Let's Have a Party!!

Legal Disclaimer: It is not my intent to promote the interests of any politician or political party. My sole intent is to poke some fun at things I see and wonder, like many people, at the silliness and dysfunction of politics as it exists today.

I keep telling people that we have 3 viable political parties here in Kansas. I've said this for years! We do have lots of independents, libertarians and others, but they don't seem to be able to wield much political power by themselves. So we are left with:

Democrats
Conservative Republicans
Moderate Republicans

It used to be that the Republicans hated the Democrats and the Democrats hated the Republicans. Okay, maybe hate is a strong word. Mistrust and dislike are probably more accurate.

But anymore, to me, it's more like the 2 wings of the Republican party hate each other (and yes, hate just might be accurate) and the Democrats are all sitting around wondering what is wrong with all those other people and why are they so mad at each other.

And in the past we have usually elected Democrats or Moderate Republicans as governors. A Democrat would seemingly get elected in years where the Republicans were mad at each other, a Moderate Republican otherwise. It's been a long time since we had a Conservative Republican governor, until 2 years ago, when we elected Sam Brownback, a former US Senator.

The political situation is now very interesting. We now have a Conservative governor, the House is controlled by the Conservatives, the Senate by the Moderates and the Democrats and Independents have been sort of relegated to the sidelines. Some have even said we should rename the state of Kansas to "Brownbackistan". Oh, God, I said it; I'll probably get hate mail now, or even worse, audited!

Again, no opinion from me regarding right or wrong, just an observation.

The new county courthouse is in the background, the older one in the foreground. The older building has beautiful architecture. We just outgrew it. Some offices of the county are still housed in the old courthouse, among them the "Elections Office". That office was where I was headed today to see if an injustice had occurred and, if so, to demand justice.

So here's the deal. The primary election is coming up August 7. In Kansas, both the Democrats and Republicans have "closed" primaries. For many years voters who registered as independents, could go to the primary election and select which party they wanted to vote for.  Not Anymore! You have to be registered as a Democrat to vote in the democratic primary, or Republican to vote in the republican primary. Period!

And here's more to the deal, this year!  All the action is on the Republican side of the ledger. In some races, there are no Democrats even running, and those that are running are generally unopposed. But there are many key races with Conservative Republicans and Moderate Republicans vying for the same seat. In fact, it could be said that the 2 wings of the Republican party have declared war on each other, each calling each other RINO's (republicans in name only).

So what did I do? I wanted to be where the action is. Now, mind you, in past elections I have voted all over the place, sometimes Republican, sometimes Democrat, sometimes 3rd party, I usually vote for the person more than I vote for the party. Silly Me!  So I re-registered as a Republican even though I don't have strong feelings for the party. Frankly I don't have strong feelings for any party and never have.

So on the last day possible for registering to vote, which can be done on the Internet, I registered as a Republican so that I could vote in the Republican primary, which is where all the action is. In fact, for most races, it appears, the general election will be a foregone conclusion.

Then a few days later I get this postcard in the mail. It says "Certificate of Registration". It also says "Democratic" Party. I think, "WTF"?

So on Monday, postcard in hand and picture ID in my wallet...

New Law this year, meant to combat the travesty of something like 10 cases of voter fraud in the last 15 years.
You think I'm kidding?

I march down to the courthouse to demand satisfaction, see what was wrong, see if there was a vast right wing (or left wing) conspiracy, see if my rights as a citizen of the world had been violated, etc. I was prepared to contact the local newspaper if the election office had "screwed up". I was ready to even "blog" about it! That'll get some action real quick, NOT!

I was met by two very nice ladies at the front desk and I told them I had an apparent problem with the postcard I received. One of them simply said that everybody who was registered to vote was to receive a card to inform them of their proper districts for various political races and that the information for those cards was generated by the computer systems about 3 weeks ago. She also asked me when I had re-registered, I told her and she said that I should receive yet another card in the mail reflecting the newer re-registered information.

Whew!

But she even took it a step further and said "Let me double check what we have for you in the computer, It'll only take a moment". Sheepishly, I said, "That would be very nice". And, of course, it seems I was properly registered as a Republican like I had originally wished.

So there you have it!

RINO, I am

DINO, I used to be

iINO, is that iPhone in name only?

And finally on a plaque in front of the courthouse.....

Can't we all just get along?

Ride On, and Carpe Diem, my friends

Jimbo

Fiercely Local at Douglas and Oliver

The excitement is building. A formerly renowned and locally owned  Italian restaurant, known as Angelo's, closed for many years, may now be reopened by a relative of the family that started it. This is big news to the local citizenry. For some people it is the joy in the recollection of the fantastic aroma of the meatball sandwiches. For others it is simply the spaghetti and meatballs. For still others it is the incredibly authentic Italian salad with an un-pitted olive, eggplant pieces and dripping with savory Italian salad dressing. But for me, it was the Deluxe pizza.

I recall vividly the first time I tasted one of those pizzas. It was with my wife to be, her mother and her brother at the restaurant's location on East Harry street here in Wichita. The place was hardly what you would consider fancy. In fact it was kind of a cheap looking place. But nobody cared because they knew how good the food was. A warning note on the menu says that if you order the extra large deluxe pizza, be prepared to wait a little longer, because it takes awhile to bake. Nobody complained because they knew what was coming. Just ask my sister about the place. Long after she and her husband had moved to Tulsa, they would sneak back to Wichita and dine there.

That pizza is close to an inch thick! There were chunks (yes, chunks) of  beef, Italian sausage, ham and the most amazing pepperoni I have ever tasted along with green pepper, black olives, mushrooms and onions. Cheese is piled high. The only possible imperfection, to a Cyborg like me, might be the crust, but I never heard any complaints. Everything else was so spectacularly good. One piece was all most people needed. I kid you not!

The potential future location is the northeast corner of Douglas and Oliver streets, a place that once was a popular, locally owned jewelry store for many, many years.

It was almost sad to see the former jewelry store close. In the day of big chain stores in the mall, this local store had fought a good battle for market share. My wife and I had purchased rings there in the past. Everybody in town knew where this store was and the good reputation it had in the community. Eventually though, the markets became more difficult and the store eventually closed.

Ironically, very close to this location, across the street and down a little bit is one of my favorite pizza restaurants. This place, also locally owned,  has wood oven pizza, jazz music, great atmosphere and great pizza, calzones, salads and sandwiches.  

All the pizzas are good, many with unique toppings such as artichoke hearts, spinach, etc, that wouldn't be found on a pizza from a"corporate pizza" restaurant.

You may or may not know that "Pizza Hut" started here in Wichita in the 1960's. The original owners, two brothers, sold out to Pepsico, I think in the 1980's. I don't blame them. They made a bunch of $. They were hugely successful and I have eaten a lot of their pizzas over the years. Their pizzas were good. I say "were", because now the recipes are different and, in my opinion, the restaurants are now just very "corporate", the bottom line is more important than the food. I guess that's what happens when the company has to answer to Wall Street and shareholders, rather than the actual customers.

The original Angelo's Italian restaurant was never that way. Il Vicino isn't either. I haven't eaten a Pizza Hut pizza voluntarily for many years. For the same reasons I won't eat at Domino's or any other big chain. Something gets lost in the process.

Being "Fiercely Locally Owned" seems to thrive at this intersection. All 4 corners have retail stores, but the southwest corner is the most interesting, to me.

Supposedly the first true shopping center in the history of the world. I cannot verify that, but there are some great stores here. A marvelous florist, a good shoe store and a variety of shops.

This shopping center was not too far from the edge of town in the 1940's, far enough from downtown, that a walk downtown, to go shopping, would have taken awhile. But a walk here from what is known as the College Hill residential area would be rather nice. People used to walk more, and not complain about it.

Max in the morning sun helping to provide evidence of the origin date on the shopping center.

There is one local store here that I admire a great deal. One that has survived the upheavals of the market crash and weathered blistering competition from national chain stores. It is a locally owned bookstore. 

Surviving in a vast sea of competition, this small, but mighty, locally owned bookstore is an anchor for this shopping center. 

I am sure they have struggled at times, financially, as they compete with big box stores like Barnes and Noble and Borders, etc. But the customers of this store remain "fiercely loyal" to their local neighborhood book store at a time when it would seem that the obstacles against them might be insurmountable. Nonetheless, they survive. They compete. They do not give up!

It is almost like Winston Churchill, who was quoted as saying something like:

 "Never, Ever, Ever, Ever Give Up!"

I guess this Cyborg likes the idea of being "Fiercely Local" and not ever, ever giving up.

A lot of very loyal former customers hope the Angelo's restaurant is able to be revived. I bet my sister, who now lives in the Dallas area, will drive up and partake of their food once again.

Ride On and Carpe Diem my friends.

Jimbo

East Douglas on a Sunday Morning

My next older sister had called me on Saturday to check up on me and chewed my butt pretty good for not posting anything on the blog for a whole month.  I apologized to her and said there were two reasons:

1) I can't drive a car or ride my scooter right now and it's a bit tough to come up with motorcycle content for the blog. Yeah, a bicycle ride is fine, but I bet some readers are bored with that.

2) It has been hotter than Hades here. Yesterday was our 48th day this summer where our high temp reached 100 degrees. The record number of days is 50 from 1936 (Dust Bowl Days). August isn't over yet and it is predicted that we will break the record. Our normal for a summer is more like 11 days, so there you have it.

But my sister did get me thinking, so on Sunday morning I took off at 7:30 am on Bruiser, my mountain bike for a ride downtown to check out the car and motorcycle show that had been going on all weekend.

I arrived downtown at about 8:00. The show was scheduled for 8:00 to 4:00 for Sunday, but it was obvious that a lot of people and cars hadn't made it back downtown when I first arrived. Not a lot of cars or motorcycles yet to look at. I did find a display trailer for a Kawaski dealer from Hesston, KS, about 40 miles from here. This red Kawasaki is way too big for me.

But they also had a Kymco Agility Scooter.  (Too small for me)

Then there was this screaming green Kawasaki sport bike. Pretty nice , but not much in my taste either.

The next trailer over was for another dealer here in Wichita. They sell lots of bikes, everything from Honda, Suzuki, even BMW's on occasion. I talked with the sleepy looking guy manning the trailer a bit. As I took a couple of pictures, he asked me if I rode. I said yes and said that I had a scooter, but sometimes wondered about stepping up to something a little bigger, I mentioned a V-Strom, a Bonneville, even a Honda Silverwing scooter.

He said they had a Silverwing in stock, a 2010 model and he liked the V-Strom. Here's a Honda Shadow they had on display.

The local Harley dealer had a big display last year, but didn't see them this year. They still might have been around and I just didn't see them. Harleys are very popular here.

But just in case you run out of cash while you are at the show, here's a portable ATM for your convenience.

I rode back around the convention center and checked out a few cars. Here's a nice roadster.

And I really liked this pickup truck. A '34 Ford if I remember correctly.

 Then this Mini Cooper caught my eye.

And then this Mini Mini Cooper caught me eye as well, (check out the valve cover).

I eventually decided to ride back home in a leisurely fashion down East Douglas Street

I arrived at the train station onthe east end of the downtown area. Wichita has not had passenger train service since I have lived here. But we do have a marvelous old train station that over the years has been owned by a couple of corporate entities, most recently I believe by the local cable television provider.

I notice as I ride by that it is for sale again. Kind of a shame, if you ask me.

Then about another mile to the east of there, is the former world headquarters of  Big Dog Motorcycles. They produced very expensive motorcycles from the 90's to the early 00's at the rate of maybe 2,500 per year. That was until the economic downturn of 2008, where the company essentially tanked itself as people gave up their luxuries. Apparently not many people needed $30,000 motorcycles no matter how beautiful they were.

The building housed  a former Chevy dealership. They declared bankruptcy last year and formed a new company (BDM) to take care of parts and supplies for the Big Dog motorcycles still out on the road.

There is not much in the building right now except for a few bikes. I became somewhat interested in the reflections that resulted in some of these pictures. I was standing in the middle of the street when I took this shot. I am eerily visible if you enlarge the photo.

Most of the people that worked here have of course lost their jobs. Ironically, supposedly they sold lots of bikes to construction workers in the Las Vegas area during the real estate boom in Vegas. Well, Vegas now has one of the most depressed housing markets in the nation and it apparently spilled out into the motorcycle world as well.

Of course, this place is now for sale as well. Kind of a shame. They made beautiful bikes. Not really my taste, but beautiful bikes nonetheless.

Here's Bruiser up next to a chopper frame inside the building.

Down the road about a half mile further east is East High School. Built, I believe, in the 1920's and it only became known as East High after other high schools were eventually built. There is construction going on here at the school for a new auditorium. At the same time there is discussion about building 2 new high schools. But a potential problem with the new schools is that even though there is money available to build the buildings, there may not be enough money for the teachers. The state is bleeding money these days and education seems to be an area that is taking a hit.

It's a beautiful old school. Both my kids graduated from here. My son now teaches and coaches here.

About another mile east is a rather unique building with interesting tile work. There used to be an old guy that ran a hardware store here. It was one of those places that you could find something when nobody else seemed to have it. It was dirty, messy and grimy, but I loved the store. Even though it was sort of a mess, the old guy that ran it knew exactly where everything was.

Then another half mile east or so is the Hillcrest Apartments. It is mostly condominiums by now I believe. Condos are not real common here. There are lots of apartment complexes, but then there are also lots of single family homes. These condos are quite nice and somewhat expensive. As soon as one goes up for sale here, it gets snatched up pretty quickly.

A little further east again and there is a rather stately home. I don't know the history to this, but it's quite a place. This home sits just a little north of College Hill Park, possibly the nicest park in town.

And here's a view of another older home in the College Hill area. This home is on the National Register of Historic Places. As old goes, some would not consider it very old. Wichita wasn't even founded until 1871, but this home is just about that date, perhaps just a bit younger. This home sits atop a little hill in the park area. Bruiser is good at standing without a side or center stand. (No tachometer either)

Another view of the park. The park is surrounded by nice homes. There is a pool and it is a great place for kids to play and grow up. Following in the footsteps of Jim Ryun, who grew up in Wichita and went to Wichita East High School, the cross country team for Wichita East frequently runs and practices here in this park.

And finally at Douglas and Oliver sits what is essentially the first shopping center ever built in this city. It has been a fairly vibrant shopping center since its inception in the 1950's. Not huge by today's standards, but in its day......



There are residential neighbrohoods for the next mile east or so, but then you encounter the city of Eastborough, which was once a sort of suburb, and is now compleyely surrounded by Wichita, having steadfastly resisted the urge to be annexed into the city. But that is a whole other post by ityself. I'll get back to that someday.

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Just a final word about my health. I'm doing fine. I am walking about 2 miles a day and bicycling on the weekends. I'd probably do more exercising except for the unbelievable heat we have seen lately. I will not be able to drive or ride until at least February 2012, but I am in a way sort of enjoying the change in lifestyle.

The little gadget in my chest, designed to keep me alive should my heart screw up again, is amazingly sophisticated. I keep finding more and more about it as we go. For instance, not only is it a defibrillator, designed to be capable of completely restarting my heart should there be a need, but it is also a pacemaker too. It constantly analyzes the behavior of my heart. If my heart rate drops below 60 beats per minute, it will act as a pacemaker and get me back to a 60 bpm rate. If my heart rate goes to 170 beats per minute, it first studies my heart rate to see if my beats are steady and even. If so, then it assumes I may be exercising, and not give me the big shock, yet keep an eye on me. If my faster heart rate is uneven, then it may first try and pace me out of it using the pacemaker function of the device. If that doesn't work, then I may get a big shock from the device to hopefully restart my heart.

The device has a wireless transmitter and sends, once a week, some diagnostics to the manufacturer through a phone line connection in my bedroom. My cardiologist then can obtain this information for my chart. It is designed to report any unusual rhythms my heart has had and any attempts made by the device to correct those aberrant rhythms. Pretty fu*$in' amazing if you ask me.

To date the device has detected no unusual rhythms since the time it was implanted back in February. That's a very good thing.

The device is commonly called an ICD (Implanted Cardioverter Defibrillator)

To me it might mean I Can't Die!

Harriers and Rim Rock Farm

I was 7 or 8 years old, in the 1960's, when the 4 minute mile barrier for running a mile was first broken by a high school student. That person was Jim Ryun and he did it while attending school at Wichita East High School, where my son is now a coach.

Dew on the grass in the early morning sun at Rim Rock Farm, a nationally recognized cross country course near Lawrence, KS.

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Ryun's coach at the time was Bob Timmons. When Ryun graduated from high school, he was recruited by the University of Kansas, and to help seal the deal, the university hired Timmons to continue coaching Ryun at KU.

Ryun had a successful career at KU and was an Olympian and world record holder. Timmons continued to coach at KU for many years. He eventually retired and bought a farm near Lawrence KS with the express intent of turning part of it into a first class cross country running course.

Contestants on this team hold a little meeting together before the start of the race.

Another team getting together to encourage each other. Someone said something funny. .

The farm is now known as Rim Rock Farm and for many years now has hosted some prestigious cross country meets including the NCAA championships a few years ago. They host the state high school championship meet each year as well as a large invitational meet each year. This invitational meet is huge with hundreds of runners from the area, and is now referred to by athletes and coaches simply as "Rim Rock".

The start of a race. There were 12 races in different classes this day. . The course is beautiful. It is also grueling and very challenging. Times here at this course are 20 to 30 seconds slower than at a lot of other courses because of the terrain. But everybody wants to race here. They know this is the best race in the region. There could be as many as 2,500 runners at "Rim Rock" this year. .

It's a big damn deal!

About 30 - 40 seconds after the start. .

This year, again, Wichita East High School was invited, and I was invited to go with my son and the team.

After the start on a long slow uphill rise, the runners travel across a grassy area.

A similar view of the first portion of the course. .

It is funny sometimes how the connections in life are made and how they can endure.

. One of Ryun's teammates in high school, Steve Sell, eventually became my son's running coach when he was in high school at Wichita East. My son ran some track and cross country in college as well, but now is back at his high school alma mater and coaching a newer generation of athletes.

A signpost marks the spot on one of the dreaded hills on the course. .

I ran a little bit of cross country in high school myself and my coach at the time, Joe Schrag, became a good friend of Steve Sell as they coached against each other for many years. My son and I frequently see our former coaches at this and a few other track and cross country events each year. It is always fun to catch up a bit with mentors and talk about old times. It is also fun to talk about the new crop of runners and encourage them as they try to battle the course and their own mental attitudes.

One of two covered bridges on the course. After the runners cross over this bridge, they immediately head up Cemetary Hill. .

There is, of course, a lot of physical training involved. Practices are tough and sometimes cover long distances. Sprint work is included in practice on some days. But every long distance runner knows that a large part of running is mental. It is extremely difficult to push yourself to go a little faster and harder when the pain of exertion sets in.

More runners tackling Cemetary Hill. There actually is a small cemetary at the top of the hill. There are no dead runners buried there to my knowledge. .

My own Coach Schrag used to tell us about the best strategy of running on hills. He said to attack the hill and "run hard through the top" and then fly back downhill. You can pass a lot of other runners this way. The natural tendency when you finally reach the top of a hill is to coast a bit and slow down. I never mastered the strategy. In my mind, after reaching the top of a hill' I would say to myself "Screw this! I'm taking a break!"

Looks of concentration and effort by runners on another hill on the course. .

Success in the sport is achieved by staying constant in your effort. It is easy to exert yourself real hard for little bursts of speed and then not have anything left for the remainder of the race. In a nutshell, I never mastered this constant effort. Inconsistency was the reason I never made it above "C" team, but I still enjoyed the sport and have the utmost respect for the people that try it.

A shot of the pond at the covered bridge before Cemetary Hill. The water was very still that morning. .

It is said that Coach Timmons would have a regular routine on the bus ride home after a meet, of individually chatting with each runner about what they did well that day, or what areas they could improve upon. It was at one of these meetings with Jim Ryun that Timmons suggested to him that maybe he could break the 4 minute mark for a mile. This comment supposedly occurred on a day when Ryun was a junior in high school and had run a 4:13 mile that day. Imagine hearing that from your coach on a day when you had just beat the school record and felt pretty good about yourself. But, damned if Ryun didn't eventually do it.

Even more runners on Cemetary Hill. .

That is part of what a good coach is all about. The encouragement and challenges to try just a little harder are a big part of coaching and life. That is part of the reason that mentors like that can become such an important part of our lives. It does not have to be just in athletics. Mentors happen in all walks of life.

A shot of runners nearer the start from a gully by the side of the course. .

I love cross country meets. There are lots of colors in each team's uniforms. Coaches and parents are scattered throughout the course yelling encouragement. Runners are giving it all they have.

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It's a great way to spend a day.

There were approximately 200 runners in each race. .

Cross Country runners are referred to as "Harriers". It is not because they are "Hairy" although I have seen many that are. Back in the early days of the sport in Great Britian, the courses were not marked like they are today. In a sort of fox and hound fashion, a group of runners (the hares) would mark the course by dropping pieces of paper, to be followed by the actual contestants (the hounds)who would then follow the course thus marked by the hares. Somehow, from this early day process the term "Harriers" came into fashion and is used to this day.

A shot of the "Oak Holler Bridge". This area was very secluded and the trees were close to the sides of the course along here. .

I love to take the camera along. I think I actually learned a bit about photography this day. I went there with preconceived ideas about the type of pictures I wanted to take. In many cases I was defeated in my attempts because there were so many people, they went by so fast or somebody would get in the way. It was difficult and frustrating to get some of the pictures I wanted.

At "Oak Holler" there is a relatively steep downhill before reaching the covered bridge. Runners were literally flying along here.

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I had a strategy of trying to get some pictures from unusual vantage points. I would for instance climb into some tree areas and try and get some pictures of runners through the leaves. In another spot I went into a little gulley near the side of the course and took some shots through some tall grasses as the runners went by. Some of this worked pretty well.

Another shot just before the runners reach "Oak Holler". The skies became cloudier as the day progressed and I ended up using the camera flash here.

There is about 1/4 mile left to go at this point. Runners are getting serious here and trying to finish as strong as they can. Just about 200 yards to go and this runner from Wichita North was looking very determined. She finished second in her race. I saw one runner slip and fall along this same place. It had to hurt, but she got right back up and finished amidst a few tears in her eyes. The finish line.

Here's Jim Ryun himself (on the left) at the finish line. He handed out the medals on this day. The guy to his right was also a teammate of Ryun's in high school. He does all the announcing at these events and told stories about Ryun's running career as the day transpired.

It would be pretty special to receive a medal from Jim Ryun. .

But most of all, after experiencing some difficulty in getting shots that I thought I wanted, I decided to just look around with my own eyes, and see what shots might present themselves to me. There was very little wind this day and some of the ponds were quite still providing the opportunity for some reflection pictures off the water. Some of these also turned out well. Had I concentrated on solely getting pictures of runners, I feel I would have missed many good opportunities.

A portion of the Wichita East High team with a relatively famous alum.

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Some of the best shots I had just sort of appeared before my eyes without any composition in mind, and with camera at hand, I was able to get some decent shots. I took well over 100 pictures this day.