my apologies

I haven't posted in nearly two weeks. I have been so good this summer and I have fallen off. I am rapidly preparing for my trip to Saugerties, NYC, Philadelphia and DC and maybe Baltimore. Three days each in NYC, Philly and DC and one in Saugerties. I leave Monday and get back the following Thursday. My father will be living in my house keeping the order. I have an itinerary made up for Philly and need to finish one for DC and NYC. I will post the itineraries online as soon as I finish them. If you have any last minute suggestions, please let me know.

I have three really good posts that I have almost ready to put up, but I need to finish editing. One on the Assassin, another on chicken strips and a third one that is a really good video of some nefarious activity.

Kitchen K Monday Night

I got a call from Pablo last week. He was putting together nights where a celebrity hosts a night at Kitchen K. I used to work for Pablo for a long time. I learned a lot from that man. He knows my folks really well. My Father the referee still has blood stained on his shirt from Pablo's gushing nose. He is proud of that stain and made sure that the dry cleaner did not take out that blotch.



So apparently I am important enough to be considered to host a night at the Kitchen K for their 4th anniversary. Fun. I am going to have some Subcontinentals made special there that night. 20% of the proceeds from the dinner is going to go to the Cabrini Sports Program. I will write a bit more about those teams. They are kids in the neighborhood.

So if you are so inclined, especially if you were running around the old Side Door. Those were some wonderful days.

Monday night, Kitchen K 6-10pm. Dowtown, 10th and Washington.

(photo by Bob Reuter. I am sure he has some for sale if you are interested.)

Interesting letter

One of my regulars, Tobias, wrote a letter to the editor of the NY Times.

Tobias lives around the corner. He comes down with his wife, Liz, and their daughter Clare. They have been coming in since she was a small baby. They come in the afternoon, right before dinner starts up. They have a draft beer, maybe an appetizer. Their daughter now is coloring and doing all sorts of things. She is grabbing things, looking at them, inspecting them. She is quite curious. She is also picking up a lot of words. She knows my name. Jessica. She is getting to know most of the staff. Clare is able to point out the Saint Brigid's cross and is now grasping the pictures of people on the wall. She is sharp. It is great, for we get to watch her grow up. This is exactly the reason I got into the business. It is a place you can hang with your friends, take out your girlfriend or take your mother. It is pretty nice for family. It is great when I see a younger person in the place a few times, and then I see them come in for dinner with their parents. It is great to meet my friend's parents. They all know mine.

Tobias is a sharp guy. It is a sharp family. His letter was an interesting point of information on how to deal with terrorism in a responsible manner. Tobias teaches theology at SLU. He also used to be a cop.

You got to love the Jesuit schools. Great letter.

To the Editor:

Re "Why Terrorists Aren't Soldiers"(Op-Ed, Aug. 8):
Gen. Wesley K. Clark and Kal Raustiala are right to view terrorists as criminals rather than unlawful combatants. The 9/11 hijackers were not soldiers; they did not commit an act of war. What they did was murder, which is a criminal act, albeit on a horrific scale.
The most effective and lawful way to prevent and respond to terrorist attacks is through a police approach, conducted in concert with law enforcement agencies around the world. The United States and its allies should address transnational terrorism through the force of law rather than the law of force.

Tobias Winright
St. Louis, Aug. 8, 2007
The writer is an assistant professor of moral theology at St. Louis University.

(Notice that the NY Times misspelled Saint Louis University, so I should no longer be held responsible for my minor errors.)

The Commies have infiltrated

The Communist scourge has infiltrated the Royale. Last night someone stole my private property. The above picture was located in the boy's bathroom at the Royale. I blame the Chinese pinkos. The red Chinese are clearly upset with my patriotic call for global spitting and have made this strike against freedom by nationalizing my bathroom starting with the theft of my art. We need to rid ourselves of this red threat. I will continue my fight against communism by continuing to provide proper facilities for the comfort of the masses.

Speaking of which, wouldn't a Subcontinental be perfect on such a hot day?

Better dead than red.

Fight Communism, spit in front of a tourist

I want to fight the Communist scourge and support my fellow freedom loving patriots in China. You see, the pinko red Chinese have outlawed spitting in front of tourists in preparation of the coming Olympic games in Peking.

Our town has a long history of great spitters, from the roughneck fur trading pioneers to the hardworking Irish to the many country folk who moved to the big city to make things work with our "show me" ethos. Our heritage claims an illustrious Mississippi rat like Huck Finn and an esteemed Cardinal pitcher Preacher Roe who were both unapologetic champion spitters. This is the kind of freedom that developed our character, built our country and won baseball games.

I was introduced to public spitting soon after moving to Saint Louis. I was playing a game of baseball with my good friend Konrad Dick, and he would always casually spit while playing baseball. Just spit right there in front of you while playing ball. And being a young budding failure of a ballplayer I knew at that moment that insouciant spitting was a key element of baseball. And then Konrad taught me I can spit just about anytime, not just at batting practice. Real freedom was had from such a simple no nonsense act.

So the next time you see a tourist in town, expectorate. Especially in front of any elitist Communists in order to show them we are real Americans. We don't bow to Communist oppression. God bless America.

vote to bring to Daily Kos to the STL

The Daily Kos convention should be in the STL next year. We are a battleground state after all. We need to start paying attention and making things work for we have things to change around hurr. So vote here. It is as Missouri/STL/KC.

Haiku

So Bruce and Jeremy came by today. The kids from the gym have never stopped seeking me out. They love to come by. They are in the 8th grade. They live in the neighborhood now. They always come in wanting work, but they really want attention.

"Can I have a job?"

"Bruce, remember what I said? I need proof of your hep shot and a worker's permit."

"I asked the lady at the school, and, um, she said I need to talk to someone."

"Okay, well, once you get the permit and proof of the shot I will consider hiring you. I bet you would like a soda."

"Yeah."

"And I bet you are hungry."

"Yeah."

So I thought of something a bit different. Often I tell them to go pull weeds or pick up trash. But today I wanted to have them think a bit more. Bruce is a trip and Jeremy is a quiet sharp one.

So I had them write haikus for a soda and dinner. And only one soda. I explained to them what a haiku was. They even knew what a syllable was. Not bad. They understood the concept after just a bit of explaining. I had Allison come over to talk to them.

"Gentlemen, this is Allison. She is our resident haiku expert. She will help you with your haikus and she will judge whether or not they are up to snuff."

Allison is a teacher by trade, and took right to the kids. I had to go and was back down a few minutes later. Then they sat at the bar and went to work. And above are the two works created by Bruce and Jeremy.

They recited the poems to the staff and then to a table to great success. They smiled while they were doing the haikus and then we had them hang the haikus on the bulletin board.

The kids are alright.