Category: Good Times

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Kansas City Meetup

The snow has canceled school from as far west as Fort Worth, up through Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and then swiped an eastern path across the midwest states all the way to the East Coast and up through New England.

I called my sister in Kansas and she told me that schools are closed there for today, too. She has been home all day trying to learn how to use her new pc, installing her instant messenger and setting up a new email account. She’s learning her way around the internet – finally. She even surprised me with the confession that she’s hoping to start dating by using the internet.

Well, she’s been divorced for over two years. I say its about time she started dating. Especially if she uses a quality dating site like Great Expectations. I know my sister, and she’s not interested in a lot of casual dating. She wants to meet a nice guy and be in love again. If she signs up for Great Expectations Kansas City she can attend some of their local events that let people actually meet in a comfortable, non-threatening environment and really get to know someone. I’m glad she’s making the effort now – she deserves to be happy.

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New Boots from Cavender’s

It just occurred to me that I have not ridden a horse since before college. When I go out to Fort Worth to see Tyler and his family I know that riding will be involved. Horses are his life and I need to get up to speed. You don’t just jump up on a horse’s back and ride off across the plains. You have to work your way up to it.

I don’t even have a decent pair of cowboy boots. I have a pair of dress boots, but I need a pair of real, working boots to take out there. Ideally I can find a pair on the internet and wear them around the house for a couple weeks to break them in. Worst case, I’ll have to buy a pair in Texas.

Either way, I’ll probably be shopping for the boots at Cavender’s Boot City. Last time I was in Houston I stopped at a Cavender’s and bought my Charlie One Horse hat. I love that hat, and the girls go wild when I wear it. No brag – just being honest.

Cavender’s has everything for riding and western wear. They have jeans, cowgirl boots, hats, and even the big belt buckles that caught Craig Ferguson’s attention.

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Paintball Fields

The local paintball field is only about 10 minutes from my house, but with a little searching I found over 30 paintball fields just in Tennessee. That’s exciting, because playing on a new field is what makes it challenging. Besides the field looking different and having different geological aspects – rocks, ditches, shrubs and bushes, trees, there are different philosophies on how they are run by the owners and the refs.

The worst thing about the fields close to me is all the newbies – or noobs. The game does attract a lot of teenagers who act the fool. Best thing you can do is go really early – the fields usually open around 10:00 and close well before dark. Teens like to sleep late on Saturdays, so getting there early puts you in with the other more serious players.

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Paintball Challenge

Some of the guys at work are getting restless with this bad weather and talking about doing something fun to get out of the house and work off some steam. This weekend won’t work – everyone has big plans for Super Bowl parties and the sales manager is even going to the game in Tampa, the lucky dog.

When I want to get outside, hunting, fishing and golf are always options but they are so slow paced I don’t really feel like I’ve gotten any exercise. We want to do something active, so I’m pitching the idea of a paintball tournament. We can make up two teams from the operations side of the company against the sales side of the company and meet up on the paintball field to have some fun.

If you like paintball you probably have bought some of your own gear, although the paintball fields have gear for you on site to use for the day. But when I got started a few years ago, I wanted my own gun and found everything I needed on the internet, especially on the ultimatepaintball.com site.

There are complete kits and all kinds of accessories, like masks, gun stocks, scopes, gear bags, etc.  These are for the serious paintballer and for the beginner, too. They have all the top selling brands of paintball guns, including:

  • Tippmann
  • Smart Parts ION
  • Spyder (my favorite – the MR2)
  • Empire
  • BT Paintball
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Choosing the Right Skateboard Parts

Once I started reading up on skateboards I got really into it. I’ve still got my last skateboard from when I was kid. Well, it’s stashed at my mom’s but I still have it until she decides to clean out the garage.

Anyway, my old board pales in comparison to the new designs and components for putting together today’s boards. If I was going to make my own board now here is what I need to choose and pull together:

  • Skateboard Deck – getting the right size is critical
  • Set of Two Skateboard Trucks for mounting the wheel
  • Set of Four Skateboard Wheels
  • Set of Eight Skateboard Bearings (2 per wheel)
  • Mounting Hardware
  • Grip Tape to Slip-proof the Deck
  • Skate Key/Tool

Optional:

  • Skateboard Riser Pads
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Custom Skateboards

My sister called this morning and invited me to her son’s birthday party next week. She can’t do it this weekend because of the Super Bowl, so they picked next Thursday for the celebration. Part of the reason they picked Thursday is because they booked a suite at the Sommet Center for the hockey game that night against the Anaheim Ducks. There is a family joke about the Mighty Ducks, but that’s another story.

I’m not sure what to get this kid for a cool birthday present. He’s turning 8 and is just a typical eight year old – into all kinds of sports and video games. Uncle Adam’s present has to be awesome! I’m thinking it might be a good time to introduce him to skateboarding. I think that’s about the age when I first got interested in the sport. Of course, things have changed since I was riding skateboards. The boards themselves are much more tekkie and its all about a custom designed board.

The best web site I can find about skateboards is called www.warehouseskateboards.com. I’ve been reading up on their page “Skateboard Buying Guide” about skateboard basics and how to choose the right boards and components based on age and size. They also have some really wild designs for a huge selection of boards.

If I order it today I can get it shipped here in time for the birthday party, so looking at their choices for a longboard complete package, I’m going with the rad “Blind Reaper” design. This will blow his mind!

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Spring Break Means Florida

Ever since I was a little kid my family has always gone to Florida at least once a year, usually for Spring Break. I can’t imagine going anywhere else for Spring Break – it’s our family tradition.

My parents bought a condo in New Port Ritchie back in the 1970’s. It used to be a small town with less tourists than most of the Orlando area developments. Of course, after all these years the area has grown and its more crowded now. But it is still a little different feel than closer in to Orlando – less crowds, less traffic, less noise and less kids.

Last year when we went to the condo we decided to explore some of the other little cities and towns that were close by and not spend so much time in the theme parks. We had a nice time exploring the Gulf Coast, and that area is still my favorite spot in the United States. I haven’t found any place nicer.

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Boating After Dark

My grandmother has a little condo down in Florida on the Gulf Coast and she just bought another little fishing boat to take out in the canals and Everglades. She has always loved to go fishing but she also likes to just cruise along watching for wildlife, like American Bald Eagles, manatees and dolphins.

She’s promised to take me out on the new boat when I come down for a visit during spring break. I asked her if she has the boat fully outfitted yet and she told me that she still needs a spotlight and backup motor. I might be able to help her out with the spotlight. I’d like to get her something nice as a thank you gift for having me stay with her in March.

My dad told me about a good web site called www.magnalight.com to get boat and truck lights, so I’m clicking over there for a bit. Just have to decide if I want the light shipped here so I can take it down there with me, or should I just have it sent right to her. The site has a special offer of free shipping on orders over $200 and they take all the major credit cards, including Paypal.

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Party Season

The winter doldrums can be fought with lots of parties. At least, that’s the logic we’re going with around here. People are itching for an excuse to get out of the house and be around people. So we have parties scheduled for one reason or another just about every weekend through the end of February, and then the weather gets nicer in March and we can get start heading outdoors again.

Of course the motherload of parties will be the Super Bowl party in two weeks. That is an event unto itself and the competition for holding the biggest and best gets higher stakes each year. Personally, there might be a few of my friends hosting Super Bowl parties that I’d like to attend, but I’m going to the boss’s house for his party. At least the food and beverage will be top shelf and he has a 52 inch HD plasma screen to watch the game – and commercials.

I want to throw a dinner party the following weekend for about 10 people. The web site www.celebrations.com has some nice ideas for choosing a dinner party theme and then building the party around that, with invitations, decorations, menu items, etc. With all of their dinner party ideas it’s almost like dinner in a box, but you provide the food!

The last dinner party I threw was an Italian theme to celebrate the final episode of the Sopranos. It was so much fun but it was a sad occasion. I miss the Sopranos and it broke my heart to see the show end, but it was a great night with lots of authentic Italian food. If I had known about the Celebrations web site back then, I might have kicked up the decorations a few notches. So I’ll cruise the site and find some new ideas for my party on the seventh.

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Party Decorations

My secretary came back with a list of party supplies and decorations that she wants to buy for the baby shower next month. It’s not all that elaborate, but we do want it to be festive. I read over the list and told her to spend up to $200 at the party store and the bakery to buy everything they need for the party.

If there is any money left from the $200, she can use it to buy a gift card for our receptionist at a “Babies R Us” if there is such a place, or a children’s clothing store or outfitters. I can’t even think of the name of any of those stores. They just aren’t on my radar and I’ve probably never even been inside one. That’s just not something I have to deal with in my life. But I know they exist. They might even be at the mall and I’ve just never noticed. But my secretary can deal with that.