Living in the Scoot Utopia

Today was an interesting day. After a rough day at work I left early in order to deal with potential problems with our league's scores at the bowling alley. But after I called and learned that at the very least they had the lineups and handicaps right, I went out drinking instead. I've been drinking pretty much continuously from about 4:00 until a little bit ago.

I started out at Grinders, where Brandon and I had a couple of slices and a couple of Guiness. We then went to The Brick, where we learned that just because a door is unlocked and ajar doesn't mean that a bar is open. From there we went to the Bulldog where we managed to get one more beer in before it was time to pick up Seth and head to bowling.

Bowling of course means a non stop supply of beer.

After bowling we went to Harry's Country Club, where the European sex couple from "Super Troopers" were present and the woman shoved her tongue down the throat of a guy in our group before asking him to join their "orgy pile". (Later the same woman removed her top briefly.)

As I left Harry's the first time, around 11pm, we saw someething hilarious -- a bum pushing a shopping cart down Missouri Avenue -- the shopping cart containing..... a Christmas tree. He stopped in front of Vivice and was quickly shooed away. I tried to get a picture but by the time I figured out how (new phone -- haven't read the instructions yet) all I got was this blur:

I went back to Harry's about 20 minutes later where I attempted to calculate bowling scores while drunk. I finally decided that calculating bowling scores while drunk is a very bad idea and came home. :)

Goodnight all!

Posted by ScooterJ at 12:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

KCTV's web site currently has the following headline:

Students Report Alleged Sex Pervert

A "sex pervert", huh? I didn't know there was any other kind. Perhaps one of these?

Students Report Alleged _Brick_ Pervert
Students Report Alleged _Eye Color_ Pervert
Students Report Alleged _Hoof-and-Mouth Disease_ Pervert
Students Report Alleged _Fettucinni Alfredo_ Pervert
Students Report Alleged _Bowling_ Pervert
Students Report Alleged _Chaste_ Pervert
Students Report Alleged _Botanical_ Pervert

Posted by ScooterJ at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A few months ago I was taken off my diabetes medication. Around the same time I consulted a trainer and got put on a new exercise program that I have adhered to with strict devotion. As a result, my blood sugar readings are now down an average of 20 points from where they were when I was taken off the meds. Fasting is now in the mid-70s to mid-80s, and after meals it's now in the 100s to 110s.

I even ate cheesecake last night and my sugar only "spiked" to 116. Several months ago that same cheesecake would have put it in the 150s easily.

Hooray for exercise!

Posted by ScooterJ at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There is a new resident in my building with the annoying habit of sticking her trash out in the hall until she is ready to take it to the dumpster. The pile shown here has been growing since Wednesday. During that time she has taken her three noisy dogs to the park several times a day, as well as done laundry and gone to work. How hard would it have been for her to carry these bags down with her on any one of those trips?

If you're too lazy to take your trash to the dumpster, at least leave it inside your door so that the rest of us don't have to look at it ot smell it. Sheesh. Might as well leave your poop in the hall whenever your toilet it clogged.

At least it's not as bad as an earlier tenant who used to do the same thing with her catbox when it got too smelly.

Posted by ScooterJ at 04:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last night, in set of games that exceeded even our best-case scenario hopes, my bowling team clinched our league's championship with 1 week of regular season play still to go. This makes 4 championships in a row for Seth and me (and my 5th overall), a 3rd championship for Pat, and first championships for Jason and Rich. The 228 I rolled in game 2 is also a new personal best for me in league play.

Ken, I'm sorry. Maybe you should join our team next season. ;)

Posted by ScooterJ at 09:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tonight while driving on a 4-lane road the idiot in the left lane decided to make an unsignaled right turn even though I was in the right-hand lane going straight at the time. The dumbass had the gall to blare his horn at me after nearly ramming into me. (And his whole reason for turning from that lane was an attempt to cut in front of a long line of cars that had been waiting their turn.)

In honors of that stupid moron, here's my list of some of my "favorite" places in KC to see idiot drivers...

• 7th & Main: [map] There's a very good reason why no turns are permitted from Main Street in either direction. Yet people insist on doing it. I can't believe I haven't seen a crash.

• Independence Avenue (aka 5th) & Broadway: [map] Most people have the gist of it. But every once in a while you get people going straight from one of the turn lanes or right-turners blocking the far right lane of Broadway that goes under the bridge.

• Any I-70 exit ramp onto Independence Avenue: [map] "Yield? What does that mean! I know, it means speed up and swerve into the road without looking to see if anyone else is already there."

• Westbound 7th @ Broadway, 3:30-5:30pm: [map] "Sure, the center lane is clearly marked for traffic going straight. But I'm too lazy and important to wait in line so I'm gonna make it my own personal right-turn lane. And if the light turns green but traffic is too backed up on Broadway for me to turn right, anyone behind me who is trying to go straight be damned."

• 47th & Main: [map] In either direction, traffic turning left from Main to 47th interprets the red light as meaning "keep going until someone gets pissed off and honks".

• Westbound 43rd @ Westport Rd.: [map] I know this is KC's dumbest intersection, but come on people -- BOTH lanes coming towards you have the ability and the right to veer across your path.

• Eastbound Westport @ Southwest Trafficway: [map] A clue -- the right lane is the thru-lane.

• Walnut & Independence: [map] Open your eyes -- yes, you -- you have a STOP SIGN!.

• Petticoat @ Main: [map] Idiots, listen up. The right lane can either turn right or jog left and continue west on 11th. The left lane turns left into the left lane of Main. But if you are the idot in the SUV the CENTER lane, I don't care how much status you think you have, you are turning left into the center lane of Main and are NOT jogging on west onto 11th. Only the right lane gets to do that. So get out of my way!
  

Idiots.

Posted by ScooterJ at 08:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Seth's blog entry about bunnies reminded me of something I had been meaning to post for a while but kept forgetting. This past weekend would have been the perfect time to post it.

What follows is the second-oldest drawing I ever made. I drew this on April 14, 1974. Easter Sunday. It's on the back side of a letter I wrote to my grandma at the age of 4-1/2 that she saved and returned to me a few years ago.

The most prominent feature is the two chimneys at the bottom center. For whatever reason I was obsessed with chimneys at that time and drew them frequently. If you follow the snoke that spews out of them you see that it all goes to the upper left corner. I am not entirely sure what is going on in that corner. The sun is present, but if you trace the lines of smoke, they all connect into some sort of rectangle. I do not know what that rectangle was supposed to represent. What I do know, though, is that additional lines pour out of that rectangle and flow right where they enter the TV antenna on the roof of the house I drew.

That was the house I lived in at the time, on the west side of Cambrian Way in Bremerton, WA. Note the flowers in the yard and the doghouse out back. My dog was a beagle named Popcorn who bit me one day so I put him in the trash bin so that the trash men could have him. Fortunately for the dog the neighbor lady saw me and ratted me out to my mom. I feel guilty about that to this day even though I was frikkin' four years old. :)

In the bottom right I drew the Solar System. The Sun is at center Mercury and Venus are in the upper left. Mars and its two moons, Phobos and Deimos, are in the upper center. Earth and The Moon are in the upper right. In the lower left we have Jupiter, then Saturn. In the lower right is Uranus. I evidently forgot to draw Neptune and Pluto. The little dots are the asteroids.

The other wide of this page is a private letter whose contents are between me and my Grandma. So there. :)

So what's the oldest surviving picture I drew? It is inside the back cover of my favorite book when I was a kid, My Brimful Book. The final section of that book contained animal stories. Two pages before the back cover was a page that contained only a picture of a bull. I wrote my own animal story on that page titled "Bulls". The text of the story read as follows:

"Bulls kill you."

The next page was totally blank so I drew a crude bird and wrote an animal story titled "Birds" that read as follows:

"Birds are lovely."

That sketch of the bird is my oldest surviving drawing, predating the Easter letter by about 2-3 months. I do not have it anymore, though, having given that book to my goddaughter a couple of Christmases ago.

Posted by ScooterJ at 06:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After walking from the Plaza to City Market two weekends ago, I decided I needed to up the ante. So this past Saturday I took the MAX to Waldo (74th & Wornall) and walked a 14-mile course that I had plotted back to the Missouri River.

The journey took 4-1/2 hours and consisted of approximately 23,500 steps.

I could teell that I was in better shape than my previous trip, making no stops for rest or for additional water. However, a day later, I definitely feel the burn.

I took numerous pictures along the way, here they are for your enjoyment...

1. Part 1 - Waldo, Brookside, Crestwood
   
2. Part 2 - UMKC, Stowers
   
3. Part 3 - Brush Creek, Art Gallery
   
4. Part 4 - Gilham Park, Hyde Park
   
5. Part 5 - Union Hill, Hospital Hill
   
6. Part 6 - Jazz District, Crossroads
   
7. Part 7 - Downtown Loop, River Market
   

Posted by ScooterJ at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

It was a nice sunny 70s day today so I took my dog for a walk Downtown for about an hour. Here'a a few pictures of her while we were at Case Park.

Posted by ScooterJ at 07:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)