Ugh, my Uverse is still broken. \u00a0I thought they were going to come up with some miraculous fix, but by now I’m rather resigned to the fix being “wait until my contract is up and switch services.” \u00a0What a drag. \u00a0I think I MIGHT be getting close but there are still weird intermittent phone problems. \u00a0Oh well.<\/p>\n
So today is my big birthday. \u00a0By “big” I refer to the number. \u00a0Large. \u00a0Huge. \u00a0Unfathomable. \u00a0I was having trouble coming to grips with the whole situation, but at the end of the day I guess it’s unavoidable. \u00a0At least I got some mileage out of it, in the form of a weekend-long party in KC. \u00a0Now THAT was fun. \u00a0We flew there on Thursday with another couple from CA. \u00a0By the time we got all checked in to the hotel and stuff it was pretty late, so we just kind of hung around the area we were staying in (Westport) and showed them the lay of the land, so to speak.<\/p>\n
Friday morning we got things started with a 10:00 tour of Boulevard Brewing<\/a>. \u00a0I’m not sure how many times I’ve done that tour, ten maybe? \u00a0It never gets old though, seems like there is something new every time. \u00a0This time, the biggest change wasn’t to the brewery itself, but the tour format. \u00a0You used to have to sign up online, and it was almost impossible to get in one. \u00a0They were booked nearly a year out. \u00a0Now you just queue up at 10:00 and get your tickets, first come first server. \u00a0We showed up a little early and stood in line for a while, and had no trouble getting in on the first one. \u00a0After that, we gave our friends a quick tour of the Brookside area. \u00a0After hitting a few of my favorite spots, we moved downtown to the Phoenix and caught the Lonnie McFadden<\/a> show; \u00a0Always a good time there. \u00a0After a good dose of jazz trumpet, several friends from Nebraska let us know they had arrived. \u00a0We took that as our queue to go grab some food, so we moved up the street to one of the finest dining establishments in KC,\u00a0The Peanut<\/a>. \u00a0Can’t beat chicken wings, BLT’s and nachos for dinner. \u00a0After scarfing that down, we headed back to Westport and met up with the NE group at Kelly’s for a good round of story-telling from The Big One of ’91, as we always do when we get together, then moved on to some other spots for more of the same. \u00a0We shut down Westport, I think it was like 3:00 when we left. \u00a0Or maybe 9:30, somewhere between there.<\/p>\n Saturday started off with a solid lunch at Jack Stack<\/a>‘s Plaza location. \u00a0I wouldn’t call it my all-time favorite, but it’s always a solid bet for sure. \u00a0At first they said they wouldn’t be able to seat our large group, but they came through and got us a huge table. \u00a0After an extreme gluttony session, we had to go back to the hotel for a nap. \u00a0For evening entertainment we headed down to the always-fun Knuckleheads<\/a> to catch a Rainmakers<\/a> show. \u00a0That was one of our favorite bands (way) back in our college days, so it was a fine coincidence that they just happened to be playing that night. \u00a0The only downside was they’ve opened a new enclosed building at Knuckleheads, and that’s where they played. \u00a0I much prefer the outdoor area, although I’ll admit it was pretty darn chilly out that night. \u00a0I had a great time at any rate.<\/p>\n Sunday the event-of-the-day was the Royals game. \u00a0Donette had rented the Hall of Fame suite<\/a>, and several friends were able to join us to catch the game. \u00a0After a week of rain predictions, it turned out to be just about the ideal day to watch a baseball game. \u00a0Actually, it turned out a bit on the hot side, so it was nice to have the air conditioning to retreat to whenever we wanted. \u00a0Extra bonus, they even won, albeit in a rather drawn-out fashion. \u00a0After blowing their scant lead in the ninth, they pulled it out with a walk-off homer in the 13th. \u00a0Whew, long game! \u00a0We wrapped things up with a little food at Grinders<\/a>, and then it was time to head back to good ol’ Cali. \u00a0For a quick weekend trip, I feel like we did a good job of hitting a lot of my favorite places. \u00a0Can’t get to ’em all, but maybe for my 60th. \u00a0I did an absolutely abysmal job of pictures, but I have a few.<\/p>\n\n\t\t