Middle of October and Only a Few Months Left in 2020

Where has 2020 gone and where have I been? I look out at my blog as see the last time I posted was September 28, 2019. Wow! Time has flown! I admit, February 2020 through about August 2020 seems like a blur. COVID-19 started and caused a lot of issues with all of our lives. 

Well, this is a short post to say I am going to start posting to my blog again. I am going to set aside time to write mainly because I enjoy doing the updates. Watch for new posts in the coming week and I am planning to be posting on a regular basis on a variety of issues. Who knows, I might even get back to posting about grilling again as that has not been happening much either.

I hope you are staying safe! More posts later and I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Carrie and I Celebrated 17 Years of Marriage Taking a Trip to Minnesota

Carrie and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary on September 21. For our anniversary, we booked a trip to Minneapolis, MN. We stayed in a Airbnb which was fantastic. It was our first time staying in an Airbnb, but certainly will try it again. The apartment, views, and location was fantastic! It almost did not feel real looking our our 20th floor apartment the views or going up to the top floor (31st) to walk around on the top roof to see the view, have drinks, and enjoy our time.

Light Rail Waiting to Take Us to Next Stop

We arrived on Wednesday, September 18 and stayed through Monday, September 23. It was a nice trip. We had a lot to explore. My third trip to the Twin Cities with the most recent being just a few short years ago for a bachelor party for my brother-in-law. My first trip to Minnesota was years ago to meet my friend Michele who was staying up there. I remember it was very cold when I went the first time. This time the weather was perfect! It only rained on us the last Sunday we were there for the Royals game and all the other days were beautiful. We had fun learning the light rail system and bus system. It was really easy to get around using the Transit system with an easy to use app. It was our first time using Apple Maps with transit. It was cool to use the real-time transit maps of Apple and know exactly when a train or bus were going to arrive. The last time I was in the city we walked most places and use the sky-walks to get around the city. We did use Uber a few times when it was going to be a little wait to walk or wait for the bus/train.

We did do some culture while we were in the town. We visited a museum and read through some history in downtown St. Paul. We visited so many wonderful spots in both Minneapolis and St. Paul that I had to list them below for my memory as I look back up on our trip years from now.

• Restaurants
• Casper & Runyon's Nook (Burger with Cheese in the Center... whaat?)
• Centro
• The Anchor Fish and Chips (Fantastic Fried Fish)
• 112 Eatery (Our Anniversary Dinner)
• Spoon and Stable (Brunch before Baseball)
• Red Cow
• Breweries or Drinks
• Summit Brewing Company
• Surly Brewing Company
• Modist Brewing Co
• Tattersall Distilling
• Indeed Brewing Company
• Dangerous Man Brewing Co
• Inbound Brew Co

Fantastic breweries and places to eat. We drank and ate at lot. Enjoyable time wondering around the city and enjoying the company of my wife for seventeen years... Carrie. She did most, OK all, the research for our trip. She researched the places to eat, drink, and did a wonderful job doing the research. If it were left to me, we would have been searching the internet when we were there checking where to go. She had a list and checked it regularly leading up and including while on the trip. There were many places both to eat and drink that we did not attend. Overall, I could not have asked for a better trip with a better person.

Looking forward to what we will book next year and years to come. Happy Anniversary Carrie! I love you!

17th Wedding Anniversary Trip to Minnesota

End of Summer and What Happened Over the Summer

Seriously! What happened to summer? It seems like 2019 just started and then suddenly summer is over. School starts up and feels like summer consisted of about a week and then we are back into downhill slide of the end of 2019. Each year it seems like summer moves faster and faster. Whatever I can do to make time feel like it is moving slower would be good for this next year because this year is flying.

The end of summer is marked by school starting, football games, and the push for teams in baseball to make the playoffs, but it is also the mark of Labor Day. I recall as a kid when Labor Day would arrive it always felt like the end of summer and the focus would turn only to school. The end of summer makes me want to remember what happened over the summer and possibly make it feel like time did not pass in an instant of a week.

I attended graduation from Washburn University for my nephew Spencer. I was proud to have him graduate from Washburn. The same month I attended the wedding of another nephew Brian. A beautiful service and a lot of fun at the reception. The same weekend that Brian was married, Carrie was in a play (her first) that ran a three day weekend. I missed opening night of her play but attended the next two performances. I could not have been more proud of Carrie. She had so much fun doing the play. I hope she is able to have the chance to do future plays as I cannot wait to see her perform again.

May also brought with it the end of my spring semester class. I am closing in on the end of the master's program. I did end up taking a class over the summer that proved to be a lot of work, as all the courses have been, but I think doing the course over the summer also helped to make the summer seem to fly. I take two more classes and then I will graduate with a master's degree. I cannot wait and while summer seems like it has been dragging, this process seems to be taking a longtime.

June started and Carrie was asked to be in a fund raiser for Topeka Civic Theater the "Art of Murder". She was excited to take part in the one night performance. I was far along in my class that had started and had a paper due, so I was unable to attend. I am hopeful that future plays that Carrie will be in I will be able to attend. June also brought another wedding with my nephew Patrick getting married. A beautiful wedding and fun reception, the whole family was able to attend and celebrate their marriage. Talking about time moving quickly, it seems crazy to think that I have two nephews that are now married.

July really flew by as I continued to work on my class. Class was due to end the middle of July, so a lot of reading, discussion boards, and papers to complete helped to make July skip by in a blink of an eye. The end of July we had scheduled a trip to Oklahoma and Texas for a vacation. Oklahoma was for a business trip for me. We had a good time stopping in Oklahoma City, OK for one night. Did some sight seeing, ate well, and left the next day to drive to Dallas. We then spent the next eight days visiting, having fun, and enjoying the company of our friends Javier and Corrie. Always fun to spend time with friends.

Our vacation ran from July 29 - August 6. After arriving back from vacation,  I found myself immediately back in the thick of trying to get prepared for classes at Washburn. No, not my class to start, but the start of the semester. Again, classes starting certainly makes the feeling of summer ending seem final and then suddenly here we are almost a month later with Labor Day on Monday and it really feels like summer is over. Sure, we might have more hots days, but summer is done. Now we prepare for football, fantasy football, end of baseball, and soon basketball will be starting.

All I want is for time to move a little slower as we finish out 2019. Making time to read for enjoyment, taking a break from the business that is life, and making sure to relax will help me to focus on slowing down the feeling of time flying by and enjoy being in the now. This is my goal as we finish out the year.

Beer Can Chicken Cook on a Saturday Night and I will Try Again to Improve My Process

Smoke Rising from Grill on a Saturday Night

It has been a while since I have posted about a cook on the grill. We tried beer can chicken this evening. I have struggled somewhat with chicken on the BGE where I follow advice using indirect heat and end up with skin on the chicken that is not very good. Today, I searched around for different advice and recipes. I found one that had a good rub which included:

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1⁄4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1 tablespoon sea salt or kosher salt

The rub smelled and looked good. I applied it directly to the chicken inside and out. I then used a Boulevard beer as it was the only beer we had in the house that was actually a can. Cooked from 6:06 pm to about 7:30 getting the temperature to target temp of 165. I used two different probes to get an accurate temperature. The probe in the breast reached the target temperature before the second probe, so the probe in the breast got up as high as 177 before it was complete.

Whole Chicken Early in the Cook

Spent time on the patio listening to the Royals who started losing in the first inning with a grand slam by the Indians. Great! I continued to listen as the chicken cooked and monitored the probes. Even though the Royals were getting beat, it was an enjoyable evening on the patio. A few mosquitoes but a nice evening, so was battling those away while tending to the grill.

Left the lid closed for the first 30 minutes before opening to see what it was doing. Had a nice color happening on the skin and it was dripping a great deal into the lump. This would be the only reason that I would think about doing indirect and have a drip pan to try and catch some of that before it gets into the lump. But, I made the decision to cook without using indirect heat. I think the next time we try beer can chicken, I will do indirect as I had a few comments on BGE Forum and on the Reddit BGE sub that indirect is best and high in the dome works wonders for a crispy skin. Obviously, I did not do either of these as cooked direct and not high in the dome. So, ended up with skin that was not ideal but the meat was moist and good flavor.

Finished and Off of the Grill

Final product did not look bad. It had good color and smelled so good coming off of the grill. I think it does need to be attempted again using indirect heat. I like the flavor of the rub I used as the skin that we could eat we liked how it tasted. I just need to work on the process further and give it another attempt.

If you have a technique you like to use on your grill, BGE, or other, I would be interested to hear your technique. Feel free to post a comment.

Oliver Protecting the Yard and Grill

Best part of the night was how much fun our dog has while I am grilling. He wears himself out as he patrols the back yard. Once Oliver sees me getting the tools for grilling, the lump, pulling off the cover, and generally walking in and out to prepare, he can hardly sit still. Runs to and from the door and knows exactly what is happening. He specially likes it when a drip or two falls off of a tool used for grilling. Not tonight little guy, but I know it will happen again and hopefully soon.

Until next time, have a wonderful rest of your weekend and hopefully I will post more cooks that I do in the future.

Reading Books, Goodreads, and Goal for End of Summer Reading

I am in no way an avid reader. I go through spurts where I read a lot and then other times where I read very little. I might go months without picking up a book to read. When I am taking classes and reading textbooks, I typically do not read at all. My summer class recently ended and I told myself I am going to try and read as much as I can between now and when the fall semester class starts which will be in the middle of October. So, I should have a chance to read a lot between now and then.


My Goodread profile was created back in 2013. During that time, I have not read many books at only 63. I think my most productive year of reading was last year. I pick up books that look interesting from the cover or a brief read of the info about the book from Goodreads. I have started a few books and then end up abandoning because I do not find it interesting. I need to rely more on the recommendations of other Goodreads friends as it seems that when I do find a book that sounds interesting it sometimes is not great and it takes a while to get through those as it is difficult to keep focus on the book.

Carrie has recommended a few books to me and one that I loved was Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime Discovery. It was a book I could not set down and found it inspiring to read about a true story of life in space. If you have not read the book, I highly recommend picking it up and enjoy the read.

I am always looking for new books to add to my read list, so if you have a recommendation, please feel free to comment on this post or friend me on Goodread profile to recommend a book.

My current book is Say You're Sorry (Morgan Dane #1) which I think I got for free through Amazon and being a Prime member. It is one of those books I started back in December, my spring class started, I did not read at all, summer class started, and I did not read, so I picked it back up the middle of July and continued reading. The book has been entertaining and I am almost done with it. In fact, I should finish it today as I am at 93% complete. Overall, I am enjoying this book that I found for free on Amazon.

Other than the books I get through Amazon, I typically get books from our local library through Overdrive. I only read electronic books and only on my Kindle. I sometimes will read with the Kindle app on my iPhone if I do not have my Kindle reader. Makes it nice as it syncs up from both devices including the computer. I know my mom, and others, enjoy the feel of a book in their hands while they are reading, but I prefer the e-book to a real book.

My goal is to finish two books before the fall semester begins in the middle of August. Not my semester, as my semester does not start until the second eight weeks of the fall semester as I mentioned earlier. But, I want to finish two books before the semester begins. If I give myself a goal, it helps to be able to stay on track and motivate for reading at least a chapter each day.

Please post a comment if you have book recommendations or connect with me on Goodread profile to share book recommendations. I would love to hear from you or connect with others on discussion of books.

Trip to Beloved Playa Mujeres in Cancun November 2017

Carrie and John Parasailing in Cancun Mexico

Our vacation from 2017 and I realized I never finished this post which I had started back in December 2017 following our vacation. So, I decided to finish it out today.

Carrie and I celebrated fifteen years of marriage on September 21, 2017. To celebrate, we booked a all-inclusive vacation to Beloved Playa Mujeres in Cancun Mexico. We had looked at a number of all-inclusive resorts before selecting Beloved Playa Mujeres. We booked our vacation for November 12 - 21, 2017 so we could be back in time for Thanksgiving break. We were in for a treat of a vacation from arriving in Mexico.

Night Before We Leave and Our Flight

Carrie and John on Plane

We flew on American Airlines. We stayed at Hilton Kansas City Airport so we would not have to rush Sunday morning to get to the airport from Topeka. It worked out great! On the drive to the hotel on Saturday, we were trying to figure out where to eat going through options we found on Google. Finally Carrie asked what about Minsky's Pizza which was within driving distance and better yet they delivered to the hotel. We had taken a cooler full of beer with us for the hotel stay the night before where we enjoyed drinking beer and eating pizza. We ate the whole thing and I finished off the beer.

After finishing pizza, beer, and dessert, Carrie proceeded to get ready for the trip with such things as painting nails. I found a movie I had wanted to watch for a while but never watched. The movie was one I remember my dad liking a lot and maybe watching a few times. I recalled to Carrie when I came across the movie that I remembered my dad telling me how good the movie was and would be one I would like too. Sure enough, I tuned into Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) and I watched it to the end. I loved it! I thought it was cool that the movie was playing and I was able to watch it before leaving on our trip. I felt a connection to dad as I know how much he liked this movie. Carrie shared with me following the movie that it was based on a series of books that I might enjoy reading... which I plan to read.

We both slept well that night and got up early Sunday, November 12, 2017 ready to catch our flight. We were able to leave our car at the Hilton Kansas City Airport for $8 a day, so that was not too bad. We took the shuttle to the Kansas City airport and had no issues with making our flight. The airport was not busy at all. Our first leg of the flight was to Dallas, Texas where we then had about an hour layover in Dallas before our connecting flight to Cancun.

Vodka Tonic on Plane

No major issues with our flights although on one of the flights Carrie's knees were up against the chair in front of us. I believe this was the first flight to Dallas as we did not pay more for emergency exit row on that first flight. We both got a beverage to drink on the plane to start our vacation. Nothing like a little vodka before noon. We are on vacation!

The second flight to Cancun, I recall the flight attendant for American Airlines talked to us a lot and was so nice! We were even talking to her as we were going off the plane. She was telling us about her travel and where she was going after leaving Cancun. It was interesting to hear her discuss her plans. I believe she said she is currently living in Dallas but of course gets to travel to all kinds of interesting locations.

Arrival and the Resort

We arrived late afternoon on Sunday, November 12, 2017. Slightly overcast when we arrived, but the weather was not bad. We knew before we left that rain was forecast for late Sunday and most of the day Monday although we thought we would catch a break and miss the rain. It was a nice evening on Sunday as we checked into our room. We spent some time unpacking and enjoying some drinks in our room before we headed out to checkout the resort. We ate the first night at Isla Grill which was very good! I had steak and it was delicious. We never did have the bananas that we heard about as that first night we were too full to get that dessert and when we tried going later in our stay, they were out of them when we ate dinner the second time at Isla Grill. The flaming bananas sounded really good though, so we missed out on those.

A few pictures are below of the view from our patio which was Hermosa 2. We really liked the location of our room and being on the ground floor. Some days we left out of the back sliding glass and did not bother locking the room. We did this when we were going to the swim up bar or spending time in the area by the pool.

I did not get many inside pictures of our room, but I think you can find those elsewhere. My favorite part of the room was the bar. When we checked into our room and they came by to check on us if we needed anything, we told them we would prefer black label Johnny Walker. We were initially told that we would have to give up two bottles from the four liquor bottles and one bottle of wine. The liquor that was in the room for us included rum, tequila, vodka, gin, and then one bottle of wine. After we left for dinner and came back, there was a bottle of black label Johnny Walker and they left the bottle we thought we were giving up... rum. Good thing because we ended up finishing off one bottle of rum during our stay and started another one. I was really enjoying the rum while on our vacation.

Another favorite of being on the ground floor in Hermosa 2 was that the ice machine was right outside of our door. The first few days I would take the ice bucket out to fill up with ice and by the end, I was taking just our glasses out to fill up with ice for our drinks. Worked out great!

More Resort and Our Activities

For most of our vacation, we spent either by the ocean or by a pool. Duh! We got up early (by 9 am) most mornings as we did not want to waste any daytime as the days were rather short. Carrie read six or seven books while we were on vacation and I read two and half which was our goal for this vacation. Not have anything planned, relax by the ocean/pool, read, and enjoy adult beverages which is exactly what we did on our vacation. Oh, we also ate well at the resort. 

Ceviche with Octopus. Yum!

The sushi bar was really good! We did not spend as much time at the sushi bar as we could have done. We basically had sushi twice while on vacation. The first night we had the ceviche. Oh my! It was really good! The ceviche had shrimp, white fish, and octopus. We were not too thrilled about eating octopus, but I think it was our favorite of the combination. Really nice job with the ceviche at the sushi bar. We had ceviche again later at another restaurant, but the first night we had it was the best. They did a really nice job with the sushi at this location. We had no complaints and ate plenty of sushi. This was one of the first places we went when arriving to the resort and then we re-visited again a few nights before we left to enjoy sushi and drinks.

Dinner at Excellence
Playa Mujeres

On Tuesday, November 14,  2017, we were able to have dinner at the neighboring Excellence Playa Mujeres that we were able to eat at for "free" because we were staying over seven nights at the sister related restore of Beloved Playa Mujeres. It was fun to go over to see the other resort which was a lot larger than where we were staying. So large in fact, we had a hard time finding the ocean after we were done eating to walk back to our hotel. Anyway, we were able to hang out at Excellence Playa Mujeres for a while to drink and then eat. So many more people at this resort, so it was fun for us to be able to see that side with more people everywhere. The staff were very nice to us when visiting the other resort. They were attentive to our needs and we had a wonderful time. We were able to walk around the resort following dinner to check out the sports bar which happened to be playing Kansas basketball against Kentucky Wildcats. It was a fun night although we got out of there late and back to our room about midnight. (This might explain why we had problems finding the ocean after leaving the resort.)

Wrap Up and Conclusion

A wonderful vacation that we cannot wait to do again.  Excellence Playa Mujeres was a wonderful place to stay. The staff and various places to eat/drink were enjoyable. It had been a long time since we had been to an all-inclusive resort and hopefully we do not wait as long to do so again in the future. We have been on three cruises and enjoy those, but there is something special about all-inclusive and drinking or eating whatever and whenever we want.

See all of our pictures from our trip by clicking on the picture to the below. A memorable experience and look forward to going again.

Picture Album from Excellence Playa Mujeres from November 2017

Long Over Due for Post, Grilling, and Summer is Flying

It is sad to look back at my blog and see that I have only posted twice during 2019. One was first NCAA March Madness and the second was to displays the top three winners of the bracket for the NCAA bracket. My summer class ended and spring was rather busy with another class, so I decided it was time to try and get my site going again with some regular posts from yours truly.

Grilling on a Summer Night

I have been grilling frequently the past few months although I got out of the habit of writing about it or posting pictures. I did snap a picture on a beautiful night a week ago before it started getting hot. Grilled burgers and they turned out great!

Hard to believe that the summer is almost over. It seems the days go by faster and faster. I remember as a kid thinking the day was so boring and moved so slow. Not anymore as the days fly by not to mention the weeks, months, and years. Reminds me of my grandpa when I was young and I would tell him I was bored and the day was going so slow, he would tell me just wait until you are older. I had not idea what he meant. I think I know now but time seems to fly by at warp speed.

I hope your summer is going well and not flying by. Enjoy your summer and I hope to post on a regular basis at least until my fall class starts up again in October.