hang with me here. i’m talking about the outdoors. i’m continually amazed at the variety of great places there are in the immediate area to go for a walk. loose park and the park across from m&s are the most convenient for me (i walk 4-5 miles a day) but weekends, i go lookin’ for something else. this past weekend, i found my new favorite walk – the platte creek greenway.
it’s just north of the airport and the north trailhead starts in a subdivision. now, if the county and the developer would quit fighting about who should finish the loop trail and just finish the loop, it would be perfect.
anyway, here are some pix of the waterfall and the wildlife.
there’s more info in the book hiking kansas city. what a great trail.
rock’n'roll.
Uncategorized
a few weeks ago, i had the chance to talk to a rotary club in liberty for about 20 minutes. it’s really odd to talk like that for 20 minutes without checking traffic and weather…but some how i made it through.
the experience was interesting…the way the luncheon was run with precision, in at noon, out at 1. the intricacies of the meeting were a bit foreign to someone like me who’d never been (happy dollars?).
but the group was great: there were about 50 people (including my buddy eric who set the whole thing up) of all ages and career backgrounds and they had terrific questions. i spoke for about 12 minutes and took questions for the balance. i could have just taken questions…without any prepared remarks.
one of my favorite questions…and i’m not sure if this one came up or not…i’ve been asked before if we actually interview people or just insert questions on a pre-recorded bit. i can assure you that ellen and i do all of our interviews ourselves.
anyway, the shawnee mission rotary is up on the 17th of june. and hey, if you know a group that would be interested in hearing about the media past, present and future, from my particular perspective, lemme know. ej@kmbz.com
rock’n'roll
Uncategorized
best story of the morning had to be about the astronauts in the space station drinking their own urine. apparently the waste-water purifiers they’ve installed up there do a wonderful job of turning urine, ambient moisture and sweat into potable water.
do we really wanna know how they’re collecting sweat? how DO they get rid of the deodorant taste?
while nasa has this intersting way of creating water where there was none, i believe navy submarines can make drinking water outta sea water.
so, if you believe the doomsday water scenarios, it all comes down to this choice you will someday have to make — live in space if you want something to drink or live 20-thousand leagues under the sea.
either way, the water’s gonna run out. and we’re all gonna die.
so i think i’ll go to happy hour and lose another 2 pounds.
rock’n'roll
Uncategorized
it’s important because it’s one of the two days i don’t have to get up stupid-early. rather, i can be lazy, goof around at home, annoy the cats and do absolutely nothing if i want to…all day. but that rarely happens. indeed, saturday was made for breakfast.
so for breakfast this saturday, i decided to return to the same place i stumbled into breakfast last week, niecie’s in raytown. i was headed to the big biscuit in independence when i saw all these cars outside this place and said “self, go see what all the fuss is about.” one hour, 3 fried chicken wings and a waffle later and i was sold.
this week, niecie’s proved its versatility by serving a non-breakfast breakfast. all white-meat fried chicken, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes and cole slaw…at 9am. god bless’em! best fried chicken i’ve had since coming to k.c. and yes, i’ve been to stroud’s (???) and peachtree (which is good, but not “niecie’s good”).
this saturday…who knows. pork chops?
rock’n'roll
Uncategorized
so this morning, we had one of those moments…one of those moments where ellen and i look at each other in horror, turn to mark — who was looking at us in horror previously but has since turned to begin the process of fixing whatever has gone terribly wrong — and then look back at each other to see who’s gonna start talking first.
this morning, it was me. luckily, just moments before the interview with abc’s white house correspondent ann compton went south, i had taken a hint from parks’ nyt obsession and had begun reading an article on trials for gitmo guys. 
as i’m about to ask the question, ann starts saying — in a tone which ellen and i had not previously heard — “toni? TONI, STOP! TONI!?!” by this time, mark has turned down the sound and the talking has begun.
the laughter came later, after the interview, when we realized what had happened. abc, a technical gadget powerhouse, distributes live interviews like ann to stations across the country, and they do several at the same time. “toni” was talking to another interview, prepping them for “e.j. and ellen” in some other city…but the wires got crossed and she ended up in ann’s ears.
ellen will no doubt agree that there’s nothing more distracting than the voices in your head…i mean a loud voice in your headphones that has nothing to do with the question you’re being asked or the one you’re answering.
of course in that millisecond of horror, ellen and i are worried about slips of the tongue that come at such moments…the slips that come at a high cost. but only a lesser pro than ann would let that happen.
at the end of the day, a potential moment of horror turned into a running joke. and toni, sorry…it may continue for awhile.
rock’n'roll
Uncategorized
it’s been awhile since i talked about happy hour…probably because it’s been awhile since i went to happy hour somewhere other than my favorite haunt.
so this past friday, first friday, i made my first happy hour visit to the webster house. i’d had lunch there a couple of times and always enjoyed it, so i was looking forward to a full slate of tasty $3 dishes and the requisit discounted wines, beers and mixed drinks.
gotta tell ya, kansas city has to be the greatest place on earth for happy hour. everybody has one and everybody has food (often good, non-bar food, at great prices.)
so, since i see and taste things simply, here’s my simple estimation of my webster house happy hour experience. the best thing i tasted was the most disgustingly-named thing on the menu: veal cheek. poor little cow. but its cheek was perfectly done and served on baguette and boursin (it’s so funny to listen to the myriad ways people mispronounce expensive cream cheese). melt in your mouth tortured-baby-cow-cheek.
there were six of us and everyone else at my table seemed to like the stuff they ate that previously resided in water.
the fresh chips with gorgonzola cream were quite tasty. fresh chips are always good too.
the burger was a great deal, but at the end of the day, it was a burger. the mint-green-bamboo-something-risotto was uneventful and had weird stuff on top. and there were no happy hour dessert specials.
but all in all, worth another visit if only for the chips.
you like the way i leave all the fluff out of restaurant reviews?
rock’n'roll
Uncategorized