Apr
22

Gang Violence in KC

I have been writing this post in pieces for quite some time, I could not find the appropriate tone for it because I did not want it to sound like a PSA, or become as sensational as the local news paper. A couple of weeks ago a gang fight broke out at a local arcade, I had not heard about a gang fight since I witnessed many back in high school.

Gangs back in high school were something you just had to get used to. The break down in the family structure, not so much the whole marriage father and mother roles, but the sense of belonging to a family in general, to me is what breeds gangs.

When a teenager feels alone and there is nobody for him to be around, they seek the companionship of a family. You then start learning that that family is to be protected and the enemies became many. While what happened at power play could have been simply some kids that were trouble and had been kicked out of school feeling left out, it could also be something a little more serious.

I don’t think that gangs are going to take over the whole Kansas City area, but when brawls are starting at family places, and malls, girl fights that make it to youtube and could land some teens in life in prison, I get a little worried. I then realized that I have been so disconnected from that world since high school that I have no idea if the gangs around here wear any colors.

Back when I was in high school, your starter jacket identified the people that you associated with. Gold and Black, Blue and Black, Red and Black were all color combination that to me meant something. I had minimal issues with the gangs at school because my best friend was someone that was respected, not because he was a member but because of his size.

I think it is important to learn how to identify gang members, and to promote prevention. I think organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters make the most difference. Even TKC’s mentality of more Xbox is probably a good one.

I have heard that most real gangs around here do not mess with regular citizens, but the string of young people acting stupid and being so violent is really something that should concern us all. If you have any additional information about this subject, please post it.

Mar
31

Go CUBS!

I am not the biggest sport fan there is, but I do like to cheer for my teams and the Royals and the Chiefs are in different divisions than the Cubs and the Bears so it is easy to cheer for all of them. The Wizards and the Fire are another story.

Today is the Cubs home opener, and I know many people will say that the Cubs have never done anything within my lifetime. I do not deny that, but then you just don’t understand what it is to be a fan. You like your team because you have lived there, or like me was the first professional baseball team you ever saw play.

One of the hardest things of being away from Chicago, even though I love Kansas City, besides being away from family is the great food. I have yet to have found good Chicago Deep Dish pizza, and miss my loaded hot dogs and Italian beef.

Thanks to Food, K.C. and Other Things, I found out about this Cubs home opener day lunch today. I might have to go and get an Italian Beef :) if have never had one, go to KC Lunch spots for the false advertisement (the first time I saw his blog I thought he had found this delicious dish here in a KC lunch spot). I am already wearing my Cubs jersey :)
I am predicting that the Cubs are going to win it all this year and hope to be right as I was when I predicted the Patriots demise at the hands of the Giants.

Mar
26

Shane come home!

The only thing that was extremely disappointing about today’s meet up (besides the obvious absence of the self professed king of blogs, TKC, the real King of the bloggers is of course XO, even though D-Rules probably thinks he deserves the job more) was that Shane was not there. Shane, just have Chimpo explain to you what the title of the post means.

Today’s meet up was fantabulous and worthy of the made up word. Chimpo totally busted it with my wife and made it appear like we do not watch UFC on Saturdays but rather look for internet videos. So now I am banned from hanging out with Chimpo… well not really, I still have beer at his house that I need to drink.

Actually, I was also very sad that Meesha was not there; I wanted to congratulate him on his recent posts because they have been awesome. I did get to meet Faith who BTW looks NOTHING like her picture. She even accused me of not looking like my little avatar! As IF! I have not changed one bit since I was a blonde little devil… * When the text is blue (most of my a tags have had link as blue) or underlined it means there is a link people… click it, go ahead… I think Faith is new to the interwebs. ;) I mean, look at this picture, I have not changed one bit.

Batman

I was very excited to finally meet that Nuclear Buffalo who I forgot if he was actually nuclear because I was kind of sitting right next to him and had no Geiger counter with me. He was just as good natured and fun as I had imagined him.

I then met one of my arch nemesis on the blogsphere… that 3 AM dude (Who really does not look anything like his avatar) … after a long stare down and a bad joke of me trying to call him EMO we put down the weapons and agreed to a truce. He brought in the door prices! Yeah, I got a bottle opener as a key chain again. He is actually going to watch Jericho even though Chimpo was trying to tell him the show sucked.

I feel like telling more, but Spyder would probably come and tell me that if people want to know how much fun it is to hang out with these bunch of crazies they just need to show up. I kind of agree… I mean, where can you hang out with Sponge Bob’s Secret Admirer who is convinced that some day she will get Chimpo and I not just to sing Karaoke but sing a song together.

I am glad that I might get to see Eric, Michelle, Dan, Spyder, Kanga and Alicia this Saturday :) because the Kansas City Bloggers are a fun bunch of people to hang out with.

And I am sorry for whoever is a regular at that place but the food kind of sucked.

*Update*

I almost forgot to say thanks :) we even got some door prizes!

Blogger Meetup Door Prize

*Update 2*

Illustration by ExtraLife (Scott Johnson)… originally posted here.

Mar
24

Cigarette hangover

If I had drank I would have totally blamed the killer headache I had yesterday on alcohol, but I only had one beer and it was only after a good dinner. I had one of the worse headaches in a while purely due to alcohol.

I have smoked before, and quit completely a little over a year ago. I knew how bad cigarettes were back then, but I chose to smoke them because I was addicted mostly mentally. I had quite before for years at a time, but was always pretty willing to light one up during social gatherings.

Kansas is now mostly smoke free, but the Missouri side still has places where you can light one up. I had complained before that my clothes smelled bad, but that was the only side effect that I could complain about after being around smoke. I did not say anything to the people I know that smoke because I did not want to be labeled as one of those people that used to smoke and now bitches about it.

After you give up smoking, you realize how much you are missing when it comes to being able to taste food properly again. You are also able to smell other smokers as soon as you enter into their cloud. It is amazing how much that smell lingers on your clothes. I had always thought that bars should be places where people should be allowed to have a smoke specially because I was a social smoker, however now I am glad that most of the watering holes around me are smoke free.

Feb
27

Bodies Revealed Redux

I have talked about many topics on my blog, but only one so far has quoted me on another blog post as wanting to stop something educational and advocating ignorance. I have to say it saddens me a little that someone would imply that my moral stance on displaying human beings as freaks puts me at odds with education. I still stand by my belief that this display brings nothing educational that cannot be found on a model not made from humans. I know and understand that for years human skulls and skeletons were used in classrooms, but we now have the technology to leave the dead alone.

A fellow blogger and doctor wrote his own take on the subject and said that what pushed him over the edge is the merchandising associated with the displays. What pushed me over the edge was that the displays were making money off of dead people that in some of the exhibits could have been unwilling participants on these spectacle.

The Catholic church here in KC took a stand on the subject, and while I agree with what they say I do not use my religion as the reason for not going or even telling others that they should not. It is my own belief system that respects those that have passed away and even their bodies as something that should be respected.

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