From Coffee to Cocktails: A Bookish Day Out

We had a fun time a week ago Saturday where Erin, Carrie, and I decided to try out a new coffee spot in Topeka called Higher Grounds. We took our books and hung out for a few hours reading, drinking coffee, and eating delicious food. We had a great time and even saw some of our neighbors from down the street that we spoke to for a few minutes. I believe the staff said Higher Grounds had been open for about a month. It is located on Topeka Blvd near the corner of 21 St. Food was delicious and coffee was too.

Reading and Drinks at The Spot

Following coffee and breakfast at Higher Grounds, we decided to stop by The Spot to continue reading and enjoy some adult beverages. We ended up meeting up Greg, Eddie, and Joan where we continued conversation and played card games. What a fun morning and afternoon.

I am trying to up my reading game as I have fallen behind my goal for the year. According to Goodreads, I am six books behind schedule of my 25 books for the year. The past few weeks, or months, I have not read as much as I had intended. I have read everyday, but often times I am reading as I am going to bed and only a page or two before falling asleep. I went out last week to find some "short" books that I can read quickly, but I am finding even those "short" books take me a while to read.

I am hoping to get some reading in today on a Sunday afternoon. No Royals playing today, so it would be a good day to catch up on my reading. 

Have a great rest of your weekend and a wonderful week! Until next time...

"9 to 5 The Musical", Solilquy Bar, Preparing for KBBF, and Summary of Prior Week

Sleepy Oliver

It was a busy week for me with a conference I attended in Kansas City Monday - Wednesday. I made the decision to drive in each day instead of getting a hotel room in Kansas City for the conference. Made for long days the first part of this week, but it was a good conference with good connections being made. Tuesday night when I got home from the conference, Oliver was very sleepy and plopped down in his bed to do some serious sleeping. I decided to head to bed early that night too and went to bed at 9:30.

The rest of the week flew by and was catch up for me at work after attending the conference. Short week next week for me as I will be taking personal leave to head to Helena, AR for the King Biscuit Blues Festival. I leave Wednesday and then back the following Sunday. Looking forward to another KBBF and seeing everyone at the festival. Carrie was planning to go but decided she would not make it this year. Javier will be there and we will work the main stage at the KBBF.

Saturday night, Carrie and I went to see 9 to 5 The Musical at Topeka Civic Theater. We had a fun time joining Greg and Erin for the play. Prior to the play, we met at The Pennant for a quick dinner and drinks before heading to the play. It was a fun evening. The musical was good and it was the first play we had been to in a while. It was good to be back at Topeka Civic Theater.

Drink at Solilquy Bar

Following the play, Carrie and I decided to stop by Soliloquy Bar where we sat on the patio and had a few drinks. One of the drinks I ordered came out and was lit on fire. Another drink Carrie and I shared had liquid nitrogen that cooled down the glass, they then threw out the nitrogen which was cool to see the nitrogen hit on the ground. Our server was one of the owners, so we chatted with him for a bit and talked about the cool places to get drinks in Topeka and Lawrence.

On the Patio at Solilquy Bar

Beautiful evening Saturday night to sit on the patio which was nice. The patio was busy when we arrived around 10:30 and then by the time I took the picture to the left, it had cleared out. The owner told us that they have a soft close of midnight which was something Carrie and I were wondering about as we sat on the patio listening to music and how the neighbors next door react to the traffic, music, etc.

It is now Sunday as I finish up this update and I am sitting here watching football. Both of my fantasy football teams are not off to very good starts. Hoping to get two wins this week with my two teams and bounce back. Also out there are my fantasy baseball teams which are not doing well either. Still, it is fun to follow players and make changes to try and win each week.

That is about all for today. Have a great week and I will talk to you next time.

Freakout Control Diminishes As I Get Older... My Experience on a Swing

Following a nice lunch at Cafe Holiday in Topeka with Carrie, brother-in-law Greg, Erin, and then new friends Francie and Jamie, we all decided to head over to the park across the street to get on the swings. Well, a few of us decided to do so anyway....

I am not sure I remember the last time I got on a swing and actually went all out on the swing.  Although the picture to the left does not show it, I was going very high.  It was only a reminder that I am getting older because I was kind of freaked out as I was swinging and not sure how to stop.

I have heard from others that use to love roller coasters that now they cannot go on roller coasters when they are older because of the changes that happen in "older" people.  Yes, I am older at 43 years old.  This was the first time I have felt that feeling... a feeling I really cannot describe... but it felt as though I was out of control and going to get hurt.  I had the feeling I could not stop the swing or control what I was doing.

Now, maybe it is because I am older I do not recall feeling this on a swing when I was young, but this felt like a brand new experience for me.  An experience I did not like too much, so I did some searches and found that it was likely a form of motion sickness.  Or, at least the start of motion sickness anyway.

When I was young, I loved roller coasters, riding anything at the amusement park whether it was a roller coaster or not.  I still think that I would like roller coasters, but this certainly had me wondering if I would be able to handle the roller coasters if I ever make it to an amusement park again.  The feeling I had on the swing was not something I want to have happen again.  Sure, it was fun to start on the swing, but once I got going, I was freaking out inside.  Look at my face in the picture and you can see that there is a little bit of freaking out on my face!

All this makes me wonder if maybe I had the feeling on the swing simply because it had been so long since I had been on a swing.  If I start swinging daily, would I eventually get use to that sensation or would I always feel freaked out about feeling out of control, flying off of the swing, etc.  It makes me wonder about if I am ever on a roller coaster in the future... Could I ever get use to the the thrills, movement, and fast motion of a roller coaster?  It makes me want to at least go out and try a roller coaster this summer.  If it makes me feel like I did on the swing, then I doubt I will ride the coaster more than once.

So, along with needing reading glasses (or bifocals), I also get to experience freaking out on swings, amusement park rides, and unknown future experiences that happen as I age.  Fun!  

Rematch of Kansas State Wildcats and Kansas Jayhawks

What a Saturday! Trip to Legends to celebrate a birthday (see Birthday Celebration for Juanca) and college basketball. It does not get much better than that to make for a perfect Saturday!

My day started off taking the Civic to get brakes checked, oil changed, and fluids checked. I was at Sharp Honda for a little over an hour. While I was there I test drove a Honda Accord 2008 which I liked, and watched ESPN Game Day. They were of course at Allen Field House the Home of the Jayhawks for Game Day. The place was already rock'n at 10 am and the game was not until that evening. This only fueled the excitement and environment for the rematch of K-State and KU.

Kansas State beat up on the Jayhawks back in February in Manhattan. The Jayhawks went to the "Little Apple" and suffered their first loss of the season. This started a slide for them of not playing well and another loss to Texas. After beating KSU yesterday 88 - 74. Beasley scored 39 points for the Wildcats, but he did not get much help from the rest of the Cats. I did not have a chance to watch the first half, but from what I read on Jason Whitlock's post on the KC Star that KU won with help from the officials. I did not see those calls, so I cannot comment on whether there was help from the officials to give the game to the Jayhawks.

I do know that Walker and Pullen got into some kind of funk and did not step up to what needed to be done to win the game. I do not care how many points a start player makes, there still has to be help from his teammates to win the game. Basketball is after all a team sport and it requires a team to win the game. Too often this season I have watched Beasley score a lot of points and Kansas State loses.

There is no doubt in my mind that Michael Beasley is a great player. He definitely has the talent to play in the NBA. According to Beasley, he has not stated whether he is going to the NBA or not. Read a interesting article posted on ESPN Saturday regarding Beasley and what he has gone through in his life to this point. (See Beasley teetering on the precipice of adulthood on ESPN.) I did find it interesting to hear what kind of vehicle Beasley drives and the fact that his Mom and siblings moved to Manhattan so Beasley could have his family close.

Kansas moved to 26 - 3 (11 - 3 conference) and are now tied with Texas for number one in the Big Twelve. Kansas State moves to 18 - 10 (8 - 6 conference). Kansas State is back in a position where they need to win their next two games to avoid being skipped over by the NCAA selection committee this year. Recall that last year they were skipped over as a bubble team and there is concern this could happen again this year even with a star player.

Kansas plays again Monday night against Texas Tech who just came off a huge victory of their own beating Texas 83 - 80. You can bet that Tech is going to be pumped up for Monday night when they face the league tied first place Jayhawks in Lawrence for senior night. The Jayhawks must win Monday night and again on March 8 when they face Texas A&M.

Have a great week and I will be back Monday night.

Saturday... Sick... and Basketball...

What a weekend it has been so far. I ended up going home sick on Thursday with a temperature of right around 100. I had not been feeling well for most of the day and I did not feel any better in the car ride back to the house. I had started acking mid-morning and had the feeling that I was running a temperature. Sure enough, I took my temperature and it was 100. I called into work to let them know that I was staying home to try and break the fever.

Friday I woke up with the same 100 degree fever that I had on Thursday. I notified work around 7 am to let them know I would not be into work. I went right back to bed and slept until about noon. Well, I should say I tried to sleep. Insurance called about the car and a question we had about how something worked; Carrie called a couple of times to check on me and see how I was doing. I did sleep most of the morning, but it did not feel like it.

At about noon on Friday I could not sleep any more, so I moved downstairs to watch television. I watched part of a movie and took another hour or so nap. When I woke up I took my temperature again and it read about 101. Crazy because the day before and that morning I had been taking Tylenol and other meds that Carrie said would help me get better. So far medication, sleep, or time was doing anything to get rid of the fever.

Carrie got home from work around 5 and found me watching a movie. She asked when the last time I had taken my temperature. I told her it was probably back around 1 or so when I had a 101 temp. So we took it again and it read 102. So, I took more medication, drank some fluids, and lay back down on the sofa. I was not getting any better and starting to feel slightly dizzy.

We spent the evening flipping channels and Carrie said she was going to make some chicken soup for me. Nothing sounded good to eat at all. The last time I ate was earlier that day when I had a left over donut from work. I said that I was going to head to bed, so Carrie wanted me to have more of this lemon tasting stuff that warms up and is supposed to make me better. I drank it and went to bed about 9:30.

Carrie kept coming up to check on me during the evening. At about midnight she woke me and took my temperature. This time it read 103. It is getting ridiculous and nothing seems to be having any effect on how I was feeling or the temperature. We agreed that if it had not improved by morning we would go to the doctor.

I slept well for the most part. Although I woke up at 5 am and could not sleep. I was dying of thirst and my head was hurting. I got up and went down to get a drink of water. I decided I better try and sleep some more because I could tell just the way I was feeling that I still had a temperature.

So when I finally wake up it is about 8 am. Carrie takes my temperature again and it is 102. Ok, so it had come down one whole degree. Crazy! I went downstairs to watch television and sleep. Taking another nap and drinking some more of the lemon flavored stuff that Carrie had we took my temperature again around noon or so and finally my temperature was under 100.

With a temperature being lower, it sure did not feel like it since I was still aking and felt like I had a temperature. I started to watch the Colorado vs. Kansas game and ended up falling asleep for the first half. I awoke to find Kansas leading by a large margin over Colorado. I do not recall the final score, but Colorado definitely did not deserve playing Kansas a second time. Colorado has played Kansas twice both times after KU comes out of a loss the game before.

So, now I start watching the Missouri vs. Kansas State game. Carrie is starting to get sick and I am about ready for another nap.

Until next time....