July 31, 2008
1) Joe's Crab Shack. Pretty good seafood... for the middle of the plain states! We enjoyed it. Nice decor, the wait staff was nice. In fact our waitress was also from Illinois.
2)Mexicali Border Cafe. This place looks like a hole in the wall, but it has some great food! They are reasonably priced. The best part was the salsa. I'm not sure if they make their own or if they buy it, but they have some of the greatest salsa I've ever had.
3) The Hideaway. They have some great Pizza. I had one that was called "Big Country". It was topped with pepperoni, Canadian bacon, polish sausage (Kielbasa), hamburger, mozzarella and cheddar cheese! It was a damn good pizza.
4) Jason's Deli. This place is a bit of a conundrom. It's a sandwich and salad shop. They make some pretty good sandwiches and have a nice salad bar. But they have some of the rudest people working there. Think of the soup nazi from Seinfeld. They don't have a menu over the counter, so when I walked up they asked me for my order. I didn't know because I was trying to figure out what they had. Now I wasn't even at the counter, I was a couple of feet back. There was no one else waiting. They lady told me to stand back from the ordering area until I knew what I wanted. They are very strict in their ordering policies. I've eaten there a couple of times despite this. They make a good sandwich, they ARE fast and it's less than five minutes from work.
5)Kilkenny's Irish Pub. They have some great Irish food and a wonderful atmosphere. This is probably my favorite place I've eaten at down here so far. The best part is that it's very reasonably priced. Expect to pay much more if you get a beer or two.
6) The Elephant Bar Restaurant. It is an interesting themed restaurant. It has an African influence in the design and decor. Yet the food is mostly of a southeast Asian influence. They had a great crispy teriyaki chicken. The waitress we had did seem to ignore us, but the food was pretty good.
7)In The Raw. This is a sushi joint. When I asked where the best sushi in town was, this place was recommended by two different people. It's one of those trendy joints with the modern art deco designs and loud modern dance club music playing. The waitress we had was horrible. The hostess was rude as well as the manager. The wait staff ignored us, messed up our orders, it took forever to get the food. One of the Employee-M ordered a sprite and at one point the wait staff came around and topped her Sprite off with water. The sushi wasn't bad, but I've had much better. From the time we arrived until the time we left it was 2 hours.
All the other places we went to were fast food joints or major national chains. Now I'm going to have plenty of time to try other restaurants down here between now and October. So if you are familiar with any other restaurants down here and recommend some, please leave it in the comments.
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July 30, 2008
Sorry for the picture quality, it was taken with my webcam.
We have our standard 12 oz brown bottle. There is a dark green label with KUDU in bold white letters at the top. In the middle there is a picture of a KUDU. I only know what it is because right below the picture there is a little history, “Kudu Premium lager is named after the shy, but handsomest and second largest African antelope, the Kudu. Kudu Premium lager is a smooth naturally dry and full-bodied lager beer. After you have had kudu lager you will not be as shy as a kudu!”
There is a pale golden yellow/straw coloring to it. Light passes through easily. There is no cloudiness to it. You can watch as carbonation bubbles flow up through the beer as the develop into columns. When poured I received a quarter inch thick head that quickly dissipated into a film on the top of the glass. There is some lacing, but not a lot.
The smell is an interesting combination of floral hops, a wine-like grape scent and something that gave it the smell of melted butter. The scent reminded me of melted butter used for baking cookies. The taste was of a mild spicy hop. There is a ginger like flavor to it. Maybe it was the melted butter scent, but it reminded me of ginger snaps. ItÂ’s not a bad taste, just kind of interesting. ItÂ’s unlike anything IÂ’ve had in a beer in the past. Just like the label suggests there is a dry finish to it. The aftertaste is interesting and difficult to describe, but itÂ’s not bad.
IT is a light bodied beer with a heavier than average carbonation to it. The carbonation bites on the tongue, but doesnÂ’t make it hard to drink. Honestly this is a very smooth beer that is easy to drink and goes down easy.
IÂ’m not sure if this is something I would go out of my way for, but it is definitely not bad. The taste is unusual and I may have to ship a six pack of this home with me just to let some of my loyal and devoted readers try it. It really is not a bad beer and IÂ’m rather enjoying it tonight. IÂ’m giving it a 5.5 out of ten.
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08:23 PM
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July 29, 2008
Every night as the sun goes down a massive amount of birds comes out and swarms around downtown Tulsa. When I say there is a massive amount of birds, I mean they number in the thousands! It's kind of freaky. They fly around, swarming the buildings. The trees are loaded with them almost bending under the weight of the plague of birds. I'm not sure what kind of birds they are, but it's really disturbing. They are loud. The are everywhere. They crap on everything.
I tried to take a picture, but I only had my picture phone and it didn't turn out too well. So I tried to use the video feature on my phone. All I got was this not so great clip, but it gives you an idea.
It's actually really disturbing. I'm not sure why they are there, I don't know what they are up to, but I'm really glad there is a parking deck for me to park in and a covered walkway so that I don't have to run outside so I don't get covered in bird poop.
Sorry about the sound, I don't know what the hell was causing that.
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Not that I'm making excuses.
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July 28, 2008
When I get into the office, I check to see if the access to the programs I requested last week finally went through. Which it hadn't. After making a dozen phone calls, sending out a couple dozen e-mails and then finally reading someone the riot act, access was granted and we were able to get work done. I'm supposed to finish up tomorrow, and that may actually catch me up to only 2 days behind schedule!
That's good news.
However, they pretty much confirmed I'm going to be down here off and on through September. They are going to let me stay home for two weeks, and then send me back for another 3-4 weeks. So all of you Oklahomians (Oklahomites?), If we weren't able to get together you still have a chance.
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July 27, 2008
I'm bound and determined to get this job wrapped up as quickly as possible.
I know this project is probably going to last until the end of the year, but a lot of it should be able to be handled out of my office. Once I get to that point I think I can start doing my job out of the Rockford office again. Right now it looks like I might be returning to Rockford sometime between the 9th and 15th, but I'll probably be heading back down to Oklahoma sometime around Labor Day.
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July 26, 2008
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The whole point of the game is to launch a hedgehog into space. In order to do so you need to collect money in order to upgrade your launcher, bands, rockets, parachutes, etc.
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July 25, 2008
So far this isn't going too well, but things did start shaping up yesterday. We were able to actually get some of the training of the new employees done and all the access seems to be available.
With Ktreva's grandfather dieing I was sure that I was going to have to end up leaving down here and miss more training time that would set me back even further. I'm not sure why, but they scheduled his memorial on August 2nd, so I'm not going to miss any time.
I'm still working to get this wrapped up in time for me to be able to come back for the Galesburg Heritage festival re-enactment I participate in. I at least want to get home for the weekend.
The good news is that I'm flying home tonight to spend the weekend with the family. I really miss Ktreva and the boys. It'll be good to see them again.
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July 23, 2008
Sorry for the crappy photo, I had to use my webcam on the laptop to take it.
We have our normal brown 12 oz bottle. There is a two tone picture of two miners carrying another miner between them in what appears to be a... mine. The name of the beer is in that late Eighteenth century western script. At the bottom they state this is a black lager.
There is a dark brown color to it. Light passes through it, but you canÂ’t see what is on the other side of the glass clearly. ItÂ’s dark enough that I canÂ’t tell if there is any cloudiness to it. The head was about quarter of an inch thick and consisted of tiny tan bubbles that gave it a thick and creamy appearance. It slowly faded to a thin film on the top of the beer. There is a bit of lacing on the side of the glass, but not much.
It has a nice roasted chocolate and caramel malt sent to it, just as the label describes. There is a touch of a coffee scent to it as well. You can also detect just a hint of hops. The smell is a pretty good indicator of the taste. The chocolate and roasted malts really come through. There is a slight mineral water taste to it. It finishes with a mild hoppiness. As the beer starts to warm, the hop flavors start to be more noticeable.
This is a medium bodied beer. The carbonation bites a little on the tongue.
They advertise this as schwarzbier, but it almost has more of a porter taste to it. Over all it isnÂ’t a bad beer. I found it rather pleasant to drink. I give it 6 out of 10.
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Glad you were able to find something unique - I seem to remember having trouble finding anything that was really regional while I was down there as well...Her grandfather was the only in-law I had that liked me. Whenever we would visit Jack and I would spend hours talking. This man lead a long and interesting life. He fought in World War 2 and would tell me stories about that and the difficulties of his childhood growing up an orphan. It was just this last December listening to his stories that I realized that he fought with the 101st Airborne, Easy Company. Yes, Band of Brothers fans, the same unit. He made all the jumps and even was at Bastogne. I was hoping to hear more of his stories this year at Thanksgiving.
Jack was also a pilot. He owned a recreation P-51 Mustang and would fly it for airshows. He was proud of that plane. I remember the first time he showed it to me at one of the airshows. It was a beautiful craft that was well maintained.
I liked Jack. He was a smart man with a great sense of humor. Unfortunately since they lived 12 hours away, we didn't get to see him as much as we would have liked. It was a situation we couldn't remedy without moving closer.
Even though he didn't fly during World War 2; he did serve, honor and fight for his country, and he was an avid pilot. I feel this is appropriate for him:
The missing man formation as done with P-51 mustangs.
God speed Jack. Thank you for everything.
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July 22, 2008
I am now 1.5 days behind schedule and Not only are they talking about extending my stay, but possibly letting me come home for a couple of weeks and then returning for the month of September when a lot of the system issues are resolved. I'm going to be here still for the next three weeks, it's just they may send me back the last week of August and keep me down here for a while.
BTW, to all of you that gave me advice on coming down here, both good and bad, you all forgot one important factor. YOU DIDN'T TELL ME IT'S LIKE THE GATES OF HELL HOT DOWN HERE! I'm wearing wool suits in a climate with a heat index of 103! I'm tired of my testicles sticking to my legs. Thankfully I can set the thermostat in my hotel room to a comfortable 61 degrees. Then I can strip nekked and cool off.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to take Employee-M and her counterpart from another office to the mall to go shopping. It has to be me, because the company won't authorize a second driver on the vehicle. It's part of the job is trying to accommodate them on this trip as well.
Yea... this is torture.
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Lets see if I'm as good as they think I am.
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July 21, 2008
When I get to the office I spent the first hour answering questions about this transition that I'm overseeing. That part went really well. I had all the answers they wanted and I was able to calm their nerves. EXCELLENT! There is nothing worse than having to do a transition like this with the new management being skittish about the changes.
After that I stared the roll out to the management and I hit a glitch. None of them have access to the programs that they need to handle the new business line. Their access is all screwed up. I spent most of the day walking to the IT department in Chicago trying to get them to understand the importance of them expediting this process. Of course IT was fighting me tooth and nail. They can't help because the people that are needing the access are in Okla-farooking-homa.
No matter how much I explained that they were working Illinois business and couldn't do this work with out the access and programs they just couldn't get it through their giant swollen noggins filled with all the tips and tricks for Halo 3 and daydreams of not just meeting a girl, but actually maybe smelling her one day. Yes, I'm a little bitter. At one point I told the mentally challenged, should have been a stain on the sheet, chuckle head that if I was in Rockford, I would drive to his office just to clearly explain what the issue is by drawing him crayon pictures. Yea, that was toward the end of the day after spending 6 hours working with them.
Needless to say on day one I'm already 2/3 day behind on what needs to be done and it looks like tomorrow may be a complete waste as well. The sad part is that I worked up until 7:00PM tonight trying to get everything in place. Right now I'm frustrated, annoyed and just plain tired. This does not bode well for me.
And to kick it off they director of the area was talking about promotional opportunities again. Once I got down here I saw that there are indeed some big promotional opportunities. I just really hope they don't try to "encourage" me to put in for one of them.
Now, if you'll excuse me, on my way back from dinner I stopped and picked up a six pack. I think I'm going to sit back, drink a couple and try to get some sleep tonight. The bed was too soft and I slept like crap last night.
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July 20, 2008
I have officially decided that O'Hare is the most jacked up airport I've ever flown out of. I want to know what mental midget came up with the layout for this freaking maze? It absolutely is staggering the way they have the gates and concourses laid out. Thank god for a mobile GPS system or I would have been completely lost. Oh, and I thought they had free WI-FI at O'Hare. Nope, they don't. You can get on to check the status of flights, but if you want to get to the internet you need to buy time. Yea, that wasn't about to happen. It's not that I'm cheap, even though I could squeeze a nickle until the buffalo farts, it's that I'm not paying $12.00 to use the internet for 30 minutes.
We got there in plenty of time for our flight, we should have only had to wait for about 20 minutes before boarding. Then they announced they we delaying our flight. Not for weather, not for mechanical problems, but because the First Officer on our flight was flying in a plane from Philadelphia and isn't due to arrive until 4:45PM. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 3:45 PM. United must have had a screw loose to make that kind of scheduling error. Apparently they realized their mistake and found another First Officer to take his place, so we only left 30 minutes behind schedule.
We arrive in Tulsa to a very vacant airport. It's nice, clean and was easy to maneuver through. There wasn't a huge crowd of people you had a fight past. My traveling companion, Employee-M, and I had to laugh when we got the rental car. Apparently my company thought I would love to drive this Kia Rondo. It's like a clown car that I barely fit in. Not because I'm of noble girth, it's because I'm about 2 inches too tall for it. Employee-M nicknamed it "The Clown Car". Because even she, who is inches shorter than I am thought it was awfully small.
When we get to the hotel, we checked in easily enough. I get to my floor and I instantly notice that it smells like mold and mildew. Now, I'm staying at the DoubleTree in Downtown Tulsa. This is supposed to be a really nice hotel. When I get to my room it also smells like mold and mildew. So I go back down to the desk and tell them that it stinks really bad, they where very quick to change rooms for me. They explained that there was some kind of leak on the roof that when it rains hard it leaks all the way down to the third floor... and only the third floor.
Since we hadn't eaten since before noon, both Employee-M and I were hungry. We headed into town to get something to eat... at 7:30PM. We ended up going to Joe's Crab Shack and had a great dinner. I also received all the voice mails and text messages from those of you that called and texted me when I turned my phone back on. Unfortunately it was late, and I didn't feel like responding tonight.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sleep.
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July 19, 2008
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Even though I never really thought of it, but John Kerry does kind of look like Herman Munster.
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