Its Begining To Look A Lot Like Christmas

I just sent out a mass email with a link to my blog, so I'm assuming a few of you out there are new to this site and are scouring these pages for references to yourself. To ease your mind you should know that I never post non blogger names (including my own full name), pictures of people I know, or anything related to work. You can look for such things, but you will not find them. Check out my first post for my other self imposed blogging rules. Also, please feel free to leave a comment on any of the posts. I get my kicks out of comments.

I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year. Normally I hate it when my life is hectic for the holidays and trying to divide my time fairly between two families. I've always loved Christmas (who doesn't) but I haven't been so excited for it in years as I am now. On a completely unrelated topic, my girlfriend will be coming to town for Christmas! We have a big week planned, everything from meeting my extended family to skiing, to a wedding reception. It should be a great week!

Also helping to get me in the spirit, I went to a community play that a good friend of mine was in this past weekend. The show was geared more for the younger audience, but it was still a ton of fun. To top it all off, in one scene he wore a dress. Don't ask me how a family oriented Christmas play could include cross dressing, but some how they pulled it off.

Many of you know or have heard my cousin play (name mentioned because it was already publicly posted), well she played again on Saturday and it was one of the best shows I've seen her do. While it wasn't a Christmas show, I was able to see her and her parents so with all that extended family it felt like Christmas.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Kansas City, Kansas City Here I Come

I spent the weekend in Kansas City with my girlfriend and her family. It was a ton of fun. The whole city lights up for Christmas, with more cheer than a college football stadium full of drunken students. We took a horse drawn carriage ride which took us around Crown Plaza, where the majority of the lights are located. Literally every building was outlined in lights, most with other architectural features accentuated. To the right is an example of one such building.

There are few things I enjoy more than spending time in the water, so I was in heaven with the hotel pool. The pool is almost entirely outdoor, with only entry stairs indoors. I can't imagine what it costs to heat the thing year round, but there is something about outdoor swimming in December that seems to make it seem justified. You swimmers out there may be asking yourself right now how the guy in lane 3 can do his flip turn on the far wall with the tunnel there. Excellent question.

Like myself at that age, my girlfriend's nieces love escalators. Sunday morning we had to have gone up and down them twenty times in a row. It was better than any amusement park for them. With so much time on the escalators I was also able to end an age old question - If you send a slinky down the up escalator, will it go on forever? The answer is no. In fact it won't go anywhere. Surprisingly enough the steps are too deep for a slinky to step from one to the next. I guess if I ever want to do this I'll need to build my own slinky. It just might be worth it.

It was great to spend some more time with her family this weekend. Now that I know everyone it was a super relaxed weekend and a great chance to simply kick back, enjoy the time, and get to know everyone better. We played cards (yes, I now know more than Go Fish), chatted, and just hung out. What more does a person need?

The only downside of the trip was how it started. I missed my flight. I've never missed a flight before, granted I've never flown a lot, but I like to think that I'm a bit more responsible than that. I left after work, and gave myself 2 hours and 15 min to get to the airport, big mistake. There was an hour and 45 minutes of traffic on a normally 20 minute drive and Northwest wouldn't allow me to check in 20 minutes prior to the flight taking off so I missed it. I felt terrible about it. Lucky for me I'm dating the most forgiving person and she took the news very well. I caught the first flight Saturday morning and it all worked out well from there. Yet another lesson learned.

Searching for Direction

I'm ashamed to admit it, but I am helpless at finding my way around. This past weekend I was supposed to go to a friend's birthday party downtown and I drove around for a half hour looking for the place, called, got directions, then spent the next 1.5 hours not finding it. I've lived here for nearly 3 years, you would think I could find my way around the city by now. I must not get out enough. Too much time studying I imagine. Actually, my theory is that I spend so much time concentrating on my safe driving that I don't realize where I am or how I got there. I'm sure anyone that has ridden with me could testify to my safe driving habits ;-) So, if you didn't pick up the hint yet and are still looking for a Christmas present for me, look no further.