mattybaker.com

Pruning!, originally uploaded by mattybaker.

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DSC_0052, originally uploaded by dewolla.

Since I don’t have a boat, I am looking at alternative means of pullpulsion…looks like this should work just fine.

DSC_0042, originally uploaded by dewolla.

I’m picking up a new activity…still in the process of gathering all of the equipment…so that’s not me out there but it soon shall be! I’ll try to keep you posted.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=409931

St. Peter’s Square, originally uploaded by mattybaker.

Here is a panoramic of St. Peter’s Square in Rome. It’s made up of at least 5 pics. I uploaded some more of the trip’s pics on my Flickr Account. All of the new ones are from Paris…I have however hit my maximum upload allotment for the month of March…so unless I go pro, I won’t be putting any more pics up on Flickr til April. If you want to flip through what is up there…just click on this pic and it will take you there!

Free Shower!, originally uploaded by mattybaker.

This pic might have been more convincing had I told Joel to take off his hat and gloves…I’ll remember that the next time we’re in Rome.

There are some real advantages to living in Kansas…Flip Flops in February! It’s supposed to be up to 73 today…looks like only 35 in MN. Have fun with that. -Matt

Smart Car, Smart Travellers, originally uploaded by mattybaker.

In Rome, the traffic is CRAZY! Everyone drives just inches from everyone else…with little regard for the stoplights, signs, pedestrians or anything else. There is also a LOT of traffic…and very little room to park. One very popular car over there is the Smart Car. It is almost more of a go-kart than a car. With only two seats and no trunk this car is perfect for getting around the crowded city. As you can see here…the car is nearly a cube. It can be backed into a parking spot sideways and takes up the same amount of space. I want one.

mmmmmmm…..beer.

Originally uploaded by mattybaker.

The Real World Beer Tour was resumed on this Euro-Trip. Here are a handful of the Roman offerings getting cool on the window sill.

Melissa and Brien have put up a website! You can link to it here…and I will put a link up on the links bar on the right. Way to go Buckentines! Click here to visit! You can see the rest of their BWCA trip pics by cliking on the pic below.

Ross sent me a pic of his latest knife creation…”Well here is the latest knife off the bench. This one is made with the trapper/hunter in mind. Strictly made to be a skinning knife it is just 1/16 thick and 8 1/4 inches long. Blade length is 4 inches. Made of o-1 tool steel with a hand rubbed finish. The wood is mystery wood but it looks nice and it buffed out well. It sports a finger groove towards the front for grip and also a extra long lanyard to you can put it around your wrist when in use. I have been calling it the Beaver tail cause I think it kinda looks like one. Of course the wife saw it and said ‘Oh it’s a butter spreader.’ ”

-Good work Ross, looks great…can’t wait til I have a place to start crafting! -Matt

Becki made a new cake for me to bring into work. It tastes delicious…and as you can see…is very pretty! Inside it is a chocolate cake made with a bag of chocolate chips and a packet of pudding mix with chocolate pudding between the layers. Very chocolatey…and very nummy!

Fun with a Mellow-Yellow box.
Click here to see the crazy cat’s video! Here you can see how Renton and the Juan formerly fit into a 12 pack….little bit easier than they do now.

Colosseum

Originally uploaded by mattybaker.

Made this pic from 10 individual pics and then stitched them together using a program called autostitch. It’s a little rough around the edges for now…but i like the effect it has. You can get the program from here…
www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html

Ancient Roman Ruins

Originally uploaded by mattybaker.

Having the pictures put to the side of the text was another option on the Flickr photo program that I am using to blog these pictures…i’ll see if it works better. To get a better view of the pics you can click on them, and then if you click on the “all sizes” button on the upper left you can see a bigger version of the pic! (might not want to do that if you connect through dialup). In any case…here we are in front of some of the ancient Roman ruins that they are working on digging up. While we were there, we were able to watch them scrape away layers of dirt to uncover the past. All very exciting. Felt like we could have been on NOVA.

Driven to Sightsee

Originally uploaded by mattybaker.

Nap time behind the Colosseum. We were roughing it and he got the couch.

Joel, Tom, Bec, and Matt

Originally uploaded by mattybaker.

Here we are sitting at the airport in Rome, waiting for our flight back to Paris. We flew RyanAir which is a discount airline that generally flies out of small/out of town airports. For the most part it’s a great way to get around Europe but in one of their less fun attempts at cutting costs…they don’t assign passengers seats. When it’s time to board the plane, everyone just gathers around like an anxious herd and they start letting people through to board the plane where it is a free for all. We did quite well this round…both getting a bench to sit on while waiting…and ending up first in line. Go TEAM!

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Becki and I in front of Buckingham Palace!

…and haven’t been doing much to update this place…you can take a look at Lisa’s Pics! or Nick’s Pics!
Enjoy!

Becki, Karlyn, and I tried our hands at dipping our own candles. We got wax, wicks, scenting wax (christmas cookie), and color (ivory). To be safe, we made a sort of double boiler out of our crock-pot and the tallest jar we could find. It wasn’t nearly tall enough to make full size candles so they were a bit shorter and fatter than we would have liked but they still burn. Next time we will probably try to melt the wax…still in a double boiler…but on the stove top. The crock-pot wasn’t quite hot enough. To facilitate the melting of the wax we grated the big block with a cheese grater to get it into little flakes and chips, don’t know it that was totally necessary but I had a good time grating the wax…it was very pretty. Like fresh snow. Pics to Come!

Between Halloween and Thanksgiving we’ve made Pumpkin Pie twice. That’s 4 pies. It’s good.

INGREDIENTS:

* 2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
* 2 eggs, lightly beaten
* 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
* 2 cups pumpkin puree
* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon ground ginger
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon ground allspice
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, mix the eggs, evaporated milk and pumpkin.
3. In a separate medium bowl, mix the sugar, flour, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and cloves. Stir into the pumpkin mixture. Pour into the pie crust.
4. Bake in the preheated oven 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and continue baking 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center of the pie comes out clean. Cool on a metal rack.

In this years running of the Tombstone Trail I was accompanied by long time runners and past overall winners Joel and Nick. We had a wonderful run and took 1st place in our class and 3rd place overall. The weather that night was absolutely perfect and it was so nice to be running through cemetaries in the dark in jeans and a shirt. Many past years it has been snowing or raining or terribly windy, but this year the weather was awesome. Lisa and her friend Michael ran the trail this year for their first time and they too had a very enjoyable experience.

In Lisa’s words, “I had SO MUCH FUN at the Tombstone Trail! I wish we could do it again this weekend! :)” If that endorsement doesn’t sell you on the greatness of the TT, nothing will.

My mom made these when I was home for the weekend. They were amazing as usual!

INGREDIENTS:

* 1 cup oil
* 4 eggs
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup chopped nuts
* 2 cups sugar
* 2 cups flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 2 teaspoons cinnamon
* 2 cups pumpkin puree!* 1/2 cup shortening

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. Mix all ingredients together and bake for 35 minutes.

FROSTING:

* 3/4 stick margerine
* 1 tablespoon milk or cream
* 1 3/4 cup powdered sugar
* 3 ounces cream cheese
* 1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix
2. Spread

INGREDIENTS:

* 1/2 cup shortening
* 1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 4 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1 cup raisins
* 1 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Cream shortening and sugar, then add the eggs. Mix well. Add vanilla and pumpkin. Set aside.
3. Sift dry ingredients, then blend into the “wet” ingredients. Fold in the nuts and raisins. Mix well.
4. Drop by heaping teaspoons onto a greased cookie sheet, bake for 10 - 15 minutes. Cool. Best eaten if you let them “ripen” for a day. Store in a sealed container.

Very easy, Very delicious.

* 2 cups raw whole pumpkin seeds
* 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
* 1 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Seperate seeds from stringy pumpkin goop, easily done by placing goop in a strainer and running warm water over it while mashing out the seeds with your fingers/hands (easier done than described).
3. Place seeds in a bowl and mix with oil and salt.
4. Spread seeds on a cookie sheet and bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven, stirring occasionally, until lightly toasted.
5. Enjoy!

This bread was pumpkiny delicious!

INGREDIENTS:

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 2 1/2 cups sugar
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
* 1 cup applesauce
* 4 eggs
* 2 cups fresh pumpkin mush (like we did) or 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
* 1/4 cup water
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Grease two loaf pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, soda, salt, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Stir well. Add applesauce, eggs, pumpkin, and water. Mix batter with mixer. Stir in nuts. Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until tester inserted in center comes out clean.

To make all of this delicious pumpkin goodness you first need to make the pumpkin puree. We took a medium sized pumpkin, cut off the top and scooped out all of the seeds and stringy goop. Then we cut the whole pumpkin into managable slices, cut off the peel and a layer from the inside (you will get a lot of pumpkin meat so don’t hesitate to hack off the peel with a knife). After our slices were peeled, we diced them up into smaller cubes and boiled them on the stove with a little salt for 25 to 30 minutes. Once the pieces were soft and easily pierced with a fork (simliar to potatos) we drained the water (shake well to get rid of as much liquid as possible) and then put the pieces in a bowl and used an electric mixer to turn it into a pretty puree! It had a consistency similar to applesauce and smelled like squash. Simply use this goodness instead of the canned stuff and you will be pleasantly pleased with pumpkin perfection!

This weekend we went out to the pumpkin patch to get some pumpkins so we could carve some jack-o-lanterns. It was a bit chilly out there but they sure had a lot of pumpkins!

For the kids, they had a giant gourd slingshot…

The next time I have an abundance of rotten gourds you can bet I’ll be making one of these. If you look closely you can just see the shot coming down from the sky.

Here’s a fun pic of Becki and Karlyn just outside the pumpkin patch farm.

When we got back to the apartment we did some carving…

some dicing…some peeling, mashing, drying, mixing, baking, and eating! I think we are going to see how many things we can make with pumpkin in them…keep checking back for recipes and updates!!! Yeah!!! Pumpkins!!! Yeah!!!!

Just because they’re so darn cute.



Introducing Myles, Karlyn’s kitty.

They all seem to be getting along just fine.

For all ya’ll who have been wondering what kind of questions are asked in the Tombstone Trail, check out this link. It’s got some examples of questions from the past.

Like a moron, I can remember my camera when I go an hour east of KC into the heart of Missouri, but when I went on the most interesting and beautiful install of my DSI career…to Washington DC and northeastern PA, I forgot my camera. Fortunately Ross, the pharmacist at Pop’s Drugstore in Greentown, PA was kind enough to send me some pics of his pharmacy.

He had a great hand crafted sign that made it very easy to find the pharmacy,

which was located on the ground level of this building. Before Ross and family transformed this space into a pharmacy, it had been a bait shop.

Looks like a pharmacy to me!

I’ll be heading up to MN on the 28th of October in preparation for the 28th annual running of the Tombstone Trail! I’ll let ya’ll know how that all went down afterwards…in the meantime you can check out their site
http://www.marblesoft.com/tombstone/.

Brien says…
Melissa and I made some killer bars this weekend here is the receipe:

Rocky Road Bars
For the first layer:
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 to
1 cup coarsely chopped toasted walnuts, pecans, or peanuts
1 teaspoon baking powder

For the second layer:
6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 egg, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup toated walnuts, pecans, or peanuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
some marshmallows

For the frosting:
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
2 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup whole milk
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and flour a 9×13-inch pan. To make the first layer: Place the butter and chocolate in a small pan and cook over the lowest possible heat until almost all the chocolate has melted. Off heat, add the sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, nuts, and baking powder and mix well. Press into the prepared pan and set aside. To make the second layer: Place the cream cheese, sugar, flour, butter, egg, and vanilla in the bowl of a mixer fitter with a paddle and mix until smooth and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the nuts, mix to combine, and spread over the first layer. Sprinkle with the chocolate chips and transfer to the oven. Bake until slightly golden on the edges, about 20 to 25 minutes. Sprinkle the second layer with the marshmallows and return the pan to the oven until the marshmallows are just melted but not colored, about 3 minutes. To make the frosting: Place the butter and chocolate in a small pan and cook over the lowest possible heat until almost all the chocolate has melted. Add the cream cheese and milk and mix until smooth. Add the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla and mix until smooth. Immediately pour the frosting over the marshmallows and briefly swirl the two mixtures together. Cool in the pan and cut into 36 to 48 bars. Cover and refrigerate.

Enjoy! (send a pic if you make these!)

I am going to try posting the recipes here in the blog, and then link to just the recipes from the main page…I’ll see if that makes the recipe section of my site actually something that is updated occasionally and somewhat useful. Good Luck, Enjoy.

Morgan’s Meatloaf.
* 2 lb ground beef
* 1 onion, chopped
* 2 large white mushrooms, chopped
* 1/2 green pepper, chopped
* 2 cups breadcrumbs
* 2 eggs, beaten
* 1/4 cup milk
* 1/2 cup ketchup, plus more for the top
* 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
* 2-3 slices bacon

preheat oven to 400 degrees. grease 9×5 loaf pan with butter. mix all ingredients with clean hands, then press into loaf pan. spread a thick layer of ketchup over the top and place bacon slices across horizontally. bake for 1hr 15mins. remove from oven and let sit at least 10mins before slicing.

Previous to moving to Kansas I had never even heard of Jambalaya and previous to this post I similarly had no idea how to spell it, well, let me tell you, Jambalaya is amazing. My first taste of it was from my co-worker Justin. He was talking about it one day and I had no idea what it was, so the next time he made some, he brought some to work for me. It was alright…but very similar to his Fantasy Football team…it just didn’t seem to be all that. It may have just been the day or the time though…so for me to give him an honest evaluation he might consider bringing in another sample (the best time would be this Friday…with enough for Adison and Dane too). In any case, that had been my only experience with Jambalaya previous to last night when I got home from work. Actually it was after work, the hobby shop, the airfield, and then flying my helicopter…so I was rather hungry. A hungry man if you will. Becki and Karlyn decided to spend some time in the kitchen to try out a new recipe, “Man Pleasin’ Jambalaya.” The name really says it all. I was pleased. I had leftovers for lunch today, and I was still pleased. I plan to have the remaining leftovers for lunch tomorrow and very much anticipate being pleased. In any case, here is the recipe…Justin you might want to write this down for the next time you want to please a man.

INGREDIENTS:

* 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - diced
* 3 cups chicken broth
* 1-1/2 cups long grain white rice
* 1/2 pound smoked sausage, sliced
* 2 tablespoons vegetable/sunflower(from kansas yeah!)/peanut oil
* 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
* 1 onion, finely chopped
* 2 carrots, thinly sliced
* 1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
* 1/2 (8 ounce) can mushroom pieces, drained
* 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
* salt and pepper to taste
* 3 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 orange habanero, finely chopped (the most important ingredient)
* 1 16oz can of diced tomatoes (our’s were in cilantro and lime)
* 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
* 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
* 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
* bag of frozen shimp

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently until soft. Add the chicken and continue cooking and stirring so that it does not stick. When the chicken is browned, add the carrots, celery, mushrooms, bell pepper and sausage and shrimp.
2. Pour in the broth, and bring to a boil. Add the rice, and season with cayenne, salt and pepper. Cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes, until rice is tender and broth has been absorbed.

This weekend Becki and I went out to the Renaissance Festival. My co-worker Dane had kindly given us tickets to the Festival and as it was the second to last weekend and because the weather was absolutely wonderful, we decided that this was the weekend to go.

It was very similar to the Minnesota RenFest but much more condensed…it seemed like everything at the MN festival was crammed into about half the space down here.

I am so impressed with the childrens’ rides at these things, all of them are literally man powered…there are like 10 different rides that are totally amazing to anyone under 7, that don’t need anything more than manpower…that was cool. Very environmentally friendly. It was also very neat to see the forge this time…after having seen Ross’ setup out in PA and the kind of things he is able to create, it was fun to see in firey action!

Because the RenFest is located just minutes from the Kansas City Speedway and because this just so happened to be the NASCAR race weekend, we decided to go snoop around the race track. The race had been going on for about an hour when we drove up and so we were pretty free to drive around the outside of the track area unimpeded by traffic or traffic cops. We found a spot where we could actually see the cars racing so we watched them for a about minute…that was all we needed to have our fill. Go Team!

Got a new movie today, Tim Burton’s the Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s a great flick. It’s not as scary as it sounds, it’s actually rated PG and geared mostly toward children as an alternative Christmas tale.
‘Twas a long time ago, longer now than it seems
In a place that perhaps you’ve seen in your dreams.
For the story that you are about to be told
Began with the holiday worlds of old.

Now, you’ve probably wondered where holidays come from.
If you haven’t, I’d say it’s time you begun.
For holidays are the result of much fuss
And hard work for the worlds that create them for us.
Well, you see now, quite simply that’s all that they do–
Making one unique holiday, especially for you.
But once, a calamity ever so great occurred
When two holidays met by mistake.

Spooooooooooooooooooooooky~! I also was listening to a Blink182 song the other day when i realized that it referenced the movie…how cool? Check it out sometime, it’s “I Miss You” (song #3 on their self-titled album).

I recently installed a pharmacy system at Pop’s Drug Store in Greentown, PA. Greentown is in the middle of the Pocono region of northeastern PA and southern NY…and I have to say that my stay there was nothing but enjoyable and relaxing. Because my flight was $300 less expensive if I flew out there on Saturday (instead of Sunday or Monday), I got into PA early on Saturday afternoon. I had some trouble getting a rental car as the Enterprise at the Scranton Airport isn’t actually at the Scranton Airport and it closes at noon on Saturdays (my flight landed at 1). Fortunately there were 4 other rental companies at the airport but I had no idea with which my company had a corporate account and whether or not they would rent to me as I am under 25. I started at one end of the counter and worked my way down, asking each if my company was listed in their corporate accounts and if not, if they rent to children, and what it would cost. After going to Budget, National, and Hertz, I finally got to AVIS which did have my company listed and was able to hook me up with a sweet Hyndai Sonota. I got into the car and headed south. I took my free day to run down to DC to visit Katie Tilley who has been living out there since the end of the last presidential campaign…as it was only a couple of hours away and I had some time to kill it was a wonderful opportunity. I went out with Katie and her mate’s that night, had a good time, caught up with some former Kerry campaigners, and got my drink on. The next day I drove back up to Greentown and got a room at a Comfort Inn. They weren’t too busy this time of year as the tourist season had just ended so they gave me a room with a jacuzzi…that was nice. The install went very well, it was a beautiful small town pharmacy with a full front end and warm cozy feel. Ross, the pharmacist invited me over to his house to see his very interesting and somewhat unique hobby, he makes knives. It was really cool to see some of the pieces that he has made and also the tools with which he made them. He is even starting to work with forging knives from scrap metal and has a small forge and anvil for that. It was all very interesting. Here are some of his most recent creations.


My flight outta PA was on Thursday morning, some dreary weather delayed my first flight about an hour. Fortunately I had enough of a layover before my next flight that I was able to catch it with little undue stress. After flying from Scranton to Philly, Philly to Chicago, and then Chicago to KC, I’ve had enough of commercial flying for a while…you can bet I’ll be going back to the Poconos though…and will certainly stop in to visit Ross and family! -matt

My parent’s are redoing the entryway to the house and my dad sent me a pic today. Looking Good.

Congratulations to Ben and Amanda Ramler.

Target and Yahoo! have teamed up to make digital pics WAY more convenient to print. I use Yahoo! to keep most of my digital pics online…they give me unlimited space and seem to have a nice enough layout to work for my purposes…they won’t let me download my full quality pic yet but hopefully someday I will be able to that too. In any case, Yahoo! has reacently teamed up with Target to allow pics to be printed directly from one’s Yahoo! account. The other day Bec sent a handful of pics that we had been talking about printing for over a year…and 4 hours later we picked them up from the local Target in Lawrence. It was pretty cool…and the price was the same as normal too. It was very handy. If any of you want copies of any of our pics…go ahead and order them straight from the Yahoo! site…just select your store and you’ll be good to go. You can get to our pics by clicking here!

Last week I installed a pharmacy in Stanberry, MO. Stanberry is about an hour north of Kansas City, and as chance may have it, Brad, the hardware tech I was travelling with had his family’s cabin not far from there. Brad invited me to stay there instead of a hotel and I jumped at the offer.

Although we were unable to find an open restaurant or even a grocery store, we survived by getting supplies from the Country Corner Convenience Store.

Brad took me on a tour of the grounds…

and then we found some additional supplies in the fridge. It was Miller Time.

Bec ran her first 5k race this weekend…It was a fundraiser race for Parkinson’s Disease and she was the 13th female across the finish line with a time just over 27 minutes!!! Here is the photo finish…got her just as she was crossing the finish line. Go Becki!

We got KITTIES!!! Becki and I had been talking about getting a cat for a while now, (Karlyn just got one)…so on Labor Day weekend we decided to check out a couple of animal shelters to see what was available. After checking out a couple of places we settled on da bruddas, Renton and Juan (Renton is all orange, Juan has the white patches). Both of them are fixed and have their first round of shots. Click here to download their video (it’s about 2megs so it might take a little while to download on dialup). They’re pretty cute!

This past weekend I did an install in Belton, MO…that is just on the Southwest edge of Kansas City. As it was over an hour from Lawrence and the pharmacy was open from 8:30 am to 8:30 pm, I stayed at an Econo-Lodge. It was wonderful.

The pharmacy was in the old downtown area of Belton,


the pharmacy was quite pretty from the outside,


and there were a lot of trains in Belton.

I also saw a nice artistic bike rack.

My car has been working great….but…it’s melllllllllllltttttttttttinnnnng. How weird is that?! I broke off the plasic that melted and covered the left tailpipe and then tied it down with the wire from a notebook (MacGyver style). It may be time to invest in a new muffler.

Last weekend, Bec and I drove down to southern Missouri with some co-workers of mine, we went on a little float trip down the Elk River. We camped out on Friday night and were on the river on Saturday. Most of the others on the trip were staying Saturday night as well…but I had to be back at work on Sunday. Because we had to get back to Lawrence on Saturday night, we did a little more paddling and a little less floating than the rest of the bunch but still had a wonderful time. All I’ve got are a couple of pics of the river and one of Ivy.

This past weekend I did the install and training for an existing customer in Carrollton, MO.

It was a nice little pharmacy in a nice little town.

DSI rented a nice little red car for me,

for dinner we went to a nice little diner,


we tried to go out for ice-cream…there was this nice little place called the Dairy-Maid,

but when I got up to the window…I asked them if they take Visa….American Express….Discover…..Mastercard….and the girl behind the window said Nooooooooooooo…Huhhggggh HAaghhght.
I got a super rate at a Super8, there was a bed, a chair and a TV.

In the hotel I spent some time flying my helicopter….

and while it was charging…I watched helicopters on the television.

Overall the install went very well…and here’s the actual car that i got to rent.

There are several reasons why I have not been spending much time updating this blog…but the primary reason is that I GOT THE MOST AMAZING TOY IN THE ENTIRE WORLD! I recently purchased a radio controlled helicopter. So far it has been pretty much the center of my life. Before you all run out and buy one…I have to caution you that it has a HUGE learning curve. I have had it for nearly 3 weeks and am just starting to be able to hover for a significant amount of time. It is battery powered and it takes 2 hours to charge the batteries and about 15 minutes to drain them. Besides waiting for batteries there is also considerable time spent troubleshooting and repairing after a “rough landing”. I have replaced two parts so far..and tonight will be attempting to diagnose another problem that may lead to a new tail rotor motor. Anyway, here is a pic of the chopper…I am sure that there will be many more in the following months.

Hey all,
I am going to make a valiant effort to get this thing somewhat updated today..check back for more later.