Posted by Tim
Sat, 08 Jul 2006 19:40:00 GMT
Kate and I just returned last night from Santa Barbara, CA. We were out there to celebrate Leah and Steve's wedding. What relaxing time, wonderful surroundings, and indulgent food! The picture here was taken with the self-timer in one of the lounging areas at the Bacara resort. We have pictures of the two of us with more striking backgrounds, but this is a cute one of us before Kate was roasted by the sun. The entire set is available on Flickr.
So much tasty food, and especially tasty seafood. Ahi tuna sandwiches, grilled swordfish, soy glazed sea bass, and crab cakes. Most dishes involved bacon, and not just any bacon, but thick slices of apple wood smoked bacon. Mmm, bacon.
With it being summertime, I planned on packing for what is typical summer weather here in KC, but that would have been a mistake. It was a perfect 72 degrees most of the days we were there, and hardly a cloud in the sky. Humidity? Hah!
I've never experienced a Jewish wedding ceremony before, but it was very lovely. Kate was a little disappointed to know that our ceremony will be about twice as long as Leah's.
This has been a very relaxing adventure, and I am happy that I could take part. I have a bit more to say about the week, but now I have some unpacking to do. Here's to a life overflowing with happiness and fulfillment for Leah and Steve!
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Posted by Tim
Fri, 28 Apr 2006 05:31:00 GMT
For the first time ever I took the day of my birthday off from work, and I couldn’t have asked for a nicer day. Growing up, it always seemed to rain on my birthday, but today was nothing like birthdays past. 70 degrees and partly cloudy in Kansas City and Lawrence. Kate surprised me this morning with a cake that she managed to bake in my own house the day before without leaving any trace behind, and from there we headed off to Lawrence for a day of roaming.
We started walking down Mass Street and we quickly found Love Garden. It’s a great music store selling second hand compact discs and records. Great enough, in fact, that we left with three discs. Further down the road in another shop whose name escapes me we found what will probably end up being my wedding ring. Titanium looks great and is incredibly strong, just like the love of a marriage should be. Lunch today was at the Free State Brewery, and it was fast, delicious, and reasonably priced. Anything beer battered is necessarily good there. Roaming the streets by foot and by automobile as well as a short walk through KU’s campus reminded us both that we’d really like to live in a college town one day.
As if that wasn’t a great enough day already, I was the lucky recipient of two phone calls and one email, all from amazing friends that I’m quite lucky to have. I wasn’t around my phone to answer one call, so I’ll need to make that up, and during the other call I learned that one of those friends is going to have a boy in September. Oh, and yet another cake was cut into upon arriving at mom and dad’s house. Oh, and Jacquie told me that I’m her favorite brother… don’t mind the fact that I’m her only brother. Thanks to everyone who has helped me to have such a wonderful time all these years. I hope I manage to hold on to my good fortune for many years to come!
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Posted by Tim
Mon, 13 Feb 2006 10:44:00 GMT
The doorbell rang at 10:30 yesterday morning. I was pretty upset because I figured it was one of the neighborhood kids either demanding to mow my lawn or begging for candy. It was the FedEx lady, but I didn’t order anything… especially not for a Saturday delivery. No, it was Kate’s doing. She wanted me to get a massive box of dark chocolate this weekend since she was out of town and we would have otherwise celebrated Valentine’s day.
Seriously, how sweet is that? She is known for sending me chocolate while I’m out of town on business, but to send it to me while she’s the one out of town stepss things up one extra notch.
The best, that’s her. It’ll be nice having her back in town tomorrow evening. Assuming, of course, that the snow situation in New York gets taken care of enough to get her up in the air. [fingers crossed]
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Posted by Tim
Tue, 17 Jan 2006 12:44:00 GMT
Kate and I travelled to Richmond to visit her parents over the (long) weekend. Not only were they wonderful hosts for the two of us, but they were also the wonderful hosts of about 40 other people at “Tom and Santa’s Mid-Winter Party” on Saturday night. The house was so packed that Kate and I weren’t anywhere near each other when our engagement was toasted. Kate apologized for “throwing me to the wolves” by leaving me to socialize with so many of her parents friends while she was socializing with still more friends, but I had a great time. It is easy to socialize with strangers when they are all so friendly and interesting. If my memory serves me, the night started to wind down around midnight, but the party didn’t actually end until 2:00 AM.
The most important part of the trip was spending a chunk of time in Kate’s home town with her parents, but I certainly didn’t mind getting out of Kansas City and attending a great party as bonus activities. This was the first time Kate returned since Fall of 2004 during which I was able to have dinner with her family, but two hours isn’t a lot of time in terms of meeting my bride-to-be’s parents, and she wasn’t even my bride-to-be at the time.
Richmond is a very cohesive old city. It feels much less compartmentalized than Kansas City, and I really enjoy that. I don’t enjoy all of the toll roads, but no place is perfect, right? We toured a large portion of the city, but we didn’t make a dent in Kate’s suggested restaurant list. We’ll return and try again.
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Posted by Tim
Mon, 26 Sep 2005 09:32:00 GMT
Kate and I took three of her college friends to the Glore Psychiatric Museum in St. Joseph, Missouri this weekend. No, that didn’t take the entire weekend, but that’s all I’m writing about for now because I’m tired.
The museum gives an interesting picture of the how’s and why’s concerning the treatment of mental illnesses through the ages. Since I was travelling with four independent women making their way in the world while working and studying, I was very amused by the job description of a floor nurse in 1887 found on a handout entitled “The Good Old Days”.
In addition to caring for your fifty patients, each nurse will follow these rules:
- Sweep the floors of your ward daily. Dust the furniture and window sills.
- Maintain an even temperature in your ward by brining in a scuttle of coal at the beginning of each work day.
- Light is important for observing the patient’s condition. Therefore each day fill the kerosene lamps, clean the chimneys and trim wicks.
- Wash all ward windows once a week.
- The nurse’s notes are important to the physician. Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs to your individual taste.
- Day duty nurses will report every day at 7 a.m. and leave at 8 p.m. except on Sunday on which day you will be off from 12 noon until 2 p.m.
- Graduate nurses in good standing with the Director of Nurses will be rewarded with an evening off each week for courting purposes, or two evenings, if you regularly go to church.
- Each nurse should lay aside from her wages a goodly sum of her earnings. This is for her benefit during her declining years so she will not become a burden. For example, if you earn thirty dollars a month, you should save fifteen.
- Any nurse who smokes, uses rouge, uses liquor in any form, gets her hair done at a beauty parlor, frequents dance halls, or who engages in levity on Sunday, will give the Director of Nurses good reason to suspect her worth, intentions, and integrity. If her misconduct in such an unseemly and unladylike manner is brought to the attention of the Hospital Administration, she will be asked for her resignation.
- The nurse who performs her labors, serves her patients, and doctors faithfully and without fault for five years, will be rewarded by the Hospital Administration with a 5 cent pay increase, providing there are no hospital debts that are outstanding.
- Free soap is provided for personal cleanliness. Its use is mandatory.
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