By Monday my new site will be up, using Wordpress. It has a lot more features that will make it easier for me to post updates, especially on the road.

The site URL will not change but the RSS feed URL will change. The new RSS feed URL will be:

http://www.scootutopia.com/feed/

(Note that the new feed won't take effect until I make the switch, sometime this weekend.)

Thanks!

Read on to see a few of the places we found in Platte City, Weston, Leavenworth, Platte Woods, and Kansas City, North...

Meet Curtis Mertensmeyer. Curtis Mertensmeyer is a rich, pampered, spoiled brat from Mission Hills, KS who was driving drunk (at the not-even-yet-legal age of 20) at about 3am on May 11, 2008. He struck a pedestrian, 25-year-old Daniel L. Riemann, with so much force that is severed the victim's legs. Curtis Mertensmeyer fled the scene, leaving the victim to die in the median. Shortly after Curtis Mertensmeyer abandoned his car and he and his 2 friends fled on foot.

A month later the friends confessed and identified Curtis Mertensmeyer as the driver. Curtis Mertensmeyer pled guilty and was sentenced to 5 years, but may be released in as little as 4 months.

Currently Curtis Mertensmeyer is suing his college fraternity, claiming that hazing caused post traumatic stress disorder and that is what led to his hit-and-run. Blaming others rather than accepting blame himself.

So, if you are considering hiring Curtis Mertensmeyer, I advise you move along to the next resumé in your pile. Otherwise you will be hiring someone with a proven track record of bad decision making skills, disregard for others, an unwillingness to accept responsibility for his actions, and being a person who will try to deflect blame upon others.

This is the same house that I drew in this drawing that I drew in 1974 on the back side of a letter to my grandma. The drawing is of the back of the house, since I spent a lot of time playing in the back yard.

My brother Kevin and I shared a bedroom on the top floor, my bed was next to the top window on the front of the house. We had a playroom on the back side of the upstairs and I got in trouble one day for drawing a giant picture of a bowl of grass in crayon on the wall.

The window on the left was my parents' room, the window on the right was the living room. The kitchen was in the back left corner. There was a laundry chute in the living room closet that went down into the basement. I got in trouble one time for dropping my brother down the laundry chute.

We only lived in this house for 18 months but I have a lot of memories here. This is where I think my fear of spiders really developed. I also had a bad reaction to a shot and lost the ability to walk for 3 days. This is also the house we lived in when I learned to read. I still remember that vividly, my (bearded!) dad was reading "Goldylocks and the Three Bears" to me as I sat on his lap. I was following along, and suddenly in the middle of a paragraph on one of the pages on the left, all of the markings on the paper suddenly made sense and I started reading aloud and finished the book myself.

I do remember the hill in the back that leads up to Forest Park being a lot taller, but of course I was only about 3-1/2 feet tall at the time. :) The townhouses inthe background were not there, of course. Along the treeline in the back yard was a blackberry bush. I used to play back there and pick blackberries off and squish them between my fingers, then get in trouble for all the stains.

Our trash cans were lined up against the north wall of the house in front of that carport. One day my Beagle, Popcorn, bit me (probably because I'd pulled his tail or something.). Mad about this I decided "to give him to the trash men" so I put him in one of the trash cans along with some grass to eat and closed the lid. Fortunately for Popcorn the neighbor lady in that white house on the right side of the above picture saw me do it and called my mom. I hated the neighbor for that since I got in trouble. (Now, of course, I'm very glad she did it!)

This was the house across the street. I could swear it was painted a darker brown back then but I can't say for sure. The people that lived there at the time played loud music and had friends over who drank beer out of bottles and cans. So, in my mind, they were baaaaad people! :)

I've lived in at least 13 different places but there are only 3 that I regularly have dreams set in, and this house is one of those 3.

With this discovery, now I'm going to have to look to see if I can find any of my other childhood homes,

BJ's Liquor Lounge
Minneapolis, MN

This raunchy bar features topless servers and stripper poles for entertainment. We entered on a Saturday afternoon to find the place populated by a handful of midde-aged men watching middle-aged strippers shaking what was left of their booty. We spent about 10 minutes inside and were completely ignored by the bartender and servers, so we left.

Strawberry South
Kansas City, KS

The majority of bars in KCK are private clubs, but most of them will serve you anyway, no questions asked. This place in Strawberry Hill isn't one of them. To add insult to injury, the bartender had already poured our drinks before it occurred to him to ask for our membership cards. When we had none to produce, he apoligized and poured our drinks down the drain. We asked how we could become members, and he said that he had no idea, that the owner handles that and hasn't trained him on it.

Bar None
Kansas City, KS

Another private club in KCK, this one in the Armourdale district. We had just left a successful visit to a place a block down the road called Country Cabaret Club and hoped for a similar welcome here. Denied!

After being refused service we asked how we could become members, and she said that she had no idea, that the owner handles that and hasn't trained her on it. The name of this bar obviously didn't ring true, since on this particular day, Bar None barred three.

Coach Club
Kansas City, KS

Another Armourdale bar, not far from Bar None. It is adjacent to another bar called Casino Bar, whose bartender told us which bars were most likely not serve us. "You're welcome to try, but Coach Club next door probably won't And don't even bother with a place called Dixie's," the Casino Bar bartender warned us.

We gave Coach Club a shot and were immediately denied. We asked how we could become members, and the bartender said that he had no idea, that the owner handles that and hasn't trained him on it. Hmmm... anyone starting to see a pattern here? :)

Bubble Room
Kansas City, KS

On Central in KCK. By this point we were getting so frustrated we didn't even bother asking how to become a member.

Dixie's Place
Kansas City, KS

Another place on Central in KCK. We had been warned earlier in the day that this place would not serve us, but damnit, we were going to try!

Like most of the clubs further in-town in KCK, you have to be buzzed in. We managed to get in the door, but then faced the Grand Inquisition.

We were grilled not only by the bartender but also by a customer at the end of the bar. "Check their membership cards! They don't belong here! Throw them out!" he kept shouting as the bartender nagged a Mexican family who also were not members. We tried to ask the bartender how to become members, and she said that was none of our business and she didn't have to tell us. The customer at the end of the bar raised his voice again: "They don't belong! Call the police!" This wasn't necessary at all, we had respected the rules everywhere we have been and were already leaving, but this customer was being way too much of an asshole about it. So, noticing that he was reading the new (at the time) Harry Potter book, one of my companions leaned in and told him how it ended as we were heading towards the door.

Coach's Corner
Ottumwa, IA
The motel bar at the Stardust Motel in Ottumwa. It closed at 2am, we had arrived at 1:45am to a packed bar hoping to get just one real quick shot of something before calling it a night. But the bartender had called last call just moments before we entered and she wouldn't serve us. That was okay, we'd already had success at 30 other bars that day. :) (Don't worry, we were walking!)

American Legion
Independence, MO

Technically, American Legions are private clubs, but usually they look they other way because they need the money. However in this particular case there was a private event going on, so though we were buzzed in we were intercepted and sent packing just inside the door.

Grumpy's
Olathe, KS

After Olathe adopted a smoking ban, most of its bars became private clubs to escape the ordinance. Every place we went to in Olathe served us, usually with a quick application process, except Grumpy's, Grumpy's demanded a $15 signup fee per person plus a mandatory 10 day waiting period before we could get a drink. Screw that!

There's also been a few close calls...

The Alibi in Kansas City, KS initially denied us service and dished out the standard line about not knowing how to enroll new members. But then a customer "vouched" that he had "seen us in there before", so the bartender reluctantly served us and we bought that customer a drink.

Neighbors Cocktail Lounge near the Leed's district in Kansas City, MO refused to serve us because one member of our group was obviously intoxicated. We were cool with that and ended the night. This place would have been on the list above, but I went back another time and was served no problem.

VFW Post 741 / American Legion Post 256 in Excelsior Springs, MO. We have never had a problem at a VFW and rarely have a problem at am American Legion. This place required being buzzed in, and we were. There was only one patron inside, and he immediately started quizzing us about our military service. Well, neither of us had ever served in the military. This customer became belligerent and wanted us removed. But the bartender clearly wanted more tips, calmed him down, and served us.

KC's Neighborhood Bar & Grill in Shawnee, KS. A private club. Our bartender kept asking to see ID cards but we kept pretending not to hear or changing the subject. After a few minutes she gave up and went ahead and served us. :)

There's several other bars I've been do where I ended up being the person deciding not to be served, but that's another story for another time.

""We are true Kansas Citians and know how much this store was needed," Cosentino said. "We wanted to make sure this met all the needs of people who will shot here and I think we've done that.""

(Click the picture below for a screenshot, in case they fix it.)

Much like what happened with the Happy Pancake Witch, no one had any idea what I was talking about.

So, here they are, the Star Wars PSAs:

On Immunizations...

On Smoking...

On Drunk Driving...

One of these is that at work I have been drinking water from the same plastic cup for the past 6 years. It sits in the same spot on my desk, is only used for water, and is only washed about once every 1-2 months. (That last part might sound gross, but I figure it's my own germs on the lip. I do at least rinse it every morning and wipe out any residue as needed.)

This past year the cup began to develop cracks and splits, which eventually grew to the point that it started leaking. Refusing to get a new cup, I held it together with tape. When the tape would fail from getting wet, I'd add more.

However, 6 years of tradition have come to an end, as I have now given up and tossed my cup into the trash.

How was I able to do this?

Because I found a suitable replacement. :)

Ah, tradition!

But before we even touched a drop of beer we had a chance encounter with a famous TV spokesman of long ago -- Col. Billy (of Boots Williams Ford, Rockwood Smorgasbord [or was it Gold Buffet?], and Swap-n-Shop fame) when I stopped to buy some extra batteries for my camera. I didn't know he was still with us but glad he is!

From that meeting we headed south... WAY south... far beyond anyplace I expected to find a bar. 203rd & Holmes? Here we come!

Read on to see a few of the places we found in Jaudon, Raymore, Belton and Grandview...

For complete details and to sign up, please follow the link below:

• http://kctourwalk.com/walk8.html

What makes this particularly aggravating is that the drugs I am on now are the drugs they made me switch to last year when they decided to stop covering the drugs I was on back then. Which in turn were the drugs they made me switch to the year before, when they decided to stop covering the drugs they recommended the year before then!

It seems that Coventry doesn't want to provide coverage for prescription drugs that doctors and patients actually use.

I'm almost to the point where I am wondering if having health insurance is even economically worth it? For the amount I'm paying in, am I even getting my money's worth?

(Of course, if I dropped coverage, THAT would be when I'd wind up having a heart attack or getting cancer or something.)

I just hate the fact that some number cruncher gets to decide what medications are best for me rather than MY OWN DOCTOR.

The fight was over something stupid (a parking space), and both parties were equally boneheaded. The woman in car A behaved with the interpersonal skills of a 5-year-old when she stole the parking space that car B was backing into. The people in car B responded on an equal intellectual and emotional level, charging out of their car to start the fight.

The fight lasted several minutes and included threats, screaming, hurled obscenities and epithets, and near fisticuffs. Basically, a total toddler temper tantrum.

I see this kind of behavior around this particular apartment building fairly often, which makes me wonder something:

Does being poor make one less likely to be able to get along with others, or does an inability to get along with others make it more likely that one will remain poor?