The Most Important Post You'll Read All Day

I was talking with somebody about this the other day and it got me thinking...Of all the places I've been, what are the top ten places in North America to kick back and have a cold one? Here's the list. My top ten favorite bars of North America. I could tell you some great stories from each of them. :)

1. Wet Willy's - San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize
2. The Hammock Bar - Isla Mujeres, Mexico
3. Jim's Silver Dollar Saloon - Bloomfield, IA
4. Soggy Dollar Bar - Jost Van Dyke, British Virgin Islands
5. O'Malley's Pub - Weston, MO
6. Captain Tony's Saloon - Key West, FL
7. The Tonga Room - San Francisco, CA
8. The Florabama - Perdido Key, AL
9. Fox and Hound Lounge - Lubbock, TX
10. The Cubby Bear - Wrigleyville, Chicago, IL

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Ice Road Truckers are Wussies

Anymore, whenever "they" come out with a new "reality" show, I just roll my eyes. Or worse. But yesterday, after we got back from camping, I was bored and feeling pretty lazy. There was no NASCAR on, it was raining outside - so needless to say, I was in trouble.

I finally stole the remote away from my pregnant wife when I simply couldn't stand watching some other reality show with Denise Richards. Anyway, I flipped to the very start of the season 2 marathon of "Ice Road Truckers." Can I just say one thing? These guys are wusses. I don't care if you are driving a 90-ton semi across the frozen Arctic Ocean in -40 degree temperatures. There isn't any traffic! :) What the heck? How is that hard?

To those who may not have seen it, it's basically a bunch of Canadian hillbillies loading up their semi's, driving straight down a frozen river, into the frozen ocean to this tiny eskimo town. Over, and over, and over again. (Did I mention that evil oil companies are involved?) Once in a while, one of the hillbillies (the one with a purple mohawk) will get pissed and break his truck. Somebody else will get pissed because the dude broke his truck and they'll go round and round for a few hours yelling at each other. To maintain the suspenseful tension, the narrator will talk about how "dangerous" the ice is - about every two minutes. Give me a break. They measured the ice and it's 51" thick. Wussies. Get a real job.

Regardless, I watched it for about 5 hours. Every single episode, in fact. I felt like it was real-time it took so long. I can't wait until next week when we find out if Alex makes it to the tiny eskimo town - for about the thousandth time.

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Bluffton, Iowa...Here I Come

If it's July 4th, it's Bluffton. Every year since 2000 I have spent an extended 4th of July weekend in northwest Iowa in a tiny, tiny village of Bluffton. It's right on the banks of the Upper Iowa River, arguably the most beautiful rivers in Iowa. It's not like the typical Iowa muddy, sewage-filled, polluted sludge channels. It almost reminds you of a mountain stream. We typically head up to Lanesboro, MN for some biking one day, canoe down the Upper Iowa river another, tube a third day - throw in a TON of fireworks for fun and you have the recipe for a good tim. God willing, I'll have all my fingers come Monday. :)

Most of my friends are already there. Because we're a little over a month away from the kiddo arriving, Anne and I decided to abbreviate our trip a little bit this year. We're heading up on Friday - in time for the fireworks and a some tubing (me, that is). Either way it's looking like a nice weekend.

Oh, and in case you've never seen Bluffton fireworks and the world-famous "atom bomb"...here's a little taste.

Atom Bomb - 2007

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Tomatoes

Anybody need tomatoes? We're going to have a boatload here in a few more weeks. the whole garden is looking pretty good, actually. The sweet corn is about 3 1/2 feet tall, all of the peppers growing like weeds and there are going to be a lot of tomatoes. We should have some good salsa here in a few more weeks.

I harvested my first jalapeno the other day and I have a lot of cayenne peppers that are about ready.

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I Like Oil

I'm going to say something that is intensely politically incorrect - I like oil. I like thick, black oil. I like oil that makes the gas that powers my SUV. Now, I don't like paying $4 a gallon for gas - BUT, since I like my SUV, and need the gas that powers it, I live with it.

I watch a lot of CNBC. And one thing I don't like is ignorant politicians who don't know anything about business going on business channels spewing their ignorant political blah thinking that smart people will eat it up like their other ignorant politician friends do. Case in point:

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Butter Shawn

People who know me know that I tend, once in a while, to go on sarcastic, well-meaning rants about topics. :) And, usually, the direction of my rants tend to swim upstream against general public opinion. This is one of those rants. :)

Shawn Johnson. Am I the only one in Iowa who is sick and tired of hearing about her? Am I the only one who thinks that there are more important things to talk about? Probably. Now, it's not everyday that somebody currently living in Iowa participates in the olympics - don't get me wrong - it's definitely news. But everywhere I go, everything I read and everytime I turn on the TV...all I see is Shawn Johnson. Somebody is trying to make a buck, grab a little publicity find a new angle for a story - all using Shawn Johnson. It's driving me nuts.

So today I'm sitting at my desk, sipping on my tortilla soup and reading a few articles over lunch. I stumble across this little gem, "Coming to State Fair: 'Butter Johnson.'" Unbeliveable. What the heck is going on? I think somebody knows this drives me crazy and is just trying to pull my chain. :)

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Baby Darrah

In another month or so, our little guy is due. We went in the other day an had a 3-D ultrasound. And let me tell you, if you’ve never seen this – I can pretty much guarantee you’ve never seen anything like it.

Absolutely Amazing. Here's a picture. They tell me he weights 4 lbs. 4 oz. as of last Friday.

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Everybody Needs a Blog

Everybody needs a blog. Google it. I'm pretty much the last person on the face of the earth to create a blog. Think of the most remote, random country in the world. Say, Sri Lanka...

I just googled "Sri Lanka blogs." Over 17 million results. There ya go...I need a blog.

Actually, I just thought it would be fun. Most people probably won't care - but heck, if it helps pass the time, why not stop and read it. This is going to be a blog of the most random - gardening, birds, kids, travel, life - you name it. Complete uselessness - But interesting uselessness. That is the goal! If I have not written totally interesting uselessness, I will have failed.

Enjoy!

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Twenty-Nine, Thirty and Other Random Numbers

Question: What’s the difference betwen your late 20’s and your early 30’s? Answer: About one second.

I am now in my VERY late 20’s and will enter my VERY early 30’s in a couple days. It’s funny how when I tell somebody or when somebody finds out the response has been the same. "Oh...30, huh? How are you taking it?" What’s that suppose to mean? How am I suppose to take it? It’s almost as if I could do something about it - even if I did care. Well, I don’t. I look forward to getting old. Some of the best people I’ve ever known were old. Most people alive today are probably still older than me, so, I suppose...I’m young. :-)

So I’ve gone about my life the last couple weeks hearing stories from everybody I know about what it was like "when I turned 30." Or 40. Or 50. Maybe I’ll be older and wiser in a few days, but it’s led me to the opinion that, overall, people are just too stressed out.

In the words of Jimmy Buffett, "I use to go crazy for days at a time, now I’m taking my time with my days." To me, that pretty much says it all. Some of the "oldest" people you’ll ever meet are, actually, the youngest.

And the reverse is true - I can think of several people in my own life who are - as a number - old. But they’ve lived (and are living) their life in a way that that is younger than most people. It’s because no matter how "old" they get, they never see themselves old or somehow required to limit themselves and what they do based on a number. That’s the secret - not the number of years you live or whether or not people see another person as "old," but what you do with the years you live. Now that’s deep, folks.

That, class, ends today’s lesson in life. And helps you instructor cope with the inevitable. Your homework for tonight is to go home, have a beer and plan your next vacation. :-)

Doorah

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NASCAR Drivers are Wimps

Okay...so anyone who knows me knows that I like NASCAR. That said, I'm sitting here on my couch watching the race. A multi-car crash takes place, emotions flare, Kevin Harvick and Juan Pablo Montoya get out of their cars and start yelling at each other. The pushing starts and and the fight ensues. You'd think that this is cool to watch...but I think it just shows that NASCAR drivers have turned into a bunch of pretty boys that don't want to get their faces busted up. Neither of these tough guys have the guts to take their helmets off!! What's up with that? If you're so tough - take off your friggin' helmet! Wienies. Something like this happened last year when Jeff Gordon jumped out of his car, all bad-ass, starts pushing and shoving - but again, isn't quite tough enough to take his pretty boy helmet off.

Now back in the day...when men were men, women were women and stock cars were actually, stock cars - This kind of thing would have happened differently. Completely different - the helmets would have come off and their would have been knuckle sandwiches for all. I guess the point of my rant is this: if you're pissed enough to fight - and you think you're tough enough to win - for crying out loud, take your helmet and all your safety gear off and punch it out like men. :)

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