
Add the meat and onions to a skillet on medium heat and season generously with seasoned salt and pepper.
Continue to stir the meat/onion mixture until it is brown and the onions are a little bit brown.
Serve on hamburger buns (the cheaper the better if you ask me….nothing fancy needed for these sandwiches). We had homemade french fries and California blend vegetables, but I like to order onion rings and a rootbeer with them at Mark Twain Dinette!!
This _should_ come out in time for Thanksgiving…which would be awesome, ’cause I can only imagine the Thanksgiving crowd at Brooke’s ‘rents house doing some four-player New Super Mario Bros. This is the perfect game (next to Mario Kart) for putting a controller in someone’s hands and letting them have some old-school Mario fun…and all at the same time, rather than taking turns.
This one is another healthcare-related video, this time featuring Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) telling off some chick that was asking why he supported Obama’s Nazi policies. She apparently didn’t realize what she was getting into, especially in that Frank is not only quite liberal and out-spoken, but also Jewish…and he doesn’t take these types of “Nazi” comments lightly (nor should he…or anyone…). Anyway, it’s only a little over a minute long, but at the very least, watch the last 15 seconds when he says, quite possibly, the funniest thing I’ve ever heard come out of a congressperson’s mouth.
So, so true…
While there is a distinct lack of good television on this time of year (save for a few shining lights like “Monk,” “Psych,” and “Eureka“…), I’ve been watching a bunch of movies this weekend. I’ll give the brief run-down, with a few quick thoughts:
1). “300” (2006)
Excellent movie. I borrowed this one from Josh and watched it on Friday night, and geez, does it look nice on Bluray. I hadn’t seen it in a long time and I’d forgotten just how good the movie is. It’s really one of those timeless stories that is hard to dislike, unless you really distaste the over-the-top violence portrayed in the film (which I don’t mind). Either way, if you haven’t seen it, you really should.
2). “In The Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale” (2007)
I have long considered “Battlefield: Earth” to be the absolute worst movie I’ve ever seen (that is, worst movie that was actually trying to be a good movie…), but this one may give it a run for the money. Uwe Boll directed this gem (along with other classics like “Bloodrayne” and “Alone in the Dark“…) and did his best to pull from every “Lord of the Rings” cliche he could. The man shouldn’t be allowed to make movies anymore, but then again, few directors can produce such entertaining crap (and by “entertaining,” I don’t mean in a good way…). It’s the kind of movie you need to be drinking heavily to enjoy. You also should check out the IMDB page for the movie, as it’s unbelievable how many people you’ve heard of are in this movie…
3). “My Name is Bruce” (2007)
Back in high school, I watched a little movie called “Army of Darkness,” and this was my first introduction to the genius that is Bruce Campbell. He’s one of those B-movie actors that has reveled in it and made an entire career out of it. This movie (shown in some independent film halls and, otherwise, was direct-to-DVD) focuses on Bruce, playing himself, as he slowly wallows away in B-movie hell, until a small town nearby gets visited by an ancient Chinese god that starts going around killing people. Of course, since these people revere Bruce as a true monster warrior, they kidnap him and convince him to battle the beast. This movie was, in every way, better than “In The Name of the King,” and likely better than “G.I. Joe”… If you like Bruce Campbell, you must watch it.
4). “Gladiator” (2000)
After watching “300,” I realized I hadn’t watched this movie in a few years….which is truly a crime. It’s such a great movie and one of my favorites and, as I assume most of you know what this movie is, I won’t go into any descriptions (honestly, it’s rather nuts that it’s almost 10 years old now…). However, if you haven’t ever seen it, let me know so I can loan you the DVD. You really need to see it. Correction, you really need to buy it. Everyone should own it.
So, I talked with a visitor at church last Sunday and she tipped me off to a coffee house (of sorts) at Kingshighway United Methodist Church. They apparently do it every third Saturday and bill it as a family evening, something to get some folks together for fellowship while also enjoying each other’s talents. There were a good 30-40 people down in this old fellowship hall about 10 min. south of us on I-55, in a neat area of south St. Louis City.
While I’m not sure I’d classify it as a “coffee house,” necessarily, it was still a good time. I mean, there was coffee there, and cookies and cheese puffs, but that was about it. And truthfully, it was more of a variety show than anything else. That’s not to say that it wasn’t entertaining, but again, I’m not sure “coffee house” was the correct moniker.
Either way, we had a surprisingly good time. There were a few kids that told jokes, one did some magic tricks, one guy sang “I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You” with a karaoke machine, a group of guys played some CCR and Elton John music…overall, it was a very entertaining evening!
The truly neat part about it is that many of these individuals that were getting up there performing were middle-aged, and this was probably their only outlet to share their musical talents. It’s difficult for me to imagine being in a similar situation, as I’ve been able to keep playing drums/guitar/etc. ever since leaving high school, but many of these folks graduated from high school and didn’t play with a group ever again. An opportunity like this allows them to get to practice their instrument and play it occasionally in front of a group, which is more than I can say for others out there with their instrument hidden in a closet.
Anyway, it was pretty neat. I can only hope I’m playing something in another 30 years!
…until I fell off the wagon and stopped blogging. More is on the way, I promise. I just have to get around to sorting through some pictures and I’ll have a plethora of funny stuff for you. Luckily, this week is way less busy than the last few, so while I’m looking for the pineapple in every episode of Psych, I’ll sort through some stuff I scanned!
So, I’m toying with Twitter to a very small extent. Generally, using one social networking site is plenty for my taste, but there are many folks that to use the Twitter service instead and, due to the wonders of RSS, it’s arguably easier to keep track of.
I only mention this because I’ve added a few feeds to the right-hand column of this page, kinda on a trial basis. Right now, I’ve added Stephen Colbert, Woot.com, Joystiq, GWJ and Giant Bomb (the latter three are gaming-related) to see if it works alright. I’ve only got the top two posts from each feed, but I think I can track up to 20 posts with this particular WordPress plugin.
Anyway, I’ll be messing with it. We’ll see. I don’t plan on actually posting with Twitter often (or ever), but I have tasted the Kool-Aid and may give it a go…
By the way, I don’t know why it sometimes says “no public messages” and sometimes doesn’t. I’m still working out some kinks, obviously… 😛
I was watering and checking on my plants that I’m growing on our 3rd story deck and noticed these tomatoes:
These are a lot more that I picked and threw in the trash because they look like this:
There are some that look like this:
…but I’m afraid they’re all headed in the gross direction. So, does anybody have any thoughts about what is causing this? And how to save the rest of the tomatoes?
