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Thursday, July 30, 2009

family night out

we took an opportunity to get everyone out of the house tonight. with grandma gone, the kids and the sitter are here all day which is a recipe for carnage.

the beautiful mrs k and i drove the kids to the remnants of crestwood mall. we ate more than we should have at pasta house, walked around and marveled at the art-house that it's becoming before hitting the optometrist for deanna's glasses. the kids rode up and down on the escalator (supervised, of course) a few times, and then off to the grocery store.

if you haven't been to the grocery store with kids in a while, i'll loan you mine. it's quite an experience. it really has to be experienced to fully grasp the difficulty.

now everyone is home, it's time to brush teeth and get in bed....let's keep our fingers crossed, shall we?

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

my crazy kids

hanna: wow, this internet thing is keeeeewwwl!
tyson: i think i need to see a dentist....
eli got his first school backpack tonight. lightning mcqueen, of course. my first inclination was to fill it with all of the junk from the top of the coffee table.
hmmm...i wonder if i can cause as much carnage at school as i can at home? it's a challenge i'm definitely up to!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

vivienne is killer salad dressing!


a recent client of mine gave the beautiful mrs k and i some of this salad dressing to try out. seems his company makes it. we give it four thumbs up! (you know, two thumbs up each) you can get it at dierberg's or schnuck's.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

rock bridge

john 'i can't break the law if i don't drive" twist and i took yet another trip out of st. louis to race our mountain bikes. the kaiser was supposed to join us, but commitments took their toll and he had to decline. so i drove the family truckster.

columbia is always farther than you think. in my mind, it's an hour and a half. maybe it was an hour and a half when i had a V8. now it's two hours, solid. but no matter, we still made the race with time to spare.

i brought along my nifty new 'water tower' water bottle holder. it's an easy way to get a bottle while racing. two bottle cages on a pole, simple.

there was a fair turnout of riders, specifically the murderous john matthews and the old man of cycling, ethan froese. the old guys mixed it up with the young guys after a fast start. the course was so rough and bumpy that it was tough to take smooth lines. it was true mountain biking, sort of in the same vain as st. joe state park. somehow i was able to get away in the third lap for the old man victory, but not before missing my own water tower the first time around. curses! that's ok, it was my fault, not the towers. i'll hone my bottle snatching ways for the next race.

we received cool 'show me state games' medals, but no cash. curses, times two!

john and i stopped at wendy's on the way home, just because. now my greasy burger fix has been satiated for a while.

mesa tour de france party

there was a fun tour de france viewing party at mesa cycles last night. the big screen had tour coverage of mt. ventoux, there were great snacks, and tons of rabid cycling fans to chat with.
not everyone could be transfixed by the big screen, though.
and eli found a bike he wanted. at his current allowance rate, factoring in extra money from chores, he will be able to buy it in 2029. at least he has good taste.

Friday, July 24, 2009

let's see....

am i going to sleep on this couch, that couch, or the small chair now? let me just sit here and think about it for a while....

big thumbs up, ethan!!!

despite what may be the most frustrating communication day i have had yet with the business, i must say that it's pretty hard to dampen my enthusiasm for my new application.

ej, my partner in crime for 15 years, has created an online application that allows me to catalog my customers and all of their items, as well as fee and payout structure. it's amazing. no more pen and paper! no more calculator!

i'm beside myself with joy.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

hot air balooning

hanna and tyson wait in line for a balloon ride at the remax family get together. we were guests of uncle keith.
they flew up quite a ways and then came down. the skies were pretty threatening. i was scared of a hindenburg incident, but nothing happened. oh, the humanity!
hanna: hey, you can see the tops of everyone's head from up here!
tyson: hey, who's the balding guy?
hanna: shhhh! that's daddy!
tyson: what would happen if i spit from up here?
hanna: god, thanks for not making me a boy....

the baseball player

(said in his best john wayne impersonation)
well, i tell ya, partner...this baseball thing ain't a heep 'o nuthin' compared ta bike racin', uh huh.
whack! great hit.
and i'm not sure what this is, but a primate on a rampage comes to mind.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

holy 1994!

this 1994 diamond back axis titanium bike is hanging in my garage tonight. the frame was part of my off-road racing bike in 1994.

back in those days, super-fitter tim ray was the diamond back rep for the area and was gracious enough to give me a deal on a bike and some diamond back team clothing. i raced this frame for the year and loved every minute of it. at the beginning of 1995, a fast kid named eric pirtle earned the real db sponsorship and so my slow butt had to move on. i sold this frame to a friend of mine who has pampered it ever since. now i'm selling it for him, but it sure did take me down memory lane.

what happened to my little angels?

sniff...sniff...she looks so grown up here. where is my little girl?? and her glasses make her look even older. she looks so big, talks so big, takes care of herself so well...what's going on here??
and this little terror! he's only 3, but you'd never know it. he will conversate you into the mad house if you let him. he's a talker. and he's still the little general, just not so little anymore.

i would have a photo of grown up tyson, too, but i can never get a good shot.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

my call was answered

the other day i went on a tirade about cardboard. it was really a rant about how i hate it. some people took that to mean i needed more. i can see how me complaining about having the wrong size boxes makes it even tougher to live in my cardboard jungle.

so the kaiser drops by on saturday with a van full of boxes. actually, a van full of perfect boxes. you know how good it feels to have the perfect box to ship something?

REALLY good!

somehow, you all may feel dumber for having read this. sorry.

Monday, July 20, 2009

mrs k missed her calling

the beautiful mrs k had pity on poor rosco and cut his wild hair the other night. his poor face was totally obscured by his bangs. yorkies are funny, their hair would keep growing and growing like ours does. it never sheds, it just grows and grows. the little guy gets hot and i know he can't see anything. she should have been a dog stylist for the stars!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

bad husband

i didn't get any photos of mrs k's race at soulard.

actually, i didn't know she was planning on racing until this morning. and then she wasn't planning on racing. then she was....you get the picture. finally, she put the rubber to the road.

hanna, eli and i cheered her on. she was looking good and then she blew up. it's pretty typical, as she doesn't know any speed but full gas or full brakes. she really liked the turns and ups and downs at soulard, which is awesome.

i still get more nervous for her and the kids when they race than i get for myself, and i get REAL nervous for myself. it's a mixture of excitement and apprehension that makes my heart rate skyrocket. whew, i didn't even need to work out today!

Friday, July 17, 2009

fleecing at six flags

this is a story of a family separated from their money in search of good fun.

the beautiful mrs k and i took the big kids to six flags today. i really, really didn't have the time to do it...friday's are always so busy. but, some things a man's gotta do. so we did.

we had to leave the little general behind. he just wouldn't be good in the six flags/waiting in long lines kind of position. he'd end up biting park personnel. or crawling up on the timbers of the screamin' eagle while we were getting a frozen lemonade. you just never know.

hanna and tyson are now big enough to ride almost everything. well, hanna is big enough, there are one or two rides that tyson misses by an inch or so. mostly, we all like roller coasters, and our six flags has every roller coaster made. mine train, screamin' eagle, the ninja (schvonzie's personal fave), the boss, evel knievel, and i guess you can count batman and mr. freeze as coasters, too. our favorite was evel knievel. it's so fast and yet quite smooth.

the best part about our six flags trip? lack of crowds. let's face it...the cool weather is a godsend to a theme park, but when there isn't anyone between you and the next coaster ride, it's heaven. we waited in one line longer than 10 minutes, and that was for the scooby doo ride where you shoot stuff with your laser. otherwise, we zipped right in, sometimes twice, within 5 minutes. the park takes on a whole new personality when you aren't squeezing between people for 6 hours.

i spouted off last year about my disappointment in six flags, so i'll keep this brief: when people pay the money that this place charges, i think we should expect some things. like cleanliness. like a courteous staff. why? $24 to $36 for entry per person. $15 for parking in a lot that looks like it has been to war and back. mandatory bag check ($1) for certain rides now. every where you turn within the confines of the six flags compound, you are fleeced. word on the streets is that the theme park is near bankruptcy. they must not be spending our money well...or are patrons fleeing the fleecing by the thousands?

it was fun. but i wonder how long it will be there.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

tata goes big...

you all might recall my amusement at the cherry QQ failing it's car crash testing with flying colors. the chinese under-wonder car is a death trap, and great for car jokes.
however, it seems that the new king of the micro world budget cars is going to be the tata. it's undergoing crash testing and it looks like it might squeak by the crash police sooner than later.

the question is: will we be gullible enough to buy them?

today is a better day

i'm not sure why, but yesterday was just a crabby day for me. man, nothing went right, and i wasn't in the mood for it.

that made me darn happy that the rain didn't spoil the crit. usually, a good hard effort is what i need to get out of a dark day. i rode terribly hard last night, and although my finish didn't show it, i was aggressive as i ever get. i chased. i bridged. i jumped for nothing at all sometimes. that may seem silly to those that actually know how to race, but it made me feel better. as my spleen was exploding and my liver was crying out for vodka, i just went harder.

the beautiful mrs k and the kids were watching and when it was all over, we stopped and got snow cones. mmmm, banana snow cone. that made me feel marginally better, so i limped home and had a real banana.

today started better and has gone exceptionally well. even with the sketchy weather.

let's have more days like today.

Monday, July 13, 2009

sac river race

i returned to sac river for the first time since 2004 on sunday. on the last occasion, the beautiful mrs k and i were just dating and she went with me. this time, i had john 'breakin' the law' twist as my companion.

we had to leave pretty early, since springfield is all the way down the state toward oklahoma. john was not foolin' around, either. he actually broke the speed limit on the way there. i'm familiar with the dakota and the prowess of the 3.9, but i must say that i raised an eyebrow as we barrelled down 44 at 80 mph. would it hold together??

hold together it did, and we were treated to that beautiful, rocky ozark geography that is sac river. rocks, roots, up, down, plate rock, shale, pine needles...it's got it all. the turnout was less than stellar, but the rain missed us and the race was awesome. they lumped together the young and old experts and i tried my hand at racing for the lead. i never got there, and i only hung in with the young guns for 2/3 of a lap. i settled in and enjoyed the race, winning my age group and placing 5th overall. fun, fun, fun. john took a wrong turn, as it was pretty easy to do here, and was out of the race. bummer, because he was beating the sport class with a stick when he veered off course.

ahhh, mountain biking. wish i could do more of it.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

these guys love the tour

i was watching the tour and packing boxes with the boys on friday. they could barely contain their enthusiasm, especially when contador attacked.

Thursday, July 09, 2009

1931 Miller V16



this miller v16 racing car shows us that there isn't much new in the world. every time we marvel at 'modern' technology, we seem to be able to go back in time to find it's ancestry...some times 80 years. sad to say, but a lot of exhaust manufacturers today can't make tubular headers as pretty as miller did in 1931. 303 cubic inches, 300 horsepower (gross) before my mother was even born. this particular engine and car ran the indy 500 several times. nice.

here she comes


sometimes her beauty amazes me.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

the word of the day is


job. j...o....b....

just a little 'friday' humor for you.

the word of the day is actually cardboard.

i've learned that cardboard can be your best friend or your worst enemy. you can cut it, tape it, bend it, fold it, rip it, crease it, and cuss at it. sometimes it is your friend, other times it will cut your damn finger like a razor blade. you know when you have that perfect size box for that certain item? yeah, that's when cardboard is your friend. it's when you start trying to mold it into another sized box that it becomes your enemy. the more time i spend with it, the better i get at deciding when to go with it or search for another. sometimes it just isn't worth the bleeding finger.

i'm usually at the mercy of friendly shops in the area when it comes to cardboard boxes. they usually have a pile of it waiting for the recycling company or a pile of it waiting to go to the dumpster. many of them have been so kind as to put aside good shipping boxes for me. that's just an excellent situation. the more cardboard to choose from, the less chances of me running to the medicine cabinet looking for a tourniquet.

cardboard stinks, too. every once in a while i will make the mistake of leaving a bunch of it in my car with the windows up. ick. the car smells like a wet dog. a wet cardboard dog.

there is tape-resistant cardboard, too. i can get a box perfectly ready to go and turn around and the tape has all begun to flee the edges. i quietly cuss to myself when tape sticks to everything around me, including me, but won't hold down the edges of the blasted box. how can it do that?

it's amazingly heavy, too. many times it's heavier than the item i'm shipping. i marvel at the way a box will resist when i try to rip it or cut it, yet it will collapse completely on the expensive item inside with the slightest provocation.

in the end, what you have is a guy, me, writing about cardboard.

'cause it's the word of the day.

Monday, July 06, 2009

a good photo of us

a good photo from saturday's carnival

the beautiful mrs k and i got out for a ride on sunday. it's been quite a while since that has happened. katie and kevin took the little guy 'to the country' for a few hours. since we had to go that direction anyway, we started out at greensfelder, took old route 66 to OO, old manchester, bouquet, melrose, and then back to allenton. deanna was saying unkind things to me at regular intervals on this ride, but i must say i didn't think much about it being hilly. sorry, honey.

after our ride, we headed out 'to the country' ourselves and enjoyed k & k's hospitality, as well as a giant bag of fireworks from hanna's mom. wow. fireworks sure have gone well beyond firecrackers and snap-n-pops.

Sunday, July 05, 2009

july 4th tradition

our 4th of july tradition is to get in on the webster groves carnival and fireworks show. we waited out the rain and arrived near dark. i did get to soak in about 5 episodes of the twilight zone, as the sci-fi channel was having a marathon. love that stuff.
the rains had left the grounds a slimy, muddy mess. yuck.
the mud didn't bother the little guy. he waited patiently for the little train. he skipped a turn so that he could ride in the front and ring the bell. he was so cute, but the beautiful mrs k scored much better photos on the full sized camera that i will upload tomorrow. the webster show is just phenomenal every year and last night was no exception.

the little guys enjoying a moment

rosco: eli?
eli: yeah rosco?
rosco: do you ever just lay in bed with your arms and legs up, like this?
eli: ummm, no. do you ever make this face?
rosco: yeah, all the time, can't you tell?

Friday, July 03, 2009

personal happenings

lest you think that the k household is only for kids and their carnage, i figured i'd let you know what else goes on lately.

it's been a tough week for the ebay biz. it's sort of hard to judge listings around the holidays. one has to make sure that they don't end when everyone is:

1) drunk (new years eve)
2) having sex (valentine's day)
3) sad (memorial day)
4) crazy (4th of july)
5) drunk (labor day)
6) scared (halloween)
7) fat and sleepy (thanksgiving)
8) opening boxes containing the same things that you're trying to sell them (x-mas)

so i have to think in 7 day cycles (sometimes 10), plus think about what's happening on that day. anyway, boo hoo for me, my mind has been mush.

and, i have to say that although my body says differently, my racing is not bad a the moment. it's very funny that i haven't turned a pedal in anger in weeks except to race. in fact, there hasn't been much pedaling going on except racing. it looks as if my steady diet of coke, chocolate covered granola bars with peanut butter on top, starbucks doubleshot energy drink (vanilla), and 5 hours of sleep is really working for me.

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

roller skating

again with the bad camera phone photos. there's a roller skating place in south county and we took the kids there tonight. sad to say, but i was a part of the roller skating phase that swept the country around the middle-late 70's. me and the boys used to hit the maplewood baptist church gym every friday night for roller skating. enough about me...that's hanna on the ground and tyson hugging the wall on the right in yellow.
deanna got a workout holding on to the kids. eli tried his hand at skating and had less luck than the big kids. that's him, all ablur in the center. tyson's head and shoulders fell off during his skating session.
hanna, aka, rollergirl. she was tentative at first but gained her skating legs as time went on. she'll be back next time to tear up the rink. i'll be back, too, and hopefully i'll not get stuck talking to an old guy about rubik's cubes.