Kansas City Road Trip, Final Day

Getaway Day

All good things must come to an end, including visits from my best friend. After a nice breakfast, Skip and I spent Monday morning getting packed for our trips home (him flying, me driving).

Then it was time for lunch. We went to the awesome SmokeHouse BBQ at Zona Rosa and fortified ourselves for the day of travel with
a taste of Kansas City barbecue.

From there, it was off to Kansas City International Airport, to get Skip onto his flight to Philadelphia.

We whiled away the remaining time in Terminal C (the one on the far right in the photo).




Because his flight was direct, Skip was able to message me that he was on the ground
in Philadelphia just about the time I was pulling into my parking space back in Council Bluffs, at roughly 6:45 PM CDT.

Now it is my turn to visit him. We are tentatively planning a visit for sometime in the fall, after Skip and his wife get back from a European cruise.

"You getting on an airplane? When was the last time that happened?"

1977, actually...

Rebirth

One of the agenda items for the Kansas City trip was to check out possible replacements for my 2002 Chrysler 300M (a.k.a. "Rose Red," after the 2002 Stephen King miniseries).

I had purchased her in Kansas City in 2006, as a worthy successor to my Mazda 6 hatchback.

I had never owned a Chrysler vehicle before, even though my dad was a big Chrysler fan. It made me feel better when I learned of his passing that I had finally taken his advice on what make of car to buy.


Rose Red served me well and faithfully for a decade in that body, but the time had come to make a change. By a stroke of good fortune, I found a suitable successor on Saturday morning, at Overland Park Mazda on the Kansas side of the KC metro area.

Say "hello" to Rose Red in her new incarnation as a 2015 Mazda 6.

The transfer was quite emotional for me, since I tend to form strong attachments to my vehicles.


In this case, I made sure that Rose's spirit transferred to her new body with a ceremony the details of which I'll keep to myself...

"Because you don't want to sound like a sentimental idiot?"

Well, yeah...

Some Writer Guy

On April 26, 1564 William Shakespeare was baptized at Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. Because it was customary in those days to have a child baptized within a few days of its birth, some people like to call April 23 Shakespeare's "birthday," because it makes a neat symmetry (he died on April 23, 1616).

I prefer to celebrate his baptism instead, since there is actual documentation for that date.

As writers go, this guy was decent...

New Champion

2016 United States Champion

The 2016 United States Chess Championship concluded Monday at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis. Grandmaster (GM) Fabiano Caruana, now the No. 2 ranked player in the world, took clear first ahead of defending champion GM Hikaru Nakamura (No. 5) and GM Wesley So (No. 10). It is quite exciting to see three of the world's ten best players playing for the U.S. title.

Because he holds dual Italian and U.S. citizenship, Fabiano had his choice of which FIDE chess federation to play for in international competitions. From 2005-2015 he played for the Italian federation, but he is now playing for the USCF.


In addition to being the new U.S. champion, Fabiano will now play for the U.S. in
Chess Olympiads as well, which will give the U.S. team a very strong chance for the gold medal.

What Could Be Simpler?

From the droll webcomic xkcd, by Randall Munroe, which you should read every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, as I do.

Until Next Time...

I appreciate and listen to a broad range of musical genres. Other than opera, I can enjoy just about anything. From time to time, I get in the mood to listen to what has come to be called "world music," a relatively elastic category.

This week's Music Recommendation falls into that genre. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma combined his talents with the musical collective Silk Road Ensemble to produce a truly eclectic collection of songs.

The theme of the album is "home," in all of its possible meanings and incarnations.

The album was intended to coincide with the upcoming film The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, which will have its theatrical release in June.

Today's send-off is their delightfully non-traditional rendition of the traditional American folk song "St. James Infirmary Blues" (they based their version on Louis Armstrong's 1928 hit). Enjoy...