U2 at St. Louis - Part 3 (Thursday and the trip home)

We slept in a bit and when I finally got up, BB was long gone on his way back to KC. Lou and I packed everthing up and headed out for the day.

This is the Hotel we stayed out. For breakfast, we walked a couple of blocks over to a starbucks. I love Egg Nog Latte. but she got a Gingerbread Latte and it was yummy.
Across from our hotel the new Busch stadium is under construction.

We headed over the the City Museum to check it out. This is definitely a place that Goose and Turkey would love. We'll have to come back.

[city museum]
We then went over to Guido's Pizzeria on The Hill for lunch. I had to have some St. Louis style pizza before we left.
We left St. Louis and stopped in St. Charles to check out their historic Main street. It was a neat little area and it was all decked out for Christmas. My mom would have a good time here.

Even though this street is a real old historic street, it seemed to have a fairytale quality to it.


We lost track of time. 3:00- time to head backt to Kansas City.

U2 at St. Louis - Part 2 (Vertigo Tour 2005)

The show began with The Arcade Fire's Wake Up being played at full volume and then being disrupted by a Zoo TV-like audio clip, repeating the word "everything, everything." Soon you hear some guitar drones by the edge and he is on the left hand side of the stage being back-lit by a single strobe. The drones soon turn into the intro to the City of Blinding Lights and the show is on the way.

[I took some pictures throughout the show. Some of the pictures, I am using effects to create visually what you are hearing and some pictures I took without any effects to get a clearer shot.]

Here is the setlist:

Main Set: City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo - She Loves You, Elevation, Gloria, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - In a Little While, Beautiful Day - Many Rivers to Cross, Original of the Species, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, Love and Peace or Else, Sunday Bloody Sunday - Rock the Casbah, Bullet the Blue Sky, Miss Sarajevo, Pride, Where the Streets Have No Name, One

Encore (s): Until the End of the World, Mysterious Ways, With or Without You, Stuck In a Moment You Can't Get Out Of, Instant Karma, Yahweh, 40

U2 at St. Louis - Part 1 (everything before the show)

The date is Wednesday the 14th of December 2005. It is a little after 11a.m. and BB arrives at my house. My sister Lou and I have packed everthing in my car and we are ready to head over to St. Louis. I can't believe the moment is finally here. It seems like we bought theU2 tickets 9 months ago and the wait has been forever. But now we are leaving...

But first, we get some lunch. A quick stop at Oklahoma Joe's for some fine Kansas City BBQ and then we are on our way.

BB had to leave early the next day to get back for a job interview, so he had to drive seperate. He did a good job of keeping up, although I think he complained about going to fast. I don't know how fast grandma usually drives but wer were keeping up with the flow of traffic going about 80 mph.
In the outskirts, we finally see signs of our destination city. We are close and I am ready to get on my feet.


We pull off I-70 on Broadway street to find our hotel and to do a quick drive by the arena to see if we can walk.



A nice view of the arch from our 8th floor window at the Hilton St. Louis Pavilian Hotel.

More views from our window.

Each bus stop had a huge poster of tonights show. I wanted to take one but they were locked behind glass. It seemed like all of downtown was buzzing about the show tonight. The hotel staff wanted to talk about the show before we left. We walked over to Union Station and grabbed a bite in their food court. We met other people from Memphis and Indiana going to the show. U2 has some nice fans.

Our seats are at the end of this aisle and we couldn't be any more centered than this. I was on one side of the rail and my sister was on the other side.

Come to find out that the same crazy coldplay fan is also a crazy U2 fan, but he is happy as he just came back from buying some t-shirts.

Kanye West was the opening act. Before he came out on stage, Bono suprised everyone and came out to introduce Kanye. It was cool that Kanye didn't have a posse. Just him, a dj, and an all female string section: 2 cellos, 4 violins, and one harp. The girls were dressed in black dresses except for the first violin who had on a white dress. She deserved the special attention because this little asian girl was getting down. I have never seen hip-hop moves on a violin, but it was cool.
Now we are waiting for U2 to come on stage. The arena is black except for 6 red lamps over the stage. (a red-orange glow!)

Christmas Cards

Okay, earlier I spoke of how we came to terms with not doing Christmas cards this year. Making and desgining Christmas cards is something that I have enjoyed doing for as long as Vernal and I have been married. Vernal adds a lot of design input into the overall look and direction of the card and is a good vote of confidence.

I have always enjoyed getting cards that have a personal touch, a photo, a written message. But I do understand how difficult it is to send out 200 cards and write a message to each. That is our dilemma: how to maintain personality and balance the massive undertaking of making the cards.

That is why we gave up this year. It was early December and I hadn't thought about any design ideas. To keep cost down I would usually buy cardstock paper (8.5 x 11) and print them at work. I would try to come up with a black and white design so that it really isn't costing them for color prints. I would then have to cut each card and fold and then after that Vernal and I would write messages. We just didn't have time and I didn't have an idea.

I think the other factor contributing toward my attitude is the Church's Christmas Card drop-off. In general, it is a good idea. It saves lots of money not having to buy stamps. And I very much enjoy receiving cards from others...But the problems are: Where do you draw the limit? Do I give a card to everybody int the directory? Should I feel bad for the people who I don't give cards? Do these people really care? etc.

I opened a few cards the other day and one was a bland religious themed card and when you opened it up there was a computer printed sticker of the givers name. What's up with that? They couldn't even write there name. That is why we weren't going to do cards. If giving cards is that automatic and that cold and un-human, then why bother. I wish those people would just save the money, because it really means nothing to me.

Vernal was thrilled and relieved when I asked her if we could skip cards this year.

But there is a new Christmas card trend that is getting bigger and bigger each year and that is the photo card. Yes, I believe they are cheesy as all get out with their premade templates, but I find them very enjoyable. We get these from friends that we haven't seen in a while and each year there is the photo update on their family or just the kids. The message is simple and friends like to see friends. Sometimes there is a letter attached and sometimes not, but I think there is not a written expectation with the photo card. With the photo card the picture tells the story and personal words are not necessary. (All of this justification came to me later.)

So last Friday night, I sat down in front of our computer to pick out some photos to print to put in a frame for my mom's birthday and I came across this picture I took of downtown as I was driving home one day. I hadn't seen it before, because I just downloaded the pictures on to my computer.

That got me thinking - I could add the word merry christmas and then I thought what if I add a picture of the boys...or the whole family in black and white. What if I add a star and make the whole graphic look like some abstract christmas tree and yet keep it off in the corner so that the actual photo still has presence. I didn't mean too, but one thing lead to another and soon I had designed a Christmas Card.

"This is perfect!" I said as I tried to convice Vernal who was still happy at not having to do cards this year. "We don't have to write any messages. It is on the card. I know it's lame, but everybody else is doing it that way," I say as I pull out a photocard of her highschool friend's boy standing in front of a chirstmas tree. "This just might work. It is only 15 cents per picture to print at Sam's club and we don't have to put them in envelopes for the church people. We'll treat it like a postcard."

This has been the easiest and quickest Christmas Card I have done in 9 years. It took about 12 hours from the idea to holding them in my hand... and I have tons of ideas for next years card. Can't wait.

My visit to Narnia

I love ideas and images. That is why I have always liked the Chronicals of Narnia books. How brilliant of an idea was it for a little girl hiding in a wardrobe among the fir coats to brush up against something prickly and step on something crunchy and then realize that you are amonst the pines in a snowy land? As a little kid, you half-way believe the story is true and hope that you might one day find yourself in this different land.

I always loved the image of the lamp post in the snowy wood. It is one of those great literary images that at the mere mention of the lamp post everyone knows what you are talking about.

The other night I saw the lamp post in the snowy wood.

Friday and Saturday with some hot spots for Christmas lights

Friday night, later in the evening, I had to run a quick errand…Christmas shopping. I took Goose with me and on the way home we took a detour to see some Christmas lights. It was magical, and then later it occurred to me why it was so perfect. We had snow on everything just like in the movies. These are the spots we hit: Frosty Lights Lane (76^th and Lamar), Candy Cane Lane (79^th and Outlook close to 79^th and Nall) and the Crazy House with everything on it (75^th and Falmouth just east of Mission Road.) The Crazy House with everything on it is always fun. You park your car and walk up to the house. There is always a crowd of people looking into the windows. I overheard the homeowner say that he had been doing this for 40 years and it takes four months to set up. It is weird to think that my parents would take me to these same places when I was a little boy and now I am taking my kids. This thought also occurred to me when Goose was watching a Charlie Brown Christmas on TV the other night. My other favorite Christmas light spot is just west of 63^rd and State Line in Mission Hills. I call it winter wonder land. I drove by after thanksgiving and they didn’t have the lights up, so I wonder if the community is doing it this year.

Late Friday night, I saw a picture I took and inspiration hit and I made a Christmas card. When it happens, you can’t mess with it. (more later)

Saturday morning, Goose and I got all bundled up and went sledding on a nearby hill. That boy loves to be outside no matter what the weather. One of the best parts of sledding is the hot chocolate waiting at home.

Saturday late afternoon, Vernal and I got to see The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. (more later.)

Crazy Week is now over...and my mind can't make a complete thought

The last few weeks I have been buckling down at work to finish a project that goes out today. So please forgive, my friends, if I haven't visted and posted on your sites as much as I usually do whenever I have a small break here and there throughout the day.

It is noonday now. The project is all but complete for today's deadline except for printing and delivery of the drawings. I had to pace myself and spend a few extra hours at night to complete. I am not a great multi-tasker, so most of my thinking and mind has been getting this done and as a result other things get put on hold. Like now, I can really focus on the christmas season and christmas shopping. Vernal is a great multi-tasker. She can clean the entire kitchen and decorate a cake in a 20 minute phone conversation. For me, I have to stop what I am doing to talk on the phone and find a dark quiet spot to talk.

I guess I am saying that I have put this whole blog thing on a somewhat hold during this time of busyness. Part of that reason is that we don't have high speed internet at home. If we did, then I might be tempted to get on at night and download a bit. Also, if we had high speed at home, you might see a whole lot more of Vernal here in this forest of online friends. (in this cold weather, I think we are all waiting for the vernal equinox.) I am seriously thinking about it now. I think I will check it out and see how much it cost. It is about time for us to wake up to the new millenium.

Back to the multi-tasker thing...On second thought there are times when I do excell at juggling a few items. It is just that I also prioritize and give all my attention to one thing when I choose to. And maybe sometimes, I want to take life a little bit easier until I get bored and need to busy it all up. Hmmm...on that note we are closing in on the middle of December and I haven't even thought about Christmas cards, nor do I want to at the moment. I usually enjoy making orignal cards every year, but I don't want to be stressed out by it with so many other things going on. We decided not to do Christmas cards this year. Maybe next year. (why ruin a fun thing?)

I got to focus on my trip to St. Louis to see U2 next week.

2-4 December 2005

Friday, December 2-

• in the office, this was Firm Day. At noon, we stopped work and went over to the AIA office, which has a large open room for us to partake in the festivities. We had lunch, played some games, heard the status of the firm - the financial history, listened to a motivational speaker, listened to our top principle talk about some of today's design challenges, and heard from our new strategic marketing guy. The focus of the motivational speaker was to talk about some of our worst clients and how to deal with them. We then got to do an exercise that simulates a project. (An egg is suspended 6' off the ground, there is a list of materials that we can buy and the goal is to not go over the budget of $150. The egg will be let loose and we need to keep it safe. The client will stop buy a couple of times and try to change things up and introduce something specific that they want incorporated into the design. All of this in 20 minutes.) We were all successful except for the female team of unruly junior partners who had a little too much beer...I couldn't help but think of the BBC's The Office with the Training episode.

• Friday evening (after work) we met up with my college roomate Dan and his wife Christie. They have a boy same age as Goose. I don't know if these outings are for us or for him. Anyway, we met at one of the local pizza joints (Papa Keno's) for dinner. The two boys had a grand time sitting next to each other, being loud-being funny. Dan and I caught up-it has been a few months since I've seen him. Much of our conversation was on the Jayhawks football season (it's nice to watch them win, for once) and the upcoming basketball season.

• Friday later in the evening, we put up the chirstmas tree and decorated it. (it smells good!) Put the kids to bed. Made a bowl of peppermint ice cream with candycane chunks and chocolate syrup drizzled on top and then settled down to watch "Christmas with the Kranks." I read the book a few years ago and I heard the movie was horrible, so my expectations were low. The movie actually wasn't bad. It is cheesy as all get out, but it is fun when you embrace the cheese.

Saturday, December 3rd-

• I have a project due at the end of this week, so I went in to the office and worked till noon.

• That evening was our office Christmas party. It was in the Lockton 2 story boardroom on the 10th floor overlooking the Plaza. The Lockton building is right above McCormick and Schmidts. They had an outdoor balcony. Maybe more on this later...

Sunday, December 4th-

• A pretty normal day with church in the morning.

• Vernal and I did some Christmas shopping in the afternoon. It was kinda of an unsuccessful trip as far as buying, but now we have a clear focus on gifts as we eliminated other ideas.

• When the kids were in bed, I made a run to Borders to buy a certain someone who may or may not read this a gift.
  

Art Vandalay, one sexy beast

George Costanza imagines himself as an architect. He refers to himself as Art Vandalay on occasion to impress people. He even invents the fictitious Vandalay Industries to impress people as well.

The article below was posted in our kitchen at work. I immediately thought of George Costanza.

Here is the web version.