Old school blogging

These days if you mention to someone you keep a journal, chances are that whomever you mention it to will ask for the URL, inferring that you are talking about a blog.

But a recent experience has taken me back to the old-school version of blog. An actual written journal (you know, hand written with a pen on actual paper).

I recently received a Moleskine notebook as a small token from some business associates.

At the time, it struck me as a small, but appropriate, gesture. The kind of pleasantry you might expect to a businessman to give one of his big clients (in addition to meals, entertainment and etc.).

Well, I started using the notebook a few days ago, and I’m becoming more and more impressed.

Sure, you say it’s just a notebook. How impressive can it be. And that’s what I thought, too.

But after using it for a couple of days, I really came to appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into putting these together. It turns out that these are the same notebooks used by the like of Earnest Hemingway, Henri Matisse and Vincent Van Gogh. Furthermore, there’s only one place in the world where these things are made, a small factory in northern Italy.

There are so many details that you just don’t find everything from the fine stitching to the built-in bookmark, the folder pocket in the back and the elastic band that slips over the cover to keep it closed. This thing isn't just old-school, it's old world.

Anyway, I highly recommend these things (not a paid endorsement, unfortunately). I plan on buying a box and giving them as gifts and using them in the office for ever day note-taking.

The only problem is that now I don't have an automatic spellchecker.

tagged: blog, journal, Moleskine, Hemmingway, Van Gogh, Matisse

Kansas City B.S.

Ask anyone in Kansas City what the local food specialty is, and they'll tell you it’s the barbecue.

Barbecue is big in Kansas City. But I didn't realize just how big a deal it was until last weekend. I attended a meeting of the Kansas City Barbecue Society with my dad, who has really gotten into barbecue over the past few years. He now wants to organize his own barbecue contest, so he came to the Mecca of smoked meat.

So I attended the KCBS annual meeting near the sports complex. Let me tell you, these people are passionate about their pork (and other meats). The KCBS is one of the biggest, most influential sanctioning bodies in competitive meat smoking.

That's right, competitive meat smoking.

There are huge contests where the object isn't only so smoke a mean Boston butt, but to win fabulous cash prizes, trophies etc.

There's even a NASCAR-style points contest. Of course to score points in this type of contest, you have to compete in events sanctioned by the KCBS. And, just in case you thought you would have to drive a long way to find such an event, it turns out the organization sanctions events in pretty much every state in the union from Vermont to California to Florida. There are even a few in Canada.

And talk about passion. This group spent upwards of an hour discussing the merits of allowing meat taste judges to take home doggie bags of un-eaten meat after the contests. As if anyone could manage to eat any more brisket after chowing down on smoked hog and steer for four hours.

Needless to say, I'm not sure I'm quite ready to be a part of this strange subculture. I mean, I like a good pulled pork as much as the next guy, but I feel like I have inadvertently stumbled into an exclusive smoke-filled club.

Let's just hope the beer is cold.

tagged: Kansas City, barbeque, Boston butt, pulled pork, Truman Sports Complex

Hookah brotha up

NCTRNLinKC recently posted about his (her?) first experience with the hookah, saying he went along for the ride but, like a recent former president, didn't inhale.

It's a pretty cool post, and I mention it because I recently smoked the hookah during an after hours with some business associates during my recent trip to Manhattan. It was the first time since my college days.

I wanted to tell Nctrnl that you didn't miss much. Tobacco, even the black licorice-flavored kind that we had the other night, never really did much for me either.

Now, if it would have been a little of the "holy herb" it might have been a different story.

But then again, it was a business trip.

tagged: hookah, manhattan, tobacco, holy herb, marijuana, pop culture

YouTube Tuesday: East Coast West Coast

Put on your flack jackets and load your Gloks, because it looks like the rap wars are heating up again.

The viral popularity of The Chronic(What!)les of Narnia, produced SNL's Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg was the newest salvo to rekindle the East Coast/West Coast rap war that costs us the lives of hip hop heroes like Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur.

And in response to the Parnell-Samberg opus, L.A.-based Mark Feurstein, Sam Friedlander and Adam Stein have fired back with Lazy Monday.

Oh, when will we learn to come together as one world-wide artistic community. Haven't we seen too many good people die and good Cadillac Escalades riddles with bullet holes?

tagged: Saturday Night Live, Narnia, hip hop, humor, Lazy Sunday, Lazy Monday, Chris Parnell, Adam Samberg, pop culture

No Pants Subway Ride

I swear officer, I thought I was on the "clothing optional" train.

tagged: New York, subway, pants

Midnight myths in Manhattan

I returned from my business trip to the Big Apple yesterday and wanted to share my impression.

Stayed in The Millennium Hotel on Broadway, about half a block from Times Square. Nice hotel. Not great, but not grungy either. About what you'd expect for a 3-star hotel in Manhattan.

Now some caveats: First, it was raining the first night we were there and most of the next day. Second, I was in business meetings most of the time and didn't have a lot of time to site-see.

Having said that, I'm eager to return on a more informal basis to see what New York really has to offer.

Times Square? Not all that. Unfortunately, (and I don't know what I was expecting) the "busiest intersection in the world" is busy because of all the tourists. The tourists have attracted and are attracted by all the touristy businesses. I mean, do I really want to go to New York to eat at The Olive Garden?

The city that never sleeps? Another busted myth. My colleagues and I dined at a dim sum/sushi place the first night and then headed back to the hotel for a few after-dinner drinkies. After the hotel bar shut down, I went out in search of a nice blues or jazz club, since it was only about 1:30 or 2 a.m.

Granted, as I said earlier, it was raining slightly by this time. But as I walked around Times Square and the few blocks around my hotel, all I could find still open was a couple of Irish Pubs. I still had a few drinks, but unfortunately, no live music.

However, I did see one thing that I expected. As I made my way home, stopping beneath the pale glow of a streetlamp to turn my collar to the cold and damp (thank you Simon and Garfunkle), a silver sedan rolled by with the window down with a pair of "working girls" inside.

They offered to show me a good time for a price, which made me feel good. But since I had business meetings in a few hours, and since I was low on cash, and since I'm married and don't really roll that way anymore, I declined.

But it's good to see that I can still get a come on from the whores on 7th Avenue.

tagged: New York, Broadway, Times Square, Manhattan, Simon and Garfunkel, whores, Olive Garden

Perish together as fools

I know I should have something important to say today, MLK day.

But the truth is that the biggest impact it has on me is that I get the day off. Martin Luther King was a great American. Maybe the greatest. So it's appropriate to remember him the way we remember other great Americans like Lincoln and Washington. Unfortunately, as I've said before, I don't really think focusing on race is a good way to end racism.

Also, I'm not so sure that there is really a focus on ending racism on this day. For some reason, I get the feeling that it's all about political opportunism and power grabbing.

The excellent blogger at Tony's Kansas City has a great post about the real meaning of MLK day (along with some impressive eye candy, as always).

One of my favorite lines...

All of the senseless speeches and scenes of churchgoing today is so much propaganda that we all tolerate in the name of diversity. I contend that the only unifying principle of the whole day is that almost everyone finds the platitudes about racial equality laughable.

So I guess I'll enjoy the day off, hit a few sales and get some projects done around the house. I know, I'm an arsehole.

tagged: race, black, Martin Luther King, MLK, Lincoln, Washington

Icing on the cake

We celebrated an historical event yesterday.

For the first time in 31 games, my alma mater Kansas State Wildcats defeated in-state rivals KU Jayhawk on the basketball court. Final score, 59-54.

But it came after a long 31 games. That was the losing streak. The longest intraconference losing streak in college basketball.

Such an event demanded celebration, so in honor of the victory (which neither of us had anything to do with personally), my supermodel wife and I went out for diner with some inlaws at the excellent Genghis Khan Mongolian Barbeque.

Genghis Khan is situated right across the street from KU Med Center in KCK. It's a pretty popular restaurant district so parking was pretty tough to come by. I mention this because it's a central fact to what happened after our dinner.

We take our time dining. I wear my K-State pullover and get a few comments from some KU boosters, all very gracious in defeat.

But when we're done with dinner, I'm taking our tired three-year old out to the car while my supermodel wife pays the tab (hey, I'm a modern guy). So on the way to the car, I have the great pleasure of seeing one of KCK's finest standing guard near a red BMW that is illegally parked (since there was no where else to park, see I told you that was important. What? You didn't believe me?).

As I walk past the police officer, three-year-old in hand, he nods toward the BMW as he barks "This ain't your car, is it?"

I take another quick look at the BMW to make sure I'm not confusing it for our silver Honda CRV and that's when I notice the KU vanity license plate.

Glancing a the K-State logos on my pullover I reply simply, "Nope," with a big smile on my head.

K-State beats the Jayhawks and a KU alumn gets his beamer towed.

Icing on the cake.
tagged: K-State, KSU, Wildcats, KU, Jayhawks, basketball, BMW, Kansas City, Genghis Khan

Drug of choice

Dave at To Be The Man writes that he has vowed to give up caffeine and quit going to Starbucks this year.

My only question is... Why Dave? What do you got against caffeine?

Among all of the addictive substances, caffeine is pretty minor. I mean, it is the most popular drug in the world. Ninety percent of Americans consume it in some form every day. And besides, you're not really at risk for any long-term affects of too much caffeine.

Long-term effects of a toxic nature do not appear evident when regular caffeine use is below about 650 mg a day - equivalent to about eight or nine average cups of coffee.

So what, is it just the financial impact of having coffee at Starbucks? Is that it?

If so, let me direct you to a recent article in The Slate that might ease the financial pain while allowing you to continue to imbibe in your vice. According to the article:

They will serve you a better, stronger cappuccino if you want one, and they will charge you less for it. Ask for it in any Starbucks and the barrista will comply without batting an eye.

The drink in question is the elusive "short cappuccino"—at 8 ounces, a third smaller than the smallest size on the official menu, the "tall," and dwarfed by what Starbucks calls the "customer-preferred" size, the "Venti," which weighs in at 20 ounces and more than 200 calories before you add the sugar.

The short cappuccino has the same amount of espresso as the 12-ounce tall, meaning a bolder coffee taste, and also a better one.

So, Dave, don't give up on the dream. You can and should stay addicted to coffee. Quick, get me a shot of espresso. Make it a double.
tagged: coffee, caffeine, Starbucks, venti, drug, cappuccino, espresso

Would you like Pommes Frites with that?

I'm a huge fan and avid reader of the waiter's Waiter Rant. This guy really has a great writing style, and I feel like when I'm reading it I have to be careful or -- as Bill Cosby would say -- I might learn something.

So I'm pretty excited to be taking a business trip to Manhattan next week. With any luck, I'll be able to get a reservation, meet the waiter and leave a nice tip.

Does that make me sound like a stalker?

Anyway, I have just one small qualm with the waiter, and it has more to do with the restaurant he works at. He has mentioned many times that it's an Italian restaurant that serves Tuscan cuisine. Why then is it called "The Bistro"? Isn't "bistro" a French term?

In my view, it would be more authentic to call it a "trattoria" or "osteria"? Granted, I'm neither an restaurant owner, nor Italian. I'm just sayin'.

Anyway, if you have any suggestions of places to eat/things to see in Manhattan (I'll be staying near Times Square), let me know, just in case this Bistro thing doesn't work out.

tagged: waiter, waiter rant, bistro, Manhattan, Times Square, New York, Bill Cosby