Chico/Pussiliah/Snowball/Lilly

Here are a couple of photos of my brother's housewarming gift from his girlfriend:

Chico sitting on my lap




Chico napping on the couch




Chico yawning

(I'm calling her Chico, all of her other names are in the title of the post. I'm sure eventually we'll settle on one. And I think the last photo is hilarious, she just happened to yawn as I was taking her picture.)

Travis's house is pretty amazing. It's a huge house, with a nice backyard, and in a great neighborhood. We met the neighbors to either side last night, both of whom seemed really nice. And then we had some delicious Casey's Pizza. I don't know if many of you have experienced the wonderfulness that is a pizza from a Casey's General Store. If you live in a small town in the Midwest, though, you know what I'm talking about. They are seriously some of the best pizzas I've had from any place, let alone a gas station. Unfortunately for me, there were never any Casey's in Iowa City until recently, when they bought out HandiMart, but none of those places had the capacity to make pizzas. Luckily, there are about 30 locations in Cedar Rapids, so that was the obvious choice for dinner last night.

Today is being spent preparing the yard and house for the new addition to the family. My mom and step-dad are getting a new puppy next week, a Weimaraner that they've named Kenna (Gaelic for beautiful). So we've tilled the yard and are going to level the area where the kennel will go, and all sorts of other fun stuff to do in the 90+ degree heat, with the near-80% humidity. But I'm thinking of seeing if Wal-Mart is going to be doing a midnight release of Madden tonight, because those midnight releases are always fun. Otherwise I guess I'll have to wait all the way until tomorrow morning to get the game! Yikes!

Kickin' it in Muscatine

Sorry for the little lack of updates recently, I've been busy doing, well, not much of anything. (Plus, I wanted to make sure that everyone had a chance to read Jad's most excellent post! If anyone else ever wants to do a guest post here, let me know, I'm always up for new and exciting ventures!) I've been helping out around the house a little, watching some TV (it's been a long long time since I've done that), hanging out and watching baseball with KP, and just enjoying the air-conditioning. (I've been thinking that I need to write stuff down as it happens, because I feel like there were some funny/good thoughts, etc. that would have been good to put up here, but by the time I get around to doing anything about it, I forget what the hell it was that I thought was clever or whatever.) I drove a motorcycle for the first time yesterday, my mom and step-dad took me out to an empty parking lot yesterday and I tried out my mom's Harley! It was a ton of fun, and I think for it being my first time ever on a bike I did alright. Definitely something that I want to do more of in the future.

My big excitement recently was purchasing a Nintendo Wii! This was the only one I've ever seen at a retail store; I had to stop by 5 different places before I found one in stock. Muscatine only have one store that sells stuff like this, as far as I know (Wal-Mart, gross), but I was in Iowa City to take care of some things, and had nothing but time on my hands. It's a little present to myself, a done with school/moving away gift, if you will. I'm very pumped for it. I didn't get any extra games yet, just the Wii Sports that comes with it, but those are hell of fun as it is! I think I'm going to be picking up Madden '08 on Tuesday. And of course I'll have to get Zelda for it very soon. I've done some stuff online with it, like reading sports, news, and weather, and am thinking about spending the $5 to be able to actually surf the internet with it. I'm also going to look into buying some points for it, which will allow me to download old Nintendo/Sega/Turbografix 16 games and play them on the Wii. Most excellent stuff. If anyone out there reading this has one and wants to be Wii friends, let me know, I'll send you my Wii number.

Later this afternoon I'll be heading up to Cedar Rapids with my dad and step-mom to see my brother's new place. He seems pretty happy with it, from what I understand there was already a little garden there with grape tomatoes and jalapeño peppers and asparagus growing. Maybe onions too, I'm not sure. He called me up yesterday to find out what goes into salsa, so today I'll have to judge it and find out if he did a good job. And apparently, his girlfriend gave him a cat. I'm going to get him to name it Chico.

One good thing (among many good things) about being home is the food. I haven't gone out to eat once since being here, and the food that my mom has in stock is usually pretty healthy stuff, which is nice. I've grilled out a lot (turkey brats, chicken sausage, veggies, etc.), including one of my favorite foods, fresh sweet corn. Last night I was talked into eating 4 ears of it! (We made 6 ears, my mom and step-dad each ate one, and I was told that I should eat as much as I wanted, since they don't usually eat corn. So it didn't take too much convincing.) Plus, they get Schwann's food delivered here, so there are some good things with there, like frozen loaves of bread you just pop in the oven, or chicken breasts, or best of all, butter pecan frozen yogurt. mmm.... Also, there is a lot of beer here. Good beers. In the past few days, I've had the following: a Rogue Brewery chipotle brew and a Rogue hazelnut brew, a couple of the new Michelob Ultra flavors (Pomegranate raspberry and Cactus lime - both amazing!), Sam Adams Brown Ale, Miller Chill (like water with a hint of lime) and some others. I'll devote an entire post to these beers soon, I promise.

Well, I'm going to see what baseball games are on right now. For some reason I started watching a NASCAR race today and haven't been able to turn the channel. I actually kind of enjoy it. Although in my defense, it is a road course, so it's not just driving in a circle. But also I've catching some of the Little League World Series games, and love them. Those kids love the game, which makes it so enjoyable to watch. Also now that I'm somewhere that has cable, I can watch like 3 or 4 MLB games almost every day, whilst eating delicious frozen yogurt. Incredible!

I'll try to get some pictures from my next adventures on a bike, or maybe some exciting Wii shots, or just photos of whatever the hell I can find around Muscatine. I gotta say, though, sometimes it's nice to be able to lay around and watch TV.

My weekend in pictures

The first phase of my move is now complete! As I'm typing from Muscatine with my car parked out front with a lot of crap in it, my bed, futon, and lots more crap are all sitting in the basement of my brother's current place of residence in Iowa City. On Saturday, Travis will be moving into his new house, one that he's actually buying. (Ridiculous stuff, right? My younger brother is buying a house and starts his full-time job on Monday. In the meantime, I'll be "temporarily homeless" for the next month, surfing from couch to couch. And I'm fine with that.) Hopefully a majority of my stuff will be moving up there with him this weekend, at least the larger items (bed, futon, tv) that I can't get with my car. The best part about it? I will not be around to help out, as I will be invading DC for Flenkerfest 2007 (apparently my first 2007 trip that way wasn't the "official" Flenkerfest. That one might have been Birthday Bash). I feel bad about not being able to help out, I mean it's my brother's first house and all, but the timing on everything just didn't work out. And besides, he only helped me a little bit, while he was extremely drunk, around 3:00 Tuesday morning. Yes, I was up, moving at 3 am yesterday. I didn't really sleep between 9 am Monday and 11 pm Tuesday. Poor planning on my part. Not packing early was a poor choice. But, my room went from looking like this:

To looking like this:

(that brown spot was on the floor when I moved in, I swear. It was under my bed the whole time, how could it have gotten there with my bed over it???)

Many thanks to my friends Travis (not to be confused with my brother Travis) and Erin for helping with my move by providing a truck and moral support!

To keep the theme of some recent-Flenker pictures, here are a few from the Bix weekend festivities!

This is LeClaire Park, one of 3 or 4 venues hosting jazz bands during the weekend, right on the Mississippi River.


Every year a building on the Illinois side of the Quad-Cities turns on the lights in some offices to spell out "Bix". I think it's pretty neat.


This is the Centennial Bridge, right near LeClaire Park, a nice site when it's all lit up. It's even better in person or in a photo taken by a good photographer.


And this is the only photo that's been posted so far of me from the run. I'm hoping that there will be a couple more, but this one will do for now!

Now I really should be getting to bed, I've got a long day of travel ahead of me. I'll try to check in from the east coast while I'm there, but be sure to be on your best behavior if I'm not around.

don't call it a comeback

Again, sorry for the downtime here, I've been busy with work, a party, some running, and a lot of playing NCAA football. (Plus, my "internet" has been kind of testy lately.) Sunday I played it with a member of the Iowa Hawkeye football team (Bradley Fletcher) and won! It was pretty wild, playing with someone who is actually in the game. (I won on a last-second play, after Fletch had been screwed with fumbles and interceptions dropped by his secondary all game long. I felt bad for beating him, but I had to.)

The party on Saturday went well, there was much drinking, some games played (washers, where you try to throw a washer into a box with a cup in it, kind of similar to horseshoes, and beer pong), grilling done, and some hanging out. Here are a few pictures, courtesy of my new camera. (click on any photo for a [much, much] larger version!)

We threw a football around a little while, Jim is catching the ball here, even though he has perfect form for punting it

Jeff goes for the leaping catch



I admire my perfect spiral



My brother struts around like this a lot (and looks a lot fatter in this picture than he actually is... he's sticking his chest/gut out a little here)

My mom and step-dad



My family. . .




Mom's so proud



My sister, excited about playing washers (we were on a team for one game, which was won with a clutch toss by me, right into the cup)



Me and Kay, in what I think it one of the best photos of me ever taken (and not just because I'm standing next to a pretty girl, I just look like the money here)



Me and Jim (and yes, he did come home with me that night)



I swear this was Angela's idea

I'll leave it at those photos for now, but there are a couple more pretty entertaining ones from afterwards, when Jeff, Jim and I were at my place. And note: these are all obviously pre-haircut, but the hair was lookin' pretty good for the last go-round.

It's like Sideways, only without the adultery and more malt liquor

The wine tasting tour went well yesterday. There could have been some improvements made (I could've gotten more than 3.5 hours of sleep the night before), but all in all, it was a good time! (I'll put picture up later, when I'm at my own computer and can save them to the desktop instead of just stealing them from my mom's facebook page.) Our group was made up of 12 people, including myself, my bro, our friend Jake and his friend Pamela, my mom and step-dad, and some of their co-workers. Traveling in style, we were in a stretch H2 (that's Hummer-2, not to be confused with anything else [I'm looking at you, H]). This was my first real experience being in a limo, the only other time I had been in one was for my mom's wedding to Bruce (my step-dad), when we went from the wedding ceremony at our house to the reception hall half an hour away. Only I didn't ride in the "stretch" part in back, I sat up front with the driver. So this was a fun change of pace.

The first stop was Lavender Crest Winery in Colona, Illinois. They had some purple (fiberglass) pigs outside their building, I thought that was neat. The wine was very good, especially at 10 in the morning. Their wines included one made from blueberries and another from raspberries, both delicious. I sampled 6 wines, (the first three were free, the second set cost a dollar), and enjoyed them all. Jake and I enjoyed them a little too much, I think, we started getting a little buzz on. And of course we opened some bottles of wine after leaving the first place, I think we went through about 3 (not just between us, everyone was enjoying them) pretty quickly. Our next stop was in Galena, IL, an hour or so away. The passage of time gets kind of hazy here for Flenker... We stopped at a gas station so people could use the restroom, and my brother and I decided that we needed to continue drinking, so we went in and found the cheapest alcohol we could: 24 0z of this "beer" called "High Gravity". It was going for $0.94, and had 8.1% alcohol by volume. And tasted like pure, unfiltered ass. We each got one, and split it with Jake and Pamela. By the time we reached our lunch stop, we were feeling alright.

We had lunch at Vinny Vanucchi's, an Italian restaurant in Galena. It was good. My brother and I ordered an $8 bottle of champaign from the menu, not noticing that it said split next to it. So we got a small bottle of champaign, enough for a glass each. And it was not the best I've had. I feel like we overpaid. Oh well. The meal was good, the garlic bread they gave us was quite possibly the best garlic bread I've had in my life. I don't know what it was, but it was seriously amazing.

We briefly stopped at a winery in town, but they were charging for tasting, so we didn't stay long. We left for our next stop, Park Farm Winery near Dubuque, IA. It was a little drive, so we popped Shrek into the DVD player and watched and chatted and drank some more wines.

Park Farm Winery was by far the most beautiful winery we stopped, complete with a huge house and a spectacular view. (Just wait for the pictures, I can't do it justice in words.) It was a little out of the way, and not on a paved road, but that just added to the atmosphere, in my opinion. The wine was good, they had an apple wine that I liked. But the best part was just lounging about there. There was a sweet dog laying around that I sat next to and pet for a while, and just a great, relaxed feel in the air. Again, the pictures will show more.

Our next stop was a little bit of a detour, but one that made my day. Not far from Park Farm, about a 10-minute drive, is the Field of Dreams!! Now I've stated on here that it was one of my goals to go there before I leave Iowa, so this was a big deal for me. I had a big dumb-bastard grin on my face the whole time. I stood at home plate. I sat on the bleachers. I ran the bases! It was wonderful. But we didn't really have much time to spare, so I will have to go back there and enjoy it more thoroughly. Maybe Bill and H can accompany me, and I can take them to Park Farm. It will be delightful.

After running the bases and being outside for a little while, I was basically spent. I tried to nap on the drive to the next winery, but it wasn't working that well. Jake was in especially rough shape, he was sweating pretty hard and looked completely wiped. He and Pamela and Travis all stayed in the H2 while we went into our last stop, Daly Creek Winery in Anamosa, IA.

This was a nice little place in a small town. I was a little burnt out on alcohol, but had to try a couple wines, just because. Their Gothic White (named for Anamosa's own Grant Wood and his American Gothic painting) was wonderful. They also had some homemade pralines, and I couldn't resist. It was one of the best pralines I've ever had, I'm serious. This was a day for superlatives, apparently, between the garlic bread and praline.

We then headed home, tired but satisfied, after a long day of fun. It was quite the experience to ride around in the stretch H2, watching people gawk at us as we drove by, holding up traffic as we got out, and watching our driver Jimmy trying to maneuver it through some tight spots.

Well, that's it for now. I'll post some pictures when my "internet" is working. Who knows when that will be, though.

Not the worst 9 hours I've ever spent

Cajun Fest was great. I had an awesome time, the food was amazing, the music was excellent, and the weather was perfect. I just kind of wish I wasn't there for 9 hours.

You see, the plan was that I would go earlier in the day with my dad, who was carpooling up with a few of his friends. Then my brother was going to go up later (so he could sleep in past noon) and then we'd hang out for a while, then I'd get a ride home with him. My brother decided not to go. In all fairness, though, I don't think I told him my plan, and I probably could have called him at any time and gotten him to drive and pick me up. But I didn't feel like making him go 20 miles out of town and back, I was enjoying myself and the food was on Dad, so I couldn't complain. It would have been awesome if there was anyone else there that I knew so I could've talked with some people, or if my dad weren't so much more socially active than I am. He seriously knew everyone. I think most people would have been embarrassed to be shown up by their father, but I accepted that my dad is a lot cooler than me a long time ago. I just roll with it now.

Anyways, I did really enjoy myself. I ate some etouffee (pretty good, not as spicy as I was hoping, and a really small serving for the money), jambalaya (amazing, the best food I ate the whole day, and probably the best jambalaya I've ever had, especially when I added some hot sauce that I somehow missed with the etouffee), red beans and rice (tasty!), some beignets (they were ok. I've had better, but these were still tasty), a slice of pecan pie (simply amazing), and of course some crawfish (delicious!). If you've never been to a crawfish boil or any sort of Cajun-inspired celebration, you may not know about the whole ordeal of eating these little buggers. First off, you get a bowl or tray full of these things that look like tiny lobsters, sometimes served on a picnic table covered with newspapers, if you're doing it the "real way." You take one of these guys, and seperate the head and torso from the tail, then pull the meat out of the tail, and eat. Then, the "famous" part of eating the crawfish, you grab the head/torso, and suck out the juices, mainly just the spices and water used to boil them. It may sound gross, but it's delicious. This is where the phrase "sucking head" comes from, in relation to crawfish, that's the part that everyone seems to know. If you ever get the chance, try it out! Get a friend to join you if you're not sure about it, it's a fun time, and hey, you may like it!

good stuff!

The food was only part of the fun, the music was really the main attraction. We got there in time to see Hunter Hayes, a very impressive 15-year-old musician. He played almost every instrument that was on stage, and had a heckuva voice. He's got a myspace page you can check out, if you're interested. Then there was Sarah Jayde Williams, a very cute girl who played a mean fiddle and had a beautiful voice. (I say cute in the way that she was a cute teenager, not that I'm some creepy dude checking out girls 10 years younger.) Some of the other bands that I really enjoyed were JJ Callier & The Zydeco Knockouts, and Chubby Carrier. Every band that was there put on a good show, full of energy and just got the crowd dancin'. (Except for me, I don't really dance, especially if I don't have anyone with whom to dance.)

One of the highlights of the day had to be this older gentleman, looking to be in his 80's, wearing an all-orange outfit with a sideways-tilted baseball cap and some gold chains really cutting a rug. I mean this guy was getting down, literally, sometimes dancing on the floor. He was looking awfully spry for his age, pulling out moves that I wouldn't be able to do at my age with my knees, but he was making it look easy. I was jealous. Another interesting sight were the "old country" couples from the Amana colonies (a German community); the men wore white shirts, fedora-like hats, black suspenders and black pants, the women white tops with long, black dresses, maybe some sort of sun bonnet.

It was a great time. Aside from my extreme tiredness from a recent lack of sleep and basically haning out on my own the whole time, I had a really, really fun day. I'd write more about it, but I'm going to actually try to get some amount of sleep tonight. I'll be back tomorrow!

A new beer, some food, and the Flenker Bros.

I'm trying another new beer tonight, this one is Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy. It's a Weiss beer with lemonade, and has a 4.2% ABV. It tastes like there is no alcohol at all, which could be dangerous. "Shandy" suggests a beer with lemonade or some sort of soft drink at about a 50/50 mix. The Leinie's shandy uses lemonade, and tastes delicious, like lemonade with a slight beer aftertaste. It goes down very smooth, and is very refreshing. I was a little leery about it, but one taste turned that around. I had gotten this last night from a friend who had just been given five bottles after one of his friends didn't like it, so it was free for me, which makes it even better! All in all, this is a wonderful summer beer, I would suggest everyone try it out on a hot summer day. (This is not the first shandy I've had. Last year, for their St. Patrick's Day mini-tour, Old Chicago had a "Shandy Gaff," which had Guinness and 7-Up. It was terrible. It just tasted like flat Guinness with a little hint of lemon. Not good times.)

For lunch today, I had some left-over jambalaya I had made late last week, wrapped up in a tortilla. The jambalaya was from a pouch-mix, adding part of a kielbasa and some spice, mostly crushed red pepper and Louisiana Hot Sauce, and turned out surprisingly well! I had added a little kick to it, and the sausage went well with the dish. I'm sure I could've probably come up with something similar without using a packaged mix, but the price was right and it was so simple, it was worth the trade-off. Plus, it was enough to last for a few meals, which is always nice. I'm hoping to grill the rest of the kielbasa in the next few days, because face it, everything tastes better when cooked outside. I should pick up some peppers and onions, and make it with all the fixin's. Damn, I'm salivating just thinking about it. It won't be tomorrow, though, Bill's coming into town to see Jimmy Carter speak, and we're planning on getting some sushi. I'm overjoyed, sushi is delicious. I don't get it, I love sushi, but I don't really like seafood. Strange. But Bill should be bringing some pictures from the weekend, which should prove to be hilarious. I'll think about posting them at some point.

Anyways, time for some reading before bed. An Evening of Long Goodbyes is going pretty well, I'm enjoying it so far, but only about 70 pages deep. We'll see how it goes. Until then, I'll leave you with another picture, this time of the Flenker Brothers. That's Travis on the right. A pair of sexy dudes, no?