For those who love to eat

Even with a sagging economy we all have tighten our wallets, but we all have to eat sometime. This week starting tomorrow in Kansas City begins restaurant week. For those of you who don't know about every major city has thing that they do once or twice a year called restaurant week. This is where fancy gourmet and somewhat nice restaurants let's you try your local flavor for a discounted price. This week 12 restaurants in the power and light district will have lunch for about 10-15 dollars and dinner for about 25-30. Each restaurant will have it's unique flavors.....I have my personal favorite there at the district...The Peachtree restaurant. There for restaurant week for 25 dollars you can get choice of one of three appetizers, one of three desserts, and the choice of these four entrees . Catfish/chicken platter, Honey salmon, Blackened shrimp or Lemon catfish. Yummy that sounds really good right now. To see the other K. C. restaurants this week that are participating go to www.districtresterauntweek.blogspot.com Bon Apatite

signed
Tim "ready to eat" Crippen

Wow that is amazing

I'm sure by now you have all heard about the "Miracle on the Hudson". How just about two days ago pilot Chesley Sullenberger or by his nickname "sully" landed an Airbus plane in the Hudson River. There were 155 passengers and crew and everyone on that plane made it alive. That part was amazing, but what was even more amazing was the pilot was trying to get everyone one out and the last passenger he saw he gave his shirt off his back literally as the pilot was the last one to leave. With temperatures in the river hovering around 35 degrees. It will be amazing to hear the pilot's point of view of what he was thinking when he had to ditch his plane. Although, not to make fun of the situation but this morning I heard from one of passengers on TV who was on the plane telling the anchor that after the plane landed and the exit doors open that people were opening up the cabin doors just get their luggage. What? You survived a crash leave the luggage there you can replace things later.

Signed

Tim "way to go sully" Crippen

New year's prediction post

Well another year has passed and were wondering where did 2008 go. I look back on some of my predictions and some came true others well were working on it. First the true then did come out right. Foreclosures were up from the previous year, I was promoted within my company, there was youtube tv on a reality series it was called "quarterlife" but it only lasted one episode. I won't give myself credit on the presidential election cause I cover all the bases. Also, there was major earthquake in California in midsummer...if you call 5.6 on the Richter scale a major one.
This year for me will be the year of bad economics......from companies like Lehman bros, Merrill Lynch, and AIG......to banks like Indy Mac, Washington Mutual and Goldman Sachs all feeling the pinch this past year. Bailout seemed to be the word of the year. Michael Phelps made us stay up late for a week to see him win eight gold medals in one Olympics. Central china had a major earthquake killing thousands of people. The Kansas Jayhawks won the national title in basketball and president bush avoided being hit by a shoe. The country also elected it's first African American president. We saw famous people pass away like Heath ledger, Michael Crichton (author of Jurassic Park) and Paul Newman just to name a few.

So what does 2009 bring us.......I'll try my best for my prediction post.

1. I will pay off my credit card this year ( last year I said the same thing but I traded in truck instead).

2. Gov. Blagovich will eventually be remove from his office this year.

3. President Obama will get his first chance to select a supreme court justice and it will be a Latin American judge.

4. The stock market will dip below 7,000 this year.

5. Unemployment rate could possibility see double digits since the great depression.

6.The Carolina panthers will be SuperBowl champions this year

7.Jay Leno's last show on the Tonight show this year will be just as tearful as when Johnny Carson left the show.

8. Lance Armstrong will be known as "the comeback athlete of the year" after his three year hiatus from winning the "Tour de France".

9.You will start to hear talk about 3-D TV's

10.The royals might surprise some teams this year....then again maybe not.

Signed
Tim "the swami" Crippen

Valkyrie

Well, once again Tom Cruise is another film about the millitary. This time he plays a german officer named Col. Stauffenburg who's main objective is to kill Hitler in the movie Valkyrie. I saw this film and somewhat like it. Cruise is a dead ringer for stauffenburg. If you look at a side by side picture between the real stauffenburg and cruise playing him it's very eerie. The nature scenes are great and the direction that director Bryan singer (X-men director) gives makes you feel like your in the operation yourself. My only two complaints of the film is that in part of the film it doesn't give true story of how stauffneburg lost his eye and his right arm. The other is that cruise doesn't hardly speak much in a german accent. The supporting cast is great you might not even recognize Bill Nighy with all the make up he had to wear as the squid guy in the second Pirates of the Carribean movie. Overall, if you like history and a good suspense thriller you'll probably like Valkyrie. Out of four stars ....I give it 2 and 1/2,

Signed
Tim "too many holiday film" Crippen

Merry Christmas

Check out the Mountain Dew Fleece Pants ......I'm wearing

Kudos to Hyundai

Last week, I receive a recall letter from Hyundai that my electrical wiring harness system needed to be replace. So, since there is no Hyundai dealership in Leavenworth, I went to closest one I could at Shawnee Mission. They not only took care of one recall part but two. The exhaust manifold was under warranty and they replaced that too. Then for the last five months I finally figured out that the reason for my check engine light was coming on. The speed sensor which is connected to the ignition system was pretty close to going out along with timing belt costing me over 600 dollars. I hate to spend the money for it but I always remember the phrase " Pay now and pay a little or pay a lot later." These guys had to keep my car overnight and gave a free rental car for the day. I'll tell you what even with having to part with some money these guys at Shawnee Mission Hyundai were the nicest guys to work with ever. Kudos to everyone from Mike the technician to Toby and Jay the service guys. The car feels like it's brand new even tough it's a 2002.

Signed
Tim "Merry Christmas" Crippen

Somebody dropped the ball

If you were like me this past friday you probably shopping just like millions of other Americans on a day we like to call Black Friday. As morning approach, I headed to Best Buy to be looking for a new tv. I didn't wait too long in line no more than five minutes. I looked at the Dynex 19' as well as the Sharp 22' TV/DVD combo. Both were great, but I decided to get the Sharp 22. I wait in line for about five minutes....they had everybody working the cash register. As, I'm writing my check a portion of my check gets ripped. They put it in the cash register....they said it was declined. I write a second check thinking since the number were portionally ripped off that the computer didn't read the first check. Declined again. Now, I'm getting mad they ask me if I wanted to use my credit card.....I was hesitant at first but decided to go with it. After making my purchase, I went to a local ATM machine just to see what I had in my account and it was more than enough to cover the TV. So, what have learn boys and girls. Well, for one thing somebody dropped the ball on this situation. Either it was my bank or it was something wrong with Best Buy's computer system.

Signed
Tim "AAAArrgh" Crippen

Single guy's guide to surviving thanksgiving

Okay for the first time ever in my life.......i spent thanksgiving alone. Yes, you heard right alone. No friends, family was in ark city, Kansas but I couldn't make since I have to work tomorrow.....it just felt weird. Too start we have to start from yesterday at work.......when I stopped at Topy's popcorn for a bucket of carmel. cinnamon and butter to snack on for the holidays. As I was driving by listening to some classic Bon Jovi, I see there was dude at the Little Ceasar's on shawnee parkway and quivira jammin to a fake cardboard cutout of a guitar advertisement for $5 pizza. I saw this rolled down my window....he heard the Bon Jovi music and he was really started to jam.....That may me laugh all the way to the grocery store. Then I stopped at the price chopper to get a substitute thanksgiving dinner. Hey, if you can make for grandmother's dinner or your parent's house.....I would suggest buying one of those Hungry Man XXL turkey dinner......it's not quite the same but it does the trick. I stayed up late watching movies and you can't go wrong with a holiday classic like "planes, trains, and automobiles." This morning got up watched annual parade....no balloon mishaps, but if you search the internet on the 1957 parade what happen with the popeye balloon you'll probably chuckle at it.

Catch some football as well as watching the plaza lights get turned on. My old roomate text me from California and is now in food coma. Not really, but you know what I mean. Did I survive thanksgiving? Yeah, I did but it really wasn't great as great as I thought it would be when your all alone.

Signed
Tim "I'm thankful for a lot of things" Crippen

Who says you can't get a free lunch

In recent months there sure have been a lot of promotions for a lot free stuff.......first back in October if somebody stole a base during the World Series you can win a free taco......I took advantage of this by hitting to three taco bell stores. Hey, I got free meal out of this. Then on election day Starbuck s coffee gave you free cup of coffee if you show your "I voted" sticker the same went for Chick-fil-A as they would give you their original chicken sandwich. Now, the lastest promotion is from Dr. Pepper. Back in March the bottling company made a statement that if the new Gun's N' Roses album "Chinese Democracy" would dopped by 2008 that everyone can get a free coupon for a 20 oz. Dr. Pepper on their website. Well, yesterday the album went on sell......and as Dr. Pepper president says "the drinks are on us".

Signed
Tim "have a happy thanksgiving" Crippen

Now what

So, the election has come and gone and we've elected a new president Barack Obama. I thought when I came to work that Wednesday morning that I would hear hooping and hollering of joyous celebration. Instead, I got more of the silent and empathy treatment at work. Maybe people were just tired of the election, maybe they were upset that their guy loss or maybe they were happy that their guy had won but was too tired that morning to show enthusiam. Eithier way I say to the new president congratulations "you've got a big job ahead and it's not going to be easy." I didn't vote for Obama or McCain in this election.....I voted for Ron Paul. Now, some people would say you just wasted your vote ......to that which I say No, I didn't because what I'm telling to both of the parties is that neithier one of you giving any real good solutions to fixing the mess....and it's more than just the economy. There is too many unknowns of what is going to be happening in the next few years.......Am I going to have a job? Is my 401K plan going to be a 201K? Is health Insurance still going to be with my employer? Are we going to see a switch in the Supreme Court in idealogy? Are we going to end the war in Iraq and Afghanistan a lot sooner before the job is finished? Just some of the questions that a lot of people are really asking about the new president.

I think with all the problems that we have in this country there is not a problem in this world that God can't solve if we turn our hearts toward him and reject our sinful ways as a country. Now, that may sound simple but at least it is honest.

Signed
Tim "glad the election is over with" Crippen

A clown coming in for an interview

Okay, I know it's halloween and people at our company do dress up and what have you just so they can have fun and maybe win some money prize. But, if your not part of the company and your coming in for an interview perhaps wearing costume before you are going to an interview is not a great idea as well as maybe having a beer in your hand. Well, today a woman who was applying for one of the two maintenance positions was wearing a clown suit. Luckily, my boss has a sense of humor and did the interview as if were a normal day. Now, I don't know if she will get the job, but if she does I will be amazed.

Signed
Tim "clowns are only needed for kids parties and the circus" Crippen

Ch...Ch...Ch...Changes

These last three days has gone through many changes surrounding me. First, let me start about my weekend. I headed off to Pittsburg this weekend to see our beloved Campus Christians House for the very last time for Homecoming week. It will be torn down after this year and made into a parking lot. I have many good memories of the place from ping pong tournaments, to my fishing buddy and I wrestling down on the floor to the praise and worship days on Tuesday Nights. Speaking of my fishing buddy, Dan Decker took a new job in West Plains, Mo as a helicopter mechanic. The football stadium added jungle tron to the South field which is a new video scoreboard (gee, I wonder how much that cost) Then today at work, two of my fellow co-workers in my department decided to quit leaving the maintenance dept with just the two of us. Oh, man making my job duties double. I just wanted to take a deep breath and say "things are going to get better it's just the question of when."

I guess in this year of change.... I shouldn't be surprised of people moving, new jobs, marriage and everything else in between that you realize that things are going to change. It's just a matter of whether you can adapt to it. As I get older it gets harder and harder for me to embrace change. I know I need to but it's not easy. I remember when I was coming home yesterday putting on old Michael W. Smith song that I still like to this day. It's called "Place in this World."
As I listen to lyrics of that song it still has the same effects on my life as it did when I was a teenager. Where I feel the I'm standing still, but the wind is constantly moving. To this day I'm still looking for a reason to find my place in this world. I've always enjoyed that song because it is so true.

Signed
Tim "working on changes" Crippen

An American Carol

If your a fan of the Naked Gun films or your views politically are somewhat conservative then you'll like this hysterical politcal comedy film "An American Carol". Starring Kevin Farley (Chris Farley's brother) as Michael Malone a liberal film director who hates America and wants to abolish the celebration of Fourth of July. He gets visited by his hero JFK in which he tells Malone that he needs to change his views and that he will be visited by three spirits. His first spirit is General George Patton from World War II played by Kelsey Grammer. then he is visted by George Washington and the spirit of death or future is played by country music singer Trace Adkins. This film makes fun of just about everybody Michael Moore, Rosie O' Donnell, the ACLU, TSA, and the muslim terrorists. I can't tell you what happens in the film but you will be laughing in your seats. In this crazy political season it's nice to have film that laughs at the other side.

Signed
Tim " very sad that the bears lost today" Crippen

My favorite time of year

This is probably my favorite time of year the season of fall. With baseball playoffs going, football underway, and politics all aside. It's nice just to walk around a park and see some of the colors starting to change on the trees. I remember as kid when my friend Brad and I would get some of the other teenagers from the church and we would gather leaves to make the biggest leafpile and jump right into it. Although, now as an adult when fall comes I realize that winter is just around the corner Ugh! Since fall has came I have done some things like for the very first time I went to a pig roast. Good eating I might add. Celebrated my Birthday just a few days ago and enjoy my day off in the middle of week. I saw the movie Appaloosa....it's okay but I thought it could've been better. If you like old sphaghetti westerns you might like this one. Help make apple cider with my folks.....all of this done within the last two weeks and we still have two and half months left in fall.

Signed
Tim " just wanted to put a post in October" Crippen

PS Go gorillas and Bears

Knight rider......you got to be kidding me

On my Februray 17th post ......I said that there was a possibility of Knight Rider becoming a TV series.....Well, my dreams or I should say my worst nightmare has come true. I'll admit I am a sucker for the original but this new series we'll be lucky enough if it last eight episodes. TV network executives don't have a new creative mind in their body. The try to bring back last year the Bionic Woman (a remake) and it got cancelled. Then a few years ago they tried to bring back "The fugitive" TV series and what happen "CANCELLED" . Now their trying to bring back another great classic Knight Rider.



First here are some steps for the show to make it a hit again

Bring back the Trans Am....the Ford Mustang is okay but give the car some pizzaz....Heck if you wanted change cars bring back the Pontiac GTO. Then Kitt's powers are another thing. In the original the car went into attack mode a few things change, but it was still the original car only with some turboboost. This car acts like it one of the cars from the Transformers movie....Kitt can change into a truck what??? I know it's the 21st century but be realistic. The producer of this show should know how to built a futuristic car after all he did do the "The fast and the the furious".

Second the voice of Kitt

Val Kilmer has got to go.....brick back William Daniels the original voice of Kitt or give me a voice that is distinctive ....oh let's say like James Earl Jones (just kidding) but you get my drift.

Third mike's girlfriend

Deanna Russo on the show is very good and HOT I might add. I don't know if she is related to Renne Russo but she is part of the reason I watch the new show.

All in all the show is going to have a hard time getting in audience, but who knows maybe this show will break the curse of Classic Television remakes and last for a few seasons. Only time will tell. I leave you with the two reasons I watch the show Deanna Russo and KITT. Enjoy



Signed Tim "the original is still the best" Crippen

I love L.A............N O T

Welcome to a place where dreams come true and things just look so perfect. Either this is heaven or it's southern California (aka Los Angeles). As I got on the plane I was looking forward to seeing so many things whether it was the beach or just time outdoors. I wonder if my suspicions were true about California .......I found out after a week pretty much is true.

Let's start first with day one.......I met up with my old roommate Robb who picked me up at LAX.

We headed to his place in Torrance, CA a fairly nice neighborhood. I was thinking it was going to be a small apt. .....Oh no, this wasn't an apt. it was a business/storage unit. Dusty, dirty and two window units in the roof with bars on it. Honestly, I thought I was staying pretty close to a prison cell. Day two was when it really got interesting because slowly but surely I started seeing the real L.A. A lot of the interstate areas just look so trashy along with a a lot of tagging along the cement sidewalks. Even some of the palm trees are faked because their disguised as cell phone towers. As we traveled along the Pacific Coast Highway or as the locals call it PCH. We pass by the famous beaches of Venice, Santa Monica and ended up in Malibu. Great picturesque scenery of the coast and the mountains that hug it Here's a picture that kind of gives you an idea. (Although this Venice beach you'll get my drift)

Two days later we went to the Tonight show with Jay Leno.....we waited in line for hours but we were able to get into the show and even before we did that we saw the NBC studio tour which is definitely worth seeing before you go to the show. Here's me doing the pointing thing again.

Before the show begins, Jay Leno does a Q & A with the audience and Robb and I got to meet Jay Leno. Somebody on his staff got to take a photo of us right there on the set. It was probably the highlight of the whole vacation To get a picture with a celebrity and nice guy too nonetheless was pretty awesome.

To cap things off we ended up at dodger stadium. Very unique stadium with three different levels. Yes, I did have super dodger dog (all beef). The palm trees around the stadium along with the mountains on one side and the L.A. skyline on the other makes this ballpark really special. Overall, LA. does have nice weather and great beaches and some of the people are friendly. However, the traffic is bad, people drive like maniacs, certain areas are trashy and I felt like I was in old mexico and not the United States. It was great to visit the city and my old roommate, but I doubt if I will ever go back there ever again. It's actually kind of great to come back to the Midwest where I can tell that a man is man and a woman is woman.

Signed

Tim "enjoyed nice weather on vacation" Crippen

PS: I know California is broke, but why do they charge $5.00 just to park at the beach? If you want to go to good restaurant...go to "Duke's" in Malibu for some great clam chowder at $6.50 for a bowl.

Jon Reep and Washington D.C.

It was a great time last time weekend as it started with Barrett and I going to see Jon Reep performing at Standford and sons comedy club. I haven't laugh that hard and cried and the same time in quite a long time. If you don't know who jon Reep is he's probably best known for the Dodge Ram pick up truck and says the phrase "hey, is that a Hemi?" He's kind of mixture of Jeff Foxworthy and Robin Williams. Funny guy!!



The next day.......I headed out to Washington D.C. to see my brother and sister in law. I had a wonderful time out there. We literally hit the town from going to Ruth's Chris Steak House to going to see the monuments at night to going to Washington Nationals baseball game to seeing the Washington Monument......it was just too bad that the time was very short and that we can only do so much in three days.

However, the plane ride going back as well as coming out there were a little bit inconvient. The airline that rhymes with "I felt ya" literally ignore me by not calling my name to check in my baggage. Luckily, it was carry on baggage, but I still had to empty my bag of deoderant spray and gel. Along, with tube of toothpaste. It was eithier me emptying it out or TSA. Other wise I was going to be late for my flight. Even with all the bad things that happen on the airlines...it did give me a perspective as I was heading home. On my flight, back there were some troops from Iraq who were heading home. These men and women were getting shot at every single day. Yet, here I complain about bad service from the airline. As we arrive at the gate we all applauded the men and women who were getting off the flight.

Signed
Tim "hey is that hemi" Crippen

Titanic the musical

No Leo Decaprio or Kate Winslet in this version of Titanic....although it would be funny to see the two of them try to sing a tune while their on deck. In this version of Titanic the main focus is more on the captain of the ship, the architect and the investor. Sure there are side stories like a love story, a wife jealous of being a second class passenger wishing that she was mingling on first class, a man working in the boiler room, etc. There is a lot side notes in this version so at times it might be hard to keep up. Seeing jason bridges perform three different characters is remarkable... He is a fourth in commanding officer and a first and third class passneger. For a community theater production of the show they did a pretty good job of the boat deck. Although, as I was watching last night's version I saw one thing real cheesy....for those who haven't seen it I won't give it away, but it just involves a dining room cart or was it a table. The cast and crew put in a lot of hard work into this from memorizing their lines, to the choregraphy and of course the singing. If there was anything I was disappointed it was that there wasn't as big audience for opening night. Otherwise, good show.

Signed
Tim "iceberg right ahead" Crippen

Women's tour

It was my first time helping out on a tour for my company that rhymes with the island of Malta so to advert being sued. But this wasn't just any tour .....oh no, this was a tour of women and some of them a little bit wild, some hungover and some well words just can't even describe. As the tour rolled through the warehouse.....these women were taking pictures of everything from the owner's offices to the history display of the company. In a way, I didn't really want to do the tour, but toward the end there was a representative who thank me and for the others for coming out on a Sunday and helping out with the tour. She didn't have to say it, but to me that was a great feeling and it just made the rest of tour such a nice time.

Signed
Tim " I'm glad this is over with" Dawg

Mid way Summer films

The dog days of summer are almost here or their already here depending on your perspective. As usual I check out some summer flicks and I give you my point of view on them. Now there are still some more summer films to see, but I'm going with ones that I have seen. First up "Iron Man" what a great comic book film for something new. I'm not a big Robert Downey Jr. but he actually pulls it off playing the title character role. Let's just hope the sequel is just as good. Speed Racer .....I know what the story is about but what happen to this film. Not even the people who brought you "the matrix" could save this film. Prince Caspian the second book of "the chronicles of narnia". Much better than the first one and more characters to enjoy. WALL-E is probably my most surprise pick of the summer. Great film for kids of all ages and there is great love story between two robots. Once again, PIXAR has gotten themselves another hit. Most recently, I have seen "The Dark Knight" and just to see Heath Ledger's performance of The Joker is worth the price of admission. The action is great, the performance's between Christian Bale and Heath Ledger are excellent. Heath should get look at Oscar nomination for his role in this film. If I had one gripe is that when Christian Bale puts on the mask and he talks .....I swear it sounds like he's channeling Clint Eastwood's dirty harry character. That's it for now for the summer flicks.

signed
tim crippen