Randman's World

Charlie had his first two year old meltdown last night. We went to Minsky's Pizza for dinner (the best pizza in Kansas City). We ordered, Charlie colored on the paper tablecloth. Everything was good.

Then, Charlie decides he's done. He starts trying to stand up in his high chair. We put the straps on him. That's it. The waterworks start. The crying. The screaming. I end up taking him outside and walking him around. He calms down and quits crying. Phew. Let's go back inside, because our garlic cheese toast has arrived.

NOPE!

As soon as I touch the door, Charlie starts up again. I put him in his high chair, and try to feed him some toast (which he normally loves). No deal. He screams, he tries to stand up (and the stupid strap on the high chair doesn't hold tight. It loosens when he pulls on it). So, Mommy tries to walk him around outside. He calms down, but as soon as she tries to open the door to come back in, BOOM!

We ended up boxing everything up to go, and head home. Once home, he's fine and dandy. He eats a couple of the chicken nuggets we ordered for him, and is pretty happy.

Oh well. It's started.

I've always said that Kansas City could screw up anything, given enough effort. The latest? In today's KC Star, there's a story that the city is spending 2 million dollars on a public relations campaign to inform citizens that they are replacing the sewers. Really. 2 million dollars? You couldn't just put an insert in my water bill. You have to hire 4 PR firms. Wow.

Then, further down the article, they talk about the fantastic rain garden program. Apparently, the city has spent more than $300,000 to educate the public on the rain garden program.

The results? 71 residents and businesses have built gardens and registered them at the official rain garden Web site. 71. That equates to spending $4,225.36 per rain garden. Just a little short of the goal of 10,000. Wow.

One of the biggest wastes of money I've seen is the "Town of Kansas Pedistrain/Bicycle Bridge". Never heard of it? It's been there since 2002, at the base of Main Street in the River Market. It cost $4.1 million dollars. According to Pitch Weekly, 6/20/02 "Nearing completion is a $4.1 million bridge and elevator that will take pedestrians and bicyclists over the Town of Kansas site, past the flood wall and down to the river. The Port Authority plans to build a restaurant, a boat dock, a road and a parking lot so the spot will be accessible to cars as well."

What is it now? A rusting hulk, tagged with graffiti. Last time I was there, the elevator didn't work. It goes nowhere. No restaurant. No boat dock. Just the bare river edge. I'm not even sure if it meets up with the rest of the riverfront trail. The last I heard, the Corps of Engineers were having issues with the trail in that area (although this was some time ago, and I can't find anything about it online). All in all, a huge waste of money. Wow!

For our upcoming trip to Walt Disney World, I booked flights on AirTran, as they were the cheapest and best flights at the time. Here are the flights I found.

Leave KC Saturday - 9:49 a.m. , Arrive Orlando -3:08 p.m.

then the next Saturday

Leave Orlando - 3:30 p.m., Arive KC - 6:34 p.m.

Not bad flights. So, I booked 7 tickets (as we are traveling with my college friend Matt, his wife Dee and their two sons).

Yesterday, for some reason, I checked the flight information online. They had changed their routes, and now our flights looked like this

Leave KC Saturday - 7:25 a.m.
Are they nuts? Matt and Dee live in Grain Valley. How are they going to get to KCI in time for a 7:25 a.m. flight with two children?

Then, the next Saturday

Leave Orlando 3:48 p.m. Arrive KC At 9:18 p.m.
A 3 hour layover in Atlanta? With kids? Hardly a desirable situation. And home almost 3 hours later?

Then, looking at our original reservation, it says, " Should our flight schedule change, we will notify you by email as early as possible." Oops! Looks like they forgot!

So, I give AirTran a call. After 15 minutes of smooth jazz, and assurances my call is important, I get a very disinterested person on the other end. She starts to read my itinerary to me. I tell her I know what it says. I want to know why it changed. She says, "I don't know. Guess we changed our route". I tell her those flights are not acceptable. I'm put on hold. More smooth jazz.

Finally, she comes back and says, "You can either take those flights, or we'll refund and you can fly someone else." No "Sorry for the change". No "Sorry we didn't let you know like we said we would". No "Let's see if we can find something better" . Just "fly someone else". Guess what. I will fly someone else.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006, at approximately 11:30 a.m., the final bolt was tightened on the swingset. IT IS DONE!

Now, for the moment of truth. As it is Charlie's birthday, I carry him down the deck stairs, and put him on the ground. He starts walking, and then sees the swingset, and takes off running toward it. I smiled very big!

One of my concerns had been that he was not big enough to climb up into the fort, so I would have to lift him up to the slide. I couldn't have been more wrong.

The little monkey climbed up the rock wall like it wasn't there. He even went up the ladder, but I think he likes the rock wall better. I had also bought an add-on steering wheel for the fort, because he liked something similar at the park. It was also a hit!

We played for a while, but it was getting time for Charlie's nap, and he got tired. So, he walked back to the deck, to go up for his nap before the party.

Party time comes, and the kids go outside to play. I am a nervous wreck, because they are giving the swingset a workout. But, it holds up, doesn't collapse, and they have a great time.

Then, it's around front for the Bounce House. Target.com came through, and got it here in time for the party. It's amazingly easy to set up. And Charlie loved it, as well as the other kids.
After some serious jumping fun, it's inside for food and cake. Charlie had a Teletubby cake, of course.
and we bought him a "dig in" cake, also. After a rousing verse of Happy Birthday, we let Charlie dig into his cake. At first, he wasn't sure what to do. He picked at a couple of the decorations,

but then, Mommy showed him he could just dig his little fist right in, so he did.
Then, it was cake and punch for everyone. Charlie got to unwrap gifts, and he did good. Lots of toys, books, music, gift certificates, etc. And not one pair of socks in the bunch.

So, Charlie's 2nd birthday was a huge success. We have such nice friends to spend their day with us. It was a lot of fun.

And now, we enter "THE TERRIBLE TWOS"!

What do you get when you combine 101 2-liter bottles of Diet Coke with 523 Mentos (the fresh maker)? You Get This! Diet Coke and Mentos

I had no idea that Mentos introduced into Diet Coke caused this kind of reaction. Pretty darned cool.

This weekend was "assemble the swingset" time around the household. Derek came over on Saturday and helped me get it started (and I owe him big time for it). We worked for several hours, and got the main fort structure done, but then, it was 90+ and the sun was beating so hard that I called it for the day. Just too hot, and now, too sunburned. But, we got the main fort portion done, and are ready to add the other parts.

So, today, I realize that I really need to figure out a way to level the fort. It's leaning a bit, due to the uneven nature of my backyard. So, I figure I'll build up the dirt around the base of the sides that are low, and then it will be level. So, I start hauling dirt from the easement, and then, get the idea to cut some sections of grass and dirt out of the easement, and place them under. It worked great. The fort was even, and stable.

And then! I decided to see how the slide, stairs and rock wall fit. They didn't. The stairs and rock wall now didn't reach the ground. I built up the sides too high. So, back to where I started. I'm going to have to dig out the high sections to match the low sections. So, all my effort today was for naught.

And, I fought with Target over the bounce house. I ordered it, anticipating it would be here for the party on Wednesday. Only, Target delayed shipping a day, and now the expected arrival is the day after the party. AARRGGHH! I'm hoping to get hold of FedEx, and see if I can pick it up at the warehouse, rather than waiting for them to deliver it. That might shave off a day.

So, I'm sunburned, frustrated, and am now going to have to take a couple days off work to finish.

Charlie is having his first birthday party next week. He'll be two. I know, it's his "Second Birthday" party, but his First "Birthday Party".

Boy, does he have some good stuff coming.

First, he loved it so much at the company picnic, we had to get him one:
I got a good deal, a discount, and used a gift card I earned from staying at Holiday Inn Express so much!

Second: What little boy doesn't need a
SWING SET!

Let's just hope that Daddy can assemble it by the time of the party.

The party theme? Teletubbies, of course. This is going to be a lot of fun, throwing our child his first "Second Birthday" party!

This past weekend was a Charlie weekend, to be sure. We took Charlie to the DFA Company Picnic. It was held at the Agriculture Hall of Fame (and farm museum . . . zzzzzzzzzz). The event had a tropical theme, and Kim found Charlie the cutest tropical shirt.

DFA rented a bouncing castle. We put Charlie in it, and couldn't get him out of it. He loves bouncing in his crib in the morning, where I hold his hands. So, you can imagine an entire bouncy castle, with no Daddy to have to hold onto, and no ouch if you fall down.


Charlie also got to ride a small scale train around the property, and ate some dinner.

Then, on Sunday, we took him to the new Platte County Community Center near Parkville. They have a wonderful new pool area, with a zero entry pool (great for little kids), plus outside, they have a splash area. Charlie loved the waterslide, and demanded to go down it again.


But, unfortunately, there was a bit of a breeze, and he started shivering (although he didn't want to go in). So, we went to the inside pool. We're still not sure if he liked it, or was freightened (sometimes the same face). But, he cried when we left, so we're thinking he enjoyed it.
So, all in all, a good weekend for Charlie. He got to eat some bar-b-que, go swimming (he waited 20 minutes after eating), bounce, and generally get his way the entire time. As it should be.

If you haven't already, you should be continually checking the Unclaimed Property websites from the state that you live in, or have lived in. You never know when unknown money will turn up in your name.

Last year, my name showed up on the Missouri website. Turns out it was dividends from an insurance policy my dad took out on me when I was a baby. $400.00 free dollars.

Then, yesterday, I looked at California's website. I saw my sister's name, and the address we lived at when I was 2. Turns out, she has over $1,000.00 coming from something. Considering that it would be over 40 years old, it could be a simple savings account that has been bearing interest all these years. Who knows? Very cool, though!

So, go out and check. I know some friends who have money waiting for them, as well (Marc, Trish, you really should claim your money).