Today is my last workday before a long vacation stretching into the Labor Day weekend. By this time tomorrow, my wife and I should be arriving in the suburbs of Chicago and ready for a fun weekend. I hope you all have a great week and a great Labor Day.

I’ll leave you with a ridiculously cool video. Check out this video of the campanile on the Iowa State University campus playing Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” Outstanding! GO CYCLONES! Beat the Huskies next week!

If you didn’t already know, it’s Restaurant Week here in Des Moines. It’s a week that was designed to help restaurants by getting more butts in booths during a historically slow time. I like the idea. I think it’s a perfect way to explore and experience new places that you’ve never eaten before in town.

The premise of Restaurant Week is that you can enjoy a three-course dinner or lunch for two for a prix fixe price of $25 per person. It’s great. A little more than what we would usually pay for dinner, but you’re getting a new experience and helping out a local business.

My wife and I have gone out for Restaurant Week at least once each year. Last night was our night to go out and we decided on a place that we had never been before. As much as I want to divulge where we ate, this is going to be a scathing review and I prefer to not bash a local business by name.

We arrived at the restaurant around 6:30 Tuesday night. We were seated immediately. It was a nice evening and the patio wasn’t full. However, we weren’t given the option to sit outside. We sat down at our booth and were given menus. So far, no mention of their Restaurant Week special. After a few minutes, the hostess returned to our table and said our server was backed up and that she’d take our drink orders. My wife ordered a Sprite and I stuck with water. Several minutes later, our clearly overwhelmed server stopped at our table and offered us drinks. We told her that we already had those coming. She then offered to get us appetizers. We then told her that we wanted to order from the Restaurant Week menu. She looked almost disappointed and retreated to get the special menus. She gave us *ample* time to pick from the three choices on the menu.

I ordered a steak and my wife ordered a pasta dish. We also ordered one of the two offered appetizers. When it arrived, we dug in and found it to be just okay. Nothing special about the food. My wife also ordered a salad that she wasn’t pleased with. The lettuce was bad and the house dressing wasn’t very good either. My usual favorite of the fresh, baked bread that you get on the table was also not good. It wasn’t that great kind of bread you just devour. It was plain, white bread. Nothing special about it at all.

Our main courses arrived and we dug in. My wife was surprised to find chicken in her pasta considering there was absolutely no mention of chicken being IN the pasta on the menu. Also, the dish was pretty much fettuccine Alfredo with chicken - not at all what the menu says. My steak with a side of baked potato was okay. It said that it came with a “side of vegetables” which turned out to be just asparagus. The baked potato was just fine as it is difficult to screw those up. The steak didn’t have any flavor and was ultimately forgettable.

At this point, we’ve decided that we don’t care for the restaurant. But, we still had desert coming. We received our deserts and instantly began to laugh. My wife’s cheesecake was so frozen that she could barely chew it. My ice cream dish was room temperature and half melted when it arrived at the table.

Another pet peeve of mine is when your server doesn’t remember what you ordered for drinks. Let it be known that I’m not bagging on our server. She was clearly overwhelmed and I’m sure all of her customers suffered because of it. But when she came over to offer us refills, she refilled my wife’s Sprite with water. That was sort of the deal breaker for me. We paid our bill (and still left a nice tip) and got out of there - never to return.

I think that if an establishment is going to participate in Restaurant Week, they should be putting their best foot and best dishes forward. These meals we were given weren’t a good barometer of what this restaurant normally served and I certainly hope they weren’t their best dishes. These were bad roadside restaurant meals that were utterly forgettable. This could be your one chance to win a new customer. Put out your BEST dishes. Encourage your customers to give you feedback. If someone orders from the Restaurant Week menu, there’s a good chance they’ve never been to your place before. Time to shine. Don’t treat them like they’ve just come to have drinks or are ordering from the kid’s menu.

I should also say that most of the restaurants participating in Restaurant Week get it right. I highly suggest you try Café Di Scala, Alba, Baratta’s, Centro and Gateway Market. This restaurant we tried will likely never get our business again and that’s unfortunate because as I said, we love supporting local businesses. I hope this review doesn’t shy you away from trying out somewhere new for Restaurant Week. We certainly could have come on “just a bad night” for this place, but several factors point to having a similar experience regardless of the night we came.

Restaurant Week runs now through Sunday. If you want to learn more, check out the Restaurant Week page at SeeDesMoines.com

I have to say, I haven’t been a very good blogger lately. It’s not that I haven’t had stuff to talk about. I guess I just didn’t think it was that interesting to write a whole blog. So, I’ll just catch everyone up with my thoughts from the last few days:


Iowa State Fair
I had a great time at the fair this year. I was on the grounds for 7 of the days and by the end, was ready for it to end. It was just too darn hot this year. This could be the deciding factor as to why the fair didn’t break one million people for the first time in a long time.

State Fair Fights
I didn’t personally see any of the incidents, but it’s sad to hear about all of the incidents of fighting and attacks around the fairgrounds. It makes me sad to think that there are people in the community that have nothing better to do that attack people after having an enjoyable day at the biggest event in Iowa. It also makes me a bit thankful. Last Friday night, the second night of the fair, I walked by myself to my car which was parked several blocks away on Dean Ave. When I got there, my battery was dead and I had to have some friends come and jump my car. I didn’t feel threatened or unsafe at all, even at the late hour. I wonder what would have happened if I had the same situation just one week later.

New food obsession
Lately, I have been obsessed with putting barbecue sauce on my Jimmy John’s sandwiches. It just makes them SO much better. Try it some time. I usually get the Billy Club #8 (no veggies) and it’s just the most delicious thing. I even bought some barbecue sauce for my office so I can have it whenever I want!


Katy Perry
I bought the new Katy Perry CD, “Teenage Dream” today. It has been scented with a cotton candy smell. It was so odd. When I found the CD, I could smell it right away, but dismissed it as someone nearby. Then, when I picked the CD up, there it was again, only stronger. Then, I read the label for the CD and right on it, it said “Cotton Candy Scented!” That’s certainly different. Oh, and the album is pretty darn good.

The Bombay Bicycle Club
The bar formerly known as Drink and hardly known as “The Union Bar” will soon become “The Bombay Bicycle Club.” This part isn’t the part that is news. What is news is that one of the items that they’ll serve from their kitchen is the food made famous by the Wisconsin State Fair, the Krispy Kreme Cheeseburger. A cheeseburger in between a sliced Krispy Kreme doughnut instead of a bun. Usually, people throw up AFTER they drink. This would make me go WHILE I’m drinking. No thanks!

Dexter
No, no. Not Producer Kurt’s new son. This would be the TV show. I just bought and blew through season 4 of the show and I love this show all over again. One day, when the show is over, I will do like I do some of my favorite shows that I have on DVD and start a marathon where I watch every single episode in order. Season 4 was very good, even though I don’t like how it ended. I would almost consider getting Showtime just so I could watch the show when the new episodes air in September.

Vacation
Wooo vacation! I’ll be gone all next week in both Chicago and Kansas City. Susan and I are going to do some relaxing, shopping and cheering in Chicago. This Sunday, we’ll be going to the White Sox game against the Yankees. I’ll get to see Frank Thomas’ jersey retired (plus get a bobblehead!). I’m beyond excited. Then, just a couple days later, we’ll travel down to Kansas City to see our Green Bay Packers take on the Kansas City Chiefs in the final preseason game before all of the fun kicks off. We’ll also be cheering for the Cyclones as their first game is that same night.

Colbie Caillat
She’s one of my favorites and it was a real treat to get to see her perform for about 100 people at Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar on Sunday night. She sounded perfect, looked fantastic and was quite nice, as always.

Yesterday was my favorite day at the Iowa State Fair next to Eastside night. It’s the annual Cow Chip Throwing contest. I became fascinated with this contest when I was a youngster when they used to show it on the news at night and show all the reporters and radio people throwing cow poop. I always told myself that it was something I wanted to do some day. Of course, I didn’t want to just enter the “anybody” class, I wanted to be in the “celebrity” contest. I figured I’d have an easier time winning too! In 2002, I finally got my chance to play and wouldn’t you know it, I won! That set the precedent. I was going to play this for many years to come. Since 2002, my best finish in the toss has been 3rd place. I just haven’t been able to recapture the magic of that first year. But, I still have a great time.

This year, I decided to spread the word of the cow chip throw to my very own derby girls from the Des Moines Derby Dames. They’re getting to a point where people are starting to know them, so I figured it was time they were brought into the celebrity cow chip throw.

Two girls, “Megger Bomb” and “Demanda Chaos,” Megan and Amanda respectively, came out and did really great for first timers! Demanda almost won the whole thing had she not been disqualified for going over the scratch line. For me, I placed 4th out of a very large field this year. There were more people entered this year than many of the past years. However, I do have one gripe. There were no people representing TV this year. Not one. We used to always get a meteorologist or two, usually an anchor and a couple reporters. This year, none. Where were you TV? No representatives to take the trophy away from State Fair photographer Steve Pope? I’m disappointed in you all! Hopefully, next year, my television counterparts will return.

Congrats and thanks to all that did come out to participate or even watch (you too mom and dad). Below is a video that was made for the Des Moines Derby Dames’ website of the girls and their first cow chip throwing experience.

I decided to take last week off from blogging. There was a lot going on and frankly, not a lot of time to blog! But, I’m back today (albeit not at work as I’m home on a sick day) and I’m ready to talk about the weekend!

Friday was a great day. I hit up the Iowa State Fair for the first time this year and got to see a great show in the process. Earlier in the day, we had STAR Artist and American Idol season 8 winner Kris Allen over to Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar for an intimate performance in front of a lucky few listeners. Kris is everything that I hoped he’d be when I met him. I remember voting for him a lot near the stretch run of that Idol season. I’m glad that he’s still a very humble guy and very much in love with playing music. He put on a great show for our listeners and the staff that tagged along.



That night, I hit up the Fair and got the great opportunity to go backstage to meet STAR Artist Keith Urban. It was a backstage experience like I had never had in my 12 years in radio. Dubbed the “Keith Urban Backstage Barbecue Experience,” all of the fans that went backstage were treated to a full spread of sandwiches, fruit, sides, drinks and more. Considering all of the food that awaited us on the Fairgrounds, I wasn’t about to turn down a free meal! Once my friend and I sat down to eat, we noticed that there was a stage set up inside the tent. It would appear we’d be getting a performance!

Once we finished eating the tasty grub, we were lead outside to line up for our pictures with Keith. We were the very last group to walk into the hospitality room where Keith was there to greet us with a very warm smile and hearty handshake. The people that I was with in the hospitality room were clearly new to the “meet and greet” experience, so I broke the ice with Keith by making small talk with him. I have a friend from Melbourne, Australia who just spent about 16 months in the US and has been accused of losing her Aussie accent. I was wondering how Keith can spend so much time in Nashville and the US and still have his accent. He told me that it helps that he’s married to a fellow Aussie (Nicole Kidman) and that he gets back to Australia quite frequently. I found him to be very nice and very friendly to his fans. Everything you can ask for in meeting an artist you appreciate.

After we sat back down, Keith came into the tent where everyone had gathered and hopped on stage to chat with the crowd. He told a few one liners and then started asking for requests for songs. He decided on one of my favorites, “Days Go By.” Afterward, he answered a few questions from fans. Most were the basic questions that fans ask like “What’s your most embarrassing moment on stage?” and “Do you get home often?” Keith took the questions in stride like they were the first time he’d heard them.

It was a great backstage experience. Country artists can really teach a thing or two to many other artists. Instead of just rushing by and shaking hands, artists should make this experience memorable for their fans!



On Saturday, my wife, visiting brother-in-law, co-worker Lindsay and friends, Mike and Melissa all headed to the Fair for another day of walking and eating! We ate our way around the grounds and saw lots of the animals including the famed Big Boar and Super Bull. We also stopped to watch a sheep shearing contest which was quite strange to see. But, I suppose I can cross that off my list of State Fair things I’ve seen. Saturday was a great day spent with great friends.

On Sunday, I wanted to check out the Vanilla Ice/Tone Loc show on the free stage. I hit up the Fair Sunday afternoon and realized that this show was going to be huge. I got to the stage two hours before the show and the seating area was already full. Upon returning at 7:45, it was a chaotic scene. I’ve never seen the AE stage so full in all my years coming to the Fair. The crowd spilled into the street and the nearby hillsides. I took this picture from inside the Cultural Center across the street:



Thousands of people came out to watch the show. It was insane. After seeing the first few minutes of Tone Loc’s set, I decided to walk around and eat instead. There was just nowhere to sit or see.

So far at the Fair, I’ve eaten the Hot Beef Sundae, a hot dog, French fries from the Depot, a cup of chocolate chip cookies and a deep fried cheese on a stick. I’ve also had bites of some other people’s foods.

I’ve got several more days at the Fair to go! Can’t wait to share the experience with you!

I am thankful every day for the life that I have. I have an amazing wife (I gave you that adjective on purpose sweetie), a wonderful family and an incredible core of friends around me.

In my career, I’ve been afforded many opportunities that I will tell my grandchildren about years from now. I’ve met and seen some of the most amazing people on the planet. It’s really a blessed life.

So I’m keeping it short today. Take a minute to think about the great things and people in your life and remember how lucky YOU are!

Then, watch this video of some of the luckiest people on Earth. The very last one is absolutely EPIC. Have a great weekend everyone!

Tuesday night, I got to experience the phenomenon that is Lady Gaga live in concert.

Maybe we shouldn’t necessarily categorize it as a “concert.” It’s more of a Broadway show for one night only. The production value of her show can only be compared to the aforementioned Broadway shows or concerts by greats like Madonna or Cher. I was thinking after the show of whether what I had seen was better than seeing Madonna for the first time. It was hard to say, but one thing is for sure, Lady Gaga isn’t poised to take over shock pop, she has reinvented it. She is more than a performer. She is a cheerleader for the disenfranchised, the castoffs, the weirdos, the nerds and really, for a new generation of stars.

We were among the 20,000 plus that jammed into the Sprint Center in Kansas City on Tuesday night. The people watching at a Lady Gaga concert is almost worth the price of admission itself. I’ve been to concerts where people have dressed up and had fun, but this was taking it to a whole new level. There were girls and guys both dressed as different incarnations of Gaga’s outrageous fashion statements, there were girls in their skimpiest dresses, boys in their skimpiest … whatever they could find and I kid you not, I saw not one, but two guys wearing NOTHING but police caution tape. A Lady Gaga concert gives all of her “Little Monsters” the freedom to express themselves in whatever way they chose. And it was fantastic.

After a brief set by her opening act, the flamboyant Semi Precious Weapons, the lights dimmed shortly before 9:00pm to the wild screams of the crowd. A video montage was played on the giant screen that enveloped the stage. Gaga was finally shown and the crowd lost their minds. She launched into “Dance in the Dark” off of “The Fame Monster” and I instantly fell in love with the song. It was the first song I listened to when I got into work today. It wasn’t until the third song in the set that the hairs on the back of my neck stood up for the first time. When the first beats to “Just Dance” began, the crowd roared and the dancing on the stage fell in line precisely in time. It had finally set in that I was seeing this amazing artist with tons of hits in person and on stage. Gaga had started the evening in one of her trademark jackets with the enormous shoulders. For “Just Dance,” she peeled down to just a purple leopard print one piece and fishnets. Her extravagant dancers were outfitted like nothing I’ve seen before. It’s something you just have to see.

Later in the show, after a couple costume changes, Gaga came out with what could only be considered the famed “Disco Stick.” It’s not quite how I thought it would look. It looked like a prop from Krypton in the Superman movies. But, it was big and over the top, like the whole show. That was what the show was about. Being over the top. Her keytar was over the top, her dancers, sets and of course, Gaga’s outfits.

One of my favorite parts of the show was when everything was stripped down and Gaga sat at a piano to play one of my favorite songs from “The Fame Monster,” “Speechless.” She intertwined stories about her mom and dad throughout the song that were downright entertaining. Even though she was stripped down (vocally and clothing alike), she still managed to have a giant flame emitting from the piano while she played. She followed “Speechless” up with a brand new song that I loved called “You and I,” which she said will be on her next album. One thing that stood out during this part is that she really is a fantastic singer. She sang with very little help from backing tracks and the background singers were most notable when Gaga left the stage for one of her many costume changes. But when left on her own, Lady Gaga is a top-notch singer with a voice that is downright beautiful live.

As the “story” of Gaga’s voyage to the “Monster Ball” continued throughout the concert, you could tell we were coming to a crescendo when the big hits started to come. After a frantic performance of “Monster” and “Teeth,” Gaga finished out the show with big hits like “Alejandro,” “Poker Face” and “Paparazzi” which included a giant monster on the stage that appeared to attack Gaga during the performance. The monster was eventually defeated as the curtain came down, signaling the near end of the show. All that was left was the encore.

The encore of “Bad Romance” provided my second moment of the night when the hair stood up on my neck. As the curtain rose, Gaga appeared inside of a spherical object known has her “Orbiter” similar to what she wore on her performance on Saturday Night Live. Seeing her in the outfit personified all that is Gaga. The thumping beats of “Bad Romance” filled the Sprint Center and drew the already exhausted crowd back into another frenzy.

As the curtain fell on The Monster Ball in Kansas City, I was already reflecting on just how good this show had been. Was it one of the best I had ever seen? From a production value, yes. It was up there with seeing Madonna for the first time and it easily beat out any Broadway show that I had seen. Gaga’s voice was in top form, she was engaging with the crowd and held nothing back. It would be easy to say that I could place this on my list of my 10 most favorite concerts and one that I would gladly pay to see again. Gaga at one point during the show told the crowd that “I don’t want you leaving this show loving me more, I want you to leave loving yourself more.” I have to say that it was very difficult to not leave with at least a greater appreciation of Lady Gaga, if not a greater love.

Below are some great shots taken by my friend Leslie Berg from the show. Thanks Leslie!

Tonight.



Gaga. Kansas City.

I. can’t. wait.

It didn’t really register with me until this past weekend, but I’m pretty sure I’m obsessed with baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball. I still can’t get into watching college baseball on TV. But, I can watch any Major League game. Even two crappy teams can be playing and I’d watch (I’m looking at you Royals and Orioles). Of course, my favorite team is my Chicago White Sox. We are a small, but vocal minority here in the heart of Cubs town. While I’ve watched Cubs fans implode over the poor play of their team this year, I’ve been lucky to watch a team that is (as of today) in first place in the American League Central Division and has the talent to be a very good playoff team.

It’s fun being a White Sox fan. There are absolutely no expectations. Half of the time, people forget that there even is a second Chicago team. When I tell people who I root for, they always respond with, “really? Wow. I always forget about the White Sox.” That’s fine with me. They’re not even the most popular Sox team in baseball with the Red Sox taking that distinction. At least when Cubs fans make fun of me for being a Sox fan, I can shove their 2005 World Championship in their faces. We’ll always have that!

This weekend, I was glued to all of the Sox games that were on TV. When I wasn’t near the TV, I was using my iPhone to stream the radio broadcasts of the games. Having an iPhone and iPad has only furthered by obsession with the game. We have put the MLB 2010 apps on my Phone and the iPad so we can follow along with any and every team. At any time, we can listen to the home or away broadcast of any Major League game. It’s just fantastic. I can even see Twitter updates that pertain to a particular game - showing me the tweets about each team.

If that wasn’t enough, the MLB Network has a show all about the inner workings of the White Sox called “The Club.” It gives an inside look at how the team is run and how the big decisions are made. It’s a fascinating show that has me glued to the TV every Sunday night.

All of this is keeping me hungry for the end of August when I finally get to a game in Chicago. We’re going to see the White Sox play the Yankees on the final weekend of the month. Frank Thomas, my favorite White Sox player and one of my favorite players of all time, is getting his jersey retired at our game, so that will be extra special to see. I have been counting down the days since March. August 29 can’t come soon enough.

So while the sports world ramps up to college football, I’ll still be here listening and watching baseball games right through the last pitch of the World Series.

So, it’s done. I have three less teeth in the grill today. Monday afternoon, I had my three wisdom teeth finally removed. I have to say that my apprehension was really much ado about nothing. I was so numb and gassed up that I barely felt a thing when it came to removing the teeth. I had quite a bit of anxiety leading up to the actual procedure. I opted for just about every option they gave me. Gas? Yes. Can I wear my headphones? Absolutely. Can I take my shoes off? Yes. Why? Well, I don’t care much for socks and shoes. I’m most comfortable when I’m in sandals or barefoot. So doing that was a big deal. I even made sure to wear a comfy shirt and my most comfortable shorts to the procedure. I didn’t want anything to agitate me any more than I was already going to be.

The first part of my appointment was my general cleaning. I made it through that just fine. I figured I’d have a little while in between my cleaning and the tooth extraction. Instead, I was exchanged from one chair to another rather quickly. I laid down in the chair and immediately put my headphones on. I didn’t want to hear anything that was going on. I didn’t want to hear what they were saying about my teeth, nothing about how much trouble they were having, nothing. I just wanted to listen to my music and zone out.

When the dental assistant put the mask on me to gas me, she said that it wouldn’t knock me entirely out, but it would feel like I had consumed a few drinks. I then

apologized in advance in case I hit on the assistant. She got a good laugh out of that. Once I was settled in, I had little to no feeling in my bottom lip and was feeling gassed enough that if karaoke was an option, I might have taken it. Dr. Kerby, my dentist, came by and give me a high five to start the procedure. I cranked up the tunes and they got started.

My first two came out really quickly. All I could think to myself was that I couldn’t believe how much I didn’t feel. I could feel the moment when the teeth came out, but none of the pain that would be associated with it. All I could feel was Doc moving my head and then the small pop of the tooth coming out. When it came to my third, impacted, tooth, that took a little longer. They had to work about three times as long on this one. It was apparently pretty deep in and required more tools since I felt the metal hit my other teeth. I made sure to keep my eyes closed for all of this. “Just liiiiisten to the music.” I thought to myself.

After about 5 minutes, I heard over my music Dr. Kerby say, “That’s it, all done.” We high fived again and he swung around the partition and immediately began helping another patient. Man, that was quick. Better yet, I didn’t feel a thing. I also couldn’t talk. It reminded me so much of the Bill Cosby bit from my favorite stand up routine of all-time, “Himself,” where he talks about going to the dentist. I’ve posted that at the end of the blog. It’s absolutely hilarious… and totally true.

I gotta say thanks to Dr. Shawn Kerby and his staff. I really like all of them and they treat me and my wife very well. He may be a Hawkeye/Cardinal fan, but he’s a great dentist. Thanks for keeping it pain-free Doc. My mouth thanks you.