Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Mike's New Portfolio Site

Check out Mike's gorgeous new portfolio site, showcasing some of his latest and greatest projects.
www.mikekrankota.com

Busy, Busy

I feel a bit guilty for not having contributed a posting for a while, but life has been hectic here in big "D". For the past three months I have assumed the position of "build coordinator" at the office. While it is not a technically challenging position, it does involve coordinating the work of over 20 developers, making code merge decisions, creating documentation, automating the build process, and managing the needs of QA people who need to test products before the monthly release to production. By the time I get home, I am not really anxious to get onto a computer -- I'd rather sit down with a Texas martini and watch the Cubs. Since last Saturday was the day of the major release for July, I went to the office to oversee part of the release.

Two weeks ago Wendy and I took Friday off and jumped in the TT convertible bound for Houston. We had dinner at Wes and Jenny's townhome with Jenny's parents and drank some fine wine that Wes had selected. Saturday we walked to the corner for a great Mexican breakfast before Jenny had to leave for her grandmother's funeral. On Saturday evening Wes grilled some steak and we had dinner with his neighbors and several friends. Again with some fine wine. I had hoped to have some pictures of Wes and Jenny's new digs but Wes has as yet to send them (hint, hint).

10 Best Caddy Replies

GOLFER: 'Think I'm going to drown myself in the lake.'
CADDY: 'Think you can keep your head down that long?'

GOLFER: 'I'd move heaven and earth to break 100 on this course.'
CADDY: 'Try heaven, you've already moved the earth.'

GOLFER: 'Do you think my game is improving?'
CADDY: 'Yes sir, you miss the ball much closer now.'

GOLFER: 'Do you think I can get there with a 5 iron?'
CADDY: 'Eventually.'

GOLFER: 'You've got to be the worst caddy in the world.'
CADDY: 'I don't think so sir. That would be too much of a coincidence.'

GOLFER: 'Please stop checking your watch all the time. It's too much of a distraction.'
CADDY: 'It's not a watch – it's a compass.'

GOLFER: 'How do you like my game?'
CADDY: 'Very good sir, but personally, I prefer golf.'

GOLFER: 'Do you think it's a sin to play on Sunday?'
CADDY: 'The way you play, sir, it's a sin on any day.'

GOLFER: 'This is the worst course I've ever played on.'
CADDY: 'This isn't the golf course. We left that an hour ago.'

#1 Best Caddy Comment –

GOLFER: 'That can't be my ball, it's too old.'
CADDY: 'It's been a long time since we teed off, sir.'

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Father/Daughter Team


Dad and I played in the Fifth Annual Golf Tournament benefiting the Sandhills Coalition.  It was a captain's choice format and we definitely held our own, finishing 2 under par (is that right, Dad?).  Two other residents from BelleMeade rounded out the foursome.  During the banquet afterward, we got recognized as being the only father/daughter team participating.  Tow highlights - seeing and hearing from Peggy Kirk Bell, the 90 year old "Maven" of women's golf and owner of Pine Needles Country Club (host of last year's Women's Open), AND my surprise win of the fabulous (pictured) UNC Tarheels golfbag and Lynx driver!!  The story I told Norman is my "longest drive" on #15 won me the bag, but it was actually my winning raffle ticket, #253.  Funny thing, he never questioned the fact that I had the longest drive!  Let's take a poll on just how long it takes him to read this blog!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Birthday Girl

We celebrated JoAnne's 77th birthday yesterday (7/18) by having dinner at Elliott's with Karen and Norman. It was a wonderful evening. On Wednesday Karen and Norman hosted a birthday dinner at E. Indiana Avenue serving lamb chops. Uummm good! All in all, I have to say despite all the years, she still looks pretty good.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

The Cabinet


Anne's post re Gracie's talents in the kitchen prompted my yearning for any one of my three girls to be here with me in my time of need.  I do a lot of personal business on my computer at home and my desk has become more and more cluttered with unorganized papers (as has the kitchen table, the top of the washing machine and my underwear drawer).  I decided I needed a filing cabinet.  I didn't want to put an ugly Staples-variety 2 drawer metal cabinet in my beautiful kitchen, so upon googling "decorative file cabinets"  I discovered the perfect piece - a red, antique finished console.  When I saw the huge box sitting on my front porch I was so excited!  I tore into it only to find a 50 page set of "building" instructions, 1000 screws, sliders braces, etc etc etc.  Where are my girls when I need them?!  Anyone who knows the Thompson girls, knows that their idea of a perfect, rainy Sunday afternoon is spent with such a project.  So here I sit, waiting for Rudy (our favorite albeit crazy, handyman).

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Gracie Master Chef

Either Gracie is a culinary prodigy or just very good at bluffing. Since coming to Kansas City earlier this summer, she claims not to know how to boil water and yet she has amazed us time and time again with her skills in the kitchen. She can follow a recipe, yes, but even more impressive: she can improvise a recipe into something even more delicious using nothing more than the ingredients we have lying around the house plus her own ingenuity!

Case in point: Justin and I were out of town and Gracie whipped up the most incredible chicken salad I have ever tasted - with sour cream instead of mayo, capers instead of relish, plus a dash of white wine vinegar, chopped cucumbers, green onion, and a couple of other surprising ingredients I'm sure I'm forgetting.

For our 4th of July BBQ fiesta, Gracie reinvented one of mom's old standbys (pasta primavera) and made it her own with a whole new set of veggies, red pepper flakes, feta, and her own brand of vinaigrette. It was the hit of the party, with several people requesting the recipe.

Most recently, Gracie decided to bake regular old Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies, but found herself 1/4 C of butter short. No problem - she decided cream cheese would be a good substitute and - 10-12 minutes later, we had some of the most delectable, most perfectly-textured cookies I have ever tasted.

Needless to say, we are very impressed and very sad at the prospect of losing her at the end of the month!!

Monday, July 7, 2008

New Toy

Ralph is now the proud owner of a new iMac. It has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor that smokes along at 2.66 GHz, 4 GB of RAM and a 300 GB hard drive. Drool everybody. 

Thursday, July 3, 2008

New Page Elements

Sharp gazette readers will notice a couple of changes to the sidebar of this website. We are now featuring our very first readership poll. Check it out on the top of the Lefthand sidebar. As soon as you enter your vote you will see the total results of all gazette voters. This poll is structured so that you can choose more than one option, but they don't all have to be like that. Do you have a question that you'd like the Gazette readership polled on? Let me know!

Also, at the bottom of the sidebar is a listing of Gazette readers' websites for all purposes. Do you have a website that you want to share? Let me know, and I'll post it up!