salpingo-oopherectomy

Yah, that's right. Anyone know what that is?

Last weekend, my friend Danny came to visit. As an introduction, it doesn't do him or our friendship justice, but he is a good friend from high school. But, his visit consisted of a few highlights that I've been eager to write about here.

First: ringing in Feb. 11th (as in seeing midnight, which I'm not accustomed to doing much anymore) came as we were half around the I-435 loop that circumvents Kansas City. After enjoying a day full of good bluegrass vibes at my roommate's jams we were inspired to take a drive to reflect and get lost in our thoughts on the open highway. So Danny, John and I hopped in the car at 11:30, put in my newly acquired Explosions in the Sky album and drove for an hour and half in near silence. We were disappointed by the lack of corndogs at the QT, but the Doritos, hot chocolate and soda were an adequate substitute for our midnight snacks. And to end the adventure, just a couple hours shy of seeing the printing machines in action, we did a drive by of the 15 story glass Kansas City Star building. Very cool.

Secondly, we started a home brew. My roommate, Michaela, Danny and I saw yet another midnight the next day, sanitizing and stirring and pouring and cooling the makings of our first home brewed beer. After killing the first batch of yeast, a near failure of the whole project, we remembered another yeast packet and crossed our fingers. To our delight, it is still fermenting this very moment in the next room, almost a week later. We hope to have a 'delicious' brew by mid-March...or at least something that doesn't make us gag. Either way I'd consider it a success for a first try! And besides, with a bottle capper the possibilities are endless.

Thirdly, I'm enjoying cooking more and more and if I do say so myself, I think I am actually getting better at it. We enjoyed many good meals cooked right here at home. Usually when a guest comes to town it is protocol to go out to as many good restaurants as possible. And of course we did hit up Oklahoma Joe's...and Chipotle, but boy did we come up with some meals to rival the both of 'em, all on our own!

Fourthly, and this has nothing to do with Danny's visit, which again, was delightful, I am finally planning my next trips. I'm close to a finished product with my plan for a trip out East, which will include, NY, RI, MD, PA and a roadtrip back to KC. I just got word of a possible backpacking adventure for 'spring break' in OK. And I think I'm going to take the 35 hour Amtrak ride back to California in May...anyone want to come with me?