Farewell The Hurricane
June 27, 2006 12:00 am [No Comments]
Aparently The Hurricane was sold recently, and it’s either shutting down, or being remade, or something. I can’t really find any news about it. All I have so far is a few pictures Courtney sent me of a going away party thing where they put a “RIP Hurricane” sign out front and one of the regulars had his name scratched into a bar stool.
I hope they don’t turn it into a club, or something lame. I have lots of good memories from that place… and a few bad ones. The Hurricane is the first bar I ever went to in Westport, and where I saw Jono’s band play the one time I saw them play. Not to mention the endless number of nights I spent there in the last year swilling down PBR or Stella and hanging out with Ricardo.
I wonder what happens to Ricardo?
The Hurricane was absolutely my favorite bar in the city and I’m pretty sad to see it go.
Wow, it’s even worse than I thought. Courtney sent me these links:
http://www.patchchord.com/article/137/my-story-of-the-hurricane
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/entertainment/columnists/hearne_christopher_jr/14425461.htm
A more upscale clientele? A VIP room downstairs? Limo service to Blonde? Jesus Christ… I’m going to throw up.
And a few more…
http://www.pitch.com/Issues/2006-05-04/music/wayward.html
Luck, thy name is Jeff
June 25, 2006 12:00 am [No Comments]
In an awesome fit of luck I found a nearly pristine front bumper for my car at the dealership and the parts guy sold it to me for $90! If I had to buy it new (which I was getting ready to do) it would have been $400 for the part and another $380 for paint! WOOT! My car is finally whole again! So happy!
I also bought and installed a smaller front sprocket for my bike. Now I’ve got more torque and a little less top end speed. With my added torque I was finally able to do my first wheelie. Sort of. I don’t know if a half inch of clearance counts, but it definitely felt like a wheelie. Now it’s just a matter of practice 
I pretty much did nothing but work on cars and bikes this weekend. My hands are black with grease but it was sure fun. I learned how to take serious parts of my bike apart and put them back together. Hopefully. I haven’t died yet.
Volley, balls.
June 23, 2006 12:00 am [1 Comment]
I joined my company’s beach volleyball team a few weeks back but with my trip to Europe I missed the first two games. Last night was the first one where I was back so I headed out to The Beach and tried to remember how to play.
I did remember how to play, and I did okay but there was an Incident.
I was having a good time, and was pretty enthusiastic and doing quite a few dives and such. Some of them were good, and I made a few good saves. On one I went for a straight out dive, bumped the ball with my fists and got it up over the net but when I landed I landed straight out like superman and my balls slapped the packed sand.
It doesn’t do to cry on the volleyball court, but let me tell you… I wanted to. One little tear might have slipped out into the sand.
It was a lot of fun though, and I wished we had played longer. We played three games, and lost them all, but we got better quickly. The first game we got owned, but the second and third were pretty competitive.
It’s a mixed team deal, so we have three guys and three girls. The problem is that there’s a rule where if a guy hits the ball a girl has to hit it too before it goes over the net. That keeps you from having a few girls stand in the corner while three burly guys actually play. Unfortunately I had trouble remembering the damn rule and fucked up a few times. One of the guys would put up a great set and I would slap it over the net and then everyone would look at me like “What an idiot. He did it again.”
The Beach seems like a pretty fun place. It started to get pretty crowded as we wrapped up our games, and lots of people were swilling down pitchers. My whole team left so I didn’t stick around, but it seemed like a place that might be lots of fun.
Merriam: Saturday
June 18, 2006 12:00 am [No Comments]
And I’m back. I went out and got wrecked with Adam, JoLynn and Tricia as soon as I got home and now it’s Sunday at 7:46am and I’m wide awake. Is this jet lag? I don’t know, but I feel fine. Time to dust off that old Ducati.
London: Friday
June 16, 2006 12:00 am [1 Comment]
Today I got up nice and early, had a quick breakfast and checked my email and then headed off to find my way to Stonehenge.
I knew that I could find a train from Waterloo Station to Salisbury, which is 9 miles form Stonehenge but after that I didn’t really know what was up. The trains leave from Waterloo every 20 minutes, so that didn’t take very long and it was only a 2 hour ride there.
Once I got there it was pretty clear there wouldn’t be problems getting to Stonehenge. Lots of busses, bus tours and tourist information. I got a cheap bus fare and had about 45 minutes to blow before I headed out. I was kind of hungry so I wandered down to a pub on the corner to see what I could scrape up.
This pub was like something out of a movie. Everyone in there knew each other and they were all asking about each other’s mums and kids. When someone new walked in the door they were all like “Allo John!” or whatever. Weird.
I had a pint of cask cider, which was tasty, a plate of chips and some talk with the bartender. She asked me if I was going to Stonehenge and I said “How did you guess? Wrong accent?”. She said that everyone that comes into the pub asking what food they can get quickly is going to Stonehenge. Heh!
So I took the bus ride over, and Salisbury is very pretty. Stonehenge is actually in, or very near, Amesbury which is also very pretty.
The entrance to Stonehenge is very touristy, but that’s across the street and a tunnel. Once you actually get on the grounds it’s very nice. No tourist crap, but lots of people. Only problem is you can’t really get near it. There is a rope fence a good 25 yards away from it you can’t go inside. Aparently during the Solstice, next week, they let you in so you can commune with the moon goddess or whatever.
Stonehenge is… well, just like the lady at the bar said, it’s just like the pictures. It doesn’t move about. It was awesome to see it in person though.
On the trip back I fell asleep on the train and almost ended up heading back towards Salisbury. Someone was nice enough to wake me up right before the damn train left again. That sucked.
So that’s it for my tour of Europe! It’s about 5:30pm right now. I am going to find some dinner, and a few beers. Maybe do some laundry so I have something cleanish to wear tomorrow and then pack and hit the sack. I have to be up pretty early tomorrow to find my way to the airport.
So, thanks for reading and thanks for the comments! And don’t forget to check out the last batch of pictures from London yesterday and Stonehenge today!