Inspirational Word of the Day, originally uploaded by EricKrassinger.

Never piss off a guy who owns a backhoe.
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Test post using Flickr, originally uploaded by EricKrassinger.

Pic of all my friends passed out in Jamaica.
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What a disastrously fun weekend that was had in KC for the Big 12 Championship game in KC for the MU vs Oklahoma game.  Poor planning and some misfortune caused the disastrous part but overall it was a great trip.

The weekend started with a large group of us bar hopping on Wash Ave. We went from Rue 13 to Lucas Park to Lure. The first two were totally dead but Lure had a pretty good crowd. I suspect the small crowds were due to the utter cold. Some of us concluded the night by going to our favorite pizza place. As you may or may not have heard, I left the place “screaming” and went home. In all reality, I had some heartburn so I didn’t want to wait for everyone else to finish.

Ted, Mike, and I woke up bright early after less than 3 hours of sleep to meet my cousin at the Amtrak station downtown for the ride to KC. None of us had any clue what to expect. Surprisingly the train was pretty cool. I wish I wouldn’t have been so tired but it was fun seeing the country side plus being able to walk around wherever you wanted. If only Mike and Ted did not think it was so funny to wake me up every time I started to fall asleep.

We arrived at the historic Independence train station to find out that KC cab company that I called previously lied to me when they told me there would be cabs at this station. This station was in the middle of no where so I am not sure why they told me that. Anyways, we called a cab that arrived fashionably over an hour late after he got lost. We killed time by making friends with an old timer that was working there. We were told to go to the Sheraton because they had a good bar that was close to the stadium. We wanted to get some food plus we wanted to watch the Florida game while we waited for the rest of the group to get to the stadium to start the tailgating. They had a Mexican buffet so it was good.

Tailgating was pretty fun. It was very cold but I was wearing 5 layers of cloths so I was pretty well prepared. I did have a great time hanging out with Smith and Rengel. It is not often that they are out on their own like that.

We finally decided to go to the game even though everyone, included the Tigers team, knew they did not stand a chance. The first quarter was competitive but we fell apart in the 2nd. The combination of our dismal pass rush and Daniel’s inability to make good decisions put us in a deficit real quick. We decided at half time to find the mysterious shuttles to take us downtown.

We got downtown around 10PM. We went to the new Power and Light district. I has heard numerous recommendations on this area. I was not disappointed. The same builder of this area is supposed to be the one building Ball Park Village. I would be totally grateful if BP Village was half as cool as P&L district. I liked the area so much that it would be worth going back to KC in the summer just for it. We started out at McFadden’s. I am assuming it is the same chain that I went to in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was packed since the game was still on. It was okay but not my style. We then went to Lucky Strike. I would have never thought that a bowling alley would be a place to go to but I was proved wrong. It was a part bowling alley and part ultra lounge. I think Flamingo Bowl and Pin Up Bowl need to look at Lucky Strike’s model. We then concluded with the bar that I really wanted to go to, Angels Rock Bar. Rue 13 would be the bar that would be most similar to this because of its layout and video DJ but that is it. The thing that made this bar different was the amount of hot girls in it plus the fact that they played all Rock music. I would do anything for a bar like this in St Louis. I think it would be a great model for anyone looking to open a bar on Wash Ave. This bar along with RockIt in Chicago seem to be very popular.

We had some time to kill, approximately 4.5 hours so we decided the best bet would be to go to the Casino. We picked Harrah’s. It was packed full of sports fans. I watched Mike play roulette for a couple hours. We did run into an interesting guy probably about 25 at the roulette table. He kept placing even bets on only black and red. I kept telling him that there was no possible way for him to win and he would lose everything if it hit a zero. He kept saying that he liked paying for kids education. I think he was way to drunk. He kept saying he was going to drop another grand which he definitely had in his wallet. He at least dropped a couple hundred while we were there briefly.

After eating breakfast at the casino we decided to head to the train station. Unfortunately, it was not open yet when we arrived. Luckily a side door was open and we were able to go into this large Union Station when all the lights were off. A guard immediately came down and said they were closed but we could wait in this area until they opened. We finally got into the waiting area where we slept for a while.

We finally got on the train around 7:30 to only find out, after sitting on the train for 2 more hours, that the bad boy was not operable. The master plan was to ride a bus. They of course said it was going to be 15 minutes but it was way over an hour. We were afraid that it was going to stop at all the train stops plus be a crappy bus so we were not looking forward to it. Surprisingly, we got a brand new bus that was headed only for St Louis. The bus trip was a great time. I got some good laughs with Mike and Ted on the bus. One of my favorite classic conversations with Mike was had about McDonalds double cheeseburger after we made a pit stop. He purposedly got a double hamburger because he likes to give this image that he does not like cheese. 

The rest of my pictures can be found on my Flickr page.

I wrote a while back about my distaste in Taco Bell and McDonald’s for advertising prices excessively but the stores that I go to do not honor them. I again want to express my anger with Taco Bell with something I didn’t think was a big deal but I now do after pondering with it over my tacos. The last two times I have gone to the same location they have charged me $.25 for water. I have always wondered why more stores do not charge for water more since that cup and water does cost them something. I thought it was okay until I realized today that it doesn’t state anywhere on the menu or in the store that they charge for a cup of water. Nor did the counter person indicate that she was going to charge me for water. I think they are really sneaking in a water charge because a majority of the places give it away for free. In conclusion, I have no problem with them charge me but they at least need to let me know.

First off, even though I have been listening to Of Montreal for the pasy year I never really looked up any information on them. I did a quick Wikipedia search and was amazed what I found. Kevin Barnes, the lead singer,  is a married white man whose alter ego is a black transsexual named Georgie Fruit. Pretty crazy right? There are commparisons being made to David Bowie’s alter ego Ziggy Stardust. I guess I should not be at all suprised since I went to their concert last year which was very off the wall but great. 

I have not seen a single positive review for this album yet. Everyone stated that this album was an “expressions of art”  so it is “out there.” All Of Montreal albums are like this. It also stated that is was a mix of rock, funk, and porn grooves. What is wrong with that? Is that any different that the last one? So if you have not figured it out, I do like this album. It is no “Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?” but it is good. The reason I say that is because there is no one song that I immediately thought was awesome but it is defintely some good tunes to listen to on a long drive.

I can’t wait for the concert this Friday at the Pageant.

I again tried to watch another political debate, but I failed. I was actually nervous for both of the incumbents. To me, McCain looks really nervous and he showed his age by constantly writing notes on his pad. What was with him even writing notes when he first got out there? It gave the appearance that he was unprepared and quickly writing down some thoughts. I also thought both of them stumbled alot more than VPs did in the their debate. I tried to find a link to the Family Guy episode “Mr Griffin Goes To Washington” that just happened to be on last night because they have a song entitle “That Guy”. I thought it would be good to commemorate McCain’s “That One” comment. I also really liked that the narrator kept saying that they only had 1 minute to talk. I am not sure why I found this comical. Maybe it is because I have taken so many public speech classes in the past 6 months and no one ever sticks to the time limit. Or maybe it was the mere fact that I felt the moderator was scolding them like little children every time he reminded them.

In another note, I played a lot more Rock Band 2 last night. I finally found out what it meant to “gold star” a song. I really had to dig since it is not in the manual nor mentioned in the one walkthrough online. To gold star a song, you have to play well enough to basically get a sixth (imaginary) star. I have gotten 100% probably 50 times but have never received this gold star achievement. I dug a little deeper and it looks like you might have to play on hard or expert to get this. I found the score you need for Rock Band 1 online, but not Rock Band 2 songs. I also like the new Logitech wireless microphone for Rock Band. This rounds out the wireless peripherals since a wireless drum and guitar is now offered by Harmonix. I also have only 1 more song to unlock on Rock Band 2. The song is Visions by Abnormality. It is supposedly the hardest song in the game and compared to Through the Fire and the Flames in difficulty. It is a bonus song which are superposed to be unlocked in Career mode but I do not see it and I thought I had all the venue unlocked. Any help would be greatly appreciated since I couldn’t find anything online.

I am trying out this whole blogging experience for the first time. You will have to wait and see if I follow through with it but I feel like I have a lot to say.