One might argue that last night Hillary Clinton gave the best speech of her political career. One might even say she showed more life and fire in her speech than she ever has even hinted at previously.
I found the speech to be interesting, insightful and carefully (albeit theatrically) delivered, and I believe that she believed every single word that came out of her mouth.
BUT....(everyone I know has such a big but!)
I take exception to the portion of her speech where she began by saying that "John McCain is my friend and colleague" and then went on to say how he's had a long and dignified career and is honorable in his service to his country and to his fellow man...but voting for him would mean that once elected, he will kick your Grandma, starve your kids and kill your dog!
Taking it a step further, he might Kill your Grandma, kick your kids and rape your dog! Or even still, he might starve and kill your Grandma, then kick her, then take away her health care, then bring her back from the dead and make her kill your kids and kick your dog!
Sound silly? Yup! But not to the politicians during an election year. Imagine what she might have said if John McCain weren't her friend!!!???
Joe Biden's speech this evening was more of the same... He said that he and John were CLOSE LONGTIME friends, but that John had bad judgement in every aspect of his political life...I'm guessing that includes his ability to choose friends!
Senator McCain, with all due respect, you really need to start hanging out with a better crowd.
Dave
(PS, although I don't think the Republicans will stoop as low as the Democrats next week, don't be too shocked if they try to!!!)
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Believe it or not, it's just me
Back again, just takin' a break from Olympic viewing... Whew, how bout that Michael Phelps? Who knew that Superman could swim? This guy is amazing... I've been impressed with a lot of the Olympians this year and with NBC's coverage as well. Costas is good, as usual, but I have to chuckle whenever he has the former Olympic Coach on who discusses gymnastics... I catch about every third word that he says...not his fault, but perhaps maybe NBC might consider a commentator with a better grasp of the English language.
I'm feeling okay today after going back to work at the bookstore Friday night. I felt REALLY good on Thursday, so much so, that I mentioned to my Boss that with my luck I'd probably be in a coma on Friday... well, it appears I spoke too soon and jinxed myself. I ended up getting sick from my pain pills Thursday night (I twisted my knee getting out of the car on the way home from work and was in a LOT of pain just trying to get into the house).
So, I was up sick all night and went to bed sometime around 4:00 AM and then got up at 5:30 to get ready for work. I worked four hours out of the six I was scheduled for and then came home, iced my knee and took a nap. I was leery about going to work, but did well until I tried to stand back up after my break at 9:30... my knee wasn't playing along, so I had to really slow down the last couple of hours. I iced and elevated when I got home and took it easy yesterday so I could go back last night. I had a lot of good back up from co-workers both nights and I did take it slower last night so I made it through a bit better I think.
I couldn't sleep last night (which may be a side-effect from the pills), and ended up awake for most of the overnight hours. I ended up sleeping till after ten this morning and totally missed church!!! So today has been a lazy day other than trimming some plants back around the deck and the pond and cleaning the pond filter out. Dustin mowed and Jared helped me with the trimming and then he fed the fish.
Jared's been weaning himself from some of the Olympic coverage today by watching DVD episodes of "My Name is Earl" and then quoting entire scenes back to me almost verbatim. He's a nut!
Dustin, the ladies man, has been fielding multiple calls today from the young chicklettes who bask in his angst-filled universe, while I have been mulling over a return to fiction writing. I'll see how that goes... In the meantime you get to read this rambling, somewhat incoherent rant that has little to do with much of anything... (See, what did I tell you?)
So, as the sun fades in the sky and the smell of my Neighbor grilling ribs wafts overhead (making my stomach rumble and my mouth water), I'm left to think that this weekend, while mostly restful, was a waste...
Dave
I'm feeling okay today after going back to work at the bookstore Friday night. I felt REALLY good on Thursday, so much so, that I mentioned to my Boss that with my luck I'd probably be in a coma on Friday... well, it appears I spoke too soon and jinxed myself. I ended up getting sick from my pain pills Thursday night (I twisted my knee getting out of the car on the way home from work and was in a LOT of pain just trying to get into the house).
So, I was up sick all night and went to bed sometime around 4:00 AM and then got up at 5:30 to get ready for work. I worked four hours out of the six I was scheduled for and then came home, iced my knee and took a nap. I was leery about going to work, but did well until I tried to stand back up after my break at 9:30... my knee wasn't playing along, so I had to really slow down the last couple of hours. I iced and elevated when I got home and took it easy yesterday so I could go back last night. I had a lot of good back up from co-workers both nights and I did take it slower last night so I made it through a bit better I think.
I couldn't sleep last night (which may be a side-effect from the pills), and ended up awake for most of the overnight hours. I ended up sleeping till after ten this morning and totally missed church!!! So today has been a lazy day other than trimming some plants back around the deck and the pond and cleaning the pond filter out. Dustin mowed and Jared helped me with the trimming and then he fed the fish.
Jared's been weaning himself from some of the Olympic coverage today by watching DVD episodes of "My Name is Earl" and then quoting entire scenes back to me almost verbatim. He's a nut!
Dustin, the ladies man, has been fielding multiple calls today from the young chicklettes who bask in his angst-filled universe, while I have been mulling over a return to fiction writing. I'll see how that goes... In the meantime you get to read this rambling, somewhat incoherent rant that has little to do with much of anything... (See, what did I tell you?)
So, as the sun fades in the sky and the smell of my Neighbor grilling ribs wafts overhead (making my stomach rumble and my mouth water), I'm left to think that this weekend, while mostly restful, was a waste...
Dave
Friday, August 15, 2008
Michael Palin is a Genius
So I've been reading Michael Palin's diaries about how he and several talented British Lads (no, not the Beatles!) got together and formed "Monty Python." Between very sad and delicate entries about his Father's failing health, and his perceptions of art, good food and politics (not that those things go together at all!), I've found myself laughing out loud at the many funny and insightful Pythonian and Palinian turns of phrase. (Many of them far too naughty to reprint here...not that I could without benefit of Mister Palin or Mr. Python(s) permission to use them.)
Oh, okay here's one of them... During a game show sketch, one contestant is introduced as such:
Mr. _____ is a _________(whatever occupation you wish to insert),
and in his spare time he likes to strangle small animals, play golf and ______________(too tacky to even print in a family friendly blog, suffice to say I laughed till I had tears in my eyes...which is better than razor blades, but still, you catch my drift)
So tonight, (or is it morning? A quick look at my watch confirms that it is, in fact, morning...thank you, Watch!) I'm awake after spending most of my evening...
A. Nauseous
B. Gagging
C. Head Achy
D. Knee Hurty
E. (is there ever an option "E"? This is the FIRST TIME OFFERED...)
F. (ANOTHER FIRST! This one is for "All of the above, except for "E" which really
doesn't count for anything except for being a valuable time-killer, which makes
me, the writer, seem rather prolific in my journalistic endeavors, wouldn't you
say?)
So now I'm eating saltines and waiting for my stomach to stop feeling like Rosie O'Donnell is jumping on a water bed. (or as Dustin calls them in Rap-Speak "Krak-uhs")
(How cool is it to dis Rap and Rosie in the same sentence??? TWO POINTS!!!)
Anyway...I feel craptastic and bored and sleepy, while not feeling actually sleep-eeee, which poses a dilemma when the alarm goes off on me in the morning.
I think my alarm clock hates me anyway...all it does is criticize! It says "BUZZZZZZZZZZZZ" really loud, but what it's really saying is "Hey Fat Butt! Get out of bed! You should have been up ten minutes ago you stupid, lazy bum!"
(I hate alarm clocks!)
I also hate busy signals! Is there anything more rude than a busy signal? (Well, the answer is obviously "Yes," but since I'm talking about busy signals, let's stick to the subject, okay? Mr. ADHD? Geez!) Anyway, what a busy signal is really saying is "I'm too busy talking to someone more important than you to be bothered with your silly little call, so go away and come back later, mmmmkay?
The other thing that is really annoying is when your 8-year-old Son hacks your Myspace profile, your e-mail and other accounts, accidentally downloads a virus and wipes your entire profile from your computer! Yes, this actually happened to me!
And after re-setting everything, he emails Myspace to tell them I forgot my password (WHICH I HAD JUST CHANGED) and they email him my new password and he does the whole thing all over again!!! ARRRGHHH! Can you say "GROUNDED?" Good! I knew that you could!
So, anyway...what was I saying...??? Oh yeah, Michael Palin is a Genius...Read his book! You can visit his web site at www.palinstravels.co.uk/. It's all about his travels around the world since he "retired" from acting.
-Dave
Oh, okay here's one of them... During a game show sketch, one contestant is introduced as such:
Mr. _____ is a _________(whatever occupation you wish to insert),
and in his spare time he likes to strangle small animals, play golf and ______________(too tacky to even print in a family friendly blog, suffice to say I laughed till I had tears in my eyes...which is better than razor blades, but still, you catch my drift)
So tonight, (or is it morning? A quick look at my watch confirms that it is, in fact, morning...thank you, Watch!) I'm awake after spending most of my evening...
A. Nauseous
B. Gagging
C. Head Achy
D. Knee Hurty
E. (is there ever an option "E"? This is the FIRST TIME OFFERED...)
F. (ANOTHER FIRST! This one is for "All of the above, except for "E" which really
doesn't count for anything except for being a valuable time-killer, which makes
me, the writer, seem rather prolific in my journalistic endeavors, wouldn't you
say?)
So now I'm eating saltines and waiting for my stomach to stop feeling like Rosie O'Donnell is jumping on a water bed. (or as Dustin calls them in Rap-Speak "Krak-uhs")
(How cool is it to dis Rap and Rosie in the same sentence??? TWO POINTS!!!)
Anyway...I feel craptastic and bored and sleepy, while not feeling actually sleep-eeee, which poses a dilemma when the alarm goes off on me in the morning.
I think my alarm clock hates me anyway...all it does is criticize! It says "BUZZZZZZZZZZZZ" really loud, but what it's really saying is "Hey Fat Butt! Get out of bed! You should have been up ten minutes ago you stupid, lazy bum!"
(I hate alarm clocks!)
I also hate busy signals! Is there anything more rude than a busy signal? (Well, the answer is obviously "Yes," but since I'm talking about busy signals, let's stick to the subject, okay? Mr. ADHD? Geez!) Anyway, what a busy signal is really saying is "I'm too busy talking to someone more important than you to be bothered with your silly little call, so go away and come back later, mmmmkay?
The other thing that is really annoying is when your 8-year-old Son hacks your Myspace profile, your e-mail and other accounts, accidentally downloads a virus and wipes your entire profile from your computer! Yes, this actually happened to me!
And after re-setting everything, he emails Myspace to tell them I forgot my password (WHICH I HAD JUST CHANGED) and they email him my new password and he does the whole thing all over again!!! ARRRGHHH! Can you say "GROUNDED?" Good! I knew that you could!
So, anyway...what was I saying...??? Oh yeah, Michael Palin is a Genius...Read his book! You can visit his web site at www.palinstravels.co.uk/. It's all about his travels around the world since he "retired" from acting.
-Dave
Monday, August 11, 2008
Why? Because it's 1:30 in the morning and I can't sleep...THAT'S WHY!
So, why am I blogging again you ask?
Well... It's one thirty in the A M and I'm wide awake.
I went to bed at Midnight after watching the Olympics,
But I find that I'm not sleepy at all and my Knee kind
of Aches.
Too Bad, you say? Well, yes it will be at 5:15 when my alarm
screams at me to WAKE UP...
Then there's Luke, who upon discovering that his "DAD" is up and about
suddenly has to go outside, and in doing so, wakes up Socks, who also thinks
it will be neat to go outside for a bit.
So now that half of the family is up, what to do? I search the Internet for
references to Strafford, Missouri (as I do from time to time in my efforts to
locate long-lost-friends) and I find only pictures of what used to be "Exotic Animal Paradise." The fun pictures to look at are old ones of "Silver Dollar City" that
people have posted on Flickr or Photobucket that have scenes of rides long gone, or people long passed, or cars that no longer haunt the roads. (Station Wagons, anyone?)
And so I write... Not much to say, but better than another entry about my Knee...right?
I saw Jesse today... Those of you who know him know of his recent trials and of what a stroke can do to a man. A Superman of super-strength, who bows to nothing, not Cancer or previous strokes... a man who has been hit hard by this particularly nasty stroke and who is fighting a valiant fight to regain the superhuman strength he once had.
If there's anyone on this planet who can do it, it is Jesse...but I hate to see him taking a hit like this. A hit that no one, especially him, should have to endure.
So I feel crappy about complaining about the pain in my knee...when I see this hulk of a man in a wheelchair, just happy that he can now swallow water without a thickening agent having to be added to it to help him swallow.
I know he'll make it back. He has to....we all look up to him and root for him to make it.
So here I am, at almost 2:00 in the morning... deep thoughts, random thoughts and silly thoughts to spare. And lucky you, you get to sift through them on the net.
Or you can always look up Strafford, Missouri and look at the zebra pictures...
David
Well... It's one thirty in the A M and I'm wide awake.
I went to bed at Midnight after watching the Olympics,
But I find that I'm not sleepy at all and my Knee kind
of Aches.
Too Bad, you say? Well, yes it will be at 5:15 when my alarm
screams at me to WAKE UP...
Then there's Luke, who upon discovering that his "DAD" is up and about
suddenly has to go outside, and in doing so, wakes up Socks, who also thinks
it will be neat to go outside for a bit.
So now that half of the family is up, what to do? I search the Internet for
references to Strafford, Missouri (as I do from time to time in my efforts to
locate long-lost-friends) and I find only pictures of what used to be "Exotic Animal Paradise." The fun pictures to look at are old ones of "Silver Dollar City" that
people have posted on Flickr or Photobucket that have scenes of rides long gone, or people long passed, or cars that no longer haunt the roads. (Station Wagons, anyone?)
And so I write... Not much to say, but better than another entry about my Knee...right?
I saw Jesse today... Those of you who know him know of his recent trials and of what a stroke can do to a man. A Superman of super-strength, who bows to nothing, not Cancer or previous strokes... a man who has been hit hard by this particularly nasty stroke and who is fighting a valiant fight to regain the superhuman strength he once had.
If there's anyone on this planet who can do it, it is Jesse...but I hate to see him taking a hit like this. A hit that no one, especially him, should have to endure.
So I feel crappy about complaining about the pain in my knee...when I see this hulk of a man in a wheelchair, just happy that he can now swallow water without a thickening agent having to be added to it to help him swallow.
I know he'll make it back. He has to....we all look up to him and root for him to make it.
So here I am, at almost 2:00 in the morning... deep thoughts, random thoughts and silly thoughts to spare. And lucky you, you get to sift through them on the net.
Or you can always look up Strafford, Missouri and look at the zebra pictures...
David
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Ob la di ob la da life goes on....
So,
One week out of surgery and I feel pretty good. Yeah, still a bit achy, still a bit slow, still a bit non-bendable...but hey, I can walk (a bit) and I'm hopefully past a lot of the knee probs from the past.
So, this week I napped a lot, which was GREAT! Cause I'm still waking up at odd hours of the night and not knowing why. I've been reading Michael Palin's Diaries (of Monty Python fame) and they're pretty interesting...so in those odd hours of the night you can usually find me reading that, or Entertainment Weekly or ESPN magazine.
Jared and I have almost finished all of the entire run of "Moonlighting" which has been an utter blast! Last night we started watching the Olympics and today we've watched some of it here and there... I'm pretty sure we'll watch it tonight when Michael Phelps swims....Jared's a big fan of his.
Today we did the exciting "Car Inspection" thing, and my dear OLD car did not pass because it needs new tires. (NO BIG SHOCK THERE) We also got some furniture from my Mom and Sherry's been rearranging everything to fit it in.
I've been spending my day "resting" since I went back to work yesterday and ended up exhausted even though I mostly sat all day. I think just getting out and about and trying to resume the routine kind of wore me out. I'm hoping if I take it easy today and tomorrow I'll be up to a normal "LIFE" starting Monday even though I'm on light duty for the rest of the month. I did a LOT of work yesterday at the Li-Berry and got a remarkable amount of stuff caught up. Not that I still don't have a ton to do, but I feel better about the stuff that is left...
So, I'm feeling better...Life is pretty good and U.S.A. is NUMBER ONE #1 NUMERO UNO! (and before I forget...prayers to the family of Bernie Mac, who was funny and cool and is gone too soon)
David
One week out of surgery and I feel pretty good. Yeah, still a bit achy, still a bit slow, still a bit non-bendable...but hey, I can walk (a bit) and I'm hopefully past a lot of the knee probs from the past.
So, this week I napped a lot, which was GREAT! Cause I'm still waking up at odd hours of the night and not knowing why. I've been reading Michael Palin's Diaries (of Monty Python fame) and they're pretty interesting...so in those odd hours of the night you can usually find me reading that, or Entertainment Weekly or ESPN magazine.
Jared and I have almost finished all of the entire run of "Moonlighting" which has been an utter blast! Last night we started watching the Olympics and today we've watched some of it here and there... I'm pretty sure we'll watch it tonight when Michael Phelps swims....Jared's a big fan of his.
Today we did the exciting "Car Inspection" thing, and my dear OLD car did not pass because it needs new tires. (NO BIG SHOCK THERE) We also got some furniture from my Mom and Sherry's been rearranging everything to fit it in.
I've been spending my day "resting" since I went back to work yesterday and ended up exhausted even though I mostly sat all day. I think just getting out and about and trying to resume the routine kind of wore me out. I'm hoping if I take it easy today and tomorrow I'll be up to a normal "LIFE" starting Monday even though I'm on light duty for the rest of the month. I did a LOT of work yesterday at the Li-Berry and got a remarkable amount of stuff caught up. Not that I still don't have a ton to do, but I feel better about the stuff that is left...
So, I'm feeling better...Life is pretty good and U.S.A. is NUMBER ONE #1 NUMERO UNO! (and before I forget...prayers to the family of Bernie Mac, who was funny and cool and is gone too soon)
David
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Trip Review: My One day trip to Springfield.... and why Humansville was settled by Martians
Okay,
So yesterday I woke up feeling less than stellar with my knee hurting and the pain pills making me woozy and nauseous. (which is pretty serious when you consider that woozy and nauseous are almost the same exact thing!) But, not wanting my lovely Bride to make the trip to Springfield alone, I saddled up the front passenger seat, propped my leg up on a hugely inappropriately HUGE pillow and away we rode...
The trip to Springfield has gotten significantly better over the years as they've gradually widened "deadly" 13 Highway. The other big change in driving the three miles South from Kansas City is the addition of dead armadillos. Why, when I was a kid, we didn't have armadillos in Missouri...we had to walk miles, barefoot in the snow, just to import armadillos from Arkansas...yeah, we had it rough back then!
So, the drive was uneventful, other than the random bouts of almost pukedom that swept over me as we approached various towns... (of course, I've always felt that way when approaching Humansville!) HA! Just kidding denizens of Humansville! (although with a name like that, can't you almost see space people coming to our planet and trying to blend in by naming their settlement "HUMANSVILLE???" Weird...) Of course, that brings to mind businesses like "Citizens Bank..." Who else would be using it???
It's not called "Dog Bank" is it? Dopey name.
So, we get to Springfield and bank a left and head towards my favorite place on the planet "STRAFFORD, MISSOURI!" To where Sherry's parent's have land just a stones throw (If you can throw a quarter of a mile and not accidentally hit Tim Ewing's house) from where I was born and raised. Okay, I wasn't born there, I was born in a hospital, but I did spend my first 24 years there trying to avoid being hit by thrown stones.
Had a nice visit with Sherry's folks, although still feeling a tad pukey. (I think the medication I was on coupled with the extreme heat of the past few days, had a LOT to do with it).
Went to my Mom's abode and had a nice visit with her too... She was in a good mood and happy to see us so we visited for quite a while. We were supposed to meet my Dad, but our schedules got crossed up, so we drove through town past the Minor League Cardinals home, Hammon's Field, so that Jared could see it up close. We drove through the Square, which I hadn't been through in close to 20 years or so... It's rebounding, but still looks remarkably the same for the most part.
Being the family of diverse tastes that we are, we could not decide on what food to "grab" on our way out of town. Sherry and I had "Shanghai Inn" in mind for Cashew Chicken... Jared wanted a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut, and Dustin wanted Taco Bell. So we made the stops and then stopped for Gas (the other kind, not the stuff we picked up at Taco Bell) and then hit the road around 6:30. Thanks to the miraculous healing powers of Cashew Chicken, I started feeling better and actually slept part of the way home.
The boys argued a bit and I yelled at them some and we looked for deer, but spotted mostly cows and dead armadillos along the way. Ah, the one day road trip to Springfield....
David
So yesterday I woke up feeling less than stellar with my knee hurting and the pain pills making me woozy and nauseous. (which is pretty serious when you consider that woozy and nauseous are almost the same exact thing!) But, not wanting my lovely Bride to make the trip to Springfield alone, I saddled up the front passenger seat, propped my leg up on a hugely inappropriately HUGE pillow and away we rode...
The trip to Springfield has gotten significantly better over the years as they've gradually widened "deadly" 13 Highway. The other big change in driving the three miles South from Kansas City is the addition of dead armadillos. Why, when I was a kid, we didn't have armadillos in Missouri...we had to walk miles, barefoot in the snow, just to import armadillos from Arkansas...yeah, we had it rough back then!
So, the drive was uneventful, other than the random bouts of almost pukedom that swept over me as we approached various towns... (of course, I've always felt that way when approaching Humansville!) HA! Just kidding denizens of Humansville! (although with a name like that, can't you almost see space people coming to our planet and trying to blend in by naming their settlement "HUMANSVILLE???" Weird...) Of course, that brings to mind businesses like "Citizens Bank..." Who else would be using it???
It's not called "Dog Bank" is it? Dopey name.
So, we get to Springfield and bank a left and head towards my favorite place on the planet "STRAFFORD, MISSOURI!" To where Sherry's parent's have land just a stones throw (If you can throw a quarter of a mile and not accidentally hit Tim Ewing's house) from where I was born and raised. Okay, I wasn't born there, I was born in a hospital, but I did spend my first 24 years there trying to avoid being hit by thrown stones.
Had a nice visit with Sherry's folks, although still feeling a tad pukey. (I think the medication I was on coupled with the extreme heat of the past few days, had a LOT to do with it).
Went to my Mom's abode and had a nice visit with her too... She was in a good mood and happy to see us so we visited for quite a while. We were supposed to meet my Dad, but our schedules got crossed up, so we drove through town past the Minor League Cardinals home, Hammon's Field, so that Jared could see it up close. We drove through the Square, which I hadn't been through in close to 20 years or so... It's rebounding, but still looks remarkably the same for the most part.
Being the family of diverse tastes that we are, we could not decide on what food to "grab" on our way out of town. Sherry and I had "Shanghai Inn" in mind for Cashew Chicken... Jared wanted a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut, and Dustin wanted Taco Bell. So we made the stops and then stopped for Gas (the other kind, not the stuff we picked up at Taco Bell) and then hit the road around 6:30. Thanks to the miraculous healing powers of Cashew Chicken, I started feeling better and actually slept part of the way home.
The boys argued a bit and I yelled at them some and we looked for deer, but spotted mostly cows and dead armadillos along the way. Ah, the one day road trip to Springfield....
David
Shanghai Inn Springfield, Missouri
Restaurant Review:
One could say that of all the Chinese Fast Food places in Springfield, Missouri, "Shanghai Inn" is hardly the fanciest. And yet, while they sit in a portion of North Glenstone surrounded by tire shops and junk stores in a rather nondescript building, they consistently dish out what I believe is some of the best Chinese Food in all of Springfield.
Springfield is famous for it's "Springfield Style Cashew Chicken," which is imitated throughout the state, but rarely duplicated. I discovered this shortly after moving to the Kansas City area and have been underwhelmed by the efforts of restaurant owners here for many years now.
My advice to those of you who spot "Springfield Style Cashew Chicken" on any menu... If you aren't in Springfield, it isn't Springfield Style, so skip it! Upon ordering, you may discover a Bar-B-Que style chicken, a garlic laden dish of chicken, drowning in a gelatinous white blob of goo that supposed to pass for gravy, or worse yet, a plate full of sauce and vegetables with nary a piece of chicken in sight.
I'm not sure what it is about the people at Shanghai Inn, but somehow they always get it right. In the 20 plus years I've been eating there, I've yet to get a bad order of anything...even when I was going through my "Moo Goo Gai Pan" phase. (Yet another dish that varies from establishment to establishment.
I think part of what they get right, (and the reason that my Wife of nearly 20 years, and I even stopped there right after our wedding to grab a bite to eat) is due to Flossie, the manager. Flossie, who ALWAYS says "HI" and asks how we're doing, sets the tone for each visit. By the time you get done visiting with her, you're in a good mood anyway so the food is almost an afterthought.
However, once you bite into the tender, white meat chicken, and eat the flavorful (but not overly so) rice and egg rolls, you'll be totally sold on Shanghai Inn. Now, I've eaten at a lot of fancier (i.e. "More Expensive") Chinese places, but again, none have captured the flavor of the food served at Shanghai.
We've actually felt like trips to Springfield were nearly ruined if we got there after they've closed for the day! I first got "addicted" to Shanghai when I was the manager of "ALL STAR VIDEO" on Kearney Street on the North Side of Springfield. The owner, Liz and I would eat out a few times a week, which usually meant once at Subway and twice at Shanghai. I would always volunteer for "Shanghai Trips" because they were close, and because it was always so nice to see Flossie and talk with her for a minute.
So, I've been eating there nearly every trip to Springfield that I've taken since moving away, and if it's worth it for me to drive the three hours just to eat there...(well, okay, sometimes we go down to visit relatives too...) Then it's certainly worth your time to go eat there!
-David
One could say that of all the Chinese Fast Food places in Springfield, Missouri, "Shanghai Inn" is hardly the fanciest. And yet, while they sit in a portion of North Glenstone surrounded by tire shops and junk stores in a rather nondescript building, they consistently dish out what I believe is some of the best Chinese Food in all of Springfield.
Springfield is famous for it's "Springfield Style Cashew Chicken," which is imitated throughout the state, but rarely duplicated. I discovered this shortly after moving to the Kansas City area and have been underwhelmed by the efforts of restaurant owners here for many years now.
My advice to those of you who spot "Springfield Style Cashew Chicken" on any menu... If you aren't in Springfield, it isn't Springfield Style, so skip it! Upon ordering, you may discover a Bar-B-Que style chicken, a garlic laden dish of chicken, drowning in a gelatinous white blob of goo that supposed to pass for gravy, or worse yet, a plate full of sauce and vegetables with nary a piece of chicken in sight.
I'm not sure what it is about the people at Shanghai Inn, but somehow they always get it right. In the 20 plus years I've been eating there, I've yet to get a bad order of anything...even when I was going through my "Moo Goo Gai Pan" phase. (Yet another dish that varies from establishment to establishment.
I think part of what they get right, (and the reason that my Wife of nearly 20 years, and I even stopped there right after our wedding to grab a bite to eat) is due to Flossie, the manager. Flossie, who ALWAYS says "HI" and asks how we're doing, sets the tone for each visit. By the time you get done visiting with her, you're in a good mood anyway so the food is almost an afterthought.
However, once you bite into the tender, white meat chicken, and eat the flavorful (but not overly so) rice and egg rolls, you'll be totally sold on Shanghai Inn. Now, I've eaten at a lot of fancier (i.e. "More Expensive") Chinese places, but again, none have captured the flavor of the food served at Shanghai.
We've actually felt like trips to Springfield were nearly ruined if we got there after they've closed for the day! I first got "addicted" to Shanghai when I was the manager of "ALL STAR VIDEO" on Kearney Street on the North Side of Springfield. The owner, Liz and I would eat out a few times a week, which usually meant once at Subway and twice at Shanghai. I would always volunteer for "Shanghai Trips" because they were close, and because it was always so nice to see Flossie and talk with her for a minute.
So, I've been eating there nearly every trip to Springfield that I've taken since moving away, and if it's worth it for me to drive the three hours just to eat there...(well, okay, sometimes we go down to visit relatives too...) Then it's certainly worth your time to go eat there!
-David
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Taken for granted
I realized today how hard some people have it. Sherry wanted to go school shopping for Jared, and being as bored as I have been lately (post surgery) I thought I'd tag along.
Thankfully those money grubbing thieves at Wal-Mart (I'm kidding) have decided that when they aren't trying to rule the retail world, they will provide motorized scooters for people who have a hard time walking around their stores. This weekend, that would be me!
So I climb aboard this rocket-chair, knowing full well that the school supply aisle is bound to be a nightmare... and to my total shock, it is worse than a nightmare! It's a catastrophic, cataclysmic NIGHTMARE of mammoth proportions!
I quickly discover three things about shopping from a motorized chair:
A. EVERYTHING IS PLACED WAY OUT OF REACH
B. PEOPLE WILL BASH INTO YOU FROM EVERY ANGLE BECAUSE TO THEM YOU ARE A SLOW MOVING
PIECE OF FURNITURE AND NOT A PERSON IN A CHAIR
C. PEOPLE ARE EXTREMELY RUDE AND WILL CUT YOU OFF, SHOVE YOU OVER, and EVEN ATTEMPT
TO TAKE THINGS FROM YOU IF THEY FEEL YOU ARE HANDICAPPED AND UNABLE TO FIGHT BACK
For example: Within a short span of 5 minutes, I was run into at least six times. How many of these people said "Excuse me?"
A. ONE
B. TWO
C. SIX
D. None of the above
The answer is "D!" So those of you who are playing at home, congratulations on your winning answer!
Yet another example: When I got totally boxed in on three sides by people trying to go around me even if they were going down the wrong side of the aisle... how many people responded by moving when they heard me say "EXCUSE ME?"
A. ONE
B. TWO
C. SIX
D. None of the above
Again, the winning answer is "D" "None of the above!"
So, while it was easier (somewhat) to get through the store faster than on crutches, I found that people have little or no sympathy for the injured, even in an All-American City like Blue Springs, Missouri.
The next store we went to offered scooters, but I chose to hobble instead, and now my ankle is swollen and my knee is throbbing and achy... I guess maybe I shouldn't have taken it for granted.
David
Thankfully those money grubbing thieves at Wal-Mart (I'm kidding) have decided that when they aren't trying to rule the retail world, they will provide motorized scooters for people who have a hard time walking around their stores. This weekend, that would be me!
So I climb aboard this rocket-chair, knowing full well that the school supply aisle is bound to be a nightmare... and to my total shock, it is worse than a nightmare! It's a catastrophic, cataclysmic NIGHTMARE of mammoth proportions!
I quickly discover three things about shopping from a motorized chair:
A. EVERYTHING IS PLACED WAY OUT OF REACH
B. PEOPLE WILL BASH INTO YOU FROM EVERY ANGLE BECAUSE TO THEM YOU ARE A SLOW MOVING
PIECE OF FURNITURE AND NOT A PERSON IN A CHAIR
C. PEOPLE ARE EXTREMELY RUDE AND WILL CUT YOU OFF, SHOVE YOU OVER, and EVEN ATTEMPT
TO TAKE THINGS FROM YOU IF THEY FEEL YOU ARE HANDICAPPED AND UNABLE TO FIGHT BACK
For example: Within a short span of 5 minutes, I was run into at least six times. How many of these people said "Excuse me?"
A. ONE
B. TWO
C. SIX
D. None of the above
The answer is "D!" So those of you who are playing at home, congratulations on your winning answer!
Yet another example: When I got totally boxed in on three sides by people trying to go around me even if they were going down the wrong side of the aisle... how many people responded by moving when they heard me say "EXCUSE ME?"
A. ONE
B. TWO
C. SIX
D. None of the above
Again, the winning answer is "D" "None of the above!"
So, while it was easier (somewhat) to get through the store faster than on crutches, I found that people have little or no sympathy for the injured, even in an All-American City like Blue Springs, Missouri.
The next store we went to offered scooters, but I chose to hobble instead, and now my ankle is swollen and my knee is throbbing and achy... I guess maybe I shouldn't have taken it for granted.
David
Friday, August 01, 2008
Off by at least a day
For some reason I had my surgery scheduled in my head for this past Thursday (yesterday) instead of Wednesday, which is when I actually had the surgery. So here it is Friday morning at 3:26 AM and I'm wide awake and realizing that we didn't set the trash out by the curb and that at 6:30 or 7:00 AM, the trash man will show up and we won't be ready.
The simple thing to do would be for me to take the trash out, right? I know, I'm on crutches and am supposed to be taking it easy, but I'm not one to stay in bed, even on days where I'm home sick and at my barfiest. I've been known to clean up my home office between trips to the toilet, even if I'm running a fever of 102 degrees and can barely form a sentence.
I don't do bed rest very well at all! I brought home some books and DVD's from work to keep me busy, so Jared and I have started a nightly ritual within the past month of watching episodes of "Moonlighting" every night.
Sometimes we watch one or two and then we'll sneak in a "Best of Johnny Carson" or a "Best of the Flip Wilson Show" on DVD, just to mix it up a little. Some of these old shows are forgotten goldmines of humor. It's hard to think of a world in terms of humor without giving credit to Carson and Wilson. Another good show to watch is the old "Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts."
Dean Martin, because of his status in Hollywood at that time, could lure anyone to his show. Ronald Reagan, John Wayne, Lucy, Bob Hope, Richard Pryor, Don Rickles, Bob Newhart, Sinatra, Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda...You name them and they were on there.
Some of the jokes they told back then were so risque that they'd never make it past the censors today at all! In spite of all of the Nixon, Ford, Carter, Goldwater references, it still has a timeless appeal to it.
Anyway, as I was saying, Jared and I are totally hooked on "Moonlighting." We did this a few years ago with "Green Acres" and Dustin, Jared and I would watch about two episodes a day until we'd watched every season of "Acres." It was a lot of fun. We more or less followed this routine with the old "Bob Newhart" show too. Another classic, I'm telling you folks.
So, to kill time the past couple of days, I've played games of "Major League Baseball Othello" with Jared, watched some TV and have been reading Michael Palin's (he of "Monty Python" fame) diaries, which alternate between funny and tedious (Hey, just like life!) and are packed together into a 600+ page tome. It's kind of fun to read, but when you're really bored, there isn't a lot that can perk you up.
(and if I cheat and put on an ep of "Moonlighting" and Jared finds out, he gets mad if he misses one, so I'll just end up watching it again. "Do Bears Bare, Do Bees Be?")
So, my knee feels pretty good, and the worst of it was pulling that drain out. (Nasty!) So I feel like I'm kind of on the mend. Jared will be babysitting me today as Sherry and Dustin shop for school clothes. My guess is that I can look forward to more "Othello" and "Moonlighting." So if you have to sit still for a bit, this isn't a bad way to go. (I'm off by a day anyway, so I should be getting an extra day in to rest, shouldn't I?)
David
The simple thing to do would be for me to take the trash out, right? I know, I'm on crutches and am supposed to be taking it easy, but I'm not one to stay in bed, even on days where I'm home sick and at my barfiest. I've been known to clean up my home office between trips to the toilet, even if I'm running a fever of 102 degrees and can barely form a sentence.
I don't do bed rest very well at all! I brought home some books and DVD's from work to keep me busy, so Jared and I have started a nightly ritual within the past month of watching episodes of "Moonlighting" every night.
Sometimes we watch one or two and then we'll sneak in a "Best of Johnny Carson" or a "Best of the Flip Wilson Show" on DVD, just to mix it up a little. Some of these old shows are forgotten goldmines of humor. It's hard to think of a world in terms of humor without giving credit to Carson and Wilson. Another good show to watch is the old "Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts."
Dean Martin, because of his status in Hollywood at that time, could lure anyone to his show. Ronald Reagan, John Wayne, Lucy, Bob Hope, Richard Pryor, Don Rickles, Bob Newhart, Sinatra, Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda...You name them and they were on there.
Some of the jokes they told back then were so risque that they'd never make it past the censors today at all! In spite of all of the Nixon, Ford, Carter, Goldwater references, it still has a timeless appeal to it.
Anyway, as I was saying, Jared and I are totally hooked on "Moonlighting." We did this a few years ago with "Green Acres" and Dustin, Jared and I would watch about two episodes a day until we'd watched every season of "Acres." It was a lot of fun. We more or less followed this routine with the old "Bob Newhart" show too. Another classic, I'm telling you folks.
So, to kill time the past couple of days, I've played games of "Major League Baseball Othello" with Jared, watched some TV and have been reading Michael Palin's (he of "Monty Python" fame) diaries, which alternate between funny and tedious (Hey, just like life!) and are packed together into a 600+ page tome. It's kind of fun to read, but when you're really bored, there isn't a lot that can perk you up.
(and if I cheat and put on an ep of "Moonlighting" and Jared finds out, he gets mad if he misses one, so I'll just end up watching it again. "Do Bears Bare, Do Bees Be?")
So, my knee feels pretty good, and the worst of it was pulling that drain out. (Nasty!) So I feel like I'm kind of on the mend. Jared will be babysitting me today as Sherry and Dustin shop for school clothes. My guess is that I can look forward to more "Othello" and "Moonlighting." So if you have to sit still for a bit, this isn't a bad way to go. (I'm off by a day anyway, so I should be getting an extra day in to rest, shouldn't I?)
David
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