It’d been some time since we were all together (admittedly because of my very full schedule), but we were finally able to spend a day with Linda’s parents at Easter. A delicious honey-baked ham and a whole array of side dishes filled our bellies well.
Afterwards, we all played dominoes and ate even more.
Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa Maag!
We are truly blessed with such wonderful family.
Work has been incredibly hectic for the past few weeks; in fact, it’s been quite hectic with lots of problems. What free time there has been has been occupied with getting miles in the saddle – that’s right – sitting on the bike and pedaling for hours.
I purchased a new road bike in early March and have already put several hundred miles on it. Linda and I have been riding 20-30 miles on each ride. We have just over a month before we ride all the way across the great state of Kansas. Gotta keep riding until we are comfortable with 60-80 miles in a day (should be there soon).
I’m going to work harder over the next few weeks to have more regular content added to the blog. I know that the girls have been doing activities – I’ve just not been able to make a lot of them.
By the way – may your Holy Weekend be blessed.
Once again, the blog has been silent. However, this time I have a good excuse. I took a trip to the Dominican Republic with a group of friends from the on-line cigar community. I hooked up with CigarTourism.com to be guided through many cigar factories and fields and be taught about the production of premium handmade cigars.
This was technically a birthday gift from Linda for my 40th birthday – a great gift, indeed.
The weather was warm (80 degrees) and I didn’t need any sunscreen because we were mostly inside or in shade. It was a great getaway from work. More importantly, I missed the snow blizzard of the season that crippled much of the country.
To read about my visit – click on “D.R. Trip Pics” at the top of the page. This will take you to a collection of albums that are individually annotated.
Enjoy.
I know it’s been a full week since the last post. Several events occurred that were worth talking about, but I was either busy at those events or I was working.
Last Thursday night was the annual Christmas Dinner for the Kansas City Cigar Aficionado Club – of which I’m a founding member. The picture above is me with my best friend, Krishna, and his wife, Amanda. It was a wonderful meal followed by a cigar that was given to us by a fellow club member that had died the previous month. One of his dying wishes was to have his favorite cigar distributed to the members at the dinner. What a great way to remember Bob.
Saturday night found us at The National Golf Club of Kansas City in Parkeville, MO. What a stunningly beautiful place. This was the annual Christmas party for my two hospitals. Linda and I had so much fun spending time with my colleagues in a non-medical environment. The food was even better and the free wine tasting was fabulous.
Sunday night found us across the street at our neighbors house for the annual block Christmas party. Catching up with neighbors is nice – but getting to know new neighbors is even better.
The next few nights found me at work and not really around to see what was going on around the house. Most importantly, no photos of things happening here. I hope to do a better job of this over the next couple weeks before Christmas arrives. The girls only have a few more days of school and Linda is already done teaching for the semester. Seems to me next week shouldn’t be near as busy.
So I was on my way to work yesterday morning when I was pulled over by a police officer just minutes from arriving at work. I knew I wasn’t speeding because I had already determined I was more than 20 minutes early and actually made myself drive slower to enjoy the time before I arrived.
Turns out my headlight was out. I was relieved thinking that I would just have a warning. However, I was stunned to find the officer handing me a $130 citation for defective equipment. He stated it would be dismissed if I could show it was fixed within the next 10 days. That’s great and all – but I’m still shocked that I received a ticket. It turned my great mood into one that wasn’t so pleasant.
Fortunately, I was able to contact Linda to buy me a replacement and was able to replace it upon arriving home from work last night.
Now I just need to get back to Lansing to prove that I’m no longer defective…
70 degree weather and dry trails in November can only mean one thing – the mountain bike must be ridden. More importantly, I had just retrieved the bike from the shop several days ago after having a much-needed tune-up and replacement of the rear cassette and chain.
I took the bike to the closest trail, the Shawnee Mission Park mountain bike trails. This is a 6.5-mile collection of trails that range from easy to moderately hard. These are also the trails that introduced me to the love of dirt trails. I think back several years ago to when I had no endurance or cardio conditioning. The few steep grades would make me winded and I’d have to stop frequently. Yesterday found me cruising along with greater ease.
The weather was perfect – I just wished I had friends along with me to enjoy it.
I obtained my first large humidor in 2007 (the one on the left in the above picture). Over the years, it has become very full. I often joke that I can be more accurately called a collector of cigars rather than a cigar smoker. I enjoy sampling the many different offerings available from around the cigar-producing world.
A very good alternative to the spanish cedar wooden humidor is a large wine fridge – Vinotemp being the most common brand used. I’ve wanted one for several years, but didn’t want to spend the money on one nor did I want to spend the money to customize it to hold single cigars.
A friend of mine from my cigar forum put his up for sale. The great part is that he lives in Topeka. Great price, already customized, and he threw in all the different accessories used to keep it humidified. We met up in Lawrence at Centro Cigars to share a cigar and make the transaction.
After moving cigars into the new humidor, I find it completely amazing that I had all my cigars crammed into the one humidor.
Last week found me landing solidly in middle-age. I turned 40 years of age. However, I feel great. I eat better. I exercise. I’m spiritually fulfilled. And I’ve got a great family.
My parents came to visit – which is always nice. Dad and I spend most of our visits talking tech and taking trips to MicroCenter. Mom is always a loving person and has the grandmother soul – a good thing.
I was post night-shift, so it was very possible I’d spend the whole day walking around like a zombie. But I was awake and felt great. For starters, upon arriving home from work, I found this sign hanging above the kitchen entry:
For my birthday, I took Linda and Anna to the AT&T store to get Anna a new phone – her birthday present. Then we got Linda a new phone also – an iPhone 4. She hates it, but I’m planning on it growing on her (just like the Blackberry did).
My parents took us all out to dinner for the birthdays. Our choice was Texas Roadhouse – a steak joint where you can eat peanuts and throw the shells on the floor. Plus, one can get prime rib at a decent price.
Of course, Mom had to tell the waitress that we were celebrating birthdays. Dinner was completed with a saddle attached to a sawhorse and a request for us to sit on it while swinging a napkin over our head like a lasso. Anna absolutely wouldn’t do it, so I jumped on and yelled Yeehaw in the best Kansas voice I could.
Angelfood cake with 40 black candles greeted us upon returning home. The picture at the top gives testament that it was quite a glow of fire. We had to open windows and turn the ceiling fan on to disperse all the smoke.
I had a wonderful 40th birthday. Can’t wait to celebrate someone else’s 40th in the next 6 weeks…
Thursday night found me in the heart of Jayhawk land as I took one of my best friends to meet his hero, Litto Gomez of La Flor Dominicana cigars.
Like authors touring at book-signings, cigar manufacturers tour to promote a new line of cigars. La Flor Dominicana has the Air Bender line (released earlier this year) and one particular size that was released just a few weeks ago. I had that particular cigar last night and was transported to a higher level of enjoyment. Sitting there with Krishna, Mr. Gomez, and all of the other cigar appasionados, I really enjoyed myself.
Most everyone knows that one of my hobbies is premium cigars. I find them enjoyable as a relaxation tool – they’re also fun to collect (much like premium wine).
One of the local cigar shops hosts a big event each month; they will bring in a cigar manufacturer (really celebrities in the cigar world) with specials, food, drinks, and a party atmosphere.
I try to attend most months – as long as my work schedule allows. I’ve been able to meet many different cigar manufacturers and have autographs, pictures, and stuff like that. One person I’d yet to meet was Pete Johnson of Tatuaje Cigars. Well, I finally got to meet him and talk about cigars with one of the more popular cigar-makers of today.
Next month will be Don Pepin Garcia – even bigger – but I’ve met with him twice before. Doesn’t mean I won’t try to get there, though….