Kevin Minnis

Well, the guys at work and I were talking about Google’s page ranking and how to get it higher. We also were talking about how some pages don’t seem to be showing up in the Google search results. So, we’re all going to try this on our sites (Derek Brooks and Nick Leeper) and see what happens. Here’s a link to a Krausburger. It’s really just a fictitious name of a burger named after one of our co-workers Kraus (who we’re sad to see leaving Pioneer). Now all that’s left is for Google to index our sites.

What a nice long weekend. Kim and I went on a vacation together to Kansas City this past weekend, starting on Friday. The last time that I’d driven in Missouri I remember the roads being more to be desired of. And the same held true for this trip. They suck. Pot holes on most of the interstate. We got to Kansas City Friday afternoon and decided to walk around The Country Club Plaza to see what all the shops had. Then went and had supper at The Melting Pot. Man is that place ever good. I’d highly recommend going there. It’s a fondue restaurant. We had the fondue for two. We were stuffed after our meal so we decided to walk around some more then headed back to the hotel.

We woke up Saturday morning to find our day was forecasted to be cloudiness and rain. So, instead of going to the zoo we opted to see what else Kansas City had to offer. We ventured upon the Union Station, but hadn’t had anything for breakfast so we went back up the road to a McDonalds (I think it’s the first time eating at a McDonalds for about 2 years). Well, we survived our breakfast without getting shot…Kim pointed out a sign on the wall that said, “Kansas City Police Work Station”. On our way back to the Union Station we saw a huge tower and decided to figure out what it was. It was the Liberty Memorial Tower. So, we took a ride up to the top of it. Pretty neat place to visit. We next made our way to the Union Station. We looked around a bit there and went to the Science City which is part of the Union Station. Next we went to Oak Park Mall near Kansas City and then ate at the Rain Forest Cafe. And finally retreated back to our hotel to relax and soak in the hot tub.

Sunday the weather was much improved and we were able to enjoy the Kansas City Zoo. We saw a lot of cool animals and got to watch the Coral Reef Adventure in the Sprint Imax Theatre The zoo concluded our stay in Kansas City and we launched for the home front.

The end.

I usually find watching the weather fun. There’s a certain rush to it, but I’m not in favor of bad storms doing damage. Last night at around 11:30 Kim and I woke up to huge wind/rain sounds. After surveying the situation we found it was actually hail hitting the side of the house with a bunch of wind. Here’s a picture of the hail on the deck. We also found a small spot that was leaking on the ceiling where the kitchen/great room roof meets the rest of the house. Any normal rain it doesn’t leak but with winds at around 50-60 mph the water made its way through. At least we didn’t have as bad of storms as people in other states.

Friday was a good day to have off. I first cleaned our front deck so that I could seal it on Saturday. Then went up to Ames to ride around on my bike with a good friend, “S” (Scott Heider). We rode around Welch Ave and then hit some trails. Got to see a bunch of college students lining up at the bars at 3:00 PM.

Saturday Kim and I went up to Ames to watch the VEISHEA parade and then walk around campus to see what’s all changed. Toured through the new College of Business building and got some free cotton candy. Yum. Quite a nice building…too bad it wasn’t there when I was attending ISU.

So, all in VEISHEA land was good and then came a long these punks that think they’re adults. Well, these punks go and start a riot that created quite a mess and loss for Welch Ave. businesses and the city of Ames. Now comes the question if VEISHEA will continue. I find it disheartening that these little brats could cause something that’s been going on for the past 80 years to not happen again. I look at VEISHEA as a time to get together with friends, see what’s new on campus, ingest a few cherry pies, and in the future take my kids to see the parade and visit the activities setup on central campus. If VEISHEA ceased to exist you wouldn’t get to see and hear the Groove. The list goes on as to what you’d miss. Something needs to be done, but I hope it’s not the killing of VEISHEA.

Not much new has been happening, but I thought I’d try and remember tidbits from last week. This past weekend Kim and I went to my parents home for Easter. It’s been the first time home since my Dad sold the milk cows. He’s taking it pretty well. Although, he still gets up every morning at 5:30. It was nice to be able to spend more time with him as in the past he was always out doing chores…until night time. We got to see some new baby calves while we were up there. Kim wanted to see one being born, but we didn’t get to see that (plus, I think she would have probably been grossed out anyway).

Last Friday we went in for our monthly Dr. visit and everything was in good shape. So, that was good news. A funny thing happened when the midwife was listening to the heart beat of the baby. When she put the microphone with some cold gel on Kim’s belly, the baby kicked at it. Even made the midwife jump.