Interesting night at the poker table.....

I went over to the local casino to play some live poker last night as Mrs. Lime was busy for the evening. Results were quite good from a poker perspective. I won just over $200, so a great night as far as that's concerned. But of course, that's not what I'll be blogging about as there were some interesting people at the table.

Early on, I showed up around 7:30 and there was a guy that was fully drunk and giving the table plenty of action. He was drinking Red Bulls and beer, so he was drunk AND full of energy. He left the table shortly after I arrived and I didn't have a chance to make any money off him. He left with his girlfriend and the $500 in chips that he had left and he said he was heading out to play some blackjack.

A guy named Mike came into his seat. I could tell that Mike was a good guy and struck up a conversation with him. He started working straight out of high school. He worked at a local car dealership in the area. He started as a salesman and then worked his way up to where he's not a finance consultant. Works 6 days a week and has a wife and two kids. He wore a Steve Bono Chiefs jersey. Now, most would say that's kind of silly because it's an old Chiefs player that's not even on the team anymore. What I see when I see people wearing old Chiefs jerseys is a person who has his priorities in order and doesn't waste his money buying a new jersey just because the names on the back of the jersey change.

Mike and I chatted for awhile and then a guy name Kyle sat down on the other side of me. Immediately, Mike leaned over to me and said that Kyle looked like a military man. I told Mike that if he was a military guy, God bless him. Mike did appear to be right because Kyle had a tight haircut that just screamed military.

Mike (to Kyle): Are you in the military?

Kyle: Yeah, Army Reserves.

Mike: Cool, my brother was in the military.

Kyle: Which branch?

Mike: He was in the Marines. Have you gone overseas at all yet?

Kyle: Nope, not yet. I'll get my chance soon enough.

Me: You say 'was'. Is he all finished with his time in the Marines or on leave?

Mike: No, he's actually passed on.

Me: Oh.

I just kind of left it at that and busied myself with playing the current poker hand. After a minute or so......

Mike: My brother was killed in Iraq on August 3rd, 2005.

Me: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

Mike: He was killed when an IED exploded next to his vehicle. August 3rd, 2005.....

He kept repeating the date. The date seemed to be etched in his mind. I later found out it was his only sibling and it was his older brother. He was probably a role model to him. Also, I could tell by the fact that he kept talking about it that he was very proud of his brother and the ultimate sacrifice that he made. He spoke about his brother and his death openly at the table. I could tell that he really wanted to tell about his brother.

While Mike and I were the only ones conversing, I happened to look up a couple of times and noticed that the rest of the table was quiet and listening to every word we said. The poker was secondary. Everyone was listening in an odd sort of reverence toward Mike and his brother. Some were probably people who support the war effort. Others were probably people who don't agree with everything about the war in Iraq. But at that moment, everyone didn't care about their beliefs. They were focused on Mike.

At some point, Mike switched the conversation over to Kyle. We found out that Kyle is a college student going to school in northern Missouri. He gets his school paid for by the U.S. government. He talked with us about the fact that he hadn't totally decided what he was going to major in. Really smart guy who will definitely have a great impact on people whatever he ends up doing.

I looked at the time and realized that it was past time to head home. I was so involved in chatting at the table that I totally lost track of time. I told Mike it was nice to meet him and wished Kyle well in college.

As a side note, I looked at the Internet when I got home and found the following info regarding Mike's brother......



Age: 26
Military Rank: Corporal
Unit/Location: Marine Forces Reserve’s 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Columbus, Ohio

Killed August 3rd, 2005 when their Amphibious Assault Vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device during combat operations south of Haditha, Iraq.

Iraq War Heroes page for Kenneth

Stairs are not a problem.......

There's a lady that works on my floor that walks with a pretty severe limp because of an injury to one of her legs. She gets around the workplace just fine, but it takes her awhile to do so. I'm always amazed that she has such a great attitude about the whole thing. Some people in similar situations let the problem get them in a bad frame of mind. Not this lady.

I went downstairs to get a drink from the cafeteria this morning. I came back out with my drink and noticed her heading into the stairwell just up the hall from me. That's the first thing you should note. She's got a pretty severe injury, but she always takes the stairs and never takes the elevator. I think it's this kind of attitude in regard to something like stairs not being an obstacle for her that shows how strong-willed she is.

She's quite feisty as well. I walked into the stairwell behind her and slowly followed her up the stairs. Halfway up, she said I could go on by if I wanted to do so. I told her that I was in no big hurry. She laughed and said that was a good thing if she was behind me. I told her that I was used to walking slow anyway because my wife was quite pregnant right now. She said with a chuckle that she was glad that she was walking slow because of a limp and not because she was pregnant. She said she had done that a couple of times before and wasn't really interested in doing it again. She did say that she was happy she had the kids.

Always nice to see people who make you feel stupid for ever lamenting your situation when they have more obstacles than you do.

Trash time at Christmas.....

People never cease to amaze me.

Our trash pick-up day is usually Wednesday. However, due to the Xmas holiday being on Monday, everyone's trash day is pushed back one day. So, we don't have to put out our trash this week until Thursday.

Normally, we are limited to two bags of trash a week and unlimited recyclable items. The system is run that way and helps to reduce both waste and costs by about $7/household in our city. If you want to put out more trash during a normal week, you just buy stickers from the city for $1/bag and you can put out as many extra bags as you want. However, Christmas week is different. There's no limit on trash for this week since the city is obviously aware that there will be a lot of trash/boxes/etc from the holidays.

A new neighbor down the street evidently didn't get the memo about trash days being moved back during holiday weeks. So he put out his trash today thinking that it was going to be picked up when in fact, it won't be picked up until tomorrow. Normally, that's not such a big deal. However, this guy decided that he would put out the boxes from his Christmas presents on the curb. So now, everyone driving by his home today knows that he received a 42" plamsa TV, a computer, a new tool chest, a very nice light fixture, and several games/toys for his kids. For those that aren't aware of it, this is generally an excellent way for thieves to scout out what they could obtain in a house before they even enter it. Not only that, if that computer or TV goes bad and he needs to return it for warrenty repairs, he's not going to have the packaging to ship those items. I'm sure the guy is nice, but I have no clue why he put all those boxes out there without at least attempting to mask them somewhat.

You can be sure that the only thing that anyone will know I got for Xmas will be a storage shelf unit for my garage. I'm guessing that won't move easily and it won't sell well on the electronics black market, so I should be good.

The lady behind us......

We went to see a movie the other night at a theater in the area. It was called 'The Good Shepard'. It was about the beginnings of the CIA. Pretty interesting movie. It makes you appreciate just how much some of those people sacrifice in the service of their country. Little notoriety, but a whole lot of risk for the individual doing the work.

After the movie, we came outside. Mrs. Lime and her sister were pulling up to the curb to pick up her mom, who walks with a cane. A lady in a car behind Mrs. Lime decided that she didn't like the hold-up and honked her horn at Mrs. Lime. I shot a few dirty looks at the lady and she was in her car yelling in the general direction of our vehicle. It was blatently obvious that we had a lady with a cane getting into our car. We got everyone in and headed off.

I will never understand what possesses people to act like that. There's a lady who can't walk well trying to get into a car and these people don't have the time or patience to sit there for 1 minute or so while she gets into the car. I would have loved nothing more than for that lady to walk a mile in my mother-in-law's shoes. She'd stop laying on the horn and have the respect to wait for one minute without raising a fuss. Unfortunately, that lady will likely repeat her behavior in the future without every thinking about how silly her actions are in the given situation.

It doesn't take much to earn a little respect, but it is a lot of work to mend the damage caused by disrespect.

One more Christmas come and gone.....

Well, I survived Xmas. I helped my wife cook a meal that would feed a full homeless shelter. Nevermind the fact that we only had 6 people over for dinner. That's not important.

We watch the movie 'Pearl Harbor' yesterday afternoon. Mrs. Lime's family hadn't seen it before. It was bashed by the critics when it first came out, but it's a good movie. It paints a pretty vivid picture of the attack. They don't sugar-coat it at all. About halfway through the movie, one of the female characters is killed in the attack. I just happened to stand up moments after it happened to go into the kitchen to refill my drink. Mrs. Lime was sitting at the kitchen table and she was starting to cry. I asked her what was the matter and she said, 'That girl just died'. Tally up one more score for the emotional roller coaster that we call pregnancy. She cried again later when another main character was killed.

We're now coming up on a month until I have a kid. I'm sure the thought of now having to deal with me and the new baby is something my wife is looking forward to more than anything. I can't imagine why she wouldn't. If she can deal with me on an every day basis, she shouldn’t have any problems with a child.

Slow time of the year at work.......

Today is the beginning of the holiday workdays where not a whole lot goes on. Everyone saves up all their vacation so they can take time off around the holidays. I usually just work around the holidays because there's not a whole lot going on in general. It some easy workdays that pay just the same as any other day.

I've received 5 different X-mas ornaments from people in the office. Being in an office filled with mostly women, you get plenty of 'cute' stuff around the various holidays. I received a snowman, a bell (made of a cut-up egg carton and painted with glitter), a stuffed animal, and a snowman painted onto wood. All quite unique things.

Also, they held something called a 'cookie exchange' at work the other day. Basically, everyone that wants to participate brings in 2 dozen cookies. They then lay out all the cookies in a 'cookie buffet' of sorts and then everyone gets to go through and pick up 2 dozen cookies, resulting in a large variety of cookies for everyone involved. I'm not sure how many of the cookies actually made it home to families as most of the cookies were being eaten throughout the day by the ladies. But the workplace was very pleasant that entire day, so they can eat all the cookies they want if that keeps happening.

The bathroom button........

If there's one thing that the government is great at, it's taking care of people who are disabled that work for the government. There's a lot of people with varying disabilities who work in my area. They all get around and are able to do things very easily. It's certainly good to see those people have the opportunities that they have.

In our bathroom, they have the buttons installed in the bathroom that allow people to push the button to open the door automatically. Really nice feature for those that need it.

Some people in the building use that button as a sanitary crutch of sorts. People have this concept that if they touch the bathroom handle, they will be touching one of the dirtiest surfaces known to mankind. While it's certainly not the cleanest surface, it is general knowledge that public bathrooms with daily cleaning (as we have at my workplace) are actually cleaner than bathrooms in a private home. The reason is that they're cleaned much more often than a home bathroom.

I've seen people do various things to avoid touching the handle. The most common is to wash their hands, dry them with a paper towel, and then push the button holding the paper towel to avoid touching the button or the door handle. Probably is the best way to do it if you do truly fear bathroom cooties.

The second method is to wash their hands, dry them and then just push the button with your bare hands. That would seem to kind of defeat the purpose of pushing the button in my mind. You're touching a surface that has been touched thousands of times by hands and, most likely, is just as dirty as the door handle you're trying not to touch. Not sure how this is any better than just opening the door by grabbing the door handle.

The third, and very rare method is to wash their hands, dry them, and then hit the button with either your elbow or bumping it with your backside. This may be another good way for the person to avoid contact, but how would those people who hit the button with their bare hand feel about someone's backside being used to push that button? I'm not sure I want them to know.

Another thing I've noticed is that several of the people that appear to be germaphobes are actually people who don't practice a lot of personal hygiene. People, if you're going to show a willingness to avoid germs at all costs, the least you could do is to practice good personal hygiene! Without that, it would seem that the battle is lost before it even starts.

Me? I just grab the handle and open the door all by myself. I don't have time to avoid germs and I fear that the time I use the automatic open button will be the one that causes the door-opening motor to go out, thereby keeping any handicapped people from getting into the bathroom. I simply can't have that on my conscience.

One year down, many to go........

I'm sure no one happened to make note of it other than me, but today is the one year anniversary of my blog. I've posted a lot of stuff on this blog over the past year. I even ran into a mini-crisis when I ran out of room on the blogger site to post pictures. Thankfully, I found the Photobucket site where I can dump all of my pictures to easily post them to my blog. I've been through two cities, two jobs, three 'homes' and two pregnancies.

In the coming months, I think this will quickly change over to a blog based on stories about my child. Lots of baby stories. Today she cried, today she spilled her milk, today she fell down and thought it was funny, etc. I'm sure that I'll be pretty different one year from now. Until then, I'll just keep telling stupid stories until my daughter decides to pop out and turn my life on its head.

The gift that keeps on giving.........

Just when you think that your Christmas can't go any better, your brother-in-law steps in and takes care of business.

We had our family Christmas on my side of the family this past weekend. We did that because we have a few people in our family that will be working over Christmas weekend, so it's easier to just do it on a day when everyone is available. We got some great gifts for everyone. We went with couple presents (i.e. Mom and Dad got one present, Sister and husband got one present, ets.) because we could get them some really nice things that they could use for roughly the same price as separate presents. Probably won't do that every year, but it worked out well this year.

My brother-in-law told me the night before we opened presents that my gift would be good, but then it would get even better. I had no clue what that meant other than I was prepared for whatever may happen.

I finally got my present the next day. He handed it to me and it looked like some sort of gift card. I'm good with that. I pull it open and it's a Best Buy gift card. I am always finding things I want at Best Buy, so kudos there.

I pull it open a little further. There's another gift card in there! I pull it open to find a gift card to my favorite white trash eating establishment.........Hooters!!!! Visions of chicken wings dancing in my head. Those that know me know that I LOVE Hooters! Chicken wings, chicken sandwich, bucket of clams, curly fries.........they're all just fabulous. I don't go there that often for fear I'll suddenly over 300 lbs, but man, do they have good food. Honestly, if Hooters Air gave out chicken wings for snack on flights, I'm not sure I'd fly with any other air carrier. I'd pay $50 extra round trip just to eat wings on a plane flight.

It will only be a matter of time before Mrs. Lime and I head over to use that gift card. Mrs. Lime loves hot and spicy food, so I'm guessing we'll have to get two orders of wings. I can't handle the heat like she can. I think she's got a mouth without nerve endings. It's amazing the way she can eat that spicy food without any severe repercussions. I can't say the same for me.

Marital bliss (sort of).......

I walked in the door about 5 minutes before I usually do when coming home from work. As I walked in, I heard Mrs. Lime's voice upstairs......

Mrs. Lime: Hello?

Me: Hello!

Mrs. Lime: Hi! You're home early!

Me: I'm only home about 5 minutes early.

Mrs. Lime: (having just woke up) I was going to take a shower and get cleaned up before you got home.

Me: Well, I'm home now, so that's not going to happen. You acted surprised when I came in. Are you hiding a boyfriend up there?

Mrs. Lime: (laughing) Yeah.

Me: So while you're out talking to me, he's putting his clothes on in the bedroom?

Mrs. Lime: Yeah, something like that.

Me: So you said 'You're home early!' to me followed by you whispering to Bill that he needed to get out of the house?

Mrs. Lime: (now downstairs and hugging me) Yes.

Me: OK, fair enough.

Thus ended the quickest extra-marital affair we've had in our 6+ years of marriage.

R.I.P. Lamar........

There's got to be some sort of strange irony to this. On the morning that I was going to put up a post detailing my trip to Arrowhead Stadium to watch the Chiefs/Ravens game, I heard the news that Lamar Hunt has passed away at the age of 74. With the abilities that modern medicine now has, even 74 years of age seems too young to die.

People who aren't huge sports fans will see this event as the passing of a NFL owner. Most people in Kansas City know that we lost much more than that last night. Mr. Hunt, along with another sports owner named Ewing Kauffman who helped bring the Royals to Kansas City, were two men with great foresight who allowed Kansas City to become what it is today. The businesses, the people, the economy, etc. are all here because they took the risk of bringing a professional franchise to Kansas City. The charities and trusts that they created in Kansas City have helped thousands of people better their lives. Their vision helped create the Truman Sports Complex, which most of the other major league cities now emulate in their current stadium developments. It was way ahead of its time and the stadiums are still considered some of the best stadiums in their respective leagues.

It's disappointing that these two men are no longer in the owner's suite at their respective stadiums. We probably won't see two people have this much impact on Kansas City for quite some time to come.

Belly Pics - Week 29

This picture is from December 1st. The baby is getting really active and REALLY growing at this point.

Belly Pics - Week 27

I've been late on getting up pictures of Mrs. Lime's ever-growing tummy.

Job security and 'Office Space'.....

Well, my job security just increased in leaps and bounds today. I test roughly 6 systems along with one other person in our group. Today, she announced that she's leaving our group in a week and a half. So, I now am the sole tester on all 6 systems. The good part is that I have great leverage and job security now. The bad part is that I have little backup when busy periods occur. Such is life. I could always have it worse.

I watched the movie 'Office Space' with Mrs. Lime last night. It's a comedy about the office/cubicle-style workplace. If you've ever worked in a corporate environment before, I'd suggest it as a must-see movie. Most people will still find it very funny even if they haven't worked in the corporate cubicle environment, but it's even funnier if you have. Regardless, it's a great movie.

On a side note, tonight is the peak of a large meteor shower. Look just to the left of the constellation Orion in the east/southeast sky. The peak of the meteor shower will happen between midnight and 4:00 AM when 2 shooting stars per minute will be visible. Even if you don't want to stay up late, you can see one shooting star a minute as early as 9:00 PM. Great opportunity to see some very bright and long-lived meteors/shooting stars.

How one idiot ruined an afternoon......

I had to come home a couple hours later than I usually do last night due to some extra work that needed to be done. No big deal. It should only add about 10 minutes to my commute, right?

Normally that would be a true statement. However, the gods of fate decided that day would not be a normal day. Some guy in a compact car decided that it would be a good idea to cut off a truck carrying an oversized motor home. This resulted in the truck having to swerve to avoid the car and the motor home ending up tipped over on 1 1/2 lanes of the 3 lanes of traffic. Translation: a traffic tie-up.

Not only that, but in the slowdown that occurred afterwards, there was a lady who's car stalled in the middle lane of traffic. So there were people that were having to avoid the middle blocked lane in one section of the backup and then everyone had to avoid the motor home that was being moved back onto the trailer in another section of the backup.

As for the guy who caused the truck to swerve in the original accident, I hope he had to pay for the damage to the motor home. It would serve him right after all the problems that he caused.

5 year old birthday party........

One of my friends had a 5th birthday party in the pool house in our neighborhood. It was Cars-themed party with specially printed candy bar wrappers and coloring books for the kids. I went to help set up ahead of time. We put popcorn into popcorn bags for the Cars movie that they were going to watch. We moved around some furniture to give the kids ample room to do what they do best (which is run around like a chicken with its head cut off).

Then the kids started showing up. I have never seen so much energy in a room. One kid randomly started doing jumping jacks for no particular reason. Three other kids started a game of tag that ended up being a game of tackle tag evidently. Another girl quietly made a keychain on the table (God, please let that be my daughter). Kids kept coming into the party and the chaos continued to grow.

I left for a bit and came back 2 hours later. There was STILL tons of energy at the party (some of it probably had to do with the thick icing on the birthday cake that they just finished eating). There was still a random game of tag going on. Some kids were watching the movie and eating popcorn. Others were just running around in circles for good reason other than to burn off some energy. I had to sit down on the couch just to rest after watching it all. I'm ready for parenting, but I'm not in any big hurry to get there after attending that birthday party.

'Perfect Storm' for the Republicans.......

The presidential race appears to be shaping up well at this point for the Republicans. The two candidates that will create a perfect matchup for the Republicans to retain the White House are now leading their respective races to win the party's nomination for President.

First, Hillary Clinton is leading by a wide margin over Barack Obama (30% to 12%) in a poll with a margin of error of +/- 3%. While the Bill Clinton supporters in the Democratic party see her as a link to their past success, she is the worst pick out of the Democratic candidates as far as Independent and Republican voters to secure the win. The poll also shows that more Republicans and Independents will vote against her than any other Democratic nominee. That isn't likely to change much given the general impression that most voters have about her. The real shame is that if she is nominated and loses badly, it could sour both parties on nominating a woman for the presidency in the future. That doesn't make sense because her loss would have a whole lot less to do with the fact that she is a woman and a whole lot more to do with the fact that she's a terrible candidate in general because she doesn't have any appeal to independent or Republican voters.

On the other side, former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani leads John McCain for the Republican nomination (30% to 22%). Rudy is a great candidate for several reasons. First, he is not in the mold of a deeply conservative candidate. He is quite moderate and even sways to the liberal side on some of his opinions. He also does not pander to the religious right, which is a key in getting more votes from independent and some Democratic voters. His handling of the 9/11 situation some would argue was even better than Dubya in that he directed the recovery efforts extremely well. He's got a very outgoing personality that makes him a 'people' person.

The polls for this matchup between Hillary and Rudy indicate a sizable win for the Republican Party. It's a perfect situation for the Republicans. They can retain the White House while putting in a candidate that offers a lot of differing opinions when compared to Dubya. I've said from the start that I'd love to see Hillary as the Democratic candidate. I wouldn't be shocked to see Republicans voting as Democrats for Hillary in Democratic primaries simply to make sure that she leads the Democratic ticket. It would be the best way to make sure that a Republican ends up in the White House.

Which one?????

Conversation overheard in my office area today:

Lady 1: Those dishes are lovely.
Lady 2: Yeah, I use them for just about anything.
Lady 1: Where did you get them?
Lady 2: I got them as a wedding gift.
Lady 1: Which wedding was that?
Lady 2: I can't remember. It was either my second or my third wedding. I divorced them both, so these dishes are my favorite part of both of those weddings.

I'm going to go ahead and set a lifelong goal to never have to remember which marriage I received certain gifts. It makes it a lot easier to remember if you just stick with one wife. I plan on achieving that goal with relative ease with occasion course corrections by my wife that may be needed along the way.

Tried out a new restaurant......

We went to a new restaurant last night called Tutti Mare (translated, it means 'fruit of the sea'). We went in thinking it was an Italian restaurant, not knowing the translation at that time. Nice place that wasn't too busy. We looked over the menu and neither of us were extremely keen about the choices of the main platters. So, we did something different and decided to order every one of their sides and try a bunch of different things.

We ended up with:

Lobster-poached asparagus
Risotto with calamari
Gnocchi with some sort of cheese cream sauce
Grilled portobello mushrooms
Some type of creamed peas
Garlic mashed potatoes
Tomato bisque
Lobster ravioli

The definite must-gets were the lobster ravioli, the portobello mushrooms, the garlic mashed potatoes and the asparagus. I liked the peas, but Mrs. Lime thought they were undercooked. Tomato bisque tasted good to me, but Mrs. Lime was so/so on it. I liked the calamari on top of the risotto, but the risotto itself and the gnocchi were just a bit too strong and heavy for our taste.

Overall, it was a really nice restaurant (they had wine lockers for regular customers) and we got to try a lot of different things. The staff was very nice and the manager took time to come by to see if our food was good and invite us back. Maybe next time we'll actually try one of their entrees.

3 legs and a whole lot of attention needs.......

I was working on putting some baby furniture together when I happened to look out the window. It was still cold outside from the winter storm that blew through our area. Walking down the sidewalk was a 3-legged dog. It appeared to be a bit lost. Mrs. Lime wanted to go down and check the dog's collar. She'd open an animal shelter in our home if I ever let her.

We went out and I whistled at the dog and told it to come over. It was very happy to see us and she immediately wanted her tummy rubbed. I got the number off the collar and gave it a call. I only got the answering machine, but it did have a phone number to call the vet directly. I did that and spoke with the vet. I explained that I had a German Shepard mix with 3 legs that I had found wandering the street. He immediately knew who owned the dog because he didn't care for that many 3-legged German Shepard mix dogs.

He knew the name of the owner, but he was in the Denver Airport and couldn't give me a contact number. I told him that I was in the north part of town and that puzzled him because the dog owner lived in the south part of town, roughly 25-30 miles away. So we were confused as to how the dog got up north. The vet said that his office would open in the morning, so he couldn't do much other than suggest calling his office in the morning. He also said we could drop off the dog at the vet hospital nearby tonight and that they could get the dog back to the owners in the morning.

We brought the dog in and gave it a couple of treats. It was very well behaved around our dog and sat to get a treat, so we knew it was an well-treated dog. She tried to make herself at home on the couches, but we kept her from doing that. Even then, she listened well. I made the executive decision to take her to the vet hospital (after alleviating my wife's unfounded fears that they would put the dog to sleep overnight) and look for her owners on the way out of the neighborhood. Honestly, I think my wife wanted to keep the dog, which wasn't going to happen under any circumstance anyway.

We drove around the circle and saw our home builder out in the neighborhood. He knows everyone in the area, so we asked him if he knew anyone who owned a 3-legged dog. He initially thought we were making a joke, but then quickly realized we were serious when he saw, strangely enough, a 3-legged dog enjoying a ride in our back seat. He suggested that it might be a house up in the neighborhood, so we drove off to give that a try.

I started looking for Kansas license plates in the neighborhood, thinking that someone might be visiting up north and happened to lose track of their dog. We saw a Kansas license plate in one of the driveways and so we stopped and Mrs. Lime went to knock on the door. Moments later, she came back out and gave the signal. We had found the dog's owners. Turns out that her name was Millie and she was very happy to be back home. The owners didn't even know that she was outside. A happy ending for our first 3-legged dog search and rescue.

Made it through the snowstorm.......

Great win for Mizzou last night against the Arkansas Razorbacks. I went down to Columbia last night in the midst of a snowstorm to go see the game. There were some cars on the highway that had no business being on a snow-covered road in the middle of the night. Most of them ended up in the ditch. There were also some semis that went off the road. My question is why those semis were even trying to drive through that weather. They have a hotel room in the back of their cab. It's not like it is that difficult to just pull over and sleep off the storm.

We made the 100 mile trip from Columbia to Blue Springs in about 2 1/2 hours. So we averaged about 35-40 MPH, which wasn't too bad given the conditions.

The only real problem was the blowing snow. We got back at our meeting point in Kansas City and found the two cars we left there both sitting in snow drifts. One side of each car was snow-free with the other side covered by a snow drift. We spent about 10 minutes cleaning off the cars and then I helped push one of the cars so they could get out of the deep snow in the parking lot onto the road, where the snow was cleared off. Everybody got out and home just fine. Despite the storm, we had a good time.

Ice storms and 'work'......

A less than stellar day in Kansas City today. We've been spoiled by near-record temperatures over the past couple of weeks. The temperatures in the 60s somehow gave that feeling that winter isn't quite here yet. Today, Mother Nature has decided to reward us with a nice ice storm followed by some snow over the next couple of days. Ah, well. It had to happen eventually.

Our dog has quickly learned a new favorite word: work. Yes, most of you probably consider 'work' to be a four-letter word in more ways than one. My dog knows that word means that my wife, who works in our home, will be going in to work on the computer for an extended period of time. He loves going in and laying down next to her chair because he knows she'll be in one spot for a long period of time and that he won't have to chase her around to get attention. He usually takes a bone in there as well to keep himself busy. Truly a dog's life.

Holiday weekend complete......

Long holiday weekend for the Lime family. Lots of excitement and some unwanted excitement, but it was good to have everyone around for the holiday weekend.

We had a ridiculous amount of food on our Thanksgiving table. We had two different turkeys (one was cooked overly well done intentionally), a ham, several salads, veggies, rolls, and other additional extras. We also had cheesecake and a couple other desserts afterwards while we watched the Chiefs beat the Broncos. Nothing says fun like a football game and food.

Casanova even got a special Thanksgiving treat of turkey with his dry dog food. He's still finishing off a diet, but we allowed him to splurge as well for one night.

I put up the Christmas tree in our front room along with various other decorations around the house. I also put a couple of decorations outside the house to make it look a bit more festive without turning it into the Griswold family Christmas (watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation if you don't get that joke).

The baby continues to move all around, with the due date only about 2 months away. I took a belly pic a couple of weeks back. I need to put that up along with a current one.

Mrs. Lime went to a baby shower on Saturday. She brought home a truckload of goodies that we'll have to sort through. I don't know what's there, but I'm sure she has it memorized.

Lots going on. I'm enjoying the calm before the baby storm I suppose.

My Black Friday outing......

I got up early to head over to the nearby Best Buy to pick up on some sales. I was targeting a TV, a lightweight vacuum and some DVD's. The DVD's were actually not on sale at Best Buy, but if you bring the competitor's advertisement, they'll do a price match. It's a great way to buy things on Black Friday so you don't have to race from store to store trying to get all the various deals.

I got to Best Buy around 3:15 AM. It was just under two hours until the store opened and there were already about 200-300 people in line. Best Buy handled the crowd very well. They set up a queue at the door to make sure the line filed in orderly. Also, they came through the line at 4:00 AM to hand out tickets for the major sale items. This made it really nice because there wasn't a major rush to get to those items once the store opened up at 5:00 PM.

I sweat it out while they started passing out the tickets. Various other items were brought through the line by the Best Buy reps that I wasn't all that interested. Finally, someone came through with the item that I came to get. They handed me the ticket. There was supposed to be a minimum of 12 of those specific TV's per store. I looked at my ticket and it said my ticket was #13. Thank God they got extra TV's in. I would have barely missed getting one otherwise.

By the time the doors opened, there were well over 1,000 people in line. Prettty amazing site. I would have taken a picture, but it was still dark outside, so not much of a chance of getting a good shot. I went in and got the stuff I was looking for and got in the TV line. I had to wait an hour in line to get the TV paid for and pick it up, but it was well worth the savings.

I did receive a call from my friend Rudy while I was waiting in line. He had gone over with his wife to wait in the always chaotic line at Toys 'R' Us. It's always amazing what parents will do for a little savings on a toy. Today was no different as evidently a guy attempted to cut in line and ended up in a fist fight with the guy he tried to cut in front of in line. Never enough excitement on Black Friday I suppose.

I headed back home around 6:45 to catch a couple of hours of sleep so I wouldn't be too tired for the rest of the day.

American disconnect......

How scary is the level of disconnect of most Americans as to what is going on in the world around them? In Lebanon today, a man who was a Christian and spoke out against the Syrian government was assassinated. In Darfur, Muslims are literally exterminating innocent villagers (most of whom are Christians) because they want the land they live on for the oil beneath that land. In Iraq, people are killing each other in a power struggle between ethnic factions and aligning themselves with government like Iran. In Russia, the government is literally killing anyone who speaks out against the government or tries to expose the corruption in the Kremlin. In North Korea, a madman who starves his people while he lives like royalty has missiles that can easily strike the United States if he just pushes the button. It's a scary world with a lot of things to deal with that definitely have some effect on America in one form or another.

Meanwhile, more Americans know who Paris Hilton is than the name of the Speaker of the House, a person who is in line for the presidency should both the president and vice-president die. Rarely do more than 50% of Americans vote in an election, yet it seems that 100% of them want to complain about the state of politics. More Americans know about the Cruise-Holmes wedding than what was included in the most recent port security bill. More Americans know about the stupid things that any given politician did in their personal life than they do about the actual voting record of that politician or what they did for their constituents. Some Americans would prefer to remain on welfare and take handouts from the government rather than take a minimum wage job and work their way up to a better-paying job. Some Americans complain about a hard-working Mexican immigrant "taking jobs away from Americans" rather than simply working hard to be a better worker than that immigrant.

Sickening stuff.

Boonville post caused a lot of feedback.......

I was a bit surprised at how many e-mails I got either complimenting the blog about Boonville and Davy Crockett, er, Daniel Boone or adding to the information surrounding the discussion. Good to see there's people reading the blog.

My dad sent me on some good information about the historic site near Boonville where the Boone family settled down. It would appear that Daniel Boone's sons didn't like their father getting all the credit.

Boone's Lick Salt Works

In 1804, explorers Lewis and Clark reported the presence of many saltwater springs in the area that now comprises Howard, Cooper and Saline counties. Wildlife such as deer, elk and bison gathered around these springs to lick the salt from the ground. The largest of these salt springs was the Boone's Lick.

In pioneer times, salt was indispensable for preserving meat and tanning hides. The countryside around this salt spring was considered ideal for settlement and by 1810 had acquired the name "Boone's Lick Country" and for many years was the primary destination of pioneers moving west.

The famous frontiersman Daniel Boone is often credited with discovering the lick. However, his son Nathan made it clear in an 1851 interview that it was he and his brother Daniel Morgan Boone, and not their father, who were associated with the lick. As early as 1797, the Spanish government in St. Louis awarded explorer James Mackay a land grant of 400 arpents (330 acres) around the salt lick, although the U.S. government later denied his claim for many years.

In 1805, the Boone brothers formed a partnership with James and Jesse Morrison to produce salt. Salt production was a labor-intensive project. Brine water was poured into iron kettles and heated to boiling on a stone furnace. As the water evaporated, salt crystallized in the bottom of the kettle. Approximately 250 to 300 gallons of brine water produced a bushel of salt.

The operation grew from eight men laboring over one furnace and 40 kettles to 20 men operating two furnaces handling 60 kettles each. About 30 bushels of salt were produced a day and were shipped by keelboat on the Missouri River to St. Louis where it sold for $2.50 per bushel. So much timber was cut to fuel the salt furnaces that wood had to be brought in from as far as four miles away.

Daniel M. Boone sold his share of the business in 1810. The threat of war with Great Britain and their Indian allies loomed in 1812. Nathan Boone was appointed a captain in the rangers and disposed of his interests in the salt works. The Morrisons had to abandon the salt works until peace was made with the warring tribes in 1815.

Several noted Missourians were associated with the Boone's Lick salt works. William Becknell, a manager at the works, led the first successful trading expedition to Santa Fe in 1821 and took the first wagons the following year. The Cooper family, the first white settlers in the Boone's Lick Country, helped manage the works and brought back the first mules, jacks and jennets from Santa Fe, helping lay the foundation of Missouri's renowned mule-breeding industry.

In 1827, James and Jesse Morrison dissolved their partnership leaving James in possession of "all salt kettles and tools of every description at the Boone's Lick Salt works." The works were offered for sale in August of 1831, but it remains unclear when the property sold. In 1833, Morrison's 16-year-old son fell into one of the boiling salt kettles and was horribly scalded to death. Shortly thereafter, the US government confirmed James Mackay's claim to his heirs. Morrison left the lick and commercial salt production ceased.

In 1869, there was a short-lived attempt to revive the commercial manufacture of salt. The "Oyster Plan" of 1900 sought to dam the springs to raise oysters and saltwater fish, but the plan quickly collapsed.

Today, the 52-acre site has picnic facilities and a short steep trail that winds its way to the spring site where wood remnants of the salt works and an iron kettle are still visible. Outdoor exhibits interpret this unique saltwater environment and center of frontier industry. Archaeological excavations have uncovered many features of the salt manufacturing industry and some of the artifacts found are on display at the Arrow Rock State Historic Site visitor center in Arrow Rock.



Boone's Lick website

Cafeteria curiosities.....

There's a cafeteria in the basement of my workplace. I generally use it when I forget my lunch or if I need a caffeine boost occasionally.

I keep the 32 oz. Styrofoam cup around my desk after using it. The reason? It costs 86 cents if you buy a new cup. Here's the prices.....

32 oz. drink = $1.50
32 oz. refill = $0.64

It seriously costs 86 cents to make that cup?!?!?!?! There's some serious beverage pricing issues in this building. First, the markup of the hot chocolate because of coffee shortages, now this.

As I stood in line yesterday to pay for my lunch (since I forgot to bring along something to eat), there was a lady in front of me that was probably in her 60s. The cashier rung up the total for all of her food. The lady in front of me reached into her dress and pulled a HUGE wallet out of her bra! I'm not talking a money clip. This thing was an inch and a half thick! Better yet, after she opened the wallet she quickly realized that the wallet didn't have what she was looking for. So she put it back into her bra and reached into the other bra cup to pull out another wallet!

She calmly pulled out the money, paid the cashier and then put the 2nd wallet back in her bra and calmly walked off. The cashier didn't seem phased by this at all, so I'm guessing it happens on a regular basis. I will say that if that wallet gets any bigger, she's going to have to get a breast augmentation to fit that thing in her bra.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any security camera still-shots to prove this story, so you'll just have to take my word that it did really happen.

Blogger site down = no posts.....

I had a couple of posts ready to go yesterday. Unfortunately, the Blogger website was down with a server error. So, more posts today as a result.

Minor correction required.....

I have been informed by Mrs. Lime that my usually spectacular recall had a minor speed bump in my last post concerning our trip through Boonville. She wants to make sure that it is noted that she did correctly guess that Boonville was named after Daniel Boone. Consider this an editorial correction of that post.

Wisdom found on a car ride.........

Mrs. Lime and I headed down to the Mizzou basketball game last night. We were running late, so we ended up just driving down on our own rather than riding down with everyone else we sit with.

While I enjoy going to the basketball games, I enjoy the ride down nearly as much. We usually ride in a group of 6 people for roughly 1 1/2 to 2 hours one way. The time in the car is nice because you don't have the distractions of normal life. You can just chat with people and catch up on what's happening in their life or things you didn't see that week that others might have seen. If there's kids with us, it's usually just as entertaining to find out what a kid is thinking about at any given moment. I know most people see it as a long car ride, but I see it as a chance to unwind.

We were driving down I-70 from Kansas City to Columbia, where the University of Missouri is located. About 20 miles before you reach Columbia is a town called Boonville. It is located in Boone County. I divert the conversation after seeing the first exit sign for Boonville.......

Me: Do you know what Boonville is named after?

Mrs. Lime: A guy named Boon?

Me: Close, it's actually Daniel Boone.

Mrs. Lime: I didn't know Boonville was named after Daniel Boone.

Me: Yep, I believe there is actually a place near town where he lived for a portion of time.

Mrs. Lime: Daniel Boone lived in Missouri? I thought he lived in Tennessee?

Me: Well, I know at one point later in his life he was a senator in Kentucky, but I believe he was mostly an explorer and trailblazer during his early life, so I'm sure he explored this area at some point in time.

Mrs. Lime: But what about that song.....'born on a mountain top in Tennessee (pause) ...killed him a bear when he was only three.'?

Me: Yeah, I guess you are right. I do remember that song.

Mrs. Lime is quite happy with her newfound show of knowledge about Daniel Boone living in Tennessee. We move on to other topics and discussion unrelated to Daniel Boone or Boonville.

After about 5 minutes, a puzzling thought comes to my head......

Me: Wait, isn't that song about Davy Crockett? 'Davy, Davy Crockett! King of the wild frontier!'

Mrs. Lime: Actually, (laughing) I think you're right.

Me: Well, you were right on the song, but I guess we should have finished the song to make sure we knew who the heck we were singing about.

The rest of the night, I started singing the Davy Crockett song at random moments, sometimes inserting Daniel Boone's name in the song, sometimes leaving it the same. Mrs. Lime was amused by the various renditions.

At another point in the ride, Mrs. Lime made a very good point....

Mrs. Lime: You know, we should put cameras in this car just to record our conversations. I'm thinking people would find us awfully funny.

Me: Oh, I have no doubt that they'd find us funny. People could learn a lot from watching us.

Then again, if people were learning from the Lime family antics, would they really be learning anything at all? I'm thinking they're better off watching Sesame Street. The last thing the world needs to do is learn from my antics. Mrs. Lime? Maybe, but certainly not me.

I don't think I'm a geek anymore......

I just got a call from the local Gamestop where I reserved my new Playstation 3, which was released today. It's already paid for in full so they don't sell it to someone else. The manager just called me.....

Me: Hello?

GS manager: Yes, this is XXX at Gamestop. I was just checking if you were coming by to pick up your PS3.

Me: Yes, I'll be by around 3:00 PM to pick it up.

GS manager: I just didn't know if you forgot about it.

Me: In order to pay for that thing, I needed to keep working.

GS manager: Well, you're the only one that hasn't picked up their PS3 yet.

Me: OK, thanks. I'll be by a bit later. Bye.

I got the feeling that I was losing geek points by failing to take the day off. I feel like I've been alienated by geeks. How humbling is that?

You may be safe from the hunters here.......

Note to the two deer that thought they were safe hanging out in our backyard yesterday morning: You're not safe.

Although I wasn't actually there to witness it, evidently Nova had Christmas come early yesterday. Mrs. Lime walked over to let Nova out for the morning. He quickly took off running across the yard after two deer who had wandered into our neighborhood. Mrs. Lime didn't notice the deer until he was already out the door and quickly started yelling at Nova to stop, thinking that he might get hurt trying to chase down a deer. He eventually broke off the chase, but I have no doubt that he had visions of deer dancing in his head all day long after that brief encounter.

Bad day for Nova........

Nova had a tough day yesterday. Mrs. Lime dropped him off yesterday morning at the vet to have a cracked tooth removed. Evidently he's one tough dog. The vet said that there was an infection underneath the tooth. He never shows any sign of pain.

We went by to pick him up around 4:00 PM. They did the procedure early in the day, but they kept him for awhile to allow him to wake up and let some of the anesthetic wear off. When they finally brought him out, he was walking like a drunk guy in a bar. He was happy to see us, but was walking sideways and not exactly all there. It appears he's a very happy drunk, so that's always a good thing.

We got out to the truck to head home. He was excited to be going 'bye-bye'. He usually recognizes the truck and walks right up to the back door to get in. This time, he simply walked right past it. We have confirmation. He's out of it. I pulled him back with the leash and open the door. He was excited to go, but he gave me a look that indicated that there was no way in hell that he was going to be able to get into that truck. I grabbed him around the stomach and hoisted him into the truck. He stumbled in and quickly laid down since he was a bit wobbly.

When we got home, same thing. I lifted him out of the truck and he was really happy to be back on solid ground. I had him follow me out to the front to 'go potty'. He trotted out to follow me, but as his eyes kept focused forward on me, his legs kept taking him straight left. After taking the long way to the end of the driveway, he finally managed to reach me. He walked over and lifted his leg to potty. It didn't work so well. His leg quickly dropped back to the ground. He realized what was going on, so he just peed on all four legs. Thankfully, his aim was good enough that he didn't pee on his feet at all. That's my boy!

We came inside through the garage. He bumped into two walls on the way through the hallway, but was unphased. He went to get a drink and ended up somehow dunking most of his neck fur in his water bowl. I suppose we should thank our lucky stars he didn't drown. After that, he came into the kitchen area and laid down. I was doing a few things in the kitchen and suddenly heard one of the kitchen chairs go sliding into the table. Was it a ghost? Nope, just Nova running into a chair when he started walking around the kitchen. No worries.

The night was topped off with an event that the vet had already told us might happen. He started drooling blood out of the side of his mouth. It wasn't a big deal when he was on the marble floors, but we had to put a towel under his head when he moved to the carpet to lay down. Thankfully, it wasn't too much drool and easily controlled.

Nova slept really well last night. I'm guessing that he's pretty glad that yesterday is behind him.

More poker/personalities at the casino.......

I sat down to play some poker for 3 1/2 hours on Saturday night at the local casino. The place was quite full. There were a lot of very bad players at the table just begging people to take their money. The problem is that you can't take the bad players money without a good hand. You can't bluff these type of players in a limit game because they will call no matter what.

I really got no great pocket pairs the entire night (my best starting pocket pair all night was 99, which I got twice). I did manage to get a good starting hands like AK, AQ, AJ, etc. that really did well for me. My only tough hand was when I called a raise with AK and I flopped two pair. I ended up investing about $25 in that hand only to see my opponent flip over AA for three aces. The dealer even said 'ouch' when I flipped it over.

I had a couple of monster hands where players called and raised where they had no business doing so. I got in one hand where I had AJ and got AA4 on the flop. Another guy raised and reraised me throughout the hand. He finally flipped over A3 and I won a big pot. He really should have know that there was the possibility that I had a better kicker, but he was hemorrhaging money all night, so I shouldn't be surprised I suppose.

I also hit a monster pot when I had K5 of clubs in the big blind. 7 people were in the hand and I hit two clubs on the flop and a club on the river to rake in about $90 on that hand.

The players were a lot of fun. One guy was a regular I've seen before. His name is Leon and he owns a chain of grocery stores in the area. Really nice retired guy that will play just about any two cards. He loves to talk and joke around and his favorite hand is 32 suited. He won twice with that hand on Saturday while I was at the table.

I also sat with a guy from Nebraska. He was a nuclear power plant operator. I asked him if he had the same job as Homer Simpson where he sat at a large control panel with all the bells and whistles and ran the plant. He said he used to have that job but now has a different one. He was a very quiet guy, but very nice when you could get him talking. I steered clear of the pot when he was involved in a hand. He usually had a good hand when he was betting or raising.

I was involved in another hand where I called with QJ. There were three other players in the hand. The flop was 942. Everyone checked around. The turn was a queen. The guy next to me bet and I called. The others folded. The river was another queen, giving me three queens. The guy to my right bet and I raised. He looked at me funny, like he didn't believe me. I just kept looking back and threw in a smile. I told him to throw his hand away. He just smiled and kept looking at me. I told him I'd show him my hand if he folded. He threw away his hand and I showed him my queen. I asked him if he would have called if I didn't say that I would show my card. He said he would have called, so I lost $6 by showing him my card. I told him that it was no big deal and that I was there to make friends, not money. He chuckled and stuck out his hand, saying 'Hi, my name is Keon!'. I shook his hand and told him I was Lime. Instant friendship and good conversation for the last hour I was there. Honestly, that was probably a good friendship to have. He's a regular and very knowledgeable about the other players. He'll be a good ally if I happen to see him at the tables again.

A guy who is a crazy loose regular showed up right when I was about to leave. I wanted to hang around and see if I could make some money off him, but I was already up $150 and needed to get home as Mrs. Lime was off work in about an hour. Overall, a good win and a few good hours of entertainment.

The ticket discussion.......

Mrs. Lime and I went out to dinner with my sister and her husband Tuesday night. We decided to take my car. I got into the car and when I looked to the right, Mrs. Lime was just opening the door. I notice that the envelope containing the seat belt ticket that I received was still in the passenger seat! I reached over and grabbed it and tossed it in the back seat. As Mrs. Lime was sitting down, she said, "Was that a speeding ticket?"

My response knowing that she probably hadn't read the blog entry about the ticket yet? "No."

Let the record show that response was truthful. She asked if it was a SPEEDING ticket. Of course, we all know that it was a seat belt violation. I am curious. If I had a polygraph machine hooked up to me and the tester asked me if I received a speeding ticket and I said 'no', would it show me as telling the truth or not? I'm wondering if maybe in my mind I would have set something off because I originally was pulled over for speeding. Hmmmmm.....

Anyway, last night, Mrs. Lime nails me when I get home. She gives me the full speech that I told you was coming about how lucky I am in regards to getting out of speeding tickets. It's like she's jealous to some extent that she can't use her charm and good looks to get out of tickets, but an idiot like me can do it all the time (though it's not something I intentionally like to do on a regular basis).

Let the record show that I know my wife better than anyone else on the face of this planet.

Chiefs/Rams game: Part 3.........

My wife will not be happy after she reads this blog entry. I'll explain later.

After the Chiefs' big win, TW and I headed back to his place where my car was parked. I grabbed a Coke from his fridge and headed out for the drive back to Kansas City.

I drove out of TW's driveway and headed over to Highway 141. It's a state highway in St. Louis that has about 4-5 lanes of traffic in both directions. Newly paved, really nice highway.

I had just got on the highway and went over the top of a hill. I see a cop car on the right hand side of the highway. OK, have no idea what the speed limit is because I haven't seen a sign since I got on the highway, so I should probably slow down. Cop starts moving. Uh oh. What the hell is the speed limit here? Dang, I just realized that I haven't renewed my Missouri license plates since I moved back to Missouri!

The cop pulled in behind me. I initially pulled over on the shoulder, but noticed that it was a pretty skinny shoulder, so before I stopped moving completely, I pointed over to a larger shoulder and drove over to it so the cop would have more room. I always thought that if you're going to get pulled over, it's best that you pull over in a safe spot to avoid any problems where the cop might get hurt and you end up feeling even more guilty. I also notice a big sign right next to me that says 'Speed Limit 45'. That would have been much more handy to see before NOW! He comes up and I've already taken off my seat belt and pulled out my wallet with ID and insurance card at the ready.

Cop: How do you pronounce your name? (I tell him.) Mr. Lime, I pulled you over for doing 65 in a 45 MPH zone and you also have expired plates. Do you still live in Independence, MO?

Lime: No, I actually just moved to Kansas City, MO.

Cop: Do you have a reason for why your plates are expired?

Lime: Actually, I just relocated back to Missouri.

Cop: Where did you move from?

Lime: Baltimore, Maryland.

Cop: OK, sir. I'll be back in a minute.

He headed back to his car. I started running through the scenarios. None of them were good. First, I was wearing a Chiefs jersey and was just pulled over in St. Louis after the Rams were beat by the Chiefs. That's not good. Second, I have an expired license. While I did that intentionally because I didn't want to register my car in Kansas (they make you pay your yearly car taxes when you renew), I should have found time to renew my plates since I've been in our new house in Missouri for a few weeks. Third, I had no idea that the speed limit was 45 on this stretch of road that looks like a superhighway with 4 lanes going either way. Guess I should have looked for a sign sooner, though I'm honestly not sure that there was one for me to see since I just got on the road.

I looked back in the mirror. Uh oh. He looks like he's writing a bunch of stuff. That's never a good sign. Either he's sketching my picture so he's able to identify me in the near future or he's writing out a ticket. I'm guessing it's the latter. He hops out of the car and heads back up to see me.

Cop: Alright, Mr. Lime. Here's what I've done. You were wearing your seat belt, correct?

Lime: Yes, I took it off to pull out my wallet once I stopped.

Cop: OK. I stopped you for doing 20 MPH over the speed limit and you also have expired tags. What I've done is write you a ticket for a $10 fine for not wearing your seat belt and I've decided to give you a warning for speeding and driving with expired tags. I feel I'm being very generous here given that you are a Chiefs fan.

Lime: (chuckling) Yes, you're honestly being way too generous. I was just thinking as you were back in your car how all of the Rams fans were probably driving by saying, "Hey, that cop pulled over a Chiefs fan! He nailed that bastard!"

Cop: (laughing) Yep, I've decided that the embarrassment of getting pulled over in that red jersey in St. Louis was probably punishment enough.

Lime: I honestly didn't know the speed limit here was that low. As soon as you started moving on the shoulder, I had the sudden realization that maybe this was not a freeway. I didn't speed the whole way here this morning just because of the expired tags.

Cop: (laughing again) Yes, it has a lower speed limit because of the stop lights, but it certainly looks like a freeway. We catch a lot of locals going way too fast on this road, but I assumed that you had no clue how badly you were speeding.

I signed off on my $10 ticket.

Cop: Drive safely. No more speeding on my roads, you hear?

Lime: Yes, thank you very much.

I shook his hand while thanking him and drove off, making sure to drive the requested 45 MPH on his road.

Now you may ask, why would Mrs. Lime not be happy after reading about her husband getting out of a ticket with only a seat belt violation? Well, Mrs. Lime has always insisted that I have an extraordinary knack for getting out of speeding violations. I've done it two other times. The last time, Mrs. Lime was with me along with her grandmother. I told that officer that I was busy talking to Mrs. Lime and her grandmother and didn't even notice that the speed limit dropped in that area.

Here's what I would suggest.....be nice to the guy/lady who pulls you over. Last time, when the cop came up, I initially asked him if he wanted me to move my car over to the side road so he wouldn't have to worry about traffic. He said no, but thanked me for asking. Sunday, when I was pulled over, I went out of my way to pull over further out of the way so he wouldn't be in the line of traffic. I really think that cops appreciate when people don't give them any grief AND look out for their safety. After some of the people that they have to deal with on an everyday basis, they probably appreciate the fact that someone goes out of their way to assist them to some degree.

One of my friends mentioned that he had a friend who was a cop. The cop said that he often would pull over people for speeding and would go into it with the intention of warning them if they were nice to him. He even mentioned that there was one lady who he pulled over who gave him grief from the moment he walked up to her window. He ended up giving her a ticket and specifically telling her that he was going to give her a warning, but since she was raising such a fuss that he was giving her a ticket instead.

It pays to be nice to people, even if you're not happy to see them at that time.

Chiefs/Rams game: Part 2.......

We took I-44 downtown and used TW's parking pass to park several blocks from the stadium. The parking garage was right across the street from the Old Busch Stadium. Where Old Busch once stood, there was nothing more than a dirt hole. To its left was the New Busch Stadium. It's styled to look like an old ballpark made entirely of brick. Really nice looking from the outside and a definite improvement over the old stadium.

We headed down the street towards the dome. Along the walk is a park that is across the street from an old domed building. I believe that the building is an old courthouse, but don't quote me on that. No matter what it is, it's a really neat building and it is framed by St. Louis' most recognizable sight, the Gateway Arch. Note that the arch is actually a few blocks away from the courthouse, so it looks much smaller in this view than it actually is if you were closer to the arch.

As we walked down the street, we noticed that there were a lot of Chiefs fans in the street. Not surprising that the Chiefs fans travel well, but there seemed to be even more than I expected. We got in line to wait for the doors to open. 1 1/2 hours before the game, they opened and we filed in. There were security people lined up frisking everyone who came into the door. The line of guards alternated male and female. I didn't think anything about it and spread my arms out in front of a female guard. She laughed and pointed me aside to the guy next to her. Evidently, the guards were only supposed to frisk members of the same sex. Oops! Well, no one can accuse me of showing bias. That lady could have searched me and I wouldn't have even cared.

We received American flag pins as we entered in honor of the upcoming Veterans' Day holiday. I stuck mine on my jersey and we headed up the escalators. I felt like I was in a mall while riding the escalators. We ended up going up several escalators until we finally reached the top. We had seats in the upper deck in the end zone. Not a bad vantage point at all as you could easily watch the RB's try to find their running holes and see the overall offense and defense. We were also in the front row of the section, so there were no issues with people getting in our sight lines.

The pre-game for the Rams didn't go very well. The Chiefs came out as a team with no player introductions. Then they fired off a bunch of fireworks and lights. It was actually pretty impressive.

The cheerleaders all came out and lined up along the runway where the players were to come out. There was only one problem. As the announcer was calling out the starters, no one was running out of the tunnel. Someone evidently forgot to pass on to the players that they were supposed to be hitting the field. The announcer wasn't phased as he continued to announce the starters. Eventually, the fireworks stopped and the lights came on. Only then did the Rams walk on to the field. It was a bit weird to say the least.

It was obvious after the lineups were announced that this was not going to be any ordinary Rams football game. Roughly 25-30% of the crowd was clad in Chiefs red. One of the common traditions at Arrowhead during the national anthem is to replace 'the home of the brave' at the end with 'the home of the CHIEFS!'. It's one of those things that send chills up the spine of any person attending their first Chiefs home game. NFL rookies often comment about that moment whether they are on the Chiefs or visiting Arrowhead for the first time. It sets the mood right away. At the end of the national anthem, the Chiefs fans made sure to let St. Louis fans know that they were not going to go down quietly as 'the home of the CHIEFS!' echoed through the dome. Some of the Rams fans knew it was coming, but other more casual fans appeared to be caught off-guard.

The first half went well as the Rams fumbled the ball 3 times which lead to 17 points for the Chiefs. Here's a picture of Tony Gonzales celebrating in the back corner of the end zone with a teammate.

Huddle time......

Another play from scrimmage giving a good view of the dome from floor to ceiling......

The halftime score was 24-10 after the Rams hit a field goal at the end of the half. At halftime, the Marine Silent Drill Platoon hit the field. These guys were amazing. They carried guns that weigh around 10 pounds with sharp bayonets fixed to the end of their rifle. They put on a great show where they spun, flipped and caught guns while showing the precision that the military prides itself upon. The crowd gave them a very loud standing ovation when their performance was complete.

One thing I noticed was a couple of season ticket holders next to us. TW knew them from previous games. It was a dad and his son. Both were extremely nice with the occasional razzing about TW bringing along a Chiefs fan. They were good football fans and the son was a bright kid who you could tell really was a big Rams fan. There were a lot of drunk and immature fans on both side in the crowd. Amongst all that, here was a guy who brought his kid to the game and they were having a good time together. It was good to see.

The second half was exciting with St. Louis mounting a comeback, but a couple of bad penalties by their offensive line really hurt their chances of winning. A second touchdown by Tony Gonzales in the second half sealed the win, 31-17. The rowdy Chiefs fans up in the visitors section started the tomahawk chop as the St. Louis fans headed for the exit.

We walked out into the downtown streets to head back to the car. There was still lots of talking between the fans in the streets. KC fans were giving high-fives to total strangers. The usher holding open the doors was going out of his way to tell every Chiefs fan to 'remember who has the ring'. I'm not sure he realizes that, although it has been awhile, the Chiefs actually have also won one Super Bowl. I didn't bother to correct him. I was just happy the Chiefs won.

Chiefs/Rams game........

I have a good friend, TW, who is a St. Louis Rams season ticket holder. When I was still in Baltimore, the Chiefs 2006 schedule came out. I immediately noted that the Chiefs were going to be playing the Rams in November, 2006. I sent TW an e-mail asking him how much it was going to cost me to secure his other ticket for that game. TW responded that he had already noted the game as well and was willing to let me have it. Sweet!

Flash forward to today. I woke up at 4:30 AM this morning and headed out the door to make the long trip to St. Louis for the Chiefs/Rams matchup. I was not the only Chiefs fan on the road. I passed many cars full of Chiefs fans and everyone was very friendly, waiving as soon as they realized that yet another fan was on the road.

This weekend is actually somewhat of a dangerous weekend to travel in Missouri. Deer season began yesterday. Some of you outside of Missouri may wonder why that's significant. Well, Missouri has a significant overpopulation of deer. Hunters head into the woods, fields, etc., and flush out all of the deer. It's inevitable that the deer are going to wander away from their normal home and flee from the hunters across roads. I-70 literally becomes a bloody mess during hunting season. I saw 8 dead deer in 200 miles on the eastbound lanes of I-70.

I also saw one deer that was 'considering suicide'. In other words, there was a deer that was standing right off the edge of the shoulder of the highway, looking across the road. That deer is pretty sure that the road is a dangerous place, but she (it was a doe) is also pretty sure that the hunters that are nearby are equally as dangerous. It's a scary thing to see if you're driving down the road. The car is moving at a high rate of speed and there's not much you can do if that deer decides to bolt across the road in front of your car. Not only that, but if that deer decides to change direction once on the road, the hooves of the deer act like they are on ice and the deer often falls down. People have been killed when they hit a deer and the body of the deer gets thrown through the windshield. Thankfully, my doe decided to actually run back to where she had came from and avoid any confrontation with my car.

I got into town about 8:30 AM and TW and I headed off to a nearby Bob Evans to pick up a good breakfast. While most breakfast food is often not good for you, there's something great about having a great farm-style breakfast once every couple of months. Eggs (sunny side up), bacon, sausage, toast, potatoes, biscuits and gravy, orange juice.......I could go on and on. It was a health nightmare, but it was awfully tasty. I'll now wait until sometime in 2007 to have a similar breakfast. TW and I were also laughed at when we stepped out of the car at Bob Evans. A couple of the employees were amused by the fact that two guys, one a Rams fan and one a Chiefs fan, stepped out of the same car. I saw nothing wrong with it. Can't we all just get along?????

We finished up breakfast and headed off to the football stadium.

Basketball season is upon us.......

I went to the first Mizzou exhibition game last night. It was great to get to see some basketball again. New coach, new players, new season. Should be a great deal of fun.

We had a large group of cheerleaders in our group. We had a 4 year old, 2 year old and 7 month old cheerleader sitting with us. All were quite vocal throughout the game. Some were doing Tiger cheers, some were screaming for food, but they were all making a lot of noise and that's all that matters. Before long, we'll be adding another noisy cheerleader to that group. Mizzou Arena will never be the same.

Business expo day!!!!!

Yes, it's that day once a year when everyone in the office heads down to the conference room in the building to grab all the goodies that are offered by companies hoping that you will step up to their booth and consider buying/trying their product that they sell.

The list of goodies that I saw:

Mints
Candy
Yo-yos
Magic 8 ball (with corporate insignia of course)
Foam stress balls
Pens
Pencils (including recycled material pencils)
Hi-liters
Game pieces where you can win an Ipod.
Raffles for DVD players, computers, computer accessories, etc.
Food

I'm sure that's not everything, but it is a good sampling. Probably the neatest product they had down there was a communication PC to be used between deaf people and others. Really neat stuff. They did not have any products down there to help with communication between spouses, so I guess I have to work on that on my own (you can never be good enough at that). Best of all, we got to do something other than work for roughly an hour or so. Certainly no reason to complain about that.

Halloween in the new neighborhood.....

Last night, we had a frat brother of mine and his family over to hang out and trick-or-treat in the neighborhood. I called Mrs. Lime and let her know that they would be coming over. I also distinctly said not to go out and buy a bunch of stuff. I'd go out and get some hot dogs and chips and we'd be good. Mrs. Lime asked me if we had any macaroni and cheese. I said we did and she said OK.

Somewhere along the line, we had noted from more than one book that one of the effects of late-term pregnancy is forgetfulness. We have noticed that my pregnant wife will forget something I told her not long ago. So it didn't come as a complete surprise when Mrs. Lime walked into the door with two family-size boxes of mac and cheese, three pounds of chocolate (we had already got candy for the trick-or-treaters and I had shown it to her), and a 12 pack of crème filled cupcakes.

We were a bit dismayed by the initial turnout early in the evening. We probably looked like idiots as we stood at the door looking out the window for any sign of little goblins headed in our direction. But as the night went along, all of our neighbors started dropping by to introduce themselves. Even the neighbor husky came by with his owners to say hi to our dog.

We ended up with around 20-25 kids when all was said and done. Not a bad turnout for a neighborhood that's only about half-filled with houses up to this point in time. Mrs. Lime and Nova got to go out and trick-or-treat with our friend's kids and she said she had a good time.
Now comes the hard chore of bringing the leftover candy/cupcakes to work and trying to avoid eating the leftovers that everyone else is bringing into work.

Halloween is big around our house.......

Yes, many full moons ago on this very day, Mrs. Lime was born. She says that it made for great birthday parties because all of her friends would get dressed up and they'd go trick-or-treating in the neighborhood before coming back to the house to eat birthday cake and open presents. Sounds like a good gig to me.

As long as everything goes well, this will also be the last birthday she has without a child in our family. By this time next year, we'll be dressing up our baby in some stupid pumpkin outfit or MU cheerleader outfit that doesn't even fit her small body. But it won't matter. Stupid baby pictures are perfect blackmail for when that kid gets to high school or college. I'm sure that Mrs. Lime and I will have plenty of those via our digital camera and video recorder. For that matter, I'm not sure that much of this blog will actually be about myself or Mrs. Lime once that baby comes along.

So, hopefully Mrs. Lime has a wonderful birthday. We've got loads of candy ready for the new neighbors and their kids. Hopefully, they show up in droves or else Mrs. Lime and I will have to find ways to give away a lot of perfectly good candy. I have a feeling we'll do just fine.

ADVERTISEMENT TO LOCAL KIDS IN KC...........Mrs. Lime gives big handfuls of candy to all comers. Hurry over before she gives it all away!

Last year in Baltimore, we actually gave it all away too soon and had to close shop for 10-15 minutes until we scrounged up some other stuff to give to the kids. I'm thankful that we actually found more stuff or there might have been riots in the streets.

Science day.......

Today, a very important announcement was made by NASA. They will be sending up a space shuttle mission to complete needed repairs to the Hubble Space telescope that will allow it to stay in operation through the end of the decade. The Hubble telescope has provided amazing views of galaxies and planets that have never been seen with the detail that the Hubble telescope allows. New findings about galaxy and star formation have been furthered through the use of this telescope. It's an amazing piece of technology and will now be useful through 2010 when a new telescope will be put into orbit to replace Hubble. At that point, Hubble will burn up as it plunges out of orbit through Earth's atmosphere.

Here's a site where you can see some of the great pictures that Hubble is able to take. They also have a wallpaper section where you can put some of the galaxy pictures right on the desktop of your computer.

Hubble Pictures

Time change.....

The time change threw me for a loop today. My body kept telling me to get up starting around 3:00 AM this morning. I was surprised to see it was so early, so I closed my eyes to go back asleep.

I woke up again and took a look at the clock. 3:20 AM. Ugh. One of those days.

Next wake up call came at around 3:45 AM. I'm really not too happy at this point.

I woke up 2 more times before I finally woke up at 5:43 AM (two minutes before my alarm was to go off). I decided to not attempt to sleep for two more minutes and just went ahead and got up. I have no clue how my body is going to react later this evening. Hopefully, I won't go to sleep too early or I'll end up with the same problem tomorrow morning that I had this morning. And that would NOT make me a happy camper.

So it does pay to be a nice guy!

Yesterday, Mrs. Lime and I dropped by a mall in the area. Mrs. Lime needed to get some more maternity clothes. Since I knew she'd be shopping for awhile, I thought I'd go to the nearby sports shoe store.

I have to go out and grab some new shoes every couple of years or so. I wear basketball shoes non-stop. They're comfortable and ready for any situation. I can do anything from sit at my desk working to running to get the car in the parking lot. They're good for anything. Multi-task footwear at its finest.

I like bright colored or really nicely styled shoes. As I've found from experience, it's pretty evident that women tend to notice nice or bright colored shoes much more so than men. I'm guessing that has to do with women's general enjoyment of shoe shopping. I have 5-6 pair of shoes; my wife has 50-75. They just like shoes and evidently tend to look at other people's shoes. There's several women in the building (there's over 1,500 people in our building, so you don't know everyone) who often comment when I wear shoes that they like, but have no clue who I am. I'm generally known as 'the guy with the shoes'. I guess I could be known for worse things than having nice shoes.

So I headed into the store to look for some shoes. I'm a guy who doesn't necessarily look to have the latest shoe model that just came out. Most athletic companies release new shoe models once a year, just like cars by Ford or something like that. I tend to look for the models that are 8 months to one year old. They're usually marked down to half what they would have cost new, yet they're just as good as the ones that were released at the very beginning.

I went over to the rack and immediately saw the line of Jumpman shoes by Nike. These shoes originally started being created in the early 1980s. You may also know this line as the Jordan shoes (because they were created specifically for Michael Jordan by Nike). They are called Jumpman shoes because of the silhouette of a jumping Michael Jordan on all the shoes. They're always really slick looking and I've bought many a pair of Jumpman shoes.

I was standing by the shoes looking for a salesman. It became pretty obvious that there was only one guy running the store as he was dashing in and out of the storeroom in the back getting shoes for multiple customers. He saw me standing on the side and asked if I needed any help as he was going by with someone else's shoes. I said I did, but that he could finish up with the other people and then come back. He said OK and then headed over to finish working with a couple of other customers.

After a couple of minutes, he came back by and asked what I wanted to see. I asked him to bring me a pair of black hi-tops and a pair of red and white low-tops. The low tops were the bargain pair on sale and the black pair was regular price. He brought the shoes out, but had a line of 3-4 customers who were ready to check out, so he went over to the register first to try to get some of them taken care of first. I saw that he was getting out one of my shoes and lacing them up while checking out someone else, so I walked over to get the shoe to try it on and make it easier on him. I did the same with the second pair and told him I'd take them both. I also got a couple of heavy sweatshirts that were 'buy 1, get 1 free'.

I went to wait in line. It now was obvious that there was a teenager in the front of the line who tried to write a check for his purchase and the check was denied. He was pretty frustrated and was running the sales guy through the ringer. Meanwhile, the line had grown to 5-6 customers while this guy was complaining. I finally got up to the front and commented that it looked like he was having one of those days. He said that he had one employee not show up and another had to pick their kid up from daycare. So he was left alone to run the store.

It looked like I settled the guy down a bit because he appeared to relax. He reached into his pocket and told me he was going to give me a coupon that was for 30% off and 40% off if I spend over $100. I had done that, so it was a massive savings for me. Instead of spending around $300 on everything I purchased, I only had to spend $160 for everything. Great savings and I was pretty sure I had just earned $130-140 just by being nice to a guy for a few minutes who was having a bad day. Score one for me!

Moral of the story: Nice guys may finish last, but they end up spending less at shoe stores.

The Nova Cam...........

Rarely does the outside world have such exclusive access to one of the most amazing events known to Kansas City. Simply put, it's called squirrel hunting.

Nova is well known for his squirrel hunting exploits. Although he has yet to actually ever catch a squirrel, that matters very little in the grand scheme of things. Nova is more of a sport hunter. He runs after animals at break-neck speed, fully knowing that there's no way in hell that his 80 pound body will ever catch a squirrel in this lifetime. Yet he continues on in the hopes that one day, a squirrel may sprain one of his ankles and that he'll actually be able to catch that squirrel.

We have top secret technology that allows us to mount a digital camera to the top of Nova's head and see first-hand how the prey is stalked by the great game hunter we like to call Casanova. Here are the exclusive first photographs from the Nova Cam (patent pending) during a recent hunt.

It appears that he is now locked in on his target. Notice the squirrel taunting him from the yard as he looks through the window.......



Note the raised ears as the great hunter watches the prey start to move away from the window.......



The great hunter begins to become anxious as the squirrel slowly continues to move away from the house. We need to move now or he's going to get away!!!!!



Switching to a traditional camera, we now see the great hunter inspecting the grounds, trying to sniff out the trail of the squirrel.



He continues his inspection, hoping to find anything that might indicate which tree the squirrel might have used for his escape.



A scanning of the yard from a good viewpoint, hoping to make a visual confirmation of any targets......



Excitement turns to dismay as he soon realizes that the squirrel has won yet again.......



Oh, but there will be a next time and Casanova will be there to make sure the squirrels never rest easy.

Big brother is always watching you........

I was sitting in the living room the other night just goofing around on the computer. I had this sudden feeling that I was being watched. Sometimes you just get that feeling and it's usually right.

My suspicions were soon confirmed as I looked up at the catwalk on the second floor.......







It now appears that our catwalk will henceforth be known as a 'dogwalk'.

How you know it's dinner time......

Here's what always shows up in my peripheral vision starting at 4:15-4:30 PM every single day.......



Here's what happens when I don't acknowledge the subtle hint he's giving me by sitting nearby......



Notice the fact that he's moved a whole lot closer because he didn't think he was getting the attention that was required? That's my relationship with my dog in a nutshell. The poor guy is neglected and never gets enough attention (in his honest and quite forthright opinion).

The new neighborhood........

Yes, this is the midwest and people are still very social and welcoming. We received our first neighborhood gift the other day. A lady down the street brought us some bread (we think it's pumpkin bread). It was very nice of her to do that and Mrs. Lime ate a lot of it, so it must have been good as well.

Another lady noticed Casanova and I standing on the master bedroom balcony and took time out of her walk to say hi to us. She commented that we had a really nice home and that they were glad to have another home that was being lived in. Most of the neighbors have seen our home already, because it was an open house before we moved into it.

I met two more neighbors last Friday when I went out for a quick round of golf on the course in our neighborhood. I originally started playing by myself and then eventually joined up with them. It was a father and son. The son was a builder and had built his own home in our neighborhood. The son also built a home next door where his parents now live. They're very nice looking homes just off the 8th green on the golf course. The father is an owner of a major flower sales chain in the area. Evidently, the son has a golf training room in his basement. I've been invited over to see this training room, so I'll have to take him up on that offer.

As a sidenote, the golf course in our neighborhood was rated the 2nd best golf course for 2006 in Missouri, trailing only a Fazio-designed golf course in Branson, Missouri. This has resulted in raised prices, but I still was able to play the course with a cart the other day for only $40, which isn't bad at all. There is also another course about a mile from our home that can be played for about $25 with a cart in the afternoons. It's a fun course as well and a great price for what you get.

Belly Pics - Week 25

Yes, I've missed a couple of weeks because I've been busy putting our new house together. One thing that is really obvious when comparing this picture to the last picture is that our baby is getting bigger in a hurry. She's a very good kicker as well. I talked loudly to Mrs. Lime's belly the other night and the baby was in no mood for noisy people. She kicked pretty hard and let us know that she wouldn't be having any of that.