Where you been?

Work has been super busy and by the time that mellowed out, it was time for finals. So, here are some bitchy rants that I have been saving up for a while. In no particular order:

• The 11th Annual Waldo Brookside Pub Crawl is this Saturday the 23rd. Noon at the Corner Cocktails at 85th and Wornall and then north down Wornall until we make it to Charlie Hoopers. Check out this post from last year for more details.
  
• When did Pandora get rid of the miniplayer? Sounds insignificant, but it was nice to have a small window in the corner of my desktop while I was doing other important computer stuff. I also heard that they have been running commercials on Pandora. Unable to confirm, but not really a big shocker. Only a matter of time.
• Is Playboy still relevant? I say "no". The fact that skin is so easily available online is only the tip of the iceberg. As the trust funds begin to dry up, so does the market for Ducati street bikes, designer vodka and $200 designer t-shirts. All of which appear to be a staple of the lifestyle sections. The World of Playboy is even more painful... the pages are filled with celebs that would kill to be on the B List (Mario Lopez, Brigette Nielson, Andy Dick), pics of Hef w/ his latest set of f#ck dolls and the Wrecking Crews of days long since passed (James Caan, Warren Moon and other assorted washed up pro athletes looking to score a hummer from Miss July). What's the point?? About the only interesting read these days are some of the political commentaries. Obviously, they tend to pretty liberal, but with Bush & Co. out of office, it's going after more social issues, than political parties. Legalization of pot, free condoms in highschools and the type of anti-religion rhetoric that usually comes from Bill Maher (although I tend to agree with him a lot, he's still kind of smarmy). Having said all of that, I just don't see what Playboy has to offer any more.
• When I finished high school, I was lucky enough that my folks could afford to send me to college. The agreement with me an my older brothers was that they would pay for the first 4 years, the rest was on us. I ended up at KU my freshman year and quickly realized I wasn't mature enough for such a big change. As a result, I didn't last long. I farted around here and there for a few years, before finally just getting an entry level job with a local company. Fast forward to today... I've decided to go back to school and start the reclamation process on my spotty academic career. I've been totally stunned by the total lack of respect the students have for the teachers. I had one class that was supposed to run for an hour and 15 minutes. Most days we only went 40-45 minutes. In my younger days, I would be checking out the Pitch to see who was having early happy hours or cheap pitchers. But at the ripe old age of 36, I feel like I am getting ripped off (or at least my employer is since they are paying for the class) when we don't eve go a full hour. My summer class will be online. This should be interesting.
• The Boulevard Brewery needs to update the hours of operation on the sign outside the gift shop/tasting room (on the old side of the brewery). I've decided to try to embrace beer snobbery and get a few of those tulip shaped beer glasses. Stopped by @ 11:40 today and the place was locked up tighter than Fort Knox. Kind of irritating. I've worked across the street from the brewery for the last 7 years. Just seems silly to not be able to accommodate someone trying to give you money during normal business hours. For the record, they are out of the glasses on the website and will be replacing them with a different design. Crap.
• We had some repair work done on our house. The big hole in the bathroom wall has finally been covered up. It looks OK from a distance, but I don't think we will be letting anyone use that bathroom unless it's a life or death situation. We had it ballparked as a 3 day project. Took me 3 weeks. Not too shabby...
• I'm in the process of changing doctors. Didn't care for my last one, so ended up at Pro Partners MD. So far, so good. I'm carrying around a few extra pounds and have pretty terrible eating habits... so I am pretty sure the new doctor was totally stunned when all of my blood work came back completely normal.
• When you have worked at the same company for 12 years, the vacation time really ads up. So I have been trying to squeeze in as much (bad) golf as possible. Played Heritage Park and Meadowbrook country club for the first time. Heritage was nice, but I was floored by Meadowbrook. Wasn't sure what to expect, but the course was fantastic. The clubhouse was a little dated, but if I had a wad of cash to blow on a country club, that might be a candidate.
• Speaking of golf. It's official. The $100 gift certificate to Deer Creek that has been sitting on my desk for 6 years, is no longer valid. It appears they have changed ownership at least once, and are no longer honoring older gift certs. OK by me. Last I heard, their greens were still shit.
• Got my Green Day tickets. Pretty sure the better half and I will be the oldest people there that aren't with their kids. Lucked in to a ticket to AC/DC earlier this year. That will be 2 arena shows in 2009. That's one more arena show that the last 15 years combined.
• Gun by Uncle Tupelo could be one of the coolest songs I've ever heard. Too bad they broke up in 1994. One of my older brothers was a big fan. I must have been too angst ridden to notice.