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Opening Day 2008 - Detroit vs. Kansas City

2008-03-31T21:46:00.001-04:00

Finally, after an entire winter of sadness and suffering, it’s finally baseball season again, thank God. Dad, Kim, K-Ren and I got on the road promptly at 8, and promptly at 8:03 I determined that the Crackberry was at home. Now, since my relationship with my personal digital assistant is more umbilical than practical, I had to listen to a rasher of crap out of some of my seatmates as we traversed the block to get it. I felt much better once I had it in hand, and we headed out.

Breakfast was a delight at the truck stop east of Jackson on Sargent Road. I can recommend that place for yummy truck stop food. I don’t want to see their grill, but I can testify as to the “flavor” that the food emanates. So, Very, Good. I must say I enjoy it when they call a big burger without a bun or fixings a “hamburger steak”. I had a “hamburger steak” for breakfast. Yay me!

We got into Detroit about 11 or so, and parked at Cobo on the roof and took the People Mover around. Kim mentioned that it would be cool if the People Mover extended farther, and that got the attention of a fellow rider, a black man who had a very strongly worded opinion on the behavior of one Kwame Kilpatrick, putative mayor of Detroit. Right on, my friend. He was certainly singing my song.

So, we walked into the stadium, and I bought my scorecard. You cannot know the joy that I felt looking out over the field, or begin to fathom the sense of expectant energy that coursed through me. Translated = I am happy as hell that the Tigers are back. Gimme a beer, or three.

Miss America is from Farmington Hills this year, and Miss Kristin Haglund and her tiara did a fabulous job with the National Anthem. She sang it sweet and plain, as it should be sung. No histrionic vocal gymnastics, just a pure and true rendition. Nice.

Justin Verlander was the starting pitcher, and he threw a beautiful game through 6 2/3, scattering 4 hits over the Kansas City lineup. For some reason, he got pulled for Jason Grilli, who didn’t do so great, and then he got pulled for Bobby Seay, who looked pretty good, and then he got pulled for Aqualino Lopez, who didn’t look too bad, then he got pulled for Todd Jones who looked great (yeah, more on that later), and then he got pulled for the final pitcher of the day (!!) Denny Bautista. For those of you scoring at home, that’s one pitcher through 6 2/3, and then five pitchers through the next 4 1/3. Yeah, and we ended up losing 5-4 in 11 innings to the Kansas City Royals. God almighty.

I know I’m going to catch holy hell for this, and trust me, it pains me to form the words, my mouth blisters, my lips sting, but Todd Jones looked pretty friggin’ good today. I think maybe he could have stayed in a few more batters. But then, I felt the same about Mr. Seay and Mr. Lopez, without the pain of admitting they looked good. You all know I can’t tolerate Tums Jones. But darn it, he looked good today. I can’t explain it.

A major highlight was the absolute LASER that CF Brandon Inge fired to C Pudge Rodriguez in the 11th. It was a cannon arm shot from center field to Pudge to stop Mark Teahen in his tracks. Kalinesque, let me tell you. It was astonishingly fabulous.

Umpiring sucked at first base and home plate. There was no apparent definable strike zone. I’m not bringing that up as an excuse. We lost because we have no bullpen, plain and simple. This is an ongoing issue that has concerned me since the off season, and my worries are being borne to fruition at this writing. Let’s hope that we acquire some help, or the current batch of boys steps up some.

The weather was gray and overcast, and windy as hell up in my seats, but overall, not too bad a day. The people around us were cool, lots of great folks. I’m hoping some are fellow season ticket holders and will be around this year.

After an interesting detour through Mexicantown that gave Kim a World Series flashback, we stopped in Belleville at Dimitri’s Kitchen. It’s open 24 hours and the food’s diner good. Check it out!

After dinner, we had a rousing round of Use That Word in a Sentence. We had some balky particpants, but in the end, I beleive we shared a moment of enlightenment and personal growth, didn't we, K-Ren?

All in all, a damn good day in Detroit. Can’t wait for the next time!

A funny Opening Day anecdote for the strong of stomach...

2008-03-31T21:45:00.003-04:00

This is a story about puking. It's funny as hell, but if hearing about puking makes you want to puke, you may wish to skip it. Duly warned.

As you all know, I usually make a new friend every time I go out to the ballgame. This time, though, was a particularly classic moment. Kim and Karen and Dad can flesh this out, but I’ll give a go to describing my introduction to this uh, outgoing kinda guy.

He came shambling up the stairs, and about the time he is two steps down from me his hand flies to his mouth and he has this bright red pre-spit showing through. I do not like me or mine being puked on, so I immediately assessed the situation and grabbed two empty beer cups from behind me and offered them to my soon to be sick new friend.

Kim and K-Ren stepped aside PDQ, and he sat down next to me and began being sick in the beer cup. I leaned down and said there’s two cups there if you need them. If it’s possible to look grateful while hurling, this guy did. The girl on the other side of Kim handed her some napkins and a moistened handiwipe, which Kim handed to him and then stepped smartly aside.

I was trying not to a) laugh and b) look at him puking, so I missed him looking up at Kim and saying who handed me the cup? Kim pointed at me and backtracked fast, and he gave me a look of puppy dog gratitude and said to me “how did you KNOW??” Um, maybe it was the red-colored pre-puke coming from behind the hand you had over your mouth. Maybe I’m clairvoyant. I dunno.

I just leaned down and asked if he was okay, and rubbed his shoulder in a buddy-like way and offered him a piece of cinnamon gum. He accepted happily, because he probably wasn’t tasting so fresh. Then we had a couple minutes of drunkenly trying to get the gum out of the pack, so I finally just gave it to him. He sat there getting his bearings, and then he looked up and said wow, this blows my mind, you guys are taking care of me!

I didn’t want to burst his bubble and tell him that I was really shooting for keeping myself and my party puke-free, and I REALLY had to bite my tongue from telling him that’s what happens when you drink fruity girly drinks like that, but instead I just put on a beatific smile and turned back to my scorecard. Eventually he shambled on back down the stairs. No, he wasn’t sitting near us. Who the hell knows why he climbed 20 rows up to be sick? I got a lot of high–fives from people around us for my quick thinking, and we laughed our asses off at the amazed tone of his question: How did you KNOW??

Ah, youth. Stick to beer, buddy.

Mardi Gras Photos & Videos are up!

2008-02-10T16:02:00.001-05:00

Click here for the photos and videos from my first Mardi Gras. If the link does not work, send me an email and I'll share them with you directly.

And no, there are no boobie shots in here. Are you crazy?

Wrapping up the Mardi Gras...

2008-02-07T20:47:00.001-05:00

Well, I had a wondrous time, but I'm glad to be back here in the land of the ice and snow. Monday morning I woke up like a kid at Christmas, and tried to get a cab down to the Monteleone. Getting a cab on Mardi Gras day is like convincing me to eat cauliflower. Ain't gonna happen. So, I walked all the way down there in the neutral ground along the streetcar tracks. Took me a good half hour or so, but I walked up Canal Street, past the homeless tent city under the I-10 overpass, and past all the folks setting up for the Zulu parades. I got some great shots of the religious nuts, be sure to get a link to the photo gallery.

Once at the Monteleone, I saw an early-morning bike parade! They had cool throws, I got beads with an alligator bottle opener attached. I also took video. Once that was done I went on up to the room and got into my cowgirl costume, Kathie got into her tumbleweed costume, and off we went! We ran into Tim and Liz (KOE from Chicago and organizers of the November meetup) in the elevator, so we all walked together. Liz was dressed as a madam, in beautiful detail she created herself, with other KOE folks being her "girls". Tim was dressed as an Old West dandy, and he did it up right!

We arrived at Jackson Square after I had to stop to hand out beads to everyone along the way. That was such fun. Quite a few people were gathered, and more came by to take photos of the KOE assemblage. There were many Asian tourists there, and they were tickled to take photos with us. I handed out all the rest of my beads to onlookers, and most of my horses too.

We gathered for our group photo, and our band struck up a lively tune, and we stepped off our KOE parade. We had an NOPD officer bringing up the rear, so we made quite the procession. Folks were going crazy to see us, and throws were lobbed up to balconies, given to children, and handed out to all comers. We made such a beautiful bunch.

The religious nuts were out in force with their bullhorns. One man had a bullhorn himself and was shouting blah blah blah blah right back at them. I borrowed his bullhorn and represented the sinners of Kalamazoo MI - I'm sure that will cost me some serious time in the tabernacle. As I walked away, rejoining my parade, one of them called out to me: "Ms. Cowgirl, Ms. Cowgirl, you can still be saved if you repent of your sins and accept Christ!" I didn't want to disillusion him that I was already quite good with Christ, so I smiled and kept walking.

Side note - my new friend Betty BeadWhore made some great beads mocking the religious nuts. I was fortunate to get a set, just like the ones featured in this cool article on nola.com - look at the media sensation Ms. Betty has become!

We made a pit stop at the Big Tropical Isle for drinks. Don & Billy had drinks in their shopping cart, so they made me an icy cool cranberry and vodka. Thanks, guys! We stepped off again, heading up Bourbon Street. I had to stop and have my photo taken with the Naked Cowboy. Bet being in NOLA beat the hell out of Times Square in February. It was cool.

We wound up our parade at the Little Tropical Isle and gathered there on Bourbon Street. I stood out in the street with Don & Billy, both in drag as Scarlett O'Whora and Chlamydia Jane, respectively. Don was stopping traffic in his hoop skirt and antebellum dress. Dave and Bob were in drag as well, and a more motley assortment of "women" you will never see.

I have plenty of costume photos and some great video to share - get the link. I know I'm thin on the verbose descriptions, but in this case, a picture is worth a million words. Be sure to get the link to the snapfish on this one. Trust me.

After a while, we went down to the BourbonCam and called friends to look at us. I think that was the most fun! I called the office and K-Ren and a few others, and it was great to be seen. I'd highly recommend the wide family of EarthCams to anyone traveling.

Back at the back room of the Little Tropical Isle, many of the KOE gathered to talk and visit. That felt just like a family reunion. I could not have hoped for a better group of friends to fall in with, and I will happily bring any of you gentle readers into this fold as well.

Around 5 or so, Tim & Liz, Maureen, Belinda, Kathy, Linda and I went over to the Alpine restaurant on Chartres to meet Don & Billy for dinner. They finally showed up, and we had a wonderful meal together. Rob & Frances popped in as well! The food was great - I had bbq shrimp, which was messy but delicious. The cheesecake for dessert was perfect as well.

I was wiped out by then, so I made my goodbyes after dinner. Maureen and I walked back to the Monteleone, where I went up to Kathie & Bob's room to change out of my costume and gather my things and pray for a cab. I found one, and got back to my place in the ghetto about 10 or so. I pre-packed, and crashed.

Wednesday morning, I got a cab to the post office and set off the final three of the five total boxes I shipped home. Then the cabbie returned to take me to the airport. I got there about 8:45, thinking I would sleep at my gate till my 2:43 flight to Chicago. I looked on the board to see a flight to Chicago boarding at 9:00, so I ran as fast as my fat little legs would carry me to the gate, praying to be allowed on the earlier flight. I just made it!

Beat the hell out of waiting till the 2:43 flight, particularly when we landed in Chicago just as a major wintyer storm was arriving! Flights were delayed and cancelled all over. My original flight was scheduled to leave NOLA at 2:43 and arrive in Chicago at 5:00. In reality, it left at 8:05 and arrived in Chicago at 10:48. Egad!

After a white knuckle three and a half hour drive home, I hit my own happy doorway about 5:30. I was so happy to be here, and bless my neighbor for plowing my driveway, even if he did tear up my yard. Sleeping in my own bed, with my own little Thelma Lou, was the closest approximation to heaven possible. I can't wait to go back, but I'm ready to be home now. Thanks for reading along.

I haven't been shot yet, thanks for asking!

2008-02-04T23:20:00.001-05:00

First point - amazing how many of you stay on top of the news. :) I've heard from no less than five of you about the Mardi Gras shootings down here. I've been nowhere near that mess, and it's sad a bunch of thugs want to be all ghetto and ruin it for some. Jerks.

Second point - I will not have time/energy to post photos till I get back, so stop asking me. Geez, y'all should be grateful I'm posting in a timely-ish fashion!! I am here to create the Amy Experience, and I can't do that effectively if I have to post photos of every damned thing I do while creating it. :) You'll have to come to my house to drink up and view photos when I return.

Now, to Sunday! I was up early, to the sound of sirens on Canal. I've learned several things on how to have a successful Mardi Gras, and the first thing is to stay in the Quarter. Any cost savings I realized by staying up here have been negated in cabfare and inconvenience. Staying in the Quarter is awesome, because you can duck in for a quick nap, parades are within easy walking distance, and there isn't a need for a cab. Yep, there's crowds, but inside the hotels I've been visiting it's been totally quiet and relaxed.

The Monteleone is where many of my friends are staying. They issue a bracelet to hotel guests, and that gets people in and out. Keeps the riff raff out, and the place safer - I have one, though, even though I'm not a guest, so it's not a foolproof method. I'm not riff raff though, lol! Some may argue.

Sunday was fun. I showed up at the Boondock Saint long before the Penis Police/Bead Whore party, and met up with the bikers out front. I struck up a conversation, and it was a lovely time visiting. Then Joan & Randy (fellow KOE members) showed up, and we all went down to the Tropical Isle (TI) to see the new Queen of Swiss crowned. One of our KOE members is from Switzerland, and he has a Krewe of Swiss. Each year he crowns a new Queen of Swiss, and there's a small party around that event. So, we attended!

After that wound up, Maureen and I went on back down to Boondock Saint and were among the first to arrive to the PP/BW party. Good times. I got beads, and we chatted up the bikers some more. Finally Weenis the Giant Inflatable Penis (and handler Jen!) arrived. Then it got progressively nuttier, with folks licking the penis and such. I licked it, there will be photos of course.

The flashing commenced as the afternoon went on, and my, there were some magnificent racks on display. You can get some REALLY nice beads when you flash. It's a lot easier when you're surrounded by friends you trust, like I was. Or so I hear. Did I flash? Well, did I? Ask me when I get home. I'll tell the truth.

Maureen and I cut out for lunch. We were saddled with a couple of drunk folks from our number, but they looked under control. We went to Remoulade, which is next to the famous Arnaud's. They share a kitchen, but Remoulade is a lot less expensive then Arnaud's. I enjoyed a nice gumbo and crawfish pie combo.

Then our drunken friends had to retire to the bathroom, where one passed out and one got close to it. We called for backup, and ShoMe showed up to take one of the girls the one block to the hotel. Now, the other girl, that took us a solid hour to get her coherent enough to be carried out of the restaurant. Shades of Long Lake Tavern!

Kathie & Sunnye had come down to have lunch, so I switched tables and sat with them, while checking in and out on the passed our sister in the bathroom. After we were done, we went back to the hotel and costumed for the Bacchus parade. This is the costume with the bustier, and my gosh, was it ever a hit. Everyone was so very impressed with it, and I credit Luci for her creative genius on the robe. Wait till you see the costumes that my fellow KOE members came up with. Awesome.

The Bacchus parade was fun. I caught several doubloons, and more than a few beads as our KOE Captain rides with Bacchus. He pelted us with bags of beads, and when I say pelt, I mean with intent to injure. I have a bruise on my arm from fielding a bag of beads! I kid, he doesn't mean to hurt us, but he does shower us with a deluge of trinkets and delights at a very high velocity. Thanks, Craig!

After the parade, we went back to the hotel and I got out of that bustier tout suite. I hated that thing - the wires kept poking me! Then Kathie & I went back to Harrah's to get me a cab, and I was home by 2:00 a.m.

I was up early this morning, Lundi Gras (Monday!), to get to the post office. I shipped home the first big box of swag, so prepare! After that, I walked the several blocks to the Monteleone, where I met Bob & Kathie for the fabulous buffet breakfast. Delicious, and thanks for treating me, you two!

We gathered up all the items for the Lundi Gras party (LGP) at Ralph & Kacoo's and piled into the cab. We unloaded there, and I had the cab carry me to another shipping place, where I posted another large box of swag, plus my costume from the night before. Box #2 comes! I will ship another large box on Wednesday on my way to the airport, as well.

Then back to Ralph & Kacoo's for the LGP. There were probably 150 KOE members there - it was overwhelming but so fun. I still have many throws, but I'll throw those tomorrow with the KOE beads. Or, I'll ship them home, cut off the labels, and recycle them when I ride in the Krewe of Boo parade in October.

After that, we second-lined back to the Tropical Isle again. We got quite a lot of applause as we paraded through the Quarter the three blocks to the TI. Then Tim and I walked back to the Monteleone, where I waited for Kathie & Bob & Sunnye. They came back, I checked plans for tomorrow morning's Mardi Gras, and then caught a cab back here. I got a free ride since I let the cabbie take an airport fare along with us!

I napped a bit, then went up Canal on the streetcar to dinner at Mandina's, which is a local favorite. It was good, nothing outstanding, but pleasant and a good way to pass a relaxed evening. Now I'm skipping the Orpheus parade to do laundry and catch you all up and rest tonight.

Several things I have learned this time. In no particular order:

*Stay in the Quarter. It's much, much more convenient.
*Bring truly comfortable shoes. My kicks are comfy, but not for long walks.
*Don't bring a hairdryer or product. The humidity here will do your hair.
*Ditto for makeup. Mascara only, or get your face painted here.
*No purse. My little folding Ambassador Travel wallet is doing the job SO well!
*Learned by viewing - pace yourself drinking. It's hot here. Ease up on the booze.
*Don't rent a car. I was right to skip that. Parking's a bitch in the Quarter.

More tomorrow, friends. My plan is to be up to parade, and then see it all the way through till they close Mardi Gras at midnight. I'll kiss my friends goodbe, and then go back here. I'm going to sleep in some and get a cab right to the airport. If I can fly standby and be home earlier, that's fine with me.

Happy Mardi Gras!

Saturday in the French Quarter and Endymion parade!

2008-02-03T09:10:00.001-05:00

Saturday was a beautiful day here. It was nearly 65 degrees and so bright and sunny, absolutely gorgeous. I called Andrews from Checker Cab, and he came to get me and took me down to Bourbon and Dumaine in the Quarter. I started my day at the Clover Grill. This is a local favorite of mine, and I love sitting at the counter. I struck up conversations with the people on my left and right, and soon was engaged in lively conversation about New Orleans, parades, and Mardi Gras. I ordered a mushroom swiss cheeseburger and fries with my coffee and orange juice, and enjoyed the show that is the Clover Grill staff. The burgers there are cooked beneath a hubcap, and that is likely what makes them so tender and juicy and yummy, that and the grill is ancient and covered in "flavor". It was a sublime meal, and when I cashed out, a man at the counter noted my Street Drinking Permit that touts me as a Mardi Gras Virgin, and he bought me breakfast! I was having a chat with him and the cashier about where I was from, and as it turns out, the cashier knows a man from Kalamazoo! When I get home, I'm posting a message to Andy Swaggart on Craigslist from the cashier at the Clover Grill in New Orleans, Louisiana.

I ambled up the street a block to Lafitte's for the nola.com forum meetup. These people have been so kind and wonderful to me, it was a delight to put faces to names. Many people brought lagniappes (NOLA for a little something extra) to hand out, and now I have an assortment of creative things that I will always treasure. I had the signature drink there, a Voodoo. It's vodka, Everclear, and grape slushy. It will knock you sideways, more on that later.

We all visited amongst ourselves until the group flash. Yes, you read that right. All the willing women gathered up for a group flash. I did not partake, in case you were wondering. But, I did take photos. Then the Fabulous Sashay Brothers were doing the famous Sandwich Sashay with all willing participants. Of course, I have video to share of me Sashaying with them. Thank you, Todd and Tim!

After a bit, I left with Jen, Rachel and Julie for the French Market. We stopped at Fiorella's (at my suggestion) for lunch, and I reveled in the half and half I ordered, which is half shrimp and half oysters with fries. We also had an order of fried pickles! Jen & Julie had a table inside, and Rachel and I sat outside on the sidewalk table. It was fun to chat and watch the people go by. The tour carriages would point out Fiorella's, and we would wave an oyster at them. Pimping the eating is a full time job here.

After lunch we walked down to the French Market to get masks. After checking out all the vendors, I ended up buying a beautiful plumed mask from the first place we had visited. They were wonderful women, and the mask, at $40, was a bargain. Wait until you see it. Then the four of us went up to the levee to have our photos taken with the river behind us.

As we were crossing over to it, I saw a Caution, Slippery sign painted on the pavement. Like a smart@ss, I said hey, we should pose on that with our legs spread! So, we did. Yep, tacky, but so funny and a great photo. Be sure to see it. Once up on the levee, with the Mississippi River unfurling behind us, we had our pictures taken masked with several people, and then with just us four. It is a wonderful photo, and I'm glad I suggested it. Rachel, Jen, Julie - you girls rock!

We walked back to Rampart Street and I called Andrews to come and get me and take me back here to the Guesthouse. Around 5:00 people from the KOE and the forum showed up to watch the Endymion parade here out front of my place. It was fun to host, and since I had access to a clean bathroom, that was an extra perk. JJ Clancy came with his family, and brought his cooler boombox. It is a rolling cooler with a CD player and a speakers built in, and it's a party must-have. He was blasting line dancing music, and Mardi Gras music, and the LSU band playing, and the whole street was jumping along with the music. It was wonderful.

Canal Street was lined with people cooking out, and socializing, and waiting for the parade. It was a wonderful family event and I really enjoyed talking to people in the crowd. To me, this is Mardi Gras, not the Cops or the Girls Gone Wild episode many of you mentioned to me. That's just drunk@sses in the Quarter. One woman gave me a 2006 Zulu medallion, which is hard to come by, in honor of my first Mardi Gras. My hosts, Sam & Kathey, were having a party too, with food and good times, and Sam came out to enjoy my gathering as well. It was fun to see Sam line dancing along with us. I have photos.

The Endymion parade was amazing. Endymion is a Superkrewe, with the huge, huge double floats, lit up magnificently, and the special doubloons. I have a lot of those doubloons now. Kevin Costner was their Grand Marshall. I wasn't able to catch any of the beads he was throwing, but he is still completely hot. I was swooning, beleive that.

Between floats in all parades, are the local marching bands. They all seem to have dance teams, flag girls, baton twirlers, and majors in addition to the actual band. And of course, they all have intricate marching steps, and when you consider how far they're marching, it's amazing nobody passes out. We all yell tuba, tuba, tuba when the tubas pass, and they surely love that.

Maureen brought me a Mardi Gras Virgins sign, and that really helped me out. There were a couple other of us who were virgins, and we stood together with signs and got just pelted with bags of beads. Awesome. I have bags of big beads, and those are so cool. Making eye contact with a rider, and having him point to me, and then throw TO me, is such a rush. Then after I catch I point to them and blow them a kiss. It's a wonderful ritual. I'm addicted.

Rob & Frances (my hosts from Friday night) came up to my place, and they were tracking the riders on the floats that we know. Rob would grab me and run me up to the floats, and we got pounded with beads. Fabulous. One crazy thing, though, now I'm bead picky. I don't want the short beads. I only want the long beads that are a certain size around. I will let some beads fall to the kids, and only clamor for the krewe-specific beads, and the doubloons. See how quickly that happened?

The parade concluded around 10 p.m. or so, and I just went upstairs. I spent some time decompressing on the balcony, then I went in to sort out beads and hit the sack. I took video of the street after, you'll be amazed at how much trash was out there. However, the city of NOLA come along with street sweepers, and you'd be surprised how quickly the mess goes away, like it never happened. The Quarter is spotlessly clean this way as well. It's great.

Today is the penispolice and beadwhore party, then the Bacchus parade. That would be the first costume, the one many of you have already seen with the bustier and the sequin pants. Prepare to be amazed, New Orleans - the Amy Experience is in the house!!

Here I am in NOLA!

2008-02-01T16:20:00.003-05:00

After three gate changes at O'Hare, I finally got in the air at 11:40!!
I really enjoyed my time at O'Hare today. I met some nice folks, and passed out some KOE beads. Good times. I saw a little bird at Gate B1! I fed it a cracker. Got to wonder how a bird lives in an airport.

I'm sitting in the kitchen at the Canal Street Guesthouse after catching up with Sam & Kathey Kranzthor, my hosts here. So, I'm here. I'm taking a little nap, and then I'm going downtown for some yummy food.

I spoke to Kathie Jacobs and we're all meeting up at 6:00 on Tchopitoulas for the parades! Turns out parades were cancelled last night for a tornado watch, so they will be rolling tonight, in addition to the three that were planned to roll. It's going to be a big night of parades!!!

And tomorrow, tomorrow is ENDYMION! Turns out that the people who are usually sharing my balcony won't be here this year. So, all of us from the KOE and the nola.com forum will be hanging out on my balcony, and using my clean bathroom. I'm very excited to be the hostess!

More tomorrow. Laissez bon temp rouler!!

Friday night the wheels came off!

2008-02-01T16:20:00.002-05:00

Well, so much since my last post. I'll split it up for clarity.

Not two minutes after that last post, Kathie & Bob called me up and said get down here to the Monteleone. The Monteleone is where most folks at the KOE are staying, and likely where I'll stay next year. So, I hopped the Canal Street streetcar and soon enough was walking into the Carousel Bar. Now, it's thusly named, because the seats at the circular bar rotate! Yes! and above the bar is a circular array of mirrors, just like a merry go round. So, you could be sitting at the bar and make a full rotation in just 15 minutes. Fascinating!

Additionally, many people staying there were attending a ball that night. Each krewe throws a ball, and they are formal. Women MUST wear formal wear, tea-length AT LEAST, and men MUST wear tuxedos. No exceptions. They will not let you in if you divert from this code. So, we watched the swans going out to the balls. Gorgeous clothes.

Many other KOE friends joined us at the Carousel. I got my first beads from T-Rock, the fabulous Li'l T-Roca beads. Next I got the flashing penis from Bob, aka Mardi Gras Elvis and Kathie's boyfriend, and then I got the beautiful 2008 Endymion beads from forum friend Lloyd. So, appropriately beaded, we decided to set out for the night parades. Bob had by this time changed into his Elvis getup, which includes the rhinestoned white jumpsuit and the Elvis hair. All the way up Canal Street, folks were admiring the King and paying him tribute. It was fun to be the King's consort!

Our destination on Tchopitoulas Street was Rob & Frances's parade viewing party. They had delicious gumbo, rice, and king cake for all comers. A number of KOE and forum friends were there, including Don May and Billy Thompson. These two were instrumental in my success at this night's parades, with special kudos to Bubba as well!

There were four parades Friday night. There were two scheduled, but two from Thursday were postponed to Friday due to a tornado watch on Thursday night. So, we saw Hermes, d'Etat (a political satire parade), Morpheus (where KOE friend Steve rides) and the fabulous Muses. More on Muses later.

I caught everything at first. Had to have every shiny bit. After a while I got a tad more selective, but still managed to fill my rolling cart with many, many beads. I was hunting more for doubloons and krewe-related items. Doubloons are minted aluminum coins in different colors with krewe insignias and the date. Parades that have riding lieutenants (leaders in costume on horses) have their own special doubloon, and you have to approach the lieutenant on his horse and ask for them. I got doubloons from all four parades, including riding lieutenants, to my delight.

There were significant breaks in the parades. During these breaks in the action, I ate gumbo and socialized and sang Led Zeppelin tunes on the Mr. Microphone with our KOE Captain, Captain, and fellow midwesterner Edward. Silliness abounded, but there were many good times and good information given to this rookie, and I am ever grateful to the hospitality and guidance of the KOE and forum friends.

The greatest parade of all four was last, and that was Muses. Muses is an entirely woman ran parade. Women design, execute, ride, and throw in this parade. They threw very unique items, and they threw a LOT of them. I have an entire bead bag, from Muses, that is chock full of beads and throws, JUST from Muses.

It was so beautiful. Several floats were prefaced by people who were manipulating, through two poles, beautifully ornate lit butterflies. The body of the butterfly was on a pole that was mounted to their belt. The wings were manipulated by a pole in each hand. They swooped and swirled at we in the crowd, and I was enchanted.

After the parades were finished, it was nearly 1:00 a.m. We gathered up to walk back to Canal to find me a cab back here to the guesthouse as the streetcars stop running at midnight. Well, I felt like I was pretty clever to have a rolling cart, until the sheer weight of the beads I got caused the wheels to break off. So, I dragged this mighty heavy bag of beads several blocks back to the Monteleone.

And then we couldn't get a cab. Finally one of the hired buses that was transporting the swans to the ball took pity on me after Kathie explained the situation. Nicoll's bus driver, I love you! He drove me safely home and wouldn't turn on the meter. I tipped him $20, though. He provided me quite a service, and he saw me safely into the guesthouse.

I sorted beads for a while, and then went right to bed. More on Saturday in my next post! This is an incredible experience. I can't wait for you to see the photos.

Amy's off to Mardi Gras in 10 days!

2008-01-22T23:13:00.000-05:00

Okay, since my loyal readership is getting extremely antsy, despite the shower of gifts upon her, this is what I've been up to lately:

Preparing for my first Mardi Gras, that's what. All of you know of my enduring love for The City That Care Forgot. I was there in Jan and March of last year, seeing in the new year in Louisiana fashion, and enjoying the Irish Italian parade with Mindy, GM and the gang from Crazy Johnnie's out in Metairie. You can go back into the archives of this blog to read more about it.

A little history on Mardi Gras. The Mardi Gras season begins on the 12th night after Christmas, January 5. This begins the season of the Feast of the Epiphany. There are parades and parties and celebrations right up to Mardi Gras, which is also known as Fat Tuesday. This is the day before Ash Wednesday, which begins Lent.

The last weekend of the season is the most active, and that is when I'm going. I'm flying out of Chicago on Feb 1, nonstop to NOLA. I'll be there about noon. I'm staying once again at the Canal Street Guesthouse. I'm packing light, thanks to their many lovely amenities, including laundry and high speed internet, the better to post to you all as I wash up.

Now, in August I joined the KOE. The KOE is a walking krewe that parades on Fat Tuesday, which is Mardi Gras day. I met a lot of these folks at a meetup held in November in Chicago. My kinda folks. So, I'll be walking through the French Quarter with my krewe, tossing our fabulous krewe beads and little stuffed ponies. The theme this year, our 10th anniversary, is The West is History.

Thusly, I sewed up a costume that makes me quite the fetching cowgirl. I must credit Bob Petrick and Nancy Hess for the cowboy hat. It's just the touch I needed, and I can't thank them enough. I have photos of the entire ensemble, but they will not be posted till after I return, so my krewe mates don't see it and have the surprise ruined before I even get there. Those that have seen it in person, modeled, may comment freely in this space.

I've dreamed up another costume as well! I've been invited to come hang out with the Sons of Bacchus, or SOBs. This lively group hangs out on Tchopitoulas (chop it too luss) Street and watches the Krewe of Bacchus parade. This year's celebrity king is Hulk Hogan. So, we are all dressing up in rasslin' gear. I'm going as quite the diva, again, photos later, and again, yes, those of you who saw it in person are free to comment. Be lavish in your descriptives. :)

Here's a link to a webcam that's trained on Bourbon Street. You may see some interesting things by checking in periodically. I may even call you from in front of this cam, and wave at you, if you're good.

I have also found a great deal of fine friendship on the nola.com Mardi Gras forum. Lots of great people of the same mindset that I am. And, the occasional crank job. Drop in and virtually meet a few of the fine folks who will be showing me the ropes in a little over a week.

So, on Thursday, January 31 I head out to Chicago after work to stay over prior to my flight to NOLA. I'm already there in my heart. Stay with these pages and read along as I enjoy my first Mardi Gras in my second city

Amy's Christmas Mix

2007-12-17T13:28:00.000-05:00

Editor's Note: I added my all-time favorite version of Oh, Holy Night by Jason and the Scorchers, and a little insight into my holiday giving list, Gift Wrapped Boy, by The Big Happy. As you were, kibbitzers.

Okay, so here it is. I'm taking suggestions on how to create the song order. I'm taking them pretty danged quick, since I want to get these burned.

Please cut and paste this list into comments in the order YOU think they ought to be arranged.

Silent Night - Johnny Cash
All I Want For Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey
Feliz Navidad - Jose Felciano
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - U2
Please Come Home For Christmas - The Eagles
Step Into Christmas - Elton John
Christmas at Ground Zero - Weird Al
Blue Christmas - Elvis
White Christmas - the Drifters
Merry Christmas Baby - Bruce Springsteen
Christmas in Hollis - Run DMC
Last Christmas -WHAM
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - John Melencamp
Little Drummer Boy - Bob Seger
Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight) - The Ramones
Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses
Holly Jolly Christmas - Burl Ives
Carol of the Bells - Mannheim Steamroller
I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas - Gayla Peevey
Wonderful Christmastime - Paul McCartney
Happy Xmas (War is Over) - John Lennon
Sleigh Ride - Johnny Mathis
Merry Christmas from the Family - Robert Earl Keen
Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Bruce Springsteen
Christmas Canon - TransSiberian Orchestra
Christmas Sarajevo 12/24 - TransSiberian Orchestra
Christmas Cookies - George Strait
Jingle Bell Rock - Hall & Oates

Airborne! Injured! Bikes are not for babies!

2007-09-23T21:31:00.000-04:00

Kim and I have been using our new bikes quite a bit. Last weekend we got up early on Sunday and met up for a ride. I put on my helmet (hi, Jeanette!) and ride from my house south on Westnedge to Kilgore, where I meet Kim and her own shiny new Zoo City Cycle creation. Then we bike east on Kilgore to the north trailhead for the Portage trails, and south to Garden Lane. Then it's east on Garden Lane to Lovers Lane, then north on Lovers to Milham, and then west back to the trail, north to Kilgore, and back west on Kilgore to Westnedge. It's about 10 miles or so for me, door to door.

Kim had a golf outing, and I had a Tigers game today, so we decided to go yesterday. We knew nothing of the PCOC Strut Run/Walk that was taking up the trail, but we sure 'nuff found out about it when we came around a blind curve to a horde of runners. Hello!

We waited them out, and then proceeded. I came around another blind curve to find Kim picking up her bike and being looked after by a couple of strangers. Apparently she advised them she was passing and one went left and one right. Smart, eh? Kim wiped out and scraped her arm up pretty badly - it was bleeding pretty good. We soldiered on, and eventually got to Garden Lane, where there were mobs of Run/Walkers.

Our original plan for the day was head up Garden Lane to Westnedge to the D&W and then back, adding about 3 miles to our trip. Off we went, and everything was cool till I learned a valuable bike-riding tip:

***Do Not Cross Railroad Tracks Parallel To The Rails***

Your tire will get caught in the rail and the bike will stop. You, however, will keep going. You'll experience a very pleasurable degree of airborne for about three seconds, then you'll land on your right knee and then left hand, on hard, gritty tarmac. It will hurt, and you will bleed. Then you'll look around to see who saw you. :) Seriously, it hurt like hell and I was so glad Kim was there to move my bike and help me up and then fix my handlebars. Thanks, friend.

We nixed the D&W addition this time, and stuck to the original course and completed the 10 miles. We escaped further injury and we both arrived home safely. THEN the adrenaline wore off. Let me assure you, I was in some serious pain. I drugged up and went to bed later on and woke this morning reasonably ambulatory, and enjoyed Detroit. The Tigers won 7-2.

However, I've got the beginnings of a VERY large and dramatic bruise, along with the road rash on my leg and hand, and the other bumps and bruises from my tumble. I expect in a couple days it will do Romero proud. I'd milk it to the hilt, but I don't have time this week to play Camille.

We're going back out next Sunday. Anyone want to run the camcorder? :)

Gutter minded!

2007-09-12T23:13:00.000-04:00

The latest update in the home improvement story is now in: I have seamless gutters all around the house now. No more funky draining into the basement. No more getting wet as I enter the porch during a rain. And do they look sharp! I have to hand the big kudos to the Chopp Gutter Company out of Plainwell.

I met Ron when I hired the excellent and highly competent John Mitchell Construction team (www.mitchellconstr.com) to renovate my garage and blow in insulation recently. Ron works with John, but he handles gutter work via Chopp. I'm impressed with the wonderful job at a very reasonable price. He also got it done in one day, just two days after I said go ahead, and he left the yard looking top notch. I'd recommend him!

To recap what's been done so far this year:

Central air installed - boy, that's been nice!
Power run to garage with lights, switches, outlet boxes, and A GARAGE DOOR OPENER!
The front garage wall totally rebuilt with the door centered - what a concept!
Insulation blown into the walls and attic!
Window trim painted a beautiful dark green!
Storage cabinets created in the window seats in the living room and bath!

Next week I've hired Rick Aiken at AA Electric to replace all of the lighting fixtures in my house, and install a ceiling fan in the living room. He did a great job running power to the garage, and I'll be reviewing his work in this space after the lights are up and running.

Next projects after that's done and paid for? Laying a new kitchen floor, possibly refinishing the wood floors under the carpet in the other rooms, painting all the interior walls, and replacing the hardware on my kitchen cabinets. A small bathroom remodel is on the drawing board as well.

This is so fun!

Painting with Amy!

2007-09-02T19:48:00.000-04:00

People who sell paint lie. One coat coverage, my @ss. I spent two hours this morning prepping, four hours painting, and it still needed another coat. However,after applying this second coat of rich Valspar brand color, I was able to stand back and admire my work. My window trim is a beautiful shade of dark green, and because I spent serious cash on good paint, it will be beautiful for a long time.

And, best of all, I did it myself. Entirely. I love self sufficiency and independence.

And after the John Mitchell Construction team retrims the front two windows, those too will be beautiful. Except I'll be priming and painting the wood PRIOR to installation, so there won't be any more circus moments like this afternoon when I was standing one foot on my air conditioner, one foot about a foot and half away on a wobbly ladder, leaning back with a twist and painting over my head.

I thought I was going to suffer a serious injury when the cat jumped up into the window yowling hello.

This afternoon Luci & Andrew stopped by! We took up some of the carpet in the living room to find pine planking beneath the berber. Once the projects that are currently in progress are completed and paid for, the interior painting begins. Once that is finished, then I may move on to the floors.

Thing is, if the Tigers continue to blow like they have blown this weekend, I'll get my money back that I've spent on my post-season season ticket package. That's $5,128 that I can put back into the house. I hate to be like that, but I'm not seeing much to reassure me. If they come back and make the playoffs, then I'll be pleasantly amazed. But I digress. It's good looking planking in that corner, in pretty good shape, but I won't know for sure until I take up all the carpet how it looks in the entire room. Thankfully, I have other priorities right now.

Tomorrow I'd like to remove the tacky brass hardware from my cabinets, and TSP the hell out of all the cabinets. Harsh chemicals will be used. Then I'll fill the screw holes from the old hardware with wood putty, and then I'll have to decide if I want to hire the painting done in the kitchen or do it myself. It's all white, semi-gloss on the walls and gloss on the cabinets. How hard could it be?

We'll see.

Gilding the lily, or, Amy Kilz

2007-09-01T19:22:00.000-04:00

So begins a series of posts on the ridiculous amount of dollars being invested the Amycization of the home base to the Amy Experience. It's almost like I haven't lived here in my 1920's bungalow almost seven years or something. But, as soon as I took my house off the market in June I decided that I needed to get busy, and I do mean now, on redecorating and improving this 648 sq. ft. slice of my life.

My beautiful home has major potential, but it is also the sorry result of someone's first time flip job. It is the capitol building, the City Hall, the village office of Halfassville. My light fixtures, which look circa 1980, but are likely the cheapest available at Menard's, are wired into the ceiling - no boxes. It has a substandard amount of insulation, so much so that in the wintertime I sleep head away from the wall because it's cold. There are gutters, but only on one side of the house, and none on the porch, so I get rained upon as I enter my home in the drizzle. There is carpet over what I beleive to be glorious hardwood floors. On the upside, the windows have all been replaced and the roof was new the year I bought the place (2000), so that's good stuff.

To date I've accomplished the following improvements:

Updated the electrical from 60 to 200 amp service
Updated the plumbing from 1/4" steel to 1/2" copper
Replaced the furnace with a high efficiency model
Installed a central air unit that is majorly efficient as well

Currently, the very competent John Mitchell Construction team is setting about with alacrity on the following tasks:

Blowing in insulation
Building storage into my window seats
Installing gutters all around my house
Retrimming the front two windows
Running power to my garage
Rebuilding the front wall of my garage
Installing a garage door

It's the last three that currently have me ecstatic. I have a gorgeous one-car detached garage, but the pull-up spring garage door is off center to the driveway and parking my car inside involves a sharp left then a sharp right. Now, there are times when accuracy wasn't my strongest suit when I'm coming home in the wee hours. As a result, I've hit that wall numerous times and knocked it askew. Now the garage door is centered to the driveway, and the wall has been reframed and rebuilt. So pretty.

And, my new garage door has an opener. I am so excited about that. I have never had a garage door opener, so this is going to be a total luxury for me. I plan to host a Garage Door Opening which will involve food and drink and a lot of using the remote. I can't wait!

And since I'll have power to my garage, and lights, I will have a fridge out there. We can sit in the garage and drink beer like boys! I may even have a shelf for a TV. That way I can have the Tigers on inside and the Lions on outside when I'm entertaining. Oh, the possibilities for the upgrading of the AE to a whole new level.

Now, once all this boring stuff (read: the stuff that adds value) is done, I will start working on retrimming the inside and painting the interior. However, right now I need to concentrate on completing the painting of my window trim. That's been a major p.i.t.a. due to the rather untimely end to a months long drought. But it appears the rains have ended for now!

So, even though I had a truly terrific yet tightly timed tete a tete last night in the company of a long-lost college pal, and even though that generous pal kept me well supplied in Oberon, and even though my Put the Bottle Down button appeared to be broken, I managed to get up and start thinking about putting the primer on the windows today.

However, I dinked around with the paper, breakfasted out, visited the local home improvement emporium, consumed a very darkly roasted cup of the Breakfast of Champions and engaged in various other flights of fancy that kept me from actually beginning the painting work I'd planned for FIRST THING.

But let me say that at 7:00 p.m. this evening, I completed the priming of the window trim. I would have completed this task much sooner were it not for the trip to Horrocks Farm Market (oh, the epicurean pleasures of that place), the 90 minute nap in the sun, the perusal of a captivating article about hummus, and the various other flights of fancy that kept me from sticking to the task at hand. I guess I could have used a little of that OCD that said pal from the evening previous allegedly has in abundance.

Tomorrow's big plan: application of dark green paint. I see all manner of potential here for comic mishaps, given my patented Reckless Abandon method of paint application, but I hope to, for once in my life, color within the lines thanks to the judicious use of blue painter tape.

But now, a beverage.

Stay tuned, and you can share my joy and pain (sunshine, and rain, sing it now God's children...) of home remodeling.

Amy’s going to Mardi Gras with the Krewe of Elvis!!

2007-08-14T19:10:00.001-04:00

There's another Amy Experience caper afoot!! I'm going to Mardi Gras! And you could go, too, if'n you wanted to do so.

I've recently joined a Mardi Gras walking krewe, more specifically, the Krewe of Elvis. Yes! It's proven once again, in the immortal words of my sister Luci, that a day without the King is like a day without sunshine. Let there be sunshine. Amen.

Born in the etherous mists of cyberspace in 1998, it's for anyone who wants to be part of a very cool, very welcoming bunch of folks from across the country and points around the world.

On Mardi Gras Day, Fat Tuesday, I'll be walking with my Krewe mates in the French Quarter throwing Krewe of Elvis beads and other items to the clamoring masses. I've bought 150 beads and about 3 dozen *other* items to throw, and I cannot wait to figure out how I plan to mete out the swag.

And it's not just Mardi Gras time these folks of the KOE get together. Oh, no. This weekend they're all meeting up in Memphis, and in November they're all meeting up in Chicago, and next June they're going on a Krewez!

Now, the sell: To join this Krewe costs a mere $20! I've seen a lot of you drink that much in about an hour. So think abou this, for your $20, you're not just getting to walk in the Mardi Gras parade with the Krewe. You're getting admittance to the Lundi Gras (the night before, Monday night) party. You'll be invited to lots of neat events around the country. You're making a ton of new friends from all over the place. And, best of all, you'll be parading in NOLA, one of the finest places on earth, at Mardi Gras time.

I hardly think I need to sell it anymore than that. Go on out to www.koemardigras.com and see what you think. Join me, and join a lot of other cool people.

Michigan is sorely underrepresented. It's just me, and now today Luci joined. Let's let them know that the members of the AE know how to kick it out, and that we can represent with the best of them. There is also a myspace page: www.myspace.com/koemardigras1998

Twenty bucks. For all that fun. What a value for your buck. Email our Krewe captain, Craig Imboden, through www.koemardigras.com. And let me know when you did.

Iowa in 30 hours or less!

2007-08-02T20:47:00.000-04:00

Okay, two things. This is longggg. And it's full of fine examples of my mother's continuing presence. If you're unwilling to humor my own interpretations, stop reading now. :)

So, on the first anniversary of my mom's death, I thought I'd make a roadtrip we didn't get around to doing. F*cking cancer. Anyhow, I left Kalamazoo at 5:00 on Tuesday and hit the toll road at Granger IN. Along the way I found a lot of things to do to entertain myself, including a lively game of Kount the Kop (7 between MI and IA) and a not-so-lively round of State Plate. For the record, I was passed by 14 states (MI, IA, IL, IN, TN, TX, MN, CA, WI, MD, FL, NY, OH, and CO).

I got into IL at 7:30, and found the nicest rest area ever at New Holland. Yes, it was a virtual minimall of a rest area. Interesting, and I wasn't the only tourist agog with the selection. We all looked sorta stupid marveling at the many eateries, the big clean bathrooms, and the free tourist info, but hey, we all looked stupid together. We didn't form a circle and hold hands and sing Kumbaya around the campfire or anything, but we did exchange sheepish looks at our various degrees of awed.

As I got out of Joliet on I-80, about 4 hours from home, I looked over and saw a Paragon Leather truck out of Kalamazoo! I'm sure once he got back to the shop today he told the story of the crazy lady with the CRBTREE plate in the car next to him. I'm sure he wondered what my deal was, what with all the excited smiling and waving, as though I didn't get out but on a pass once in a while, and I'd slipped my leash.

The I-80 bridges over both the Des Plaines and Fox Rivers are pretty. The view from the Fox River bridge warranted pulling over and snapping the first photo at 8:50 pm. Truckers kindly got out of my way, as everyone should when I'm on a mission. :)

About 9 or so I came upon the I-39 exit to Bloomington, which is where the world HQ of the Greatest Employer Ever is located. A semi tractor/trailer had fallen off the exit ramp onto its side, and many the local were lined up on an adjoining overpass to gawk. Guess that was Tuesday night's high point for the LaSalle area!

Around Ladd IA I saw a sign for Casey's General Store for FO (short for freaky occurence for those who don't beleive) #1. I debated stopping, but thought to myself that if I was on a roadtrip memorializing my mom (the truly awesome Casey Crabtree) and skipped this, I was setting myself one hell of a bad precedent. So, I stopped and took a photo of the sign. Come on, you're not surprised, are you? Later on I found it was a local to IL and IA chain, and you will see that the appeared in fortuitous spots during my jaunt.

Ladd IA is out in the middle of nowhere, a giant sea of cornfield and interstate. I struck up a conversation with the counter woman, who was outside smoking as I pulled up and took a photo. Turns out she has lived in Pontiac, Kalkaska, and Traverse City, MI. She moves each year just for the heck of it, she says. Now yes, she works in a KwikMart-type place, probably no benefits, but how neat to be traveling around like that?

I got back on the road and about 10 pm passed the exit for Annawan, IL. I have to wonder, is there an Annatwo out there somewhere?

Western IL does love them some President Ronnie Ray Gun. Large signs direct you to not only his birthplace but also his hometown. I declined, and doing so allowed me to roll into LeClair IA at 10:45.

The bridge over the Mississippi at LeClair is very similiar in design to the one in Minneapolis that tragically collapsed Wednesday night. I am thankful that I didn't see last night's horror show prior to my departure.

The Holiday Inn at LeClair is right on the river, just off the levee, and it was the usual degree of nice. That's why I'm pretty loyal to the reasonably priced Intercontinental Hotels brand, that and they redeem me in Northwest Air miles. But I digress. The view was pretty and I enjoyed it immensely. Now, when I checked into my room, I see I was assigned a Mom room. It was handicapped accessible, near the elevator and with a walk in shower. These are things Mom always booked. I didn't ask for such a room, and when I checked later I found that it is NOT standard for there to be such a room assigned without requesting it. There's your FO #2.

Wednesday morning I got out of the shower and flipped on the hotel TV. It came on to HBO, which was showing Field of Dreams (FO #3). I'd have blown it off were it local Iowa TV as homers showing the locally filmed movie over and over, but it wasn't. It was HBO.

After hitting the welcome center for postcards (hi there, Mary Lou Gould!) and free maps, I headed up the Great River Road (IA 67) and followed the Mississippi all the way to Sabula. It's pretty along the river, forested and dotted with small towns. I can see huge potential for fall color tours here. At Sabula I headed west on IA 64 to make time to IA 61 north to Dubuque on on to Dyersville. My giant plan was to be walking into the corn at the Field of Dreams precisely at 11:35, which is the hour of Mom's passing.

IA 64 went on through rolling farmlands of corn and soybeans and hay. There were many rolling vistas that were positively iconic of the Midwest, and the sort of view that Mom would have oohed and ahhhed over. At IA 61 it was late in the morning, and I had a decision to make. I could continue on IA 64 and take IA 136 up to Dyersville and deviate from my giant plan but enjoy a more easy pace. Or, I could take IA 61 north and try like hell, pedal to metal, to make it to the Field of Dreams to bring my giant plan to fruition.

I was quite stressed over this quandary and driving along very slowly trying to decide what I wanted to do when I looked down IA 64 past the exit. What did I see, down the road and to the left? Yes, that's right. A Casey's General Store. I had my decision after FO #4, and suddenly the giant plan wasn't such a big deal after all.

At precisely 11:35, while I was glancing right at the clock and driving down the main street of Maquonketa IA, I felt pulled to look left. There I saw a house that had probably the most extravagant rose garden I have ever seen. This would be FO #5 since many of you know that Mom was quite an aficionado of the roses. I went up on the porch and finding nobody home to ask, took the liberty of taking photos from the street of the gardens. Mom would have loved this, a beautiful rose garden she could see from the car, and not have to struggle out and get her stick and walk around.

At the intersection if IA 64 and IA 136, the E light came on. I hadn't been paying attention, engrossed as I was with the astounding scenery. Hills of rolling cornfields interspersed with soybeans and hay planted in seemingly random patterns undulated across the landscape, accented by the occasional farm and cattle. The attendant cow stink permeated the air, but there were some amazing vistas. Mom would have really loved that drive. As I pulled into Wyoming, IA I was hoping that it was big enough to support a gas station, since the prior two towns did not. They have just one gas station in Wyoming, IA. It is a Casey's General Store. That would be FO #6 for those scoring along at home. The bonus was the public restroom. :)

Outside town was an old motel with a cool old neon sign. I took a photo, like I do all old time neon. One of these days that will all be gone, and then you who mock me will want to see my pictures, and I will deny you and laugh evilly as I do so with mirth in my voice but revenge in my heart.

My, that's a fine piece of prose.

Arriving in Dyersville, I made it right off to the Field of Dreams. It is out in the middle of nowhere, and appears to be much smaller than it was in the movie. I had some kids take a photo of me taking a couple swings. I had packed my Mickey Tettleton Louisville Slugger, so I was the only wooden bat there. Everyone else had that cheater aluminum. Huh.

I met up with an older couple from Illinois, who lived about a half hour away, just over the border. He is a farmer, and she is his wife. We talked about the field and the house. We walked out into the outfield, and they took photos of me walking into and out of the corn. She says she isn't the greatest picture taker, but they're all right by me, ma'am. I meet the finest people on the road.

I asked if he could clarify the seemingly random patterns that I noticed in the field crops. Seems most of the farmers in IA are in The Program. That would be our federal government subsidy program, and they have some strict regulations about what's planted where. Farmers are paid to plant hay on hillside areas to combat erosion, and soybeans or other crops in offset areas so that the land doesn't get burned out on corn. We all remember learning about crop rotation in high school, but this is the first time I've seen it in practice. It's interesting, and makes for a lovely effect for photos.

I stopped at each gift shop there, since there are two. The infield is owned by one bunch. Left and center field are owned by another bunch. They squabble like little kids over who owns what, but they manage to hold enough of a truce so that people can come enjoy the site anyhow. While I think they're both being ridiculous to be so cantankerous about it, I spent a little bit at each souvenir stand. I bought a bobblehead Ghost Player! Yeah, yeah. Mock all you want.

After I left Dyersville, I headed up IA 20 to Dubuque. I bypassed Peosta IA, which is where I was surprised to see the HQ for The Swiss Colony. Some of you might know that as the catalog treats firm that sells all manner of cakes and candy and such through the mail. I knew they weren't really Swiss, but I didn't know they were in Iowa. I don't care for their products, but I remembered Mom sent me a care package at NMU once of their assorted delights. You could probably call that FO #7, if you wanted to do so.

Crossing the Mississippi at Dubuque was fun. The river is kind of low there. The next town over into IL is Galena, birthplace of Ulysses S. Grant, one of our Presidents. What a pretty town, and what a lot to do there if you wanted to plan a lollygagging weekend of spa treatments and fall color. I think, girlfriends, you'll be hearing more about Galena.

IL 20 is a gorgeous drive. Lots of hills and ridges, much more in the way of sweeping panoramic views than I ever expected! The Tarpley Woods were cool and refreshing to drive through, and there is a neat lookout town you can climb not far past them. Hell of a view!

In Woodbine there is a small sign by the side of the road, apropos of nothing but just big enough to catch your eye, that says: "Be sure your sin will find you out." I can read that a hundred different ways. Before you all write to tell me what it means, I know it means "I hope you know that you're not going to be getting away with your wild behavior, missy. God knows what you're doing and He doesn't like it and He's going to smite, smite, smite you!"

I paraphrase. I can't get my lips together tight enough or my eyes quite that narrow to say it correctly. But try reading it by emphasizing other words in the sentence. I giggled for about 10 miles on that. So much so that I almost missed the old round barn at Elleroy, IL. I didn't see any signs marking where I could find his boy in Elleroy, or Jane, his wife, or his daughter Judy, either.

I turned south onto I-35 at Rockford, en route to I-80 again. What a boring stretch of road, that is, until you get to Paw Paw! There, on the right, is a huge field full of wind turbines. It goes on for probably 20 miles. It was an amazing sight and I absolutely loved seeing them, even though they weren't turning - apparently the 97 degrees sucked all the motion from the air. :(

A side note, though I was tempted to drive into Paw Paw and see if there was a double drive through of any kind, I wasn't able to ascertain that there was a Golden Arches there. I guess Paw Paw, MI still holds title to the weirdest configuration designed to deliver crap food to you, the American consumer.

I got onto I-80 back at the Bloomington interchange and headed east again. My plan was to get on IL 47 and drive south to Wilmington and pick up IL 53 back up to Joliet. IL 53 is the site of the old Mother Road, the wonderful Route 66 of motoring fame. My mechanic (hi there, Herb & Linda Persons!) recommended it, but I decided that it was getting late, and I wanted to do it up right. I'll save that for a full weekend and take friends to help document. See me if you're up for that trip. So, I headed on to Joliet.

I got off at the Richards Street exit and headed north. I had a plan, and that was to see where Elwood Blues picked up Joliet Jake at the prison. The Blues Brothers, one of my top five favorite films EVER, was filmed in and around Chicago, everyone knows this. I plan to do the full move site tour from the movie another time, as outlined in detailed style with excellent directions and photos at www.theybrokemywatch.com. This is the southernmost movie site. It is also where my favorite TV show - Prison Break - is filmed. So, I wanted to check it out.

The prison was emptied in 2002, and the empty buildings are located deep in the heart of a somewhat economically depressed Hispanic community. I know that doesn't do much to alleviate Friend and Coworker Sandy's fears for my solo travel, but I was going to see that prison, dammit, and nothing was going to stop me! Once I got there, I immediately located the gate from the opening scenes of The Blues Brothers, right on Collins Street. I was thrilled silly to think I was standing where John Belushi was standing at such a killer scene in movie history.

Pulling into the parking lot, I saw a couple in a Sebring convertible. We eyed each other, then the man tentatively waved, so I drove right over and struck up their acquaintance. Brian and Jan were staying at Harrah's, and Brian's a big fan of the movie and the show, so there were casing the joint too. We got out and the three of us did some creative reconnoitering and took some fun photos. They took me around back of the prison, down a road they had discovered, and we debated skinnying through the fence but decided to have some sense.

Brian asked if I wanted to follow them to Statesville, which is where John Wayne Gacy, unfunniest clown in history, was executed. I was totally bummed to have to decline, as it was nearly 7:30 pm by this time. The rest of the trip home went without incident, and I got home about 11:00 or so Wednesday night.

This trip was full of the kinds of things my mom and I encountered as we traveled the backroads of the Midwest togther. There were friendly people. There were good roads with lots of great scenery easily enjoyed from the car. There were many beautifully landscaped homes along the way. There were sentimental things like the Field of Dreams. I drove too long before I stopped for food and got a headache, a hallmark of our travel together. :) And while I had a grand time, the trip was about two hours too long to suit me, and I was a little cranky by the time I got off the toll road. All in all, it was just what I'd hoped it would be. I may make this an annual jaunt.

Photos and videos are posted. If you're interested and I know you, I'll send you the link. Just let me know.

Food for Amy's iPod

2007-06-24T20:05:00.000-04:00

So, the Tigers are the Sunday Night GoW on ESPN. I'll be doing my nails and buying music on iTunes. In no particular order, what I plan to purchase tonight is listed below.

Thanks to my cousin Jamie for turning me on to Kill Hannah and Mickey Avalon. Both are going to be on my Run? playlist. That is a smokin' playlist, and I may share it with you all at some later date.

Ray Charles - Crying Time
Heard this on KBON.com and remembered how much I love it.

Chris Ardoin - Zydeco Cowboy
Another KBON.com tune, but I gotta say, Chris Ardoin rocks it.

Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys - Uncle Bud
Best version I've heard of a great song.

Charlie Robison - Bar Light
What is NOT to love about Charlie Robison?

Bruce Robison - 12 Bar Blues
Or his brother Bruce?

Boomtown Rats - I Don't Like Mondays
If you're my age and don't like this song, I can't like you. Sorry.

Keith Frank - Loved and Lost
My current favorite song. Thank you, KBON.com

Sinatra, Martin, Davis Jr - We Open in Venice
I heard this on XM the other night and remembered how much I love it.

David Alan Coe - You Never Even Call Me By My Name
Because I was very drunk recently and we were singing it.

T-Pain - I'm Sprung
This is just a stupid song with a hook, but I like it.

Mickey Avalon - Jane Fonda
Okay, why have I never heard this in Michigan? It's vulgar but so funny.

Kill Hannah - I Wanna Be A Kennedy
Another Jamie McAfee pick.

Brian Burns - Whiskey-O
Thank you, XM. Another Texas artist, I may move there for the music.

Justin Verlander just threw a no-hitter!!!

2007-06-12T21:25:00.001-04:00

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday's Sanibel Stories

2007-06-09T22:58:00.000-04:00

Still having a wonderful time in Florida! Today Gram took us to breakfast at Annie's again, then we took off for Santbel Island. My cousin Elechia came down from Orlando last night so we had five of us on this jaunt. Many of you remember hearing about Elechia from the Corpus Christi jaunt back in December. Sanibel Island is much different than when I last visited in 2001. Hurricane Charley fairly well defoliated it, and it made me sad to see the canopy still so terribly gone. It's slowly returning, though! They are also in the process of building a new causeway to the island. It's quite pretty.

Sanibel remains an incredibly beautiful beach for shelling! You will not beleive the awesome shells I picked up - they were literally piled on the beach. All of us picked up some gorgeous examples, and we got some really great photographs and a good deal of color from el Sol. You will be able to pick out immediately where I missed the sunscreen. We spent perhaps two hours on the beach gathering shells and enjoying wading the warm waters of the Gulf.

Lunch was at Amy's Over Easy Cafe. I'll wait while you quit giggling. Thanks. The food was good, and the post-lunch shopping was good times too. I have a nice new Tervis tumbler that says Amy's Over Easy Cafe, and you saw this coming, a neat magnet for the fridge. The shops nearby were clever and inventive, be sure to check out my new switch plates for the kitchen and bath when I get back.

After the island we did some outlet mall shopping (!!) and then retired to the condo for cards with Gram, and EXCELLENT Mexican takeout from Iguana Mia. This is a favorite hangout of my hosts Hal & Jessie Leopard, and the food is beyond compare. I plan to stuff myself with guacamole and tomatillo sauce tomorrow and not share a jot of it. Yum! We played euchre and cinch, then spent a good time in the pool. Hal turned on the pool lighting, so it was fun to swim at night. We could hear the fish jumping in the canal next to us.

Now I'm off to bed, and I hope you are all enjoying your weekend as much as I am. Tomorrow's plan involves vodka tonics, the poolside, getting some more sun, cards, and eating some more great Florida food. I'm going to vote we eat at the Cuban place tomorrow. I may or may not post, but I'll be home late Monday night.

Ava and Karen are the best. Thanks for being such awesome house/cat-sitters!

Friday's Fun in Florida

2007-06-09T22:56:00.000-04:00

My, but we've been shown a good time here in Florida! Friday dawned bright and early with breakfast at Annie's nearby the condo. Continuing my trend of 13 year old boy humor, I found another housing area with the C dropped off their sign. Many of you have giggled at the Anal City I saw in Louisiana, so named because of an unfortunate loss of the letter C from the Canal City sign. Friday morning we walked past the Oral Breeze. And once we got to Annie's, we found that the proper owner of the back parking lot strenuously objects to the restaraunt patrons leaving their cars there. Henceforth, according to the sign on the wall inside, "...no more parking on Annie's rear. Park on Annie's front..." You know I took a photo.

Another neat thing - they have burrow owls all over down here. They're a protected species in FL and as a result you see burrow owls all over the place. They are just what you'd think - adorable little owls who burrow into the ground and live in the holes, like a fox would in a den. They're really cute.

After breakfast we met up with my tia Jo's amiga Michelle and off we went to Everglades City and the airboat ride through the Everglades. Captain Picou was a Cajun, and you know how I love those dulcet tones. We highly enjoyed our jaunt through the mangroves. Airboats rock. Holding the baby alligator was good times back at the dock. All of this is going to be well documented in the photos. If you're interested, let me know and I'll send you the link once I get home and get them posted to Snapfish.

I had the yummiest oysters for lunch, saturated with the second best hot sauce in the world, Louisiana's Crystal hot sauce. The portions were huge, so we had take-away boxes. After we enjoyed our outdoor patio lunch, we took off down Highway 41 to this secret spot that Aunt Jo knows to be a solid gator spotting place. We stopped where we saw other folks gathered and saw three good sized gators in the water. They were neat to see, but neater still when the man who had been fishing said watch this! and proceeded to throw a live flopping fish onto the bank in front of them. They weren't but about five feet from us just roiling the waters. I got photos, and quite a little thrill. The fisherman moved on after accepting our hearty thanks. So did the other family that was there.

Here's where it gets awesome. We decided to bait the gators ourselves. I hopped out to get video, as did my sister and brother in law. I left the gator side car door open in my haste to get to the action, and the hollering from the car was pretty funny. So I shut it. Michelle sat in the car and when I said "roll 'em" she started tossing food from the take-away boxes at the gators. You can imagine what happened next, and if you can't, let me know and I'll be sure you see the video when I post it on Snapfish. These gators were probably a little closer than they needed to be, and you'll hear me being advised to get back in the car. :) Oh, and the best part? we were baiting the gators with pieces of deep fried gator. Classic.

On the way back to the Cape, we ran into a magnificent rainstorm. Down here it's a friggin' daily event to have it rain sideways. It was something else, and I commend my tia Jo's driving skills. Down here, people put on their four way flashers when it's what they consider to be really bad. I call them chicken beacons now. Once we were safely home, we hung out at the condo and had an evening of conversation and eventual slumber. I have highly enjoyed my visit thus far. Still ain't missing you all yet. :)

The Bay City Rollers would like Cleveland too

2007-06-04T18:39:00.000-04:00

So, I return unscathed from my weekend in Cleveland with K-Ren. I must say, she is one of the better traveling companions with whom I've roamed. I look forward to the next adventure.

We finally left Kalamazoo Friday about 6, since we had to spend far too much time trying to locate Thelma Lou prior to my departure. The advent of air cooling in my house freaked her out and I couldn't leave without being sure she was okay. Consequently, we got a late start. Karen would like to add that I forgot the tickets and had to go back, despite her having asked prior to leaving the driveway. I'd have left that out, but let me be all accuracy here.

Good times and good conversation on the road, listening to the Tigers, and when hunger struck, Fleury Mapping was there to help us find a Red Lobster in Maumee. This was nice Red Lobster, off the Ohio pike, convenient and staffed with friendly people. You'll see a theme here, so pay attention to those last two words.

One thing, though, they didn't have the game on in the bar! I couldn't see the game! I guess the manager cheaps out on that, and won't pony up the $4.10 a month to have the game channel on. I think you should join me in calling him to urge him to have the game on. If this tugs at your heartstrings as much as it does mine, let me know and I'll give you the name and number. Hundreds of Ohians can't see the game at Red Lobster. Is that fair? Stand up for them. I certainly will.

After we got some food in us, we eased on down, eased on down the road. The Tigers were up when we lost the signal, so that was good too. We got into Cleveland just as the game ended. It's about a four hour drive. It was sure neat to come around the corner on the highway and see Cleveland lit up before us and fireworks welcoming us. Perhaps they heard of us. I'm sure they did. Jacobs Field puts on a hell of a good fireworks display. Karen (It's a 4 Wheel Drive Vehicle) put us up on the sidewalk and we enjoyed the last few minutes.

Noting the happy countenance of the Tribe fans pouring into the streets, I asked who won. Well, thanks to Todd (Goat Coaster) Jones, the Indians did. I'd muse how that happened, but I know exactly how it happened. Nothing like a three run shot to open the floodgates. But I digress.

Onward to the Crowne Plaza City Centre. That is one nice hotel. We parked and checked in, talking a little baseball with Richard, the night manager from Novi. The rooms were spacious and well appointed. The location is nearly central to everything, and easy to find. There's a parking deck connected to the hotel, and it's a decent big-city parking deal at $18 a day. Valet's $24 if you want to indulge your inner Nicole Richie. I have to agree with Karen that those were some mighty comfy beds. And pretty, too.

Next morning we were up and at 'em. I didn't check the weather, so 90 degrees wasn't going to work with jeans. After conferring with Dee & Michelle at the front desk, we hit the road with directions in hand and shopping tips. Dee's a shoe freak...I mean, collector, like Karen, so that was a lively chat, debating Choos vs. Manolos. Talking to those two was like talking to two old friends. MORE friendly Ohians.

We were looking for the Steelyard Commons shopping center, since there was a brand-new Marshalls and a "mega-shoe department". It was all of five miles from the hotel. I guess that begs the question how we managed to get so completely lost it took us over an hour to traverse that five miles. My advice to anyone visiting Cleveland is to always orient yourself to I-90, and always assume you're too far west of where you want to be. :)

During our lostness, we stopped to ask Jason for directions. He added to our advice above by saying Cleveland is a big circle - that helped. He couldn't figure out the way readily, so this guy CALLED HIS DAD to give us directions. Put Pops on the speaker phone and everything. That's Cleveland for you. Friendly Ohians. We eventually found this place. It is a nice little brand new shopping center with three (3) shoe stores: the Marshall's, a Famous Footwear, and a Payless. Soon enough I had some denim capri pants and some cool Airwalks to go with. Karen got the cutest sundress ever, ask her about it.

Our real destination of the day was some serious thrift store/retro shopping. We called Chelsea's for directions, and she gave us good ones. We got there and had a wonderful lunch (the pastrami was great, and Karen's chicken salad was huge) at My Friends Cafe. Yum. On the way back to Chelsea's, we ducked into the Cleveland Shop, where Karen discovered that she likes hats. She bought a cool one, and wore it the rest of the day. She looks cool, of course.

I had my tarot cards read by probably The Worst Tarot Card Reader Ever. Karen wanted her palm read, but the palmist wasn't en casa. So, the WTCRE had on white shorts, a white tank top undershirt, white sandals, and let me tell you, it was not a serene scene. His heavy Greek accent didn't help much either. Anyhow, he plumbed the depths of my soul and found out I was friendly, a good person, and doggone it, people like me. Also that I'd have a man by the end of the summer, and that I should put aside my friends and family and concentrate just on this man, to the exclusion of said friends and family. Like that's gonna happen - I don't ditch my crew for anyone.

Anyway, it was $20 into the pisser, and another $10 for two lucky charms that came from the Holy Land. That would likely be the Holy Land Dollar Store, but I didn't mind. I'm supposed to carry one with me and put one under my bed. I don't know why there, and not into the flour cannister or something, but there you go. It was part and parcel with the crappy card reading. I can't wait to see the look on my face - Karen took a photo as I was leaving the House of the White Clad Charlatan.

Chelsea's around the corner is a really cool costume/resale place with a bazillion items. I bought a swanky tiger print scarf and we fished around in there for a good while. Turns out it was 70s weekend at the ballpark and the costumes were rented from Chelsea's! Friendly Ohians work there, and we had a blast flashing back, particularly Karen who is of that era. She bought a Slinky bracelet, which is far more 80s than 70s, but she likes it and it looked nice with her game night attire.

We left Dee-Troy-It (you and I know it as Detroit) Street and ended up at Flower Child. It's right next to The Clifton Web. It's on Clifton Blvd, as if the cool pun on the fabulous movie hero isn't enough. :) Anyhow, Flower Child is my decorating wet dream. We loved that place. I could blow so much money in there. So much. Karen was ogling a Princess phone, but didn't bite, and I passed on yet more retro kitchen cannisters. Nobody has that much flour, sugar, coffee, or tea.

After a jaunt through The Clifton Web, and a great conversation with the friendly Ohians (there's that phrase again!) about art fairs and Michigan and Ohio and all kinds of things, we got directions to Little Italy. Well, again with the west-ness, I got us lost. A compass would have saved our bacon more than once, and I'll be toting on henceforth.

Eventually we got to Murray Hill (which is the other name for Little Italy) and got parked. We had a moment's indecision about the parking spot, but moved gaily forward toward a bakery. Karen treated me to the finest cheesecake I have ever had in my mouth. Oh, my gosh. We walked around some and ate, and went on back to the vehicle. We sat outside at a table next to the car and it didn't take but two minutes for this saturnine man to prance out and tell us we couldn't park there. We'd been there 30 minutes already, but now he's excited as hell about it. So, we left. And we left our trash on his table. So there. :) But it was surprising to find an unfriendly Clevelander. I guess he's a transplant.

By this time it was about 3:30, and I wanted a nap prior to the game to ease my crushing headache. I consulted with a postal worker, and she gave us directions back downtown. Neglected to tell us about the closed road, but hey, we navigated. Karen is a fearless driver. I'll just stop there. :-) So, after hitting every single pothole and getting every single light all the way back downtown, we made it back. After a nap, we got ready for the game.

Jacobs Field is literally a 10 minute walk from the Crowne Plaza. It was a delightful walk, with other Tigers fan in great numbers and friendly Indians fans too. Cleveland has street art, like the pigs in Cincinnati and the cows in Chicago and the taxicabs in Kalamazoo - theirs is guitars, following the rock-and-roll theme. Neat!

There was a giveaway at the ballpark - a C.C. Sabathia bobblehead, with Mr. Sabathia decked out in 70s gear. How Cool Is That. We got photos with the whatever-the-hell-it-is mascot of the Indians and went on to our club seats. They were fancy schmancy as all get out - a special entrance and everything. So, already impressed, we actually entered the area.

Then we were told how the club seats work. For our $98 per, we got food. Not just a little food. All the food we could possibly stand. Let me list: a pasta station, pizza station, stir fry station, beef and pork carving station, soup and salad station, (deep breath) burgers, brats, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, deli sandwiches, french fries, onion rings, nachos, peanuts, (deep breath) cotton candy, cracker jack, popcorn, soft drinks (Dr. Pepper is big in Ohio), and ice cream. Not just ice cream, but softserve, a dozen hard scoop flavors, all manner of ice cream treats. Oh, and cookies. Four kinds of cookies. And not only was this in the dining area, with the windows all around, it was all over the concourse behind our excellent seats. And vendors to bring it to us, all through the game. All free. Yeah, we had a nibble or two.

We had great fans on either side of us, and friendly ushers and cops, and just the nicest possible experience. SInce it was 70s weekend, there was some cool music playing. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy the Bay City Rollers and their weekend anthems. I remember spelling S-A-T-U-R, D-A-Y, NIGHT at the Maple Park roller rink in Three Rivers, MI. That one was a biggie, and you could count on James Taylor's Handyman for the Moonlight Skate. Ah, youth. But I digress.

We also got to see Jimmy Leyland throw a major league fit, a good 10 minutes of hollering including a curtain call where he left the dugout again to restart the discussion. No ejectile dysfunction there! We also got to see Drum Guy in person! This is the guy who has been at every Indians game with his drum, pounding it for a rally. Did you know the Indians make him buy a season ticket for his DRUM?? Even though he was like the only person there in the lean years? That's crap.

The Tigers won, and everyone was just as gracious as could be. Unfortunately, the Pistons were losing the final and deciding playoff game to Cleveland's own Cavaliers. We heard far, far too much of Detroit Sucks and F*ck Detroit, and in a shabby little dive on 9th we heard a nasty little song lustily belted by a bunch of drunk Buckeyes. Propriety prevents me from giving the lyrics. Suffice it to say it's horrid and would offend both your mother and your father.

On the way back to the hotel we passed by the Hampton Inn. A lovely young man came out just angry as hell that Sheed had gotten what he considered to be an unfair foul. He went on and on until a cop drove by, when he abruptly said I'm going back in now, and took his likely underage self back in with his beer. But my, what a nice smile.

We got back to the hotel, had a drink and watched the Pistons lose in the company of mostly Tigers fans. Then we went back out onto the street to listen to the celebration and hope that the fans didn't riot. We got a lot of hassle from various inebriates, including one girl who was braying Detroit SSSUCCCKSSS about as well as her alcohol would let her. I suggested that we sucked so well since we learned it from her mother, which she probably didn't appreciate, but there ya go. There were good fans too, including the deliriously happy guy who got up close to us and said "This is the greatest night in the history of this town!!" I can relate, my friend, I can relate.

We noted an uglier mood approaching, so we watched the rest of the victory happiness from the 10th floor hallway. A good night's sleep was had and we woke Sunday morning in the pouring rain ready to get closer to Michigan. We drove around downtown and looked at all the neat stuff. We drove down to the waterfront and noted a tourable ship and submarine. Had we known about those, we could have seen those too!

In Amherst we stopped at the Blue Sky Restaurant for breakfast. I wanted to eat at a non-chain, and Karen's sharp eye found us one. It was YUMMY and the coffee was awesome. It's not far off the pike, so I may be back there again. A friendly Ohian told us we were 25 miles east of Toledo. They were everywhere, the friendly Ohians. We got home about 4:00, and I did laundry and crashed.

I can't thank Karen enough for driving, that was nice to be the passenger for a change. I'm officially appointing Karen several gold stars for being such a peach with whom to travel. We'll be returning to Cleveland - it's a pleasant place to visit full of, you guessed it, friendly Ohians, and I suspect we barely scratched the surface of the good times that are available within its municipal limits.

O-ver-whelm'd: adj. for wrung out, tired, not thinking clearly...

2007-05-30T21:41:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, with the assistance of my sister who has a far better eye for design than I do, I spent (many) hundreds of dollars on my first (!!) major brand-new piece of grown-up furniture. I am just now recovering from the sticker shock. My current pieces are mostly cool family pieces or things I got on the cheap at garage sales, curbsides, etc. Things that I love and are now ridiculously stylish, given the cyclical way of things.

The new baby is lovely. When it takes up residence in my now-emptyish living room, I shall take photos of it posing perfectly between the windows. It will be in far better scale to the room than my slipcovered post-divorce hand-me-down many-storied sofa. I shall also post photos of this beautiful thing smartly accessorized in the lovely colors I selected (again, with the discerning eye of my sister watching) for the decor.

I just said decor seriously and without irony. That's funny.

This is all very overwhelming, this home improvement business. For those not in the loop,I took my house off the market last week. I have changed my mind on the walls now four times. Do I drywall, paint, grasscloth, beadboard, or what? White beadboard is currently in the lead. Now that I have the Pottery Barn paint deck, I am about to change my mind on paint colors again. I don't know how I want to insulate the walls - batt, blown, foam?

I have no idea what to do next. I have A List. Of course I do, all of you know what an inveterate Listmaker I am. My priorities, however, remain in complete disarray. The only thing I know for sure: I am having central air installed Friday, and I'm having my property surveyed next week.

I'm still waiting to hear how much, if any, of the wooded lot behind my house I can afford to buy for cash on the barrelhead. That will greatly determine what I do next.

I'm going to Cleveland with K-Ren to clear my head this weekend. Clear my head and watch my Tigers in Jacobs Field, a new ballpark. for me. We're in the fancy seats, thanks to Challison. And of course I plan to drink some beer. It would be sinful and wrong not to. I am not a sinner. (Now I am using irony.)

Additionally, I have persuaded K-Ren that to be a "real" AE roadtrip, it has to involve as many as four states, if not more. To that end, we are trekking 90 minutes south of Cleveland to Newell, WV on Saturday morning. What's there, you ask? Have you ever eaten a meal at my house? What is my fine serving china? Yes, that's right, it's Fiestaware. And Newell is where they make it. Mom and I were there on the Great Ohio Road Rally of 2006. The Homer Laughlin Pottery Company (http://www.homerlaughlin.com/) has a fabulous wonderland of an outlet that is like heaven to me. It is criminal what they call "seconds" and price for nothing.

My quarry this time is serving pieces - bowls and platters. Not that I don't enjoy serving you all party snacks out of a bag, or leaving the turkey in the roaster plunked on a hotpad on the table, but I'm almost 40. Time to get a little more polished in the presentation arts. Maybe that's why I'm still single. "She's a great gal, but geez, you should see how she serves stuff. It makes me cringe!!" :-)

And to make the trip even cooler, Mr. Carney, our dear friend, is coming over to join us from Pittsburgh. So we three will be stalking the wily bargain, acting wiseassed, and enjoying a hearty diner lunch somewhere. And K-Ren and I will be back in Cleveland in PLENTY of time to see the Tigers whip that Indian ass.

I'm off to Florida next week. More on that later. I have to have more on that later, because my friends and yours at the Pete Slager Agency demand more material. :-)

Now them's the good times friends.

Fight night at the Boston Pops

2007-05-10T22:15:00.000-04:00

I cannot stop giggling about the fistfight at the Boston Pops, up in the balcony, stopping the orchestra.

Combatant #1 - Excuse me, could you please be quiet?
Combatant #2 - Certainly, if you'll bugger off.
C#1 - I say, chap, that's hardly sporting.
C#2 - I'll show you sporting!!

POW! BIF! BAM! *woman screams* ZOWIE! WHAM!

(music stops, rustle as crowd turns to observe)

C#1 - Curses! We've foiled the performance! How uncouth!
C#2 - I'm hardly finished with you yet, you scoundrel!

POW! BIF! BAM! *woman screams* ZOWIE! WHAM!

It's like Punch and Judy over there. I'm dying laughing now.

The scoop du jour....Eric Lindell

2007-03-24T00:36:00.000-04:00

Okay, I expect to hear more bleating about "geez, Amy, is all you think about Louisiana anymore?" but this time the object of my post only coincidentally happens to be from Lousiana. I'd still be posting if the band was out of Parsippany, New Jersey.

I just got home from the State Theatre. Most of you know I volunteer with the Kalamazoo Valley Blues Association. The Budweiser Blues Series is the latest venue for my Mother Volunteeresa ways, and tonight's show consisted of Studebaker John opening for New Orleans' own Eric Lindell.

Let me say that again. Eric Lindell. You'll want to remember that.

As you all (should) know, the KVBA is raffling off a neat Gibson guitar with the autographs of every artist in the Blues Series, plus every artist playing the Festival in July (12,13,14 this year). Tickets for this most excellent raffle, by the way, are 1 for $3 or 2 for $5. See me if you'd like some. But I digress.

I got to go backstage with Mel to get the guitar autographed. I enjoyed meeting Studebaker John, but I was rendered not only speechless (write that down) but also breathless when confronted with Eric Lindell. This man does a white t-shirt Stanley Kowalski-like justice. He wears that trucker cap with C.W. McCall-like abandon. He is absolutely gorgeous, covered in incredibly done tattos, and most importantly, friendly, nice, interested, and seemed genuinely thrilled to sign the guitar for the KVBA. Great eye contact. Incredible accent. Made me want to get right back down there. To Louisiana, that is.

Now, this was before I heard him play a note. I get to see the show for free, since I'm such a team player, so I decided to see if he was good. Oh, let me assure you, he's good. The whole band is good. He has a guitarist, Chris Mule, who is absolutely smokin', not that A-Ron or Eric are slackers. I sat on the steps of an alcove (God, I love the State Theatre) and sat mesmerized for 90 minutes.

After the show I got the backstage show card from my new friend Linda. I had the guys sign it. You may be assured it's going to be framed. You can also bet that I'll have the entire Eric Lindell catalog before the weekend's out. I'm very disappointed in the local hero for not bringing this man to my attention. Because, you know, the local hero's supposed to be reading my mind and all. :-)

In any case, I strongly urge you to go on and check him out. There's a myspace: www.myspace.com/ericlindell. There's a website: http://www.ericlindellband.com/. If you're local like me, there's a lovely writeup in the Thursday Ticket in the Kalamazoo Gazette. Please, at least go hear some tunes at the myspace or the website. I'll have an iPod full here pretty quick, ask for a listen.

Louisiana Redux! March 16-19, 2007

2007-03-20T23:35:00.000-04:00

I had such a wondrous time. Friday was a hellish beginning to a lovely weekend. I had to switch planes in Kalamazoo, because a part was missing (kinda important) that had to be driven from Detroit with a crew to install it. I got lucky and got onto the next plane to DTW. Back when the delay was originally announced, before boarding, the gate agent booked me onto a later flight to MSY out of DTW “just in case” I wasn't able to make my original connecting flight out of DTW. Bless that gate agent, because I’m pretty sure my ability to make my connecting flight is what got me bumped onto the next plane in front of other people. I will say I do NOT like flying in a propeller-driven plane. I was terrified.

Anyhow, I rolled into DTW about 7 or so. The terminal is neat. I had to get to the A Terminal, and that involved walking under the runway I’d just landed on. The tunnel below is a big wide concourse with art glass walls, and lights that move in time to music. It was magical!! The end of the concourse had escalators that looked like a big waterfall of steps. I stood there a minute just enjoying it. Waiting at the gate I met a guy in a BoSox cap who was a rabid baseball fan. GREAT conversation! We did the business card shuffle and he said if I’m ever in Fenway area, let him know. I will! I got into MSY about 10, about five hours after my originally planned arrival, and minus my luggage. I was about to weep with frustration, but I called my sister (lucky Luci!) and whined about it for a minute then shook it off. I picked up my 2006 Malibu (with a sunroof!) and went on to the Radisson. I wanted to see Keith (who many of you might remember from the January trip as the Local Hero) but when he called, I was so wiped out. I just stayed in and slept. Let me say that whole Sleep Number Bed thing is pretty cool.

Saturday morning I was up bright and early with the sunrise and driving across the Causeway Bridge. This bridge, at 24 miles, is the longest bridge in the world, crossing beautiful Lake Pontchatrain. About halfway out, though, you leave Orleans Parish and enter St. Tammany Parish. So, if you’re ever trying to elude the Orleans Parish gendarmes, break north for the parish line! I giggled, but there's about 3 miles in the middle where you can't see land. There’s also a drawbridge, which I always find endlessly fascinating. On the way over I picked up 100.3, the Ragin’ Cajun, on the radio. All Cajun or zydeco, so you know I had the sunroof open and I was be-boppingwith my Community Coffee in the morning sun. I was blissed out with the joy of a new experience.

My goal was the Mandeville Farmer’s Market. I saw the sign, made my turn, but went several blocks past it, all the way to the lakeshore. I struck up a conversation with a barkeep sweeping his sidewalks about 8:30 and we chatted a while about the lake and the town. Another friendly local (AFL), they’re thick on the ground here in Louisiana. I made my way from the shore back to the market, admiring the many shades of azaleas in bloom. I stopped into a local coffee shop for a dark chicory coffee and when the air horn went off signifying market time, I went to contribute my part to the local economy. Their farmer market has live music. That was neat, though I’d have preferred the previous week’s zydeco band over the James Taylor-esque singer.

I struck up a conversation with Linda Grant, who makes spinach spoonbread you’d want to die for. She was totally AFL, and gave me “the scenic route” to my eventual goal for the day, the Amite (ayMEET) Oyster Festival. I also met a nice lady who made pickled merlitons. I bought a quart and they’re being shipped home with my parade throws. I also met a great woman named Jo who makes purses of varying sizes out of zippers. Yes, you heard me right. Out of a zipper!! I bought two purses and she threw in a change purse that matched as a lagniappe (that means, “a little something extra”). I’ll be ordering a Tigers blue and orange large purse for the ballpark. Feel free to see me and add to my order. You’ll be tickled pink by the idea of totally unzipping a purse into a zipper, than re-zipping it into a purse. I was. And they’re totally machine washable. See me.

I went on up the road, the back way, and was enjoying the route highly till I got to the roadblock in Pontachoula. I was mad for a minute, till I noticed it was a PARADE that blocked my way!! So, I parked the car and ran for the street, flip flops nearly tripping me on the train tracks, but I was there for step-off. The parade was led by a wonderful bagpipe corps, and all the “floats” were Winn Dixie shopping buggies dolled up. I got some of the neatest throws, including two handfuls of little plastic alligators, which I’ll be sharing with you all, and beads from a cop in a police car with lights going! That was awesome!!! After the parade, everyone met at the community center, where there was food and more Irish entertainment. The bagpipers were playing on the pavilion, and people were dancing. It was great. Then I met an AFL woman who helped me find a t-shirt. We drove to a couple different houses to find it, and at each house I got the Louisiana AFL welcome – consisting of “Eat some food! Have a drink! Welcome! Stay awhile!” I never saw a more welcoming state to strangers. We finally found a Krewe of Erin t-shirt that says Pontachoula, LA and the date of the parade. It’s cool as hell

I was there a couple hours visiting folks, then struck out of Amite for the Oyster Festival. It was kinda rough and ready, lots of bikers and cowboys, but I liked seeing it. The singular point of my time there was my ride in a helicopter. Yes, folks. You read that right. I went up in a helicopter with my new friend Biker Woman Janet and Joe with his baby grandson. We each ponied up $20 and around we went, twice! It was so thrilling. I want to do that again.

The capper was Joe’s commentary to the baby’s grandmother: “No, he didn’t cry at all or fuss, he wan’t no titty baby about it”. I left the “s” out of wasn’t, because he didn’t pronounce it. Then he says “Ask the lady, there, she’s from Michigan, and she’ll tell you, he wan’t no titty baby at all, he’s a big boy”. I agreed, no ma’m, he wasn’t any kind of a titty baby up there. I like to died laughing later. I’m just glad I wasn’t a titty baby about going up in that helicopter. No ma’m, I wan’t.

I headed back to my hotel in Metairie, and after calling to see that my luggage wasn’t there yet, I headed to the airport to bent on finding out the reason why. Suffice it to say, my luggage showed up at the hotel about 3 p.m., probably 10 minutes after I arrived at the airport to inquire. So, I got a shower, some clean clothes, and some makeup, then a nap. Later on I was hungry, so I asked the guys at the desk where THEY would eat. You saw that coming, didn’t you? They without hesitation recommended Harbor Seafood, on Williams and 32nd. I said I’d go and let them know how it was, and smart as you please, back they came with, honey, we KNOW how it is, you enjoy it. Everyone’s honey, baby, or boo down here.

I went, but there was a crowd. Eventually a seat at the bar opened up, and I pounced on it. It was right by the oyster shucker, and adorable bartender Matthew was right on the spot with my vodka tonics. Within a few minutes, both seats on either side of me were filled with AFL guys. The way it worked out was great! The finish carpenter on my left offered me some of his raw oyster plate, the gorgeous Hispanic guy to my right offered me crawfish, and I shared my shrimp and hush puppies. I believe I surprised them by already knowing how to eat boiled crawfish. You pop the head off, and suck the meat out of it and try to get the fatty stuff underneath. Looks nasty, tastes great! We all four of us (couldn’t ignore the oyster shucker, who shucks 150 dozen a night) gabbed for quite a long time. I learned a lot about the area housing market, and about the local community at large. This is why I eschew any chains while traveling if I can help it.

I learned to shuck an oyster, though I’m not very good at it, I’ll never do 150 dozen a night. You have to pry the shell open and loosen the oyster and that, friends, is it. No, they don’t wash the shells. He’d get a big box of them, and dump them, all cruddy, in a concrete trough in front of him and got to shucking. So yeah, you’re gonna get grit in there, so if you’re a little fancy about that, maybe you want to eat in a restaurant with more prep to them. But you’ll be missing out. I felt totally at home and did the business card shuffle with the finish carpenter. Another new friend, another AFL, to look up when next I go to Louisiana. Anyhow, Keith eventually rang up, so I went to collect him and we took a Saturday night drive.

Next morning I ran into NOLA right quick, then met up with Mindy & Michelle & Kissee at Crazy Johnnie’s. Many of you remember them as the friendly folk who took me in when I was lost at the Mardi Gras parade back on January 6. We stayed in touch, and their kind invitation to see the Irish Italian parade is what took me south this time. Mindy works at Crazy Johnnie’s, and she and Kissee introduced me to damn near everyone. I met Johnnie herself, and her friend Barry, and Glennie, and many more. Barry put me to work creating the chalk board sign for the sidewalk, and then I helped Mindy set up the potluck and sandwiches. The vodka tonics were already a’flowing. Sensing a theme here?

About 11:30 this guy pulled up on the damndest bike I’ve ever seen. It had 150 spokes on each wheel, and the front and back wheels were independent of each other. It was also purple with a banana seat. He built it, which would have impressed me, but when you factor in that he looked just like Benecio del Toro with long hair, I was most captivated. He works as a diver for one of the off-shore companies. His name is Johnny, and talking to him was a treat, believe me. Smart, funny, and friendly. I love Louisiana guys.

The parade got around to us about 1 or so, so down we went to Severn Street to see it go by. It was hot as hell, about 77 degrees and sunny, so I had to strip off the jersey early on. So there I am, enjoying the refreshing coolness of expertly made vodka tonics, and wearing just a black tank top and jeans. I was feeling great, Mindy & Kissee and other new friends were there looking out for me, and Johnny was just a few feet away.

There were 90 floats in the parade! Some of the twenty-two pounds (yes, 22 pounds) of throws I got aside from beads: two lucky beans, a lucky elf (highly prized!), several go-cups, two more thongs, doubloons (yay!!), plastic army men, and a great freezer mug that says Kiss Me I’m Irish. I got that one because the guy on the float felt I, uh, deserved it. Ask me about that one. I also collected an assortment of fake flowers, which were acquired by trading smooches with the walking club guys. Most of them were chaste smooches like I’d give any friend, most of these guys were married, but the unmarried ones, my gosh. What they expected for a pretty plastic flower!

As promised in my January posts, they also threw produce! I collected cabbages, potatoes, onions, oranges, carrots, bananas and about 8 packs of ramen noodles. It was, after all, and Irish Italian parade and ramen noodles *are* pasta. I got a kick out of that haul, and every time I got another piece of produce, I gave it to one of my new friends by the truck and he started a produce sack for me. Good times!

Johnny got Jiffy Mix! I was most envious, but I took a picture of him styling his box of cornbread. That’s a classic photo, I love a guy who isn’t afraid to act a fool. He left before the parade was over, but came over to give me a very nice kiss, and told me that when I go home I should drink a beer and think of him. Uh, not gonna be a problem. Let’s hope Mindy will keep her eyes open for him. Cha cha cha, is all’m gonna say.

After the parade, we returned to the porch at Crazy Johnnie’s for dancing, photos, good times, food, and more drinks. Mindy & Kissee left around about 7 or so, urging me to return soon. Their friend Glennie says I should come back for Carnival and he’ll make sure I go to the Quarter safely escorted for at least one parade. I bade everyone a warm goodbye, I probably shouldn’t have been driving, but that’s okay. Later on Keith and I drove all aroundThe Big Square a few times and saw some hilarious stuff. Most notably, an apartment complex with a large, professionally done sign that says Yes, We Open. I’m not joking. Then Keith took me to see Wagner’s Grocery, where You Can Beat Our Prices, But You Can’t Beat Our Meat. I know, we’re immature, but damn that’s funny. We topped off the night at the Tic Toc diner, after finding most everything else closed at 10. I was damned if I’d eat at a chain, so he found me a great local diner. This is what’s so nice about having a local hero, the picture of patient even when I'm not being reasonable. The pecan pancake was awesome, thanks, Keith.

Monday was a sleep in day, then off to ship my throws home. Keith finds it mighty funny that I’ll spend $30 to ship home my plastic treasures, when they’re hardly worth $10 in toto. He pointed out more than once he could buy me four times the amount of throws I had there with the money I spent to ship 22 pounds of them home. However, I will think of the parade every time I take them out, so it’s worth it to me. We stopped by the New Orleans Zephyrs ballpark for a t-shirt, but they didn’t have any yet. They opened up the souvenir shop for us anyway, and I bought a cap. The marketing guy was so nice, and so fun to chat with. He took a great photo of Keith and I with the field behind us, and off we went to Drago’s for lunch.

Drago’s is right near Crazy Johnnie’s. Here’s where I had oysters my third way, char-grilled. So that’s raw, fried, and char-grilled. I have to say, I like char-grilled the best. It came with French bread to sop up the butter and oyster liquor. SO good. Then we shared a barbecued shrimp po’boy which was damned good too. For those scoring at home, I had shrimp steamed, boiled, and barbecued. I also had a lot of crawfish as well. It was gooood like Vincent’s pork chops in Pulp Fiction. After lunch we walked over to Crazy Johnnie’s for a palate clearer (for me, Keith doesn’t drink much), and caught up with friends from the day before. Introductions all around, and promises extracted that I return soon. No problem!

One more drive around town, blaring music and laughing, through the French Quarter, then I told my friend I'd see him next time. I took the car back and discovered just as I was boarding the plane that I’d left my camera in the rental. Damn it! I am hoping that Cindell at Hertz will have found it and will call me tomorrow with excellent news. If not, then I’ll replace the camera (insured) but I’ll be pretty distraught at losing the photos. There are some classic shots and some incriminating shots as well.

I met a Kalamazoo guy at DTW, who was flying back from NOLA and the NCAA basketball games. He kept calling me Casey, since I had my jersey on. We chatted a bit and then again at the baggage carousel in AZO – nice guy. Too bad I didn’t get his name. I was happy to see Luci & Andrew outside. It’s always good to travel, but always good to come home to the ones you love, too. I can’t wait till my next trip to Louisiana. I’m thinking maybe Memorial Day or Labor Day. But soon…very soon.

All the stuff I bought on iTunes tonight - ripe for discussion?

2007-03-13T23:40:00.000-04:00

I only meant to buy the first one. :) I could talk for a long time about the merits of each song, but I won't. What do you think?

Ice Cream - New Young Pony Club
Time Is Tight -Buckwheat Zydeco
Don't Mess Wih My Toot Toot - The Zydeco All Stars
New York, New York - Ryan Adams
When the Stars Go Blue - Ryan Adams
Give It Up -KC & The Sunshine Band
Keep It Comin' Love - KC & The Sunshine Band
I'm Your Boogie Man -KC & The Sunshine Band
(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty -KC & The Sunshine Band
That's the Way (I Like It) - KC & The Sunshine Band
Get Down Tonight - KC & The Sunshine Band
Sweet Jane - The Velvet Underground
Heroin (Stereo Mix) - The Velvet Underground & Nico
Saginaw, Michigan - Lefty Frizzell
Fist City (Single Version) - Loretta Lynn
You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man) - Loretta Lynn
Jambalaya (On the Bayou) - Hank Williams
In the Summertime - Mungo Jerry
Cruel to Be Kind - Nick Lowe
Goodbye Girl - David Gates
Me and Mrs. Jones - Billy Paul
I Can Help - Billy Swan
Hot Rod Lincoln - Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen
Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love) - Waylon Jennings
Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue -Crystal Gayle
Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell
You're So Vain - Carly Simon
Taxi - Harry Chapin
Year of the Cat - Al Stewart
California Uber Alles - Dead Kennedys
Lust for Life - Iggy Pop
Please Mr. Postman - The Marvelettes
Will You Love Me Tomorrow - The Shirelles
El salam - Hakim
Haoulou - Cheb Mami
Delali mantzaoutchi - Cheb Mami
Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice
Institutionalized - Suicidal Tendencies
Holiday In Cambodia -Dead Kennedys
Breathless -Jerry Lee Lewis
Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson
Step In the Name of Love (Remix) -R. Kelly
Meeting in the Ladies Room (Extended Version / 12 in.) -Klymaxx
The Men All Pause (12" Version) -Klymaxx
My, My, My -Johnny Gill
Golden -Jill Scott
Save the Best for Last -Vanessa Williams
I'm Not In Love -10cc
Sharing the Night Together -Dr. Hook
F**k It (Dirty) -Eamon
I Will Survive -Cake
Let's Stay Together -The Reverend Al Green
I Wanna Get Next To You -Rose Royce
Let's Get It On -Marvin Gaye
I Know There's Something Going On -Frida
It's Raining Men -The Weather Girls
Layla -Derek & The Dominos
Merry Christmas from the Family -Montgomery Gentry
I Care About Detroit 3:0-9 Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
The Freshmen -The Verve Pipe
The Motor City Is Burning -John Lee Hooker
I Will Follow You Into the Dark -Death Cab for Cutie
Beyond the Sea -Bobby Darin
Bring the Noise -Anthrax & Public Enemy
In the Rain -The Dramatics
Swinging Doors -Merle Haggard
Pink Cadillac -Bruce Springsteen
Chicken Truck-John Anderson
An Everlasting Love -Andy Gibb
Shadow Dancing -Andy Gibb
(Love Is) Thicker Than Water -Andy Gibb
I Just Want to Be Your Everything -Andy Gibb
Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens -Asleep At the Wheel
Half a Boy and Half a Man -Nick Lowe
A Different Corner -Wham!
Battlestations -Wham!

Comments are welcome. I'll answer all questions. You should download all of these, but for varying reasons.

Required reading for coastal climes....

2007-02-17T10:52:00.000-05:00

See? No less an authority that the Wall Street Journal agrees with me. I fully expect to get slammed for this, but it's the truth. Sorry. From the WSJ, February 16, 2007, page A14

Steal Magnolia

State Farm, the nation's largest home insurer, announced this week that it would no longer be writing new homeowner or commercial policies in Mississippi. Magnolia Staters wondering whom to thank for their rising insurance bills, assuming they can get insurance at all, should direct their catcalls at Attorney General Jim Hood.

Mr. Hood should have seen this coming back in September of 2005, when he launched his populist campaign against insurers. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, private insurers began invoking their entirely legal "flood exclusions" and refusing to pay for any damage that wasn't caused by wind. These exclusions had been clearly written into contracts, yet Mr. Hood declared them "unconscionable" and sued the industry.

He claimed victory several weeks ago when he bludgeoned State Farm into a settlement, although everyone can now see his triumph comes at a price. State Farm will now be paying at least tens of millions of dollars in claims that it never factored into its risk premiums, and it has reasonably chosen not to make itself vulnerable again to Mr. Hood's extortion. "It is no longer prudent for us to take on additional risk in a legal and business environment that is becoming more unpredictable," said State Farm Senior Vice President Bob Trippel, which is a polite way of saying "we'd be nuts to keep doing business in a state that can't spell c-o-n-t-r-a-c-t."

State Farm joins Allstate, which last year also stopped writing policies along Mississippi's coast. Together, the two insurers make up 40.5% of the Mississippi market. Homeowners looking for coverage will now have fewer companies to choose from, with higher premiums the likely result. If the rest of the industry follows suit and also exits Mississippi, consumers could have no choice at all.

Surrounding states such as Florida, which have begun to follow Mr. Hood down the insurance-bashing path, might want to reverse course before their own consumers end up staring down the next hurricane with no coverage. As for Mr. Hood, he and his buddies in the tort bar have provided an exquisite illustration of how political and legal predation against business ends up harming the little guy.

URL for this article:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117159662223610830.html

Just one embodiement of cool = hot.

2007-02-12T00:14:00.000-05:00

I'm coming out with my long-standing admiration of Iggy Pop. Oh, I felt a breeze as the general recoiling in horror begun. Thank you for that cooling moment. I'm just acknowledging that some of you find the sorts of men I find compelling and attractive to be the kind you'd cross the street to avoid. I'm good with that assessment.

Let me explain this particular choice.

He does look like a million miles of bad road. I'll give that. However, when you consider the road he's traveled, you can't help but want to know him. Now, I'm not necessarily saying I wish to join the legions who have known Iggy Pop in the biblical sense. And granted, when he was rolling around onstage in broken glass in the dives of Detroit, I might not have been as hot for him as I have been in recent years. I'm just saying I could spend days and days listening to him talk about his life in that voice, and looking at those eyes.

Thanks to XM, I've been hearing a lot of Iggy Pop lately, colloborating with the always-fun Teddybears. And many of you, once you see this clip from my new guilty pleasure time-waster YouTube, will say, oh, that's the Cadillac song! Fine. Whatever it takes to get the word out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIiP-aAaupA

He was also recently interviewed for one of my favorite magazines, Esquire. He took part in the What I've Learned segment, which as many of you know is the first thing I read when Esquire hits my doorstep. A sample, bolded text mine:

You must've had a night where you did two grams of nasty blow in New York City and a fifth of Jack Daniel's and been with not the greatest chick you ever slept with and you got two hours' sleep and you wake up and it's the morning rush and you're hearing honk! honk! honk! out your window and it's gray and it's cold and you just want to die. At that moment, yeah, I regretted what I'd done the night before. But big-picture regrets? Nah.

Me too, James Newell Osterberg, Jr. You can count me in on that one.

Greatest. Halftime. Show. Ever.

2007-02-04T22:51:00.000-05:00

I can't even begin to formulate how awesome Prince was at the half. I was sobbing when he started in with Purple Rain at the end. Yes, I am far too old for that sort of idiocy, but that didn't stop me. I was completely verklempt.

And I was pretty verklempt at the end too. How nice for the Colts. I hope Peyton isn't waiting on a hot stove burner for his apology from the national butt-suck media. I guess maybe he's a big game guy now, you think??

Could the announcers have been any more annoying? How do these guys get the big game assignments? It was the World Series all over again, with dumbos calling the game.

I thought Billy Joel did a truly nice job with the anthem, and it always makes me smile when the flyover is timed perfectly. I got a huge kick out of the moment where we thanked the folks in the armed services: thank you for all that you do. See, that's a corporate motto of my blessed employer. I thought it was funny.

I think GM, Coke, Doritos, Bud, and CareerBuilder did creditable jobs, though I'm not sure who I'm going to go with as the winner of the Best Return on the Stupid Amount of Money You Spent award.

GM hit with the "We're the Old Chevrolet Set" spot. I liked that a lot, from Mary J. Blige to that Earnhardt kid. I know you all thought of anthromorphic me during the robot spot, I was all weepy over that too. But the best GM spot was the "Guys Can't Keep Their Hands Off It". I thought I was going to pull a muscle laughing at that one. Kim & Karen, think that could happen to us?

Coke had some great spots. I really enjoyed the "Give a Little Love" spot a lot, and then my sister told me it was the guy from the video game Grand Theft Auto, who's normally quite the thug. Uh, okay. Now I am old, since I didn't make that connection and liked it anyhow. The Black History Month spot was cool. I liked the "Mr. Hadley" spot about the best. Imagine all the things he has yet to do, just because he had a Coke. Yep. I liked that one.

Both Doritos ads, the ones made by regular folks, were cool. I especially liked the one in the grocery store. I wish D&W was more like that store! I can't see the average D&W consumer (me excluded) unbuttoning enough to stage a chip-appreciation moment as torrid as that one though.

Budweiser can usually be counted on for at least one good ad, and they had two this time. I wish Luci & Andrew had an auctioneer do their wedding, not that Doug Mitchell didn't do a lovely job. Just think of the time Chip & I could have saved getting to the bar. Can I get an I Do? The slap/bump spot made me think of my friend Malcolm Bondon. He's a big Three Stooges fan, and I can easily see him indulging merrily in the slappery.

Career Builder. Wow. As an office worker I was all over those spots. The "Promotion Pit" was funny, especially the delivery guy joining in, but the one that really had me howling was the one looking for training seminar volunteers. Oh, man. Who hasn't been roped into a stupid subcommittee or idiotic task force?

Miscellaneous ads made me giggle or think. I enjoyed the NFL Access spot toward the beginning with all the famous people watching the game, including Janet Reno telling Jimmy Kimmel to "keep it clean". Nice. The Letterman and Oprah spot was clever, though Oprah makes me want to sick up my supper. The Big Brothers/Big Sisters mentoring spot with Lovie Smith & Tony Dungy was nice. I giggled at the Connectile Dysfunciton spot from Sprint. The Federline ad with Nationwide made me uncomfortable, and it should have made him so as well, but hey, when you have no shame....

However, the BEST miscellaneous spot was the Emerald Nuts spot with Robert Goulet. When it's 3 p.m. and your energy's down, Robert Goulet comes and messes with your stuff. If you missed that one, go online and see it now, particularly if you work in an office. I expect I'll be giggling around 3 p.m. for weeks to come. Robert friggin' Goulet. He's the best, and the skittering across the ceiling made me drop my sesame noodles, I was laughing so hard.

I think that about covers it. Good game, glad the Colts won, though seeing Brian Urlacher sad sort of bummed me out. I will have to give him a call later on, check on how he's doing, see if there's anything I can, uh, do for him. I know Peyton and/or Jeff won't mind me stepping out on them just this once.

Two weeks till pitchers and catchers report, friends. Bring it!!

Sad news about Steve Lee

2007-02-04T10:43:00.000-05:00

Friends, I've got some sad news. Steve Lee, the genial owner and host of the Green Top Tavern, has died. The obituary is in today's Kalamazoo Gazette. Those of you who enjoyed AE outings within the friendly confines of that hallowed downtown dive know what a great guy he was, so friendly from our first visit through his doors. We loved hanging out with him as he held court at the corner of the bar, perched on his stool bantering with the regulars and flirting with the ladies. Of course we drank the Old Style with him, he was inordinately proud of his tavern selling the most barrels of that crisp bargain beverage in the entire state of Michigan. Remember that photo of all of us from an early AE visit and how it found its way to the wall behind the bar for a time? Yes, those were good times, made better by Steve's welcome.

Many of you were there the Friday afternoon last spring when we found out that he had cancer. Next Sunday (January 11) is the memorial at the Knights of Columbus hall on Cedar from 2-6 p.m. He's been cremated, so this is more of a wake than a mournful funeral, which is how it ought to be. I plan to stop in and pay my respects to his family, and if you'd like to come along with me that's perfectly cool. I also plan to make a donation in our name to the West Michigan Cancer Center, and if you want to pitch in on that, you're welcome to do so. I also think a trip downtown to raise a glass to his memory might be nice, so let's think about doing that soon.

Home, where I really want to be, and I'm glad I'm already there...

2007-01-08T08:39:00.000-05:00

I'm home, faithful readers. I got in late, late, late last night. I'm not sure why I am always so completely confused by I-96, but I drove almost to Lansing last night after collecting my car. I put in a couple of zydeco CDs I'd picked up on my travels and I was happily motoring along, till I saw the sign that said Lansing, 20 miles. Uh, yeah. So that added quite a distance to my eventual journey home.

I have to say that my normally unerring sense of direction totally abandoned me until the last days of this trip. It was downright embarrassin' and in at least one case slightly unsettling.

Sunday morning was nice in NOLA. It was warm, muggy, and sunny. I had a brunch with Keith at Dante's Kitchen, and no, it wasn't hellish, nor did I have to travel through several rings of tribulation to get there, it's just located on Dante Street, off River Road. It was pretty tasty! All the guides talked about it, and all the guides were right. I had seafood cakes on bourbon corn sauce for breakfast, and I believe my friend had eggs benedict over pork loin, and that looked pretty good too.

Post-meal, I bid good day to the local hero with a small token from Thrift City, previously memorialized in these pages, though I'm sure our paths will cross again sometime. His directions to the airport were way better than the ones I had from Mapquest, so I was there in no time. Car returned, baggage checked, and after a delayed departure, off to Memphis. Another delay in Memphis, then I was off to Grand Rapids.

I met a great guy on the plance to GR. He noticed my Tigers jersey, the Casey jersey, had to have that on for at least part of this journey, and struck up a conversation. He's a White Sox fan, a native Chicagoan, but a nice guy anyhow. Jay lives in GR with his wife and three adorable kids, and we spent the entire flight talking baseball. That was the shortest flight ever! We exchanged info and if I have Tigers tix that I'm not using and that Frances or Frenchie can't use, I'll be sure to get he and his family up to the ballpark.

I'm glad to be home, though it's snowing to beat the band here and it's cold. I'm off today, unpacking, getting things I broke on the trip repaired, trying to shake this nasty cold, reassuring T-Lou that I am not going to abandon her again (anytime soon), buying groceries, all the necessary tasks of settling back into normal life again. At least, until the next trip. }:->

Once I get the photos and video around, I'll be having a little (ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!) gathering over here at Casa de Campbell, and we'll have ourselves a time.

Amy's First Mardi Gras Parade

2007-01-06T23:32:00.000-05:00

And I kept my shirt on throughout.

I woke this morning to find that yesterday's sunny skies were once again gray. A Seattlean dampness permeated the entire place. I decided to run some errands, so after a load of laundry here at the best guest house, I hopped in the car. I drove over to the post office on Carrollton to mail some post cards, and stopped by the Rock n' Bowl. This bar/bowling alley/eatery/music venue/dive extraordinaire is located next to the former location of a place called Thrift City. Keith was waxing nostalgic about its former charms on an earlier drive past, and there was a spray painted sign (so popular here, the plywood and black spray paint lettering) with the new location and a phone number.

So - I rang up for directions and got David Neyman on the phone. Mr Neyman, as it turns out, is an Ohio native, and owns Thrift City. We had a great conversation as he directed me while I was driving to Terry Parkway in (wait for it...) Terrytown. This is over the river, and just as I was about to cross, I was oohing and ahhing over some brightly colored rooftops and buildings in what I assumed was a condo complex. Mr. Neyman quickly dissuaded me from going to take a closer look, turns out it's a housing project. Given my experience the other night with the poor and disenfranchised, I didn't have a real appetite for another go at that. Next!!

Shortly thereafter I was at Thrift City perusing hats and purses. I bought two and one. I also picked up some cute baseball ankle socks that have the number 34 on them, just like my Kings jersey! And I found a tacky little thing for the local hero, a former Orioles fan.

On the way back to stopped at Burger Orleans and got a shrimp dinner to consume here at the guest house. They know how to do fish here, even at the drive-up joints. I spent a good part of the afternoon lolling on the balcony, reading a book and drinking iced tea. Yes, I know, for me, that's pretty lame, but it surely felt good.

Round about 4:00 I was awakened by an Army Corps of Engineers person who wanted to see my room. I was half asleep, so I'm not sure what the reason was, but Sam knocked, so I got decent and gave her the grand tour. That was kinda fun. Around 5:00 I thought about a jaunt to Metairie for the Mardi Gras parade I knew was going on tonight. I spoke with Keith for a moment, and found that he was not able to join me tonight. Given my last two unescorted forays into nighttime New Orleans I was feeling some justifiable trepidation at a third unpleasant interaction. Well, it wasn't to be!

I found what I thought was the parade street in Metairie, which is a suburb of New Orleans. I had no clue, so I flagged down a woman and explained my first timer, last night in town predicament. Her response? Oh yeah? Why don't you park over there and come party with us? I was jubilant! So, the Grand Prix got parked, and I made the acquaintance of Michelle (the inviter from the street), Mindy & Kissee, and later on Sid and Allean. Sid and Allean had been to the Krewe of Alla parade in Gretna earlier and already had a big bag of swag. They are riding in the Mardi Gras day parade, so they were recycling throws got at these two parades. There was a whole passle of people and children at this place, along with Portia the dog. Everyone was tickled to see a newcomer's first time at the parade.

I was assured this was a small parade, but an important one. This parade was put on by the Krewe of Zeus, and it was their 50th anniversary parade. The route taken was the route they took 50 years ago, but the parade hadn't rolled that route since then, opting for the larger Veterans Highway. Additionally, the Krewe of Zeus usually rolls just once, on Mardi Gras day, but since this was the 50th anniversary, they were rolling tonight too. So, I got to be present for history, just due to serendipitous timing.

At 7:00 the parade began up the street at the high school. Mindy knew people on the first two proper floats, so I ran off with her to catch things. However, on the way I got distracted by a (you saw this coming, didn't you?) handsome guy in a nice car throwing beads so I stopped and smiled big and waved and got for my trouble not just several strings of beads but a cute thong too! Yes! Butt floss is apparently a highly sought after throw, and yes, I've memorialized receiving this treat in full digital glory. I declined to indulge in tradition and put the thong on over my jeans. Like I need to highlight the hugeness of my hiney with a lacey pair of drawers over my Levi's. :-)

Anyhow, I ran after Mindy to the floats where she knew people, and I'll say this, it's good to know people. They threw her complete bags of beads, and threw me handfuls of beads! We ran back to our places and watched the other floats, dance teams, band trolleys, and other participants go by, and almost every time I smiled and shouted throw me something, baby, I got a lot of beads.

I now have a plastic grocery sack (thanks, Michelle!) full of beads that I caught all on my own, AND a commemorative throw cup that was gifted to me (thanks, Mindy!) noting the parade route and the significance. Now, this is in addition to my butt floss! I'm told I made a pretty good haul. I had enough of those beads hanging around my neck to actually have some weight. The last set I got, according to Kissee, was a highly prized set with some anatomically correct detail. Decorum prevents me from describing them in detail, but you'll see them. And since I'm a big cheeseball, I had Sid take my swag-bearing photo with three of the local cops post-parade.

I stood with Sid & Kissee while the public works crews came along with Pelicans, leaf blowers and hoses. In 15 minutes you couldn't tell a big parade had just been by. Forty-five minutes after step off, order was restored. It was unbeleivable. Kissee says that parade organizers estimate the number of people at a parade by the number of tons of trash they leave behind. I'll have to put this into practice at my own celebrations.

Apparently parades are big in Metairie. They have a big one on St. Patrick's Day too, and an Irish/Italian parade. In addition to beads and such, the St. Patrick's Day parade also throws potatoes, carrots, and cabbage, among other foodstuffs. I am not making this up. They throw heads of cabbage and other vegetables with the beads and doubloons.

Mindy & Kissee told me about Kissee's mom, who at 84 was feisty enough to secure a good 70 heads of cabbage during one such parade. There is a tasty local dish called smothered cabbage, wherein you chop the cabbage, add onions, sausage, seasonings, and then basically sweat it till it turns brown - it's allegedly quite tasty, and freezes well, so you can bet that I'll be trying it.

Everyone said that this parade was just a small thing, that Mardi Gras day in Metairie is a 9-6 parade run with two big parades with floats and several truck parades between with 100 or so big 40' trucks full of folks throwing stuff. I may well return to Metairie for Mardi Gras, I have people in Metairie who would be glad to have me now, though I may jaunt over to New Orleans to enjoy a visit with the friend I have made there, if time permits.

I took a ton of photos and a lot of video, but much of the video shows a swooping downward motion, that's me picking up beads from the floats. One memorable section has me shouting throw me something, baby to a masked man and a response from said thrower which was clear to my blushing ears, but may well be edited out. It made laugh and laugh, and that only got me more beads, but I'm quite sure it's not for the family hour.

It was a spectacle I won't soon forget, and you can be assured that every single strand of beads I have at home right now will be put in storage. This even includes the set I got from Slider at the Outrider's clubhouse, and the set from Louie's during my excursion with the Famous Burrises, sad to say. Why? Because now I have REAL Mardi Gras beads. And I didn't have to bare anything except my big winsome grin.

I'm so thankful to have met those folks there off Severn Street in Metairie. Plans are in place to stay in touch, and I'll be sending them photos. If I go, I'll see about buying my way onto a float there so I can see the spectacle from the other side. Of course I'll ask the local hero, but I'm also interested in whether I could get a Krewe from Kalamazoo to come along. What say you all?

This time tomorrow night should see me pulling into my driveway.

Friday night in NOLA

2007-01-06T08:29:00.000-05:00

Hey all. Friday afternoon I finished walking all over the Quarter. The French Market isn't as it used to be, but it was still sort of funky fun. I had my tarot cards read at Erzulie's, by Nicole, and she did an excellent job. She was a very cool woman to talk to, as was the man who worked there. Both of them very warm people, and very welcoming. I also spent a stupid amount in a shop just two doors down on Royal Street, but gosh, it's a gorgeous shawl, scarf, and shirt that I bought.

I am beginning to see a marked pre/post storm difference, and those observations are being borne out by talking to the locals. I always get a pensive look, and then "yes, it was much different before the storm" then a bright and cheery "but we're coming back!". I see that yes they are. There is a lot of construction all over the city, and a lot of teardown/rebuild happening.

Jackson Square was not as I remembered either (is anything in life, really, as you remember it once being?). Instead of being full of portrait artists and musicians, now it's full of little card tables of people with handwritten signs who will read your tarot cards or throw the bones for you.

I did stop into a cool record store near Pirate's Alley off Royal Street and bought a couple of CDs. I bought one zydeco compilation, and one 1930s Cajun music compilation. The owner of the shop was French, and we talked a while outside about the town, and the Sugar Bowl fans, and all manner of things. Interesting fellow.

I had dinner last night at N'Awlins Flava. While the spelling is a little contrived, the food was pretty good! Nicole put me on to them, and I drove back down to the Quarter last night to eat there. It's a small little joint on Rampart, and my waitress was friendly bordering on flirtatious, which seems to be a common trait down here.

I spent a little time at the Spotted Cat on Frenchmen Street listening to a really good jazz band. I'm not normally a big jazz fan, but the energy this band displayed was beyond compare. I wish I could remember their name, I wasn't there that long.

Another unpleasant interaction with a big, big guy on the way back to my car, but again, no harm no foul, as I was able to get past him. I'd recommend sticking to the crowded and populated areas after dark if you're traveling solo into the non-Quarter areas, or the fringes of the Quarter, or getting a cab since parking is at a premium anyway. The exception to this rule seems to be the Magazine Street area, I was there solo after dark and met nothing but really nice people. Of course, there are going to be scary people everywhere in this world. It's hardly indicative of my experience down here.

I was home around 10 or so, and spent some time with a good book on my balcony. A relaxing end to a rather hectic day of hiking about. Today I am planning to meet up with the local hero to take in at least one of the 12th night parades, perhaps in Metarie, then a final fancy meal at Pascal's over on Napoleon Street near St. Charles.

I come home tomorrow night. As much as I have enjoyed this trip, and the friends I've met this week, I am ready to come back to Hutchinson Street and Kalamazoo. I miss my family and friends, I miss T-Lou, I miss the office and my co-horts there. While I've enjoyed greatly the exploring of new places, you know I always do, I miss the comfortable familiarity of the places I know.

Almost done....

2007-01-05T15:52:00.001-05:00

What a day. I was up early and off to the racetrack. I went to collect my local hero, and back we came to spend some time on the ponies. Turns out he's not a gambler, so he enjoyed a morning of watching me lose my @ss betting. Ugh. But, like all things, it was FUN! Thus, my high dollar losses were mitigated.

We had lunch at the Gumbo Shop in the Quarter. Gosh, that was good. They ship, so you may expect I'll be having that shrimp creole again. The local hero was all into sharing it, and eventually we just traded plates. My etoufee (ay-too-fay) was awesome, but that shrimp creole, that was the STUFF!

Back to the room for a nap, it was gray and dreary all day. Later on we got back on the road in search of dinner. Much to my dismay the better restaurants close at 9:00 on Thursdays! So, we went to the venerable Clover Grill. I had a YUMMY cheeseburger and enjoyed the ambiance and conversation with another couple next to us who were in from Maine.

We drove around a bit, and stopped into Igor's Checkpoint for a quick drink. Back to the guest house, where the french doors were left open all night to better hear the driving thunderstorm. Thunder, lightening, roaring rain - it was very, very cool.

Today I took the local hero home and have spent a lovely day tramping about the Quarter. I had my first oysters at Fiorella's on Decatur Street near the French Market, and damn, they were good. Added a couple shots of Tabasco, and they were perfect. Just perfect.

I'm writing this from a cigar bar/internet cafe. I bought a pack of Luckies, since I will be getting a tattoo later on. Seems like a good idea right now. :) The local hero is going to ask around and find me a reputable inkster. He has been an indispensable godsend this week, and I am publicly thanking him here.

In 30 minutes I need to get back over to Erzulie's on Royal Street for my reading with Nicole. That place rocks, and I cannot wait to find out more about what my 2007 holds.

More when I can!

-The AE

Today's action, and now I'm caught up, but not like Usher is...

2007-01-03T22:53:00.000-05:00

Whew! That's a lot of typing!

Today Keith and I had lunch at this great little dive over by his house. We had po'boy sandwiches - his was oyster and mine was shrimp. It didn't look like much of a place, but after we got there the line went out the door, so we timed that beautifully! Once again, it pays to have a local hero on your side. Thank you, Keith. :-)

After lunch I struck out (on my own as the local hero had things to get done, c'est bon) on the ferry to Algiers to go to Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World. They make all the floats. The ferry attendant was going on and on about what a bunch of b@stards that one insurance company who isn't State Farm (the one with the good hands) is. What's left of his house is insured with them. He couldn't say enough good about the number one insurer in America, my employer. He has has cars with us.

Of course I got lost. Luci found me a State Farm agent's office in Gretna and I got directions after leaving my card. Eventually I found and took the tour.. And then I had a moment: I found that if you pay between $200 and $800 some of the Krewes will let you ride their floats in the Mardi Gras parades and throw things and party with them!! Now you know I'm signing up. I may be back here the end of next month riding a float and throwing beads. I hope I get a call!!

After the tour I got to try on costumes! I got all in touch with my inner Vegas show girl - I guarantee the photos will make you crack up. They were heavy! Nobody else was trying them on till I got into my fourth costume, then folks trickled up and joined the fun. The tour guide was my dresser and my photographer - Nate was an excellent sport in joining the AE.

I found out as well there are *TWO* parades on Saturday night at 7:00. Saturday is the 12th night, or the Ephiphany, and the beginning of Mardi Gras. There are two small parades - the Phorty Phunny Fellows ride the streetcar in front of my hostel here on Canal Street, but there's a longer parade in Metairie. I may go to the one over in Metairie. I think there's one in Gretna too, and I may take the ferry over to Gretna and see that one. I think it's at 3:00, so I could conceivably do both. Yes, I'm excessive and greedy for beads (throw me somethin', mister!!), but this is my show here, and I'll be that way if I wanna be.

So, that was very fun. I followed a float back over the toll bridge to NOLA. I did some laundry, caught up some posts, and generally chilled. I went out tonight and had dinner at a local jazz place solo, since my local hero wasn't feeling up to snuff. I spent some good time driving around and looking at things, and while I had a sort of scary experience when I got off the beaten track, I'm home safely now and everything's cool.

The plan for tomorrow is to head over to the Fairgrounds race track to bet the ponies! My local hero is good with a racing form, and I'm looking forward to that. Post-race, I think I/we may ramble around the French Quarter, and then I/we plan to go to the Rock N' Bowl for Zydeco Night. I have my dancing shoes all shined up, friends. And, if I/we are still feeling froggy post-Zydeco, I/we are going to Harrah's to gamble some more. YAY!!!!!!

I am, without a doubt, having the most fabulous vacation time of my life. And I have three and a half more days to enjoy. I fly home Sunday afternoon. Wish me luck, friends.

Laissez bon temp rouler!!

The AE

Almost caught up - January 2 Action

2007-01-03T22:24:00.000-05:00

Good evening! I'm back at the 1930 Canal Street Guest House for a bit, so I'll bring you all up to speed on yesterday. I got up early and drove the 40 minutes from Breaux Bridge cross country (interstate? what the hell's an interstate??) to Avery Island. It's sugar cane harvest here in southern Loosiana, so I got stuck behind a couple of trailers full of cane. C'est bonne, all was good.

The Tabasco plant tour was pretty quick. Nobody actually takes you out on the plant floor anymore, the liability insurance will kill you. So, after blowing a LOT of cash at the store (they have *new* flavors of Tabasco, oh, yeah, and now they're mine) and having it all shipped home, I struck over to the plant for the tour after a photo in my Kalamazoo Kings jersey. Kali helped me with my order at the store. Keena, her sister, gave me and only me the tour. Did you know that the McIlhenny family is very much involved in the day to day minutiae of running the sauce operation? For example:

*The pepper crop can't be picked till a member of the McIlhenny family says so. The peppers are then hand picked (HAND PICKED!) and they can only be a certain color. Thta color is regulated by la petite baton rouge, or, the little red stick. You can buy one for $2.50 in the store, but I bought another bottle instead. Sorry. It shows the perfect pepper red so the workers know what to pick.

*The peppers are picked, weighed, processed and salted all in the same day. A member of the McIlhenny family does the weighing. Then the peppers are crushed, lightly salted with Avery Island salt and then put in white oak barrels to age for three years. They buy the barrels from Jack Daniels, natch, and core them out to remove the alcohol. They can reuse the barrels for years till they fall apart, then they sell them to nimrods like me as bbq wood chips. Mmm, I cannot wait to throw them on my grill!

An aside - the peppers are grown in LA, but also in Central America and Europe. And they're still hand picked/weighed/processed in the same day. But then they're flown to Avery Island. That's the ONLY bottling plant for Tabasco (which, by the way, means hot and humid place. I had a little thought when she said that, and giggled heartily, but I digress..) in the world. Just there, where I was. Neat-o!

When they're done with the pepper pulp, they send it to (drum roll, please!!) KALAMAZOO! to KAL-SEC! Isn't that funny? I was wearing my Kings jersey and Keena was giving me the spiel, then she did a double take and read the jersey. We had a good laugh! Kal-Sec uses the pulp as a flavoring. There's your freaky coinkydink.

Another aside re: Keena - her family has worked and lived on Avery Island for five generations. The McIlhenny family rents their workers housing (NICE housing!!) to live on the island while they're working there. The rents are crazy cheap, between $80 and $150. The home Keena grew up in is a nice place, and her sister Kali's house is lovely too. I was impressed! It's a sort of paternalistic way to run a railroad, but it surely works well.

I left happy, and went on to Morgan City and the oil rig! Virgil (my rig guide, who was trying to give me directions) gave me a GREAT tip for lunch in Rita Mae's on Federal Street in Morgan City. My gosh - I had fish and shrimp and oh, it was heaven on a plate. I reallllly liked it. I did. A lot. Waxing rhapsodic now....

I killed a little more time shopping in the boutiques there - I got some neat stuff from a place that sold all manner of neat things. Sort of like Mole Hole only not as lame and pretentious - just very cool things. Again, when they learned I was a traveler, they were over the top happy to welcome me.

I got to the rig promptly at 2:00 and met Virgil up top. Lots of climbing to get there. Sorta scary. But obviously, I lived. The rig was VERY cool. It's also a training place for aspiring oil workers, so it was chock full of hot guys with all kinds of excuse me, ma'am working who want to be oil workers. Yeah, I liked that. Virgil gave me a very complete tour. They sleep them four to a stateroom, and they have big locker room showers like back in high school. They also have a mess hall and a social room with foosball. It's nice! They had a pool table, but it was too heavy and bulky. So now it's foosball.

They work, generally, in the industry - 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off. They make a LOT of cash in those 2 weeks, working 12 hour days. They have a catering crew who comes on board who cooks, cleans, does the laundry, everything. So while you're not working, you're not dinking around with the piddly stuff, the catering crew's got you covered! Virgil also pointed out to me the need for secretarial staff on these rigs. I'm sorely tempted!

Did you know that oil rigs float on barges now? Rarely are they solidly built to the ocean floor. They can drill to 12,000 feet! But they're floating. On barges. Not as solid as I'd have hoped, but then again, as Virgil points out, they float WITH the waves. Some have legs that telescope up, and there's a lower barge, then the deck is also a barge. During Katrina and Rita, they evacuated as many non-essentials as possible, but some folks had to remain behind to shut down the operation. How frightening to ride out a hurricane on a big floating oil rig.

He showed me the big drilling rig - that was REALLY cool! There are firms who specialize in fishing out broken drill bit parts from the well shafts. So, if you're drilling down 12,000 feet and your bit breaks, you keep these people on call to come fish through the mud slurry (it cools the drill heads) to get that one teeny piece of metal before you can start again with the drilling. What a lot of hassle. But what a lot of return if you play it right.

I really enjoyed Virgil's tour. He's also involved with Alticor, formerly known as Amway, with his wife, so there's ANOTHER Michigan connection. I got another jersey photo on the rig for Joe Rosenhagen with the Kings. My travels with my Kings jersey. :)

So, off I went to NOLA. Highway 90 looked like an interstate, and it was for a while, but then it devolved into a clogged mess of stop/start traffic. I was thrumming with irritation, but shook it off, and *FINALLY* found my way to the 1930 Canal Street Guest House. When you come in, there are stairs that go up to the rooms. They're a gorgeous hardwood, and they have a neat mural painted where the water line was after The Storm. It's cool!

My room is lovely. It's not the room I originally booked, Sam and Kathy (the hosts) upgraded me! The Kranzthors are awesome people. Ask me about pillow friends. I like to died laughing. Oh, yeah, my room! I have hardwood floors (they all do) a big brass bed, and the coolest bathroom ever. The floor to the shower is of cobblestones!! and the toilet tank is a fish tank. I am not kidding. I took plenty of video and photos. I can't wait to show you. Plus I have a balcony. NICE!

I met my friend Keith for dinner at the St. Charles Tavern, then he drove me around NOLA at night, which was a beautiful time! It's a lot easier when he's driving, beleive me. The Sugar Bowl is Wed night, and the town is full of crazy LSU and Notre Dame fans who are a) drunk b) unable to drive and c) in the way. And now I'm only a day behind!

Stay tuned!

New Year's Day - Look at the trouble you've caused me!

2007-01-03T17:10:00.000-05:00

I woke up New Year's Day and headed up to the Cafe for the Sonnier family party. My hosts, Rocky & Lisa Sonnier, had a heck of a spread going on: pork loin with brown gravy, rice, potatoes, black eyed peas (eat 12 for a year of good luck!), sour cabbage (eat some for wealth!), two kinds of dump cake and bread pudding. Yum!! I sat down with Lisa's mom Stella (married for 58 years to Mr. Tom), and became fast friends. What a great lady.

Many of their friends stopped in, and many of the current cabin tenants were there. Singer Toni Price was there, and that surprised me - she's fairly well known! I met a couple who are marrying on St. Patrick's day, and they asked me to the celebration at the Cabins they're planning on their way home from their cruise. Julie, I just may come on back down for that!

During our afternoon Rocky played a hilarious comedy clip involving a a two-week blindness due to chemicals, and a tool box for a Toyota truck. Look at the trouble you've caused me will make me giggle every time I think of it. I'll try to find it for you all. Oh, my gosh, did I laugh.

Rocky was recently featured on the TV show "Dirty Jobs". He makes boudin (boo-dan) sausage, and apparently it's a little nasty to make, though AWESOME to eat. He's very much locally renowned for his boudin and cracklin' operation. When I get home I plan to have a sufficient amount shipped here to share. You'll love it!

Terry, one of Rocky's friends, also warned me about NOLA. I will certainly keep my eyes open. We all spent the afternoon laughing and talking, and nearer sunset I took a little drive over to Carencro, hometown of Mark Broussard (a favorite singer of mine) and Ron Guidry (the Loosiana Lightening, a pitcher for that team in New York that isn't the Mets). I'm surprised how many residents of the Carencro area don't know who Mark Broussard is. That song "Home" only got played about 43.6 million times. Maybe it was just me. I loved it! So I found the water tower that's on the CD cover and took a picture. Yes, I'm a dork.

Back at the Cabins the party was still going - they moved up to the concrete patio and built a big fire. So, I sat down with Rocky & Lisa and her sister Stacey and Butch and Vicki and got to chatting and laughing. The daughters wanted cocoa, so we made some and brought it out to the fire. Rocky's friend Double D brought a truckload of aerial fireworks, and they were being set off over our heads. So picture it: a roaring fire, good company, sipping cocoa lots of fireworks, and a nice cool night. Does it get better? I didn't think so.

I'd highly recommend the Bayou Cabins to anyone who asked me. Even if I don't get asked, I bet I pimp the hell out of them. I'll be back when I can stay longer, for all the festivals in the summer. I'm falling in love with this state!!

Next up - my first day in NOLA. I might have to do that tomorrow, since the dryer is almost done and I do beleive I'm being taken out again tonight. Who's he? Yeah, I'll talk about that tomorrow, or I'll talk about in a minute. Let me go check the dryer.

New Year's Eve - the AE Way!

2007-01-03T16:37:00.000-05:00

I am almost sorry to leave Texas. Everyone I've come in contact with has been beyond welcoming and so happy to welcome me to their fine state and so quick to urge me to never leave it. I'm sorely tempted.

Up early today to attempt to drive to Loosiana along the water. I started out on 35 going out of CC, and off I went. There are fireworks stands every 90 feet or so in this state. It became clearly apparent later, watch this space. The terrain was all gorgrous black lowlands, and really flat. Easy to see where this could be underwater in a fast quickness.

I saw a number of dead boars by the road. That's their roadkill. We have deer, they have wild boars. Big pigs. They're nasty splatters, let me tell you. Yuk.

It's customary to get over for people here! When someone is close behind you, folks get over and drive on the shoulder so you can pass by. It's common courtesy, and it works great. Maybe we ought to give that a shot up here.

Lots of chemical plants and refineries and such along the way. But gas is no cheaper than it is in Michigan, to my surprise and dismay. Smokes are a LOT cheaper, around $3.50 a pack.

I found the BEST radio station - it's called The Texas Mix (texasmix.com) and all they play is music by artists from Texas. So, that meant a fair bit of Junior Brown, which made me more than happy. Just doin' my job on the hi-i-i-way patrolllll.....

The roads are paved with big rocks here. We use that piddly little pea gravel in our tar, well, they use a bigger gravel. It rides better and sounds just awesome.

I got on 87 to go down to Galveston Island - I got crossed up and asked for directions of two women outside the Baptist church - they were tickled to help and the usual degree of Texas friendly. It's not just a stereotype, folks. They're really like that. Folks are neighborly as heck...clapclapclapclap...deep in the hearttttttt of Texas.....

Galveston Island on the Surfside Beach end is heaven on a stick. I'm not kidding. I fell in love with the houses on stilts you can rent and how it's located between the Intracoastal Waterway and the Gulf Coast. Seriously, it's probably less than four miles wide.

I passed many roads called Beach Access Roads, and I finally decided to investigate. Well, that is what they are!!! You can *drive* your *car* on the *beach*!! I drove about 5 miles on the sand, just stopping randomly and picking up shells and talking to fisherpeople and other beach drivers. I got a family in an RV to take photos of me, and they were laughing at how excited I was. Driving on the beach on the Gulf Coast. Imagine that. I took video out my window as I was driving along. Yes, I'm a dork.

However, once you cross the toll bridge? It's all craptacular tourist bushwa after that. Ugh. And rude drivers? You never saw so many ponytailed old men in sports cars and folks of that ilk. The waterfront on that side is all built up and touristy and not fun. It would be like spending a week on Westnedge if Westnedge had an ocean on one side.

I took the free car ferry from Galveston Island to Bolivar Point. It took about 20 minutes and the salt spray feels neat on your skin when it dries. Again, I hit up stranger to take pictures. I also took video here too.

Near High Point, 87 is covered over with sand and stuff, still, so I had to cut north to I-10 over to Breaux Bridge, Loosiana. However, up to that point, I was never more than a 1/2 mile from the Gulf. I'd highly recommend this drive to anyone. The whole way is a hurricane evacuation route, though. Entirely. It's also a route for those who enjoy birding. I saw a lot of pretty birds.

I arrived in Breaux Bridge about 6 p.m. and found my cabin. It was cute and quaint and chock full of Elvis stuff. As Luci says, a day without the King is a day without sunshine, so it was a sunshiny day indeed. After a 20 minute back porch visit with my neighbors Chris & Diane, I unpacked my stuff and got a shower, preparatory to my 9:00 p.m. reservation at the Cafe des Amis.

I cruised Breaux Bridge a little, they have an ancient WalMart there. Ancient. But full of nice people. :) At 9:00 I showed up at the Cafe and was shown to a nice table for one with confetti and favors. I had a couple martinis and chatted with fellow diners. It was entirely couples and families, so I kinda stuck out, but once people figured out that nobody was coming to meet me they were so very kind and friendly and inclusive.

The meal was five courses, you had a choice or three for each course. I started with a lobster and artichoke bisque, and then a spinach salad, then fried green tomatoes with crab imperial, and my entree was a filet mignon with roasted garlic and a mushroom reduction. It also came with mashed potatoes and asparagus. For dessert I had a gateau sirop, which was like a chocolate gingerbread soaked in pure cane sugar syrup. Help me, Lord. That meal and those cocktails was the best (insert several multiples of ten) bucks I've spent in a while.

At midnight we had a champagne toast, and everyone made sure I got to clink glasses. I never felt at all like I was alone. Then went outside for the fireworks (they allow the aerial ones to EVERYONE on New Year's) and then more of the band. Little Nathan and the Zydeco Big Timers were awesome. One of the men at the table next to me took me around the floor, since it was all couples dancing, and said I was a natural. I'm glad to hear it! I danced a couple more with some of the band wives and all in all, had myself a fine fais de do.

I sat and talked to them a while about Loosiana's pros and cons, and they all warned me to look sharp about me in New Orleans, that it wasn't prudent to get too adventurous. Now I'm wondering.

I got back to the cabin and just as I laid down at 2 a.m. the honky tonk across the bayou set off 45 minutes of fireworks. I got up and dressed and sat on my back deck over the bayou and watched. Like so much else on this trip - Good Times!

The Best Wedding of 2006!

2007-01-03T16:23:00.000-05:00

I woke fairly early on Saturday 12/30. Lanny & Kim & Elechia took me to pick up my rental at the CC airport - I'm rolling in a 2006 silver Grand Prix. It's smooth. They were going to put me in a Taurus, but I put the stops on that action tout de suite.

After a visit to probably the most ghetto WalMart on the face of the earth (I felt like a shower after I left, and you all know how I love the grit), I stopped at the Corpus Christi Hooks stadium, charmingly sponsored at Whataburger Field. I'm not kidding. Whataburger is big in Texas, and CC is the home of Whataburger. Mmmmhhmmm. Whataburger. I'm giggling. Anyhow, Nolan Ryan owns the majority of the Hooks, which is the AA affiliate of the Houston Astros. I bought a t-shirt, hat and bobble head. You knew I was gonna buy a bobble head, so why you laughing?

The wedding was absolutely gorgeous. Carissa wore a gown she had found at a resale shop, and had it altered. She was a most beautiful bride. I hung about taking photos aplenty, and when the wedding started, I was outside with the wedding party. So, I missed her singing in her wedding gown. She surprised Charlie by singing "Only God Could Love You More" before she stepped through the arch and down the aisle. I video-ed her practice singing from the rehearsal the night before, so I have her performance, but when she actually sang it on her bridal day, I had my ear pressed to the door with her aunt and Mark, one of Charlie's ushers. We were holding the door off her train, and the aunt and I were crying like little girls. It was soooo romantic.

The wedding proceeded without incident, then the photos of the wedding party were taken. I got shots galore on that too, and Carissa thoughtfully included me in a photo of cousins. I thought that was awesome of her. She's a peach, for sure.

The reception was cake and cookies and punch in a historic home. Griff and I followed Charlie & Carissa to the CC Water Gardens to watch some of their wedding photos taken, then we went on to the reception. It was short and sweet, and also very lovely.

After that, all of us went to the Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Oh, how I love rare beef...the NY strip was awesome. Elechia and I shared a table with Shaun & Possum's boys Destry and Riley. They are great guys and a lot of fun. Destry ropes, and had a champion belt buckle with rubies in it - I took photos and can provide you with a website showing him in action doing the cowboy roping thing. He's quite good at it. Riley is a joker, and a thousand laughs. Good times!

Saturday saw tornadoes in north Texas and in Louisiana. Figures they would happen in areas the day after I just left and the day before I arrived. But, off to Loos-iana tomorrow!

Long Day's Journey into Corpus Christi

2007-01-03T16:07:00.001-05:00

My, my. It's been a few days since I posted, thanks for all your worried phone calls. Unfortunately, no Cajun prince has swiped me off to the swamp. Yet. ;-) So, I'll go back and post by days.

Friday - 12/29 To Corpus!

We were up at 6:15 a.m. and in the car headed to Corpus Christi and my cousin Charles Gould's nuptials to Carissa Violett. At the breakfast stop, Elechia eschewed the McDonald's option, since she is a very successful store manager of one in Orlando. Instead, she and I crossed the street to Sonic. Oh, yes, that was a fine choice.

The Super Breakfast Burrito is one of the finest hand held breakfast meals in history. It's a soft tortilla wrapped around eggs, cheese, onions, sausage and tater tots. Yes! Tater tots!! Four of them, crispy goodness! According to the man in the pickup truck I was speaking with at the drive up, salsa picante is the only condiment needed, so I took him up on it. He is SO RIGHT. Heaven in a tortilla. I'm a convert.

Sonic is a neat chain and it's arranged like the Root Beer Stands are arranged. If you walk up, you talk into the speaker and they come out bringing the food and a change holster. It's tasty and cool. I took pictures of the speaker box for you. Yes, I'm a dork. But you knew that.

We had walkie talkies so we three cars could communicate. While we were waiting on Jamie & Brenda to catch up to us, Possum got me but good by telling us there was an armadillo digging in the grass next to us. Well, I of course got all excited - but there was no armadillo. He was, ahem, playing possum on that one.

Near Huntsville is a 30' statue of Sam Houston. It made me giggle and brought to mind the fiberglass Jeeebus north of Cincy on 75. Go see it, www.jeeeb.us It's blasphemous, but it's surely funny. Also in Huntsville we saw the prison where they kill the wrongdoers. I held my breath till we got past that place, trust.

Near the end of our trip, we had lunch in Refugio (Re-Fur-Io, according to the guy at the gas station Elechia and I spoke to) at the Dairy Queen. Now, DQ is mandatory in Texas in any town with a stop light, apparently. But it was sure good. I also learned that Nolan Ryan is from Refugio! That was surely a nice treat!

On arriving in Corpus, we checked into the Quality Inn on Surfside. It is indeed surfside, it's right on the pretty beachfront. Look up the beach a few hundred yards and you'll see moored the USS Jefferson. It's quite lovely at night, lit up in blue. It's called the Blue Ghost. The accomodations were clean and comfortable, but very dated. I took a solo walk on the beach around midnight, only to find that my key didn't work on my return. Uh-oh! After about 30 minutes security was able to get me in. Yay! Maintenance promptly fixed it the next day.

The rehearsal dinner was at Miller's BBQ. It's a meat and three (meat and three sides) kinda place, and it's a smoky bbq without sauce - you add your own sauce. Pretty good, and a delight to meet Carissa's family. NICE people.

Later on Charlie and his best man Griff and Elechia and I went roaming around. Charlie drove us and we eventually landed at Joe's Crab Shack on the beach. We noshed a bit and I heard a LOT of hilarious Josh & Charlie stories that had me rolling. Good times.

But, now to the next days....

Making a dent in the life experience list today!!

2006-12-28T21:17:00.000-05:00

Wow. Where to start? Okay, how about the beginning at 4:00 a.m. in a Grand Rapids hotel room? I was up early, and the shuttle picked me up at 5:10. The driver was a charmer, and very helpful with my bags. I was particularly impressed with the hand out of the van accompanied by a bow. Most courtly and just what I like to see at 5:30 in the morning. I decided to pack two light instead of one heavy, a good idea in theory till I tried to drag both big bags, carry on, purse, and my folio across the terminal with just two hands. Did it work well? Folks, you hear my catchphrase coming - not so much.

The whole security process took about 35 minutes, from checking my luggage to the TSA screen, orange threat notwithstanding. I was highly impressed with every friendly and helpful person I met, from the NWA check in people to the TSAs to the folks at the gate. Very nice experience, and one I'd recommend. It's a ton cheaper for Kalamazoo folks to fly out of Grand Rapids. The airport concessions weren't too bad - I had a yogurt, milk, and a big quart bottle of water for $6.5o.

Our plane out of Grand Rapids was oversold. The original plane "wasn't working very well" so they had a smaller plane for us instead. Gate staff asked for volunteers for a later flight, and sweetened the pot by offering a free round trip ticket to anywhere or a $300 voucher to folks who took their offer. I wondered about that, so I went over and struck up a conversation with the two women who took the deal. I asked how much later they would have to fly, and apparently their wait was just to the next flight. For a one hour inconvenience, they got a $300 voucher. Apparently the voucher is just like cash, and the free round trip ticket is rife with restrictions, so they took the gate staff advice. If I'm ever in that position and don't have to make a connection, I'm going to do that. What a deal!!

We boarded the plane outside on the runway - very 40's Hollywood. The plane was quite teeny and I couldn't take my carryon bag on board, which irritated me no end since others had bags of similar size. Apparently it had to do wtih weight and balance and what the hell ever. So I left it planeside, and it was returned to me on deplaning in Memphis.

Memphis is a huge airport. It took me 10 minutes walking briskly to get to my next gate. I might have gained a bit had I took the moving sidewalks and escalators, but I'm counting that hike as exercise. Concessions here were okay - I had a "chipotle" turkey wrap that wasn't, I chucked most of the "chipotle" wrap and ate the turkey and field greens. That and a banana set my back $8.75. I refilled my water bottle at the fountain. Yeah, cheapskate.

Now, landing in Shreveport - let me say I really, really liked Shreveport. My uncle Lanny, aunt Kim, and cousin Elechia met me and it was SO good to see them that it brought tears to my eyes. I haven't seen Elechia in maybe 10 years or so - it's always good to be with family.

We went first to Jack Binion's Golden Horseshoe. The Independence Bowl is in town, with Alabama playing Oklahoma (I think!) so the casino was full of sports fans on holiday. Yes, I was happy. I was happier still after sitting down at the blackjack table. I bought two chips, just the $10 buy in. I had a great team of handsome/fun fellas to help me out, and dealer Diedra was advising me pretty strongly as well. My high point was $200! At the end of about 90 minutes, though, Lanny,Kim & Elechia were ready to go. I'd tipped dealer Michelle a $5 chip, dealer Cassandra (Mom's name!!) two $5 chips and dealer Diedra got a $25 chip. I also hooked up my tablemates with $5 chips for their counsel, and still walked out of there with $60!

I like gambling. I'm going to need to go to Gambler's Anonymous now, I'm going to be shaking like a junkie at the idea of going to Detroit and hitting the tables. Kim & Lanny did okay too, but Elechia lost her shirt. Not literally, though that would have been pretty interesting. On the way out Elechia and I took photos in front of the beautiful fountain, which stopped working right after we left it. No, we didn't break it. The waters run on a timed circuit. Very pretty!

Next it was off to lunch at Crawdaddy's. Those of you who dine with me know I like dark holes in the wall. This qualifies. My uncle will drive two hours to eat there, and now I know why. Holy cow. We had crawfish cornbread, crawfish etoufee, hush puppies, shrimp, cheesecake, gumbo, and crawfish tails. And since we are in the south, not in my kitchen on Hutchinson Street, we had SWEET TEA. Oh, heck yeah. It was a dining experience not to be soon forgotten. I'd go back there just to meet family for dinner - it is just that good. I brought back a menu, so you can see how cheap it is. Uncle Lanny has been going there a couple years, they found it by picking it out of the phone book (see, I come by it honest) and they have had the same waitress, the only waitress, every time. Now THAT'S a joint. It's also attached to a sports bar out back and a diner next door. Now THAT'S full service.

Post-lunch we struck out for what we thought was I-20, but what was instead a drive through the Arklatex region. Lots of scrub pines and good times in the car. I learned about a person close to us who "ain't got no gold teeth, but he speaks proper English." Nobody made any claims about the grammatical prowess of the speaker, who shall remain nameless. She ain't go no gold teeth either, but I love her just the same.

We saw many things in Shreveport that made me laugh. A big cow statue, a big pig statue, and a big horse statue. A mega-church attached to a shopping mall. And a church whose painted sign proclaimed them "The Church That Share Christ" which is an admirable if slightly ungrammatical goal. I was itching to spray paint an "S" in there.

We stopped at the border for the requisite Welcome to Texas photos. They're inordinately proud of being the home to Shrub. Um, yeah. Okay, moving on.

On arriving here in Lindale, TX, home of my hosts, I found it to be the hometown of Miranda Lambert, a country singer I really enjoy! We stopped by her store, and just missed her, she really lives there. So I satisfied myself with buying a CD and a bumper sticker. Casey Rivers is also from Lindale. Quite the musical village, this quiet Texas town.

We went out to my family's property where I realized another life fun goal: I rode a horse! Now granted, I had to use a chair to get up on Savannah, and I made quite a cake of myself getting my leg over, but I did ride the horse. I have photos! Kim led the horse a bit, but then later I was actually riding the horse myself and providing direction to the horse. Had I been more clear in my directions, Elechia would have been successful in taking video of me walking around the ring on Savannah, but I wasn't. So, the photos will have to suffice.

Savannah was purchased at an auction. Her owners had to evacuate Houston in the face of the hurricanes, and they couldn't afford to keep the horses. My aunt and uncle bought this delightful horse, and they keep their horses (they have four) on 100 acres other family owns. That is gorgeous land. It's got a lake, a covered pavilion with power, and the wide sky of Texas above. It's out in the country, and they picnic, bonfire, ride, and drive the car with no doors all over. I'm coming back, and coming back soon.

After we returned to town, I got to scratch off another fun experience: driving a wrecker. My uncle is retired from the telecommunication industry and now drives a wrecker for his brother in law. So, I got to drive the wrecker down the street to Kim's sister Shaun's place. I had the lights on and everything. I hear you all out there now, "Gosh, I wish I could see that!" And since I'm all about the satisfying Amy Experience (leave it alone...) I have photos!

We spent a nice time at Shaun's catching up. I hadn't seen Shaun since I was probably 10, so it was great to see her and meet her boys (particularly Landry Lane, and the TMX Tickle Me Elmo) and her awesome husband Possum. I am not making that up. I'm not sure of the provenance of the nickname, but he's one of the nicest people I've ever met. I felt so very welcome at their place.

We came on back here and had pizza and visited with Kim's mom Donna. I hadn't seen her since I was probably 10 either, so that was a nice visit. Tomorrow we strike out for Corpus Christi and the rehearsal dinner at 6 a.m., so I'm going to bed. I'm just about wiped out, but I didn't want to hear any crying about how I didn't post today. The things I do for you, gentle readers.

Till tomorrow, I remain...

The Amy Experience. Ask for it by name.

And so this is Christmas...

2006-12-24T20:15:00.000-05:00

Many of you know that 2006 has been pretty raw for me on many levels. Foremost in the formation of this year's lasting impression has been the far too fast, far too soon death of my mother. The gritty details of that three month nightmare is amply covered in one of my first posts, A Little Something About Casey Crabtree. I am still struggling with getting past those final days, and I will probably carry my role in those four days with me the rest of my life.

While my family and a good friend of my mother's from Leonidas have truly given me strength through all this, they know how much they mean to me. Besides, those feelings are not for public display. The point of tonight's post is to thank my friends. I'm one of the lucky ones to be blessed beyond any reasonable measure to have more friends than any one person really ought to. Not just acquaintances, folks I know to throw up my chin and wave when I see them, but truly good friends.

These are people who hung out with me at Water Street Coffee Joint or Bennigan's or the Village Hideaway or any of a number of local watering holes till hours they would probably rather be at home with their own families. People who don't care all that much about the Tigers, but who have watched so many baseball games with me to keep me company that now they do. People who hate smoky bars and loud bands, but came out to the gatherings I threw so there would be a crowd around -hosting a crowd anywhere makes me happy. People who took my calls or visits at truly obnoxious hours because I couldn't sleep and couldn't stop crying. People who regularly (or even just once) took the time to write me cards and letters, send emails, take me out to dinner, or stop by my house - whatever and whenever and wherever just to make sure I was okay, upright and taking oxygen.

I was floored at how many of my friends showed up at Mom's wake in Leonidas. I was even more floored to see how many came out to help me clean out my mother's home. I grew up in that house on Jackson Street in Mendon. What a painful and brutal experience it is to clean out a lifetime of memories from your childhood home, where you had just finished watching your mother die. Many friends came every single night till it was done, taking over a month. They drove from Kalamazoo out to Mendon, loaded up trucks and cars and trailers and drove things back to Kalamzoo. They brought food, broke serpentine belts, braved summer storms, hauled heavy things down steep stairs or up out of a scary basement.

They also dealt with me while I was dealing with this. I wasn't at any point the freshest flower of easy to be around, yet they all did it. Not one person complained about my increasingly unstable attitude, but instead they simply made sure things were done the way I wanted them done. Not all of my decisions were the best, and some friends recognized that I wasn't thinking clearly. I still laugh at one friend who told me she had thrown out a box we were sorting, just as I had asked. Some days later, when I changed my mind and wanted it back, she went to a closet and got it out for me. She knew what I meant. So many of my friends do.

So, while I'm truly missing my mother this Christmas, I am so grateful for friends who have made it their job to look out not just for me but for my sister and brother-in-law as well. I've gotten some neat presents so far for Christmas (I love my iPod!), but it's hard to beat the gift of friendship that I've seen shown to me this year. So, thanks a million, gang. I couldn't have done it without you. Merry Christmas.

Amy goes to the World Series

2006-10-23T22:44:00.000-04:00

And boy, oh boy, did she have a good time.

Kim, Dad, stepmom Nancy and I left Kalamazoo at 11 a.m. Saturday. We fully expected there to be traffic at Ann Arbor (U of M was home) and in Detroit. I had heard something about a baseball game, traffic's always a bitch when the Tigers are home, so I planned ahead. :-) Well, we arrived in Detroit at 1:30, with little or no delay despite the constant rain.

This record time also included a side trip to the Melvindale Market on Allen Road in, yes, wait for it, Melvindale. I had pre-ordered four cases of Tiger beer. Ask me about that sometime. :) A handsome man nicknamed Junebug (no, I am not kidding) trucked the beer to my car, bless him. It was heavy, and you know, girls can't lift heavy things. I'll be bringing the empties back there, trust me.

As we hit the Detroit city limits, I called the Cobo Roof Deck, Detroit's best kept parking secret, and was told there was PLENTY of space. Off we went, and sure enough, there were just a few cars up top. I doled out the quarters, and we got on the People Mover and took a loop around since my stepmom had never been.

On the second loop we got off at the Financial District and took a short walk to take photos with the bejerseyed (yes, it's a word in my world) Spirit of Detroit. Folks were pleasant, everyone took turns, it was a joyous sharing of los Tigres amor and plenty of pictures were taken.

Since it was so lovely out, we walked several blocks up Woodward Avenue to the ballpark, enjoying highly the renaissance of My Detroit. We got to the ballpark about 3:00 and were first in line at Gate B. We struck up a conversation with a handsome man behind us, he had come all by himself from New Jersey. We were duly impressed till we met the next solo guy to approach, who had flown in from Frankfort, Germany. Wow. Also, in that throng of people, we found our own Ted R., one of Bennigan's best - our stalwart barman who kept us in beer all season as we enjoyed the Tigers.

The gates opened promptly at 4:30, and being first through the line got me interviewed by some Detroit media type. Neat-o! We got our rally towel and our free XM radio receiver coupon and immediately hit the gift store, where Dad got me a beautiful Tigers hoodie with the Series insignia, a program, and a foam claw! Cool!! Thanks, Dad!

When we checked out, the only pen on the counter was from State Farm agent Tony Massey. I thought that rocked, that one of our agents was representin' like that. I took photos and sent them to him this morning, he was tickled pink. :)

As we left the store, a mere 10 minutes after entering, the line was appallingly long. So we luck out again! We proceeded up to our seats, which were incredibly good in section 343, row A. EXCELLENT view, though the seats were a tad tight.

Kim and I stepped away to buy beer and I struck up a conversation with Darnell, a vendor in for the Series from Chicago. He was selling quality beer - a Labatt's - and he was quite handsome and friendly. I kick myself for not giving him my number. I really should have and I bet he would have taken it. Hmm. Anyhow, I digress.

The pre-game festivities, with Bob Seger singing America the Beautiful, complete with a giant American flag being waved on field, had me in tears. The first pitch with Kaline and Horton was truly awesome as well. The game began inauspiciously, with a young man four seats over losing his nachos and a considerable amount of what appeared to be beer. How sad, to spend beaucoup bucks to get in only to puke in the first inning and then be passed out the rest of the game.

Kim and I spent quality pre-game time in the smoking area convenient to our seats chatting with other fans. Single girls, let me assure you, a baseball game and a working knowledge of the game is your best strategy for meeting a ton of guys. Kim can testify to my power at being able to work a room, a smoking area, or a baseball stadium. Other girls clan up with you when you can all talk sports together. And boys dig girls who know sports. And that's all I'm gonna say about that.

If you're ever at Comerica in the upper deck in left field, look for Anquanetta in the bathrooms or sweeping up the smoking sections. That is one cool dame, working for the Tigers and sporting Tiger blue and orange highlights, nails, and attitude. Go ON with your bad self!!

My Casey jersey got a lot of notice, since you can't buy them, people wanted to know where I got it. I told them the microversion of why I had it made, mainly to honor my Mom and secondarily to show love for the Tigers 1B slugger. Some Mom-moments: our easy trip up and home with little traffic, the fact that it quit raining as soon as we got there, our first place in line, our ease in and out of the gift store, the fact that Bob Seger was a late addition to the entertainment, and the general flow of the evening - I ascribe a lot of this to Mom looking out for us. Yeah, I love my Mom and she would have truly loved the Tigers run to glory AND Bob Seger (her BOY!) singing America the Beautiful.

After the game we got back to the car and I took Fort Street (all industrial and runs right under the Ambassador Bridge) to Junction (through Mexicantown) to Michigan (more liquor stores and strip clubs) to I-94. I think Kim was surprised when it worked out the way it did - I know she didn't much care for the ride through the darkened 'hood. There aren't many streetlights in Detroit, in some spots. :)

The Tigers lost and looked bad doing it, but hey, we were at the World Series, so it didn't matter. It was truly an amazing evening, and I am so very glad to have had the means to attend. Good times. The Series is at this writing tied 1-1. We go back to St. Louis tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday.

If it comes back to Detroit Saturday and Sunday, I will be there. If I can't get a ticket, I'll tailgate. I will be in the crowd, since the Tigers have been there for me, I will be there for them. I can't imagine how much worse this summer and fall would have been without the distraction of the Tigers rise to glory. Bless you, boys.

Let's go TIGERS!