Bits

I had lunch yesterday with my recy-buddy Susan Salterberg. It was good to catch up. I met Susan in 1997, my first year in the biz (as we in the solid waste profession call it. No we really don't, but I'm going to...). We were at a workshop for a waste sort, and were both newly minted recycling educators - she for rural Van Buren County and I for Adams, Taylor and Union.

We decided to room together (to save $ for our taxpayers) at the upcoming Recycling Conference in Sioux City, and a friendship was born. The first night we lay awake in our room at the Holiday Inn, chatting about our lives until the wee hours. Hey - we're rooming together again at the conference coming up in Dubuque.

Last night we met at McKims to figure out menu/food/drink needs for tomorrow's big ISU/Iowa football game. And we practiced tailgating. As a rare show of sportsmanship we allowed Paul (Hawk fan complete with hat) and Lucy Eckhoff to attend. We didn't stay too late as the Green Bay Packers were on TV and they're Paul's first love - even before the Cyclones or me...

Today I got my eyes checked by Dr. Don McKim - I made sure he didn't drink too much brown water last night. I wanted him sharp to do a good job on my wacky eyesight. My right eye isn't good. And my left eye is really bad. Unusual and hard to correct. My correction didn't change too much but I'm getting new glasses anyway - I consider them a fashion statement and do need a backup pair. The new pair are brown with blue and sparkles!

We're leaving early for the game tomorrow - 5:30 a.m.? McFees are driving. Breakfast burritos and cinnamon rolls. BMs (bloody marys). I'm going to whip up a couple lemon drops just for fun and citrus. Then I'll sweat bullets over my Clones. Let's hope they show up. I'd like nothing more than to be called an Old F'ing Hag by a drunken young Hawkeye fan, upset by a surprise loss!

Like Christmas for my ears

Urbandale - yes it perhaps is the dumbest name for a town since West Des Moines (WDM). I like to fancy the name up and call it...drumroll - Urb an dole uh. A lil fancier. Kinda French sounding - no?

WDM - now that took some thinking. Why didn't they stick with Valley Junction? Were they concerned it would be confused with Petticoat Junction? At least they'd have had a cute little jingle to go along with their town name!

Anyway, Urbandale Public Libary has a fabulous CD collection that is like Christmas for my ears...since I'm tired of my regular music collection. One can only listen to Dave Matthews for so long before getting burned out. So I'm making my way through the Urb Collection.

That gives me new ways to drown out Hylton at work. He's the guy in contaminated sites that has the broadcast radio voice. Sometimes it just gets to me! That's when I slip in those iPod buds and let the tunes take me away.

Pablo is in town today - so I stopped by the Sheraton where he had his meeting to visit him after work. He looked nice in his suit, surrounded by folks concerned with conserving our soil. I guess it's only fair since he hung out with the trashies in Nashville. I didn't stay too long though - since I didn't have a banquet ticket.

Then I was off to do errands - on a mission for tailgating. Last but not least I stopped in Urbandale at the Library. Christmas ya know!

Capitol Cafe

I had a late lunch today and snapped these photos with my trusty Blackberry. No matter how many times I eat by the Capitol, I still find it breathtaking.

And this is a shot I snapped of the Capitol as reflected in the Wallace Building (my office) last week after work one night.

I love my work neighborhood. If only the inside of the Wallace Building were only as snazzy as the area outside!

Heart pounding

The medical hits keep on coming! Now it's my other bro-in-law. The youngest one ! Ever so young - Wayne Kohan, Betso's husband. He's a year younger than I am.

Bets says he didn't feel well late last week, but felt good enough Sunday to try a bike ride. After ten minutes his chest tightened up and he decided he needed to get checked out. He had an EKG and echocardiogram.  Both were fairly normal but they decided to do a nuclear stress test Monday.

 He did not have a heart attack and had no muscle damage, but he failed the stress test, which makes them think there might be blockages.  So, the next step is a cardiac cath, where they thread the catheter with scope up through the groin to the heart to take a look. Jeepers! WTF is going on with our fam? 2011 has been quite the year.

Tomorrow is the day - he's going to Spokane to have the procedure since he's a doc and they don't do this stuff at his hospital in Kennewick where they live in Washington state. Fingers crossed meds can take care of whatever it is. Or a stent. Let's hope it's not as dramatic as open heart surgery!

To make things more exciting, baby David (I know...he's 13 now - but he was born the year mom died. So he'll always be baby David to all of the rest of the cousins and aunties) was supposed to be on a big class trip, but started throwing up last night. Then Sarah woke up feeling puckish as well. David went on the trip, but I understand he's holed up in the sick bay.

At this rate Betsy will be in a bed right beside Wayne with heart palpitations! Twins Alex (Washington State U) and Paul (Washington U) are college seniors and Eric is a new frosh at Gonzaga this year. So far they seem to be healthy. Prayers for the family appreciated. They need their daddy healthy! Stay tuned for news about the Kohan family health - after Wayne's procedure tomorrow a.m.

J&K, Labor Day

Jud and Kara stopped by late yesterday afternoon for a meal on their way back to Kansas City. They had been in Iowa City camping with K's fam. It sounds like they had a good time - though poor Juddy - Kara's family plays a lot of board and card games and he sucked at all of them. And it sounds like they love to give him crap. Good thing he's gotten good at taking a beating!

Kara had to put up with hearing all about the Cyclone game when she got to our place. She could care less about football - so they each had to put up with "stuff"! They brought sweet corn along, and it was great. We also did chicken on the grill and baked focacia bread. I threw a salad together with greens, nuts and cranberries.

Labor Day: I'm glad I have had the benefit of working in factories during my life. That experience has given me appreciation for those who toil week after week to produce the things that make our towns/nation/world go. (How would you like to sort the same widget day after day?) I also have an appreciation for service workers - waiters, travel industry workers etc. (dealing with the public? yuck!) These can often be thankless jobs. A tip of my hat to you all this Labor Day!

It's becoming more obvious to me that the tide is turning against labor. In the 70's - even through the 90's when I worked at Gits, the workers represented by a labor union had some pull. As a non-union person I thought it was over the top. And hearing what auto workers got - when it came to wages and perks, over-the-top. Back then I didn't really know anything about public unions, except that our school teachers had one. Again - I knew their insurance deal was way better than anything the rest of the workers had.

Somewhere along the line, the unions over-did it. So now politicians and others are determined to crush them. Due to that and the fact that they've traditionally supported Dem pols. It's all pretty sleazy, just like most politics are.

One editorial piece I read today said they might as well re-name today's holiday Capital Day - because the people making the $ on their investments have all the pull. Not the worker bees. That seems true to me. The wealth is all at the top, and the owners don't seem to want to distribute it to the workers any more. I don't understand it. How rich is rich enough? I guess you can't be too rich.

Meanwhile the workers, in many cases have been laid off and have had to take concessions in wages and pay more in health care etc. The middle class is losing ground. Does the upper class truly think this is healthy for our country?

When I was little I'd play Monopoly with my sister Cindy. Of course she was wily and would soon end up with all the wealth - so I would get bored/mad and quit. Is that what the rich want? They may want to consider letting a few orange or green properties trickle down into the working class hands...

Okay rant over! It's a beautiful day! I think I'll go read outside. Perhaps a little kayaking later.

Nearly a bust!

Wow - the first game was nearly a bust! Between rain and week play by the Clones, I was disappointed. Until the exciting end of the game - when we made some plays and pulled out a victory. Whewee coach!

We started out the day by picking up Bobbie and Jeff early so we could stop at the Farmer's Market on our way to the game.

It's started sprinkling while we were at the farmer's market in downtown DSM. Right after I had my breakfast burrito. I know, I'm not doing very well on my vow to cut down on eating post-vacation. Perhaps it will have to be post-tailgating. We got in on a Flash-Mob dance - kinda. Some dance group did a variety of dances in an intersection - hip hop stuff. Very cute. The seasons nuts that were roasting got my nod for best smelling food of the event.

On up to Ames, as it started raining right along. Yuck! We decided to hit the ISU bookstore for more Cyclone gear (as if we need anything). Paul got a visor - I lusted over a Sticks ISU print $40. It would have to be matted and framed, but I love those things - they have everything in there. Off to the game - still sprinkling. Diana was glad to see us. Don's folks - Fred and Margaret were there along with Diana's father, Jim. You might recall one year ago Diana's mom tragically died in a car wreck. We still miss her lil Italian self.

Jeff and Paul jumped into action - putting tents up. While Bobbie and I jumped into action whipping up lemon drops with the mix I found at Marshall's - Freshies. Just the kick start we needed on a crappy weather day! We used my new lemon squeezer - quite effective. Once Paul was done erecting tents he started on BMs. Bloody Marys silly! We did a taste test with several brands and Zing Zang was popular. I didn't have one - I'm waiting for next week's game.

Marilyn and Dwight showed up from Okoboji. It was M's bday! We had lots of great food. Donnie and Ryan showed up about 2 - Donnie had to do eye exams all a.m. Paul grilled thinly sliced ribeyes. They were delish! Bobbie and I shared one. We also had lil cheese cakes, pecan bars. Some really good dips and salads. Very good.

Game time. I put on crop jeans after wearing shorts all day - concerned about a cold front rumored to hit. Packed up my backpack as usual - with coat, trash bags for rain etc. When we got to the gate - I got turned away by the new security outfit due to their NO Backpack rule. WHAT? I hadn't heard a thing about it. My options? Leave my bag outside the gate for later or walk back. I fought a huge crowd going back - getting more furious with each step...others were getting in with all sorts of bags. What's up with backpacks?

When I got to the RV - all the way out nearly by Hilton Coliseum. I had a pouty drink with the McKim parents. Then walked back - I had missed nearly a while quarter of football. Bastards! I walked in behind a woman carrying a baby with...a backpack on who didn't even get questioned - she just walked in! Grrrr. And we were already behind 3-0.

The game was pretty dismal. It sprinkled, then the wind came up when cleared off. We had no offense. I didn't continue to imbibe alcohol. Our defense wasn't good. Luckily - somehow our team managed a TD right before halftime and we led 7-6. Late in the 4th quarter I decided to go to the restroom. It was such a frustrating game, we couldn't do a thing on either side of the ball - UNI was dominating. And while I was down on the concourse, we scored! Being down there must be good luck.

They scored on the next play. Oops. I decided to stay down there. 2.5 minutes left. We run it back to the 40 and start driving - heart thumping we end up scoring with 40 seconds left and thwart their last second heroics to get a field goal. Cyclones win 20-19. What an ending. I may spend the season on the concourse!

It's like the day before school!

Except it's the day before game day! I'm so excited to get this party started. In fact we didn't wait...last night we sat in McKim's driveway in lawn chairs with the RV and had a couple cocktails.

Oh, we pretended we were going to help Diana and Donnie get the 92 Pace Arrow ready. But we just sipped bevvies, and chatted. Bobbie told us about the McFee trip to Colorado in August.

Jeff showed up after farm chores in his new t shirt Kimmy brought him from Okinawa. It's black with Japanese writing on it. She told him it says "good looking guy" or something like that. Don got wound up and started doing his Japanese accent with his idea of what it said: "white guy, small dick." Stuff like that.

Our consersations end up being a great deal like a Seinfeld episode. About nothing! But we laugh a lot. We did get something done - we planned the food for Saturday:

• Thinly cut ribeyes for sandwiches (and there is an apron in the RV so Paul doesn't ruin his shorts this year)
• Buns
• Diana has pondered making potato salad though I don't know when she might do that...unless she stayed up until 2 a.m (wouldn't put it past her)
• Some various dips
• I'm making bar/brownies (don't get too excited - they're from a box)
• Various chips
• Venison summer sausage, cheese, crackers
• I'm sure there will be other stuff I'm forgetting - I didn't write down what Bobbie was making

Don and Diana are driving up to Norwalk to the Creston High School game tonight, as son Ryan is a coach for CHS. Then they'll drive on to Ames to get situated. Then Don will drive back to Creston as he has to work, eyeballing eye patients tomorrow until noonish. Bobbie, Jeff, Pablo and I will take off mid morning. Judson David is driving to Iowa City with GF Kara tonight for a family event with her - then he's driving on to Ames tomorrow. I can't wait - kickoff at 6 PM. Go Cyclones!

One bad thing - I totally forgot I was supposed to be at book club last night - didn't put it on my calendar and didn't think of it once all week. I hate missing book club! Good thing I was having fun at something else instead...

2010 first game