Kirk blAug

Sometimes while traveling through life our imaginations can impede us. These impediments are really just bad ideas that can get in the way of our success. Today Jupiter came across one of those when he had an imaginary rock in his shoe. I am not sure how it got there, but I think I will start at the beginning and maybe we can figure it out. Today the boys and I took an unexpected trip to the St. Louis Science Center . The Science Center is an incredible museum of science. I think I have mentioned it here before and I am fairly certain that I will again in the future. Anyone interested in any and all science should really check it out sometime. There is much to be learned there. The only reason I brought up the Science Center today though is because of the parking situation. See the Science Center is free to get in to the main lobbies which honestly gets you quite a lot of fun, but parking is ten bucks. We are members of the Science Center and have vouchers for free parking that com

Do you know someone who does not mind giving away free music? According to the music industry that idea is just stupid. Someone should always be squeezing profit out of music. I know my cousin Jon does not mind giving out some music from time to time. He gave me a whole tape's worth of MP3 music from his band Bus Gas. I loved it. A good chap, that cousin of mine is. Another group that likes to give out free music is the birds. The ones in the trees. The ones that sing as you are walking through the woods. Sometimes I pay the birds for their music though. I pay them a convenience fee for coming to my house to sing by putting bird seed out. Sometimes I feed the ducks at a pond too. The genre they play is called waddle-hop. I like the idea of pay it forward or sideward or upward or whatever-ward-you-want-ward. The way I do not like payment is through IOUs that come with restrictions and allow for hording and inflating and holding fees and expenditures. Those sorts of payment are

Here in Kirkwood there is law against fireworks within city limits. I am not sure how the fair citizens of this suburb respond to that law, as it is my first Independence Day here, but you can bet I will pay attention tonight. In Lincoln, Fireworks were only allowed on the fourth, and only small ones such as sparklers, snakes, and the like. Most people paid no attention to this law. On the fourth of July people were shooting of some pretty significantly illegal fireworks. Many of them were not only illegal within Lincoln city limits, they were illegal in the entire state of Nebraska. I know plenty of folks who would drive down to Missouri every year to get some of the really good ones. Who knows? I may have been one of them. But there is something beautiful about those who break the law regarding fireworks on Independence Day, is there not? The reason we celebrate the day is to mark our independence from tyrannic unjust authority. Historically speaking this was the King of England

Yesterday we took the boys and met Antijen and Tom down at Mangia which was a prime place for us to enjoy brunch and the Pride Parade on Grand. I had never seen such a tight knight community of people at a festival before this. Of all the fests, parades and other events that we have been to so far since moving here, this one was my favorite. St. Louis is most certainly a party town with a lot of party opportunities for binge drinkers and sober fun lovers alike. It is Chris's work week so we did not get to spend a lot of time there, but it is important to us that we expose our kids to a variety of people and lifestyles, and the St. Louis Pride Fest was no better way to do it. The parade was a great fun time for everyone. Jupiter enjoyed every moment. While at Mangia he found a friend named Lily Mae and helped her with her beads. We hung around Mangia for a little while and ate our brunch. I had a couple of delicious Bloody Marys and a Belgian Waffle. Do not ever go to Mangia

Life and death are strange sometimes. The life's end I mourn today is one I never personally met. It is not someone famous or in any other conventional sense any more significant than anyone else. But it is someone who helped make some of the days of the lives of others a little better. If that does not warrant a mourn, I do not know what does.

I have had a fascination with tuxedo T-shirts since I got married. Okay, I will admit, it is more of an obsession, but let me explain. When Chris and I got married , we decided that some marriage traditions were just stupid and we were going to do it our way. Somehow we came up with a lesser toured island called Water Island on the Virgin Islands as the place to do it. My brother-in-law, Tom, officiated the ceremony. We paid him in drinks. He did a pretty good job, and he got his reward in full. I told Chris that I always thought it would be neat to get married in a tuxedo T-shirt. Without a blink or bat of the eye, she agreed. I was pretty sure that I picked the right one, but her reaction showed me that I would have no regrets. That was to be my attire. Up to this point I had never gotten around to owning a tuxedo T-shirt, but had always admired those who had them. I guess the reason they appeal to me is because of what they represent. You can be classy all the time and rea

Today I finally broke down and did it. I cooked a frozen pizza on the grill. I put it on a piece of aluminum foil so that the ingredients would not fall through the rack. Since it is pretty close to the flame, I went with 100º less than the oven instructions. I would say that one could safely go maybe 150º below since I had a slight amount of burnt crust. Nothing inedible though. I also went with the low end on the time. It turned out pretty good. I will experiment further to find the sweet spot, but I am pretty impressed with my guesswork this time around.