Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Same Sunbob, But Different

Okay, it's time to officially take this site in a new direction. Actually I have been doing that for almost a year and a half but just wasn't ready to make the changes official. I see now that it is time. I see that Mediacom has changed their web hosting protocols and I have lost the archives of my original site. The original Poker Room is no longer. It is time to move on.

This site started in 2005 as a vehicle for reporting on the activities of a weekly on-line poker tournament. Holdem Affair was the original private, invitation only tournament on a UltimateBet.com. The tournament is still played every Saturday night, but I haven't played in quite some time. They are a great bunch of people and I still love them. It is just that my life has changed and I rarely have the time or the interest to play poker anymore.

So I have given the site a new look and a new title. Well, really all I did was take poker out of the title. I am still the same old Sunbob - I just don't think about poker much anymore, much less talk about it.

My world is really consumed by my work and my family. A lot has happened in the past 18 months. The store were I work was flooded by the Cedar River in June of 2008 and I have been working hard to recover from that assault. This past summer has been just as full but in a much more positive way. My wife was ordained as a full elder in the United Methodist Church. The Rev is an amazing woman - I am proud to say that we have been married for 35 years. Then, if that wasn't enough, my daughter was married Labor Day week-end. Yes, 2009 was a better year.

I will continue to post, if fact I want to post more this year. I am just going to make this more personal - my musings and ramblings, maybe even a rant or two, as we go through life.

One thing will never change, my wish for you. I wish you . . .
PEACE

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Nebraska Wesleyan University Choir


The mezzo-soprano had just finished her rendition of "Stand By Me" and in that brief period between the end of the song and the applause from the audience one usually hears rustling and coughing but this time you heard nothing. Total silence - almost as if everyone in the audience needed to catch their breath. Then the silence was broken by a stage whispered - "WOW".

Welcome to the Nebraska Wesleyan University Choir. Fifty-four voices of amazing talent. This group came from Lincoln, Nebraska on a cold and snowy night to share their music with us at St. Paul's. I'm sorry to say that the choir out numbered the audience but that didn't deter them. They still put on an amazing performance.

The Rev and I have sat through many performances of groups coming through - some good, some not so good. This was one of the finest. This was a very entertaining mix of classical music, spirituals, and even more diverse music from other lands.

We joined the group afterwards for coffee and cookies before they went off to spend the night in homes from members of the church. Tomorrow they are off to Marshalltown as they work their back home to Nebraska. I wonder if anyone in Marshalltown knows what they are in for.

Peace.

Friday, January 08, 2010

I'm Feeling Old Today


I'm feeling old today. Last week I wrenched my left hip and was walking with a limp for a few days. Nothing bad, no major problems requiring medical treatment – just a “hitch in my giddy-up” as my grandfather used to say.

Then, yesterday we had a snow storm and my driveway was snowed in. The young man next door was out with his snow-blower taking care of his drive and the “old lady” next to him. I went out and asked if he was for hire. Chad was great and was happy to do my drive as well. That reminded me of earlier years in this house when I was the young man with the snow-blower doing all of the drives.

This just led up to me feeling very old as I went to bed last night. And it got me thinking. . . .

I guess you just might be getting old if:

  • You know how to run a mimeograph machine. (Or even know what they were.)

  • You know how to use a Dictaphone. (The cylinder or big belt kind – not those new fangled ones with the cassette tape.)

  • You know how to use a slide rule.

  • You don't think of The Beatles as Paul McCartney's first band.

  • You know what a “party line telephone” is.

    • Heck, you remember when a “long distance call” was a special event.

    • You remember dial telephones (your really old if you remember crank telephones)

  • As a kid, you called your buddy Gaylord -“Gay”- and nobody thought anything of it.

  • As a kid, you went out to play and all your mom said was “Be home when the street lights come on”.

  • Remember the noon whistle from the fire station?

  • Have you ever used a crystal set?

    • Remember when transistor radios first came out?

  • You remember when the hockey goalie didn't wear a mask. (Heck – you played in the goal without a mask).

  • You remember listening to a World Series game in school and it was the teacher that brought the radio.

Enough of this. Yes, I'm getting old. And you what? I like it.

Stay warm, and may you find

PEACE

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

My Day Off and No Coffee???


Okay, it's my first day off in a week. I woke up this morning and all I wanted was a good cup of coffee to get me going. I have some great freshly roasted coffee that I just bought at Roasters and what do I find? I have no filters. No, I am not going out this morning just to buy coffee filters - it's below zero out there and thats too cold for me.

So - what can I do? My solution was to do my very coarse variation on the press pot way of making coffee. I don't have a press pot but I do have a good Pyrex large measuring cup. I took my coffee mug du jour and found it holds 16 ounces. So I put 16 ounces of water on to boil. Then I measured out 1/4 cup of my whole beans and ground them to a coarse grind. When the water came to a boil I took it off the burner and waited for the rolling to stop. Then I added 3 tablespoons of my grounds to the water. I seem to remember in my pre-coffee addled mind that a 6 oz. cup takes 1 tablespoon of coffee. Hmmm, there is still a bit of ground coffee left. Oh what the heck - let's throw in another tablespoon of coffee to the pot. I let it steep for 4 minutes and then poured it through my tea strainer into my mug.

Hey, I even got a bit of crema on the top. That's cool. So, how does it taste? Very nice - very strong, but also smooth and not bitter at all. I think that fourth tablespoon of coffee wasn't probably necessary but this is pretty good.

Nope - I just took another sip and think this will do just fine. Looks like I will make it through the morning now. I'll go out this afternoon to run my errands and hopefully I'll remember to get some coffee filters.

Stay warm today - it is definitely winter in Iowa.

PEACE