Monica started working at this restaurant on Sundays: Lake Shore Cafe Monica talked up this joint’s tenderloin. Shortly after hearing about this tenderloin I spoke with Scottie D. Scottie D. was all bummed out because I proposed the idea of a Tenderloin Road Trip in 2007 and then never delivered.… Read More »A New Tenderloin Joint
With all due respect to Dante and his circles of Hell, the only definition of Hell that I have ever been able to get behind is “separation from God”. Now that I have that figured out, I should work on a better definition for Heaven. While it is certainly true… Read More »Heaven and Hell
Teresa usually gets mad when I make fun of the South. I can’t help it. My prejudice against the South is based in real life experience. There is a reason we whooped them in the Civil War. If they still can’t get over it, that is their problem. It isn’t… Read More »The War of Hot Dog Aggression
The job posting for a Scab Nader has been closed. Nader has returned to the United States from his trip to visit family in London. We celebrated his return to the States with a meal at King Buffet and a viewing of Prince Caspian. While eating the semi-edibles at King… Read More »Real American
Duff flooded a few hundred feet from the Computer Mine on Friday. The woods behind the Computer Mine flooded as well. I think all this water caused some of the animals from the woods to be a little more active near the building. Earlier this year I figured out that… Read More »More From Friday
Friday was the first Ames on the Half Shell event of the season. I have to say I was surprised by the large turnout considering that Ames was flooded. Below are a handful of pictures from the event. Of course there are a few more pictures in the Ames Jaycees… Read More »Redzband
I’ve been thinking on a topic lately and I’ve come to the conclusion that I just need to write about it and then be done with it. I’ve been thinking about junk in art. Not refuse or garbage, but the male productive organ or the penis. I will refer to… Read More »Too Hot for Photobucket
Jason has relatives in Parkersburg. On Monday, Carla and Jason went up to Parkersburg to help his relatives with the damage to their property after the tornado. Here is a portion of an e-mail that Carla sent out about Jason’s relatives experience with the tornado: Yes, the relatives are all… Read More »Parkersburg
Here is Mark’s latest newsletter about his mission work in Taiwan. I guess when I think about it, Mark might be the volunteeringest person I know. After all, every moment of his waking day he is doing mission work. I was particularly pleased to see that Mark has started an… Read More »The Taiwan Times – May Edition
Memorial Day wasn’t really meant to be a good-time-feel-good holiday. It was established to honor Union Soldiers that died in the Civil War and was first known as Decoration Day. Regardless of its original intentions, this solemn holiday has become a chance for most Americans to barbecue and enjoy a… Read More »Memorial Day and the Crystal Skull
Sunday was an interesting day for me. I started the day as a greeter for church. There were a couple unique events at church on Sunday. 4 of the churches in the area combined choirs and toured their churches. One of the other 4 churches is the Central Christian Church,… Read More »Sundaze
I went down to the Des Moines Art Center for the first time since maybe the 6th grade on Saturday. I met Stephanie and her friend Katie down there. I was impressed with the collection that Des Moines has and was doubly impressed that it was free. We had about… Read More »Des Moines Art
I had a chance to catch up with an old friend of mine today, Kim Lively. Kim used to by my lobby person when I was running Campus. She was competing today in the 50 meter run at the Special Olympics. I found out that the Lively family was named… Read More »Special Olympics
It has been an interesting week thus far. I thought that yesterday I was going to take a major step forward towards fixing my car situation. Jason and I had scoped out a 2004 Buick LeSabre on Car Trader. It was right within my desired price range and only had… Read More »Celebration Nonterminus
I’d like to pimp my friend Shawn’s band’s next concert and tell you what the cool kids will be doing this Sunday. You may remember Shawn as the drummer from the group UnHingd. He is currently rocking with his new band Act of Gravity. They are playing this Sunday at… Read More »Cool Kids Sunday
I got all of the old pictures off of my phone. There aren’t a terribly large amount of pictures on there because the old phone is about 4 years old and didn’t have much memory on it. It turns out almost every picture on that phone ranges from bad to… Read More »Bad Photos
On May 18, 1980 three things happened. 1. Mt. St. Helens erupted. 2. Stephanie Kasper was born. 3. I turned 5. 5 years earlier I was born. A cousin of mine once gave my two sisters and I the very backhanded compliment that we turned out pretty well considering the… Read More »Mt. St. Helens Anniversary
The subject of this entry is not a reference to the Spartans. This is the 300th entry in An Artist’s Notebook. This post is mostly to announce to the world in general: “You’ve beaten me, again!!” It isn’t the first time that the world has beaten me. It certainly won’t… Read More »300
On May 10, 2008, I loaded up into the famous Rideshare Van with Baier and we headed to Fort Dodge to tour the Fort Dodge Museum and see the “Real” Cardiff Giant. I already knew that there would be a certain amount of controversy surrounding the trip and the Cardiff… Read More »Lessons Learned in a Giant’s Town
Last Friday Jesse and I embarked on a road trip that we lovingly named The Big Jesus Road Trip. Our final destination and epoch of the trip was a 33 foot tall stainless steel Jesus statue. A plan was hatched and a route was devised. The plan was set in… Read More »The Big Jesus