Car Damage

Originally uploaded by willgorman.

I think it’s about time that the people of Kansas City collectively sat down and reassessed their winter driving skills. They clearly need some work. Snow and ice seem to bring out the idiot in people in a way that I’ve rarely seen back in Ohio, and the first snow storm of the year is apparently some kind of grand jubilee for them. Pictured is the handiwork done to Jolayne’s car today by one of our fair city’s mentally enfeebled wintertime drivers. Jolayne, fortunately, is totally fine though understandably not too happy. She was heading home early to try to miss the worst of the expected storm when another driver (uninsured, naturally) triggered a 4 car chain reaction of which Jolayne was car number 4. A pickup truck from the lane next to her sideswiped her as a result of the initial collision. A close call definitely, and we’re certainly relieved it wasn’t much worse, but it’s frustrating nonetheless. It’s a pretty busy time of year anyway, plus with grad school and her practicum and getting ready to head home for Christmas in a couple weeks we sort of had enough to do without having a car out of commission for a little while. Not that it would ever be a good time for this to happen, but this time is definitely not the best.

Comments

Comment by Dave on 2006-11-30 20:53:54 +0000

I’m glad you folks are unhurt. You have my sympathies about the car, as I’ve had my share of people crashing into various of mine.

Comment by Carrie on 2006-11-30 22:34:23 +0000

Ack! I’m glad Jolayne didn’t get hurt, but man does that suck.

Comment by Will on 2006-12-02 14:17:16 +0000

Thanks for the concern, it looks like hopefully this isn’t going to be as much of problem as we thought. We were able to get a rental car and find a body shop to come pick up Jolayne’s car yesterday.

Comment by Ash on 2006-12-18 11:02:09 +0000

Ouch! Glad Jolayne didn’t get hurt. And, YES, KC drivers are pathetic. I tried my darndest not to drive into work on the days that it was going to snow while I was there.

Our parents are trying to kill us

Originally uploaded by willgorman.

That’s the only possible reason I could think of that they would send us back from Ohio with so much candy, cookies, and snacks. I mean, look at that pile. Can two people reasonably be expected to eat all that and not explode in an apocalyptic blast wave of blubber? You can’t even see it in the picture, but behind all that there’s a bread box stuffed with about six bags of delicious homemade cookies. This picture was taken a couple weeks ago after we got back, but we’ve still got a ton of this stuff left, even after I took some cookies to share at work. If anyone feels a candy binge coming on, please feel free to stop by. We’re in over our heads here.

Brian Ritchie’s pick!

Originally uploaded by willgorman.

Tonight Jolayne and I went to see the Violent Femmes play at the Madrid Theatre as part of the 25th anniversary celebration for The Pitch, KC’s local alt-weekly paper. We showed up pretty early, well before the doors opened, hoping to get a good seat in the Madrid’s awesome balcony. Due to getting there just as they were starting a second line for entry we managed to be one of the first people in. However, they had the balcony blocked off for more important people than us apparently and so we headed on to the main floor. That ended up being the best thing that could have happened though, as we were able to grab a spot right in front of the stage. It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen a show from up close, as these days we tend to try to find places to get a good view of shows while being able to sit down. It’s definitely more comfortable that way, but not always as engaging and this was definitely a good show to be front and center for. Watching the show it was hard to believe that the Femmes have been around for almost 25 years themselves because they still put on such an energetic show. We were standing just a few feet from Brian Ritchie and got to witness up close some bass solos that came dangerously close to being face-melting. Victor DeLorenzo is likely the most animated drummer you’ll ever see, opting to stand (and jump and flail) rather than sit as he attacks his minimalist drum kit. And of course there’s Gordon Gano’s instantly recognizable voice. As they were finishing the last song of their encore (“Kiss Off”), Brian threw his pick right at us. Actually there’s some debate about that and Jolayne’s probably right when she says that, technically, he tossed it to her. However, I immediately reached out to grab it as well and with our combined fumbling we almost lost it. Fortunately, and in spite of our efforts, it came to rest on Jolayne’s shoulder. So yeah, with an awesome show and a cool souvenir to boot it was was definitely a memorable evening.

Bleh.

Originally uploaded by willgorman.

Maybe you’re like me and you find yourself unable to resist trying out the different novelty and seasonal variations of snacks and pop. Maybe if you saw candy corn flavored soda on a store shelf you might think “Hey, that’s worth a try” instead of shaking your head and walking right on by as any sane person would do. If that’s you, let me do you a favor with a word of advice: don’t. This was hands down the worst pop I’ve ever had, and as those that know me are aware, I’m not exactly picky about pop. The first clue after you open the can that something isn’t right is the color. It’s a yellow more strikingly unnatural than Mountain Dew highlighter fluid yellow. I don’t want to say it looks like dark yellow urine, but it doesn’t not look like dark yellow urine. If that’s not enough to dissuade you there, we can move on to the taste. It tastes nothing like candy corn. You might think that’s a good thing as pure liquified candy corn does sound fairly repellent. This is worse. It starts off with a short burst of citrus taste that fades into a kind of syrupy, almost buttery taste. It’s kind of like someone poured melted butter rum lifesavers into a Mountain Dew, and it’s every bit as sickeningly sweet as if that were the case. It’s so sweet that you almost want to brush your teeth after every sip to keep them from falling out. The fact that it turns your teeth yellow certainly doesn’t help matters. In fact, it’s so syrupy that when I poured the remainder of a glass of it into the sink, it left a yellow syrup film on the glass. I couldn’t even bring myself to finish a full 8 oz. can of the vile stuff. Between Jolayne and myself we only drank maybe half a can. The good news is that it comes in just a 4 can pack, but the bad news is that it’s still 3 ¹⁄₂ cans too many. I expected better from Jones Soda really. The only people that I could imagine liking this would be hyperactive 12 year olds but they’d probably drink straight corn syrup anyway. My only hope is that this can serve as a warning to stop someone else from making the same mistake. Don’t let this unspeakable terror claim another victim.

Comments

Comment by Dan on 2005-09-18 09:08:00 +0000

I will give the can design some props though. If you’re a fan of black cherry, keep a look out for Doc Browns Black Cherry Soda (both regular and diet). Mighty tasty.

Commando Bear 2000!!!!!!

Originally uploaded by willgorman.

So Jolayne’s parent’s are in town this weekend and we’re taking them around KC and we happened to end up at the City Market today. We were looking around at an Asian market when I saw the most amazing thing in the world. Commando. Bear. 2000!!!! Holy crap. It’s an energy drink, obviously. No one’s going to name a fiber shake Commando Bear 2000. Although until today I thought no one would name anything Commando Bear 2000 so that shows what I know. I can only imagine this beverage being named by a room full of coked-out marketing execs on a deadline. “Ok, so this drink is like a dude who’s a commando by day but at night he turns into a bear! Or maybe a talking bear commando! Whatever! The point is he has to go back in time to the year 2000 to save the world! And he needs this energy drink to do it!” Commando Bear 2000 is an clearly an energy drink with a back story.

Comments

Comment by Neal on 2005-07-03 19:45:30 +0000

Don’t you know that the year 2000 is always in the future?!

Comment by Ben Lewis on 2005-07-24 21:19:01 +0000

But we’re gonna party like it’s 1999.

Mourning dove nest

Originally uploaded by willgorman.

When we got back from the wedding and honeymoon, we found that mourning doves had built a nest in the hanging plant on our balcony. At the time, the mother was sitting on the eggs and we didn’t have the heart to kick her out. Obviously this meant the end of our hanging plant as we could no longer water it. There are now 2 baby mourning doves and we’re just waiting for them to be able to leave the nest so we can finally get rid of the ugly dead hanging plant and get a new one. They’ve gotten big pretty quickly, so hopefully it isn’t too much longer. Our cat Cleo watches them with interest through the window from time to time but she’s such a housecat that I doubt she even has any idea what to do with them.

Comments

Comment by Seth on 2005-06-14 08:22:08 +0000

Silly doves! Amanda & I had a mom & two eggs that just hatched about a week ago. Maybe it’s been two.

Same exact setup – nest built in the hanging basket, basket dying and drying up. We were away this weekend, and when I returned the whole family, nest and all, had moved out. They didn’t leave a note or anything so I am worried that they may have been evicted by our condo association.

But the geranium seems to have lived, albeit in poor health, and I’ve begun watering it again yesterday. Hopefully it’ll make a full recovery.

Comment by Will on 2005-06-15 07:58:08 +0000

Our birds finally left the nest a couple of days ago leaving behind nothing more than a fair amount of poop on our balcony rail, as is the custom of their people. Sadly, our plant was not as lucky as yours.

originally uploaded by Chaos!.

My inner 12 year old is in love with the Bad Signs photo group at Flickr. Also good: Stick Figures in Peril

Built to Spill @ the Madrid Theatre

Originally uploaded by willgorman.

Went to see Built to Spill at the Madrid last night. I was surprised they were touring since they haven’t released an album since I last saw them in 2001 (though apparently a new album may be out this fall). I certainly wasn’t complaining though; I was thrilled to see them again and definitely not disappointed to hear a lot of their older material. It’s just that good. Heard a couple songs which I thought were probably new stuff though, and they sounded awesome. If the new album is like that it should be great, whenever it gets here.

I think the Madrid is now one of my favorite venues in KC, though it seems to be rarely used for shows. It’s really open inside, has an awesome balcony, and isn’t hot, sweaty, and odor-filled. It’s definitely nicely restored. Jolayne and I sat up on the balcony, because you know, we’re old and lazy. It was a great view though. I’m really hoping to be able to see more shows there in the future.

Comments

Comment by Neal on 2005-05-27 13:14:52 +0000

When Brett and I saw Cake recently, we made a bee-line to the few chairs in the balcony of the PromoWest Pavillion. Squeezing into a standing floor space near the stage is just not worth it.

Also, about half way through the opening band I realized that there was no haze in the air and my eyes were not stinging. I never expected it to make much difference, but the Columbus indoor smoking ban really made the experience better.

Comment by Brett on 2005-05-27 18:58:07 +0000

I agree, The Madrid is a pretty nice venue. That’s where I saw Shiner’s last shebang back in January ’03. The setup is not unlike the Newport, but it’s a lot cleaner. I saw the first half of the show from right up front and then headed up to the middle balcony to check out the rest of it. Both were great spots.