Ethnic Enrichment Festival

Along with several folks from PVBC Young Adult Large Group I went to the Ethnic Enrichment Festival on Saturday. There were booths from about 40 cultures as well as food, crafts, music and dance exhibits, and assorted other pieces of culture. I personally tried some Ugali with goat from the Kenyan booth which tastes like a mixture of couscous and mashed potatoes. Many Kenyan runners eat this to help fuel their endeavors. For desert, I had some apricot torte from Lithuania and washed it all down with some Guava juice from Columbia.












For more pictures check out the Community Faces link.

Ryan Hall

Check out this great interview with US Marathon Olympian Ryan Hall. He is an outstanding runner and someone to root for in the Olympics. He also is a Christian with a strong walk which is very apparent from this interview with "Sharing the Victory."

Looking in the Mirror

Do you ever look at yourself in the mirror? Really look. Not just check your appearance. What does your face say about your outlook on life? Where are you going? What is written in it? Do you stop for introspection and ask yourself who you really are? When no one's around and it's just you and the mirror do you take a moment to reflect on what you really see in yourself?

I think this can be a useful exercise in gaining a visual representation of your emotional, mental, and physical state. We can get caught up in the busyness of life and just check appearances, make sure the exterior is in place and not pause to check out the interior. Next time you look into a mirror take a moment to reflect on how you look inside. Are you all hustle and bustle or calm and collected? Does God's peace sit beneath the exterior?

A Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story...

A Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium By: Joe Parkin

Anyone who has even the most cursory knowledge of cycling has heard of the Tour de France, the granddaddy of all cycling races. And for Americans in present day, the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong go hand in hand. Armstrong's books give a view from the front of the pack and what it's like to be one of the most dominant cyclists in the world. A Dog in a Hat contrastingly provides a view from inside the professional European peloton.

After graduating from high school Parkin determined to become a professional cyclist rather than pursuing college like so many of his peers. Rather than hanging around the US cycling world, he received advice to cut his teeth racing in Belgium. So, after saving up money for plane fare to Belgium, he hopped on a flight and was on his way to becoming a "for real" cyclist.

He begins as an amateur and after performing well in some races, eventually attracts the attention of pro teams. His next year is spent learning the ins and outs of the professional world and making rookie mistakes. Along with learning the cycling world he also learns the Belgian culture and begins picking up on Flemmish and Dutch which are the primary local languages.

The quirky title of the book comes from a local expression basically meaning something out of the ordinary. Parkin learns to look for "a dog in a hat" in races when someone is about to make a break, as well as in general life as he adjusts to the rigors of being a professional cyclist in a foreign country.

While Parkin hears of drug use by cyclists prior to coming to Europe, he witnesses it first hand in many races where fellow teammates and competitors regularly use performance enhancing drugs. He also learns of various sordid methods used to beat drug testing. The reader witnesses this dirty side of the sport through his rookie eyes and sees his struggle to maintain integrity while still performing at a high level.

He also learns about the somewhat controversial part of European races where races are sold. This occurs when a breakaway is in progress and one of the riders pays the others to allow him to win. Though this does not make sense to those with a squeaky clean fairness mentality, the practice occurs regularly in European bike races.

For those uninitiated with the sport of cycling, it is very much team oriented and the book does a good job at explaining the ins and outs of working as a team to get the chosen teammate to the finish line before other teams. Overall, though definitely at the pro level, Parkin is not one of the elite riders and as a result serves as a work horse to allow fellow teammates the ability to rest in his slipstream, help when the main rider has bike trouble, control the pace of the peloton, etc. Parkin works his way up from a being on a low level team to riding on a more respected team by the end of his European career.

Throughout the book, you want to root for him to do well and have success despite some of the modest results. It feels in ways like a "Rudy" story based on his desire and heart to be a great cyclist.

Whether you're a hard core cycling fanatic or are passingly aware of the Tour de France each year, you will enjoy this page turning chronicle of a young man's coming of age as a cyclist in Europe. It might even inspire you to dust off that old bike sitting in the closet and take it for a spin.

If you found this review helpful, please let Amazon.com know at this link.

Quote of the Day

If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.

Tim's Ordination

Here are a few pictures from my friend Tim's Ordination and the celebration party afterwards.

Quote of the Day

"The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both." -- James Michener

The Progression from Mountain Man to Boy Wonder

So 3 years ago I began the quest on the trail of the bearded man. It began as full beard then went to goatee then back to full beard then back to goatee. Recently, the Drew Manchu was introduced followed by the 'stache with the end result of once again arriving at a state of smooth faced. Having facial hair certainly saves on time getting ready in the morning but I believe I'll try the smooth faced look for a while.

July 4th Fireworks

Here are some firework pictures from the park close to where I live as well as looking down at Worlds of Fun.

Stars and Stripes

Here are some pictures from the weekend of June 28-29 where Pleasant Valley Baptist Church set up more than 3000 flags for their patriotic service.

Serve KC

Over the past few weekends, I've assisted with the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church Serve KC projects at Synergy Women's Shelter and City Union Mission. We poured a concrete slab and repaired a fence at Synergy and did a large amount of landscaping at City Union Mission.













Check out more pictures of these events at the Community Faces webpage.

Guitar Tuning

If you ever need to tune a guitar but have no tuner or other intstrument to tune to, never fear, there are alternative methods. If you have access to a dial tone for a phone, the note is an F so simply tune the first fret of the Low E string to the dial tone. Alternatively, if you have internet access, go to tunemybass.com which will play audible notes to tune the guitar to.

Quote of the Day

The irony of the stock market is that both the buyer and the seller believe they made the right move.

Improve Your Gas Mileage

Over the past month or so, I've started driving around 55 to 60 mph on the highway versus up around the speed limit of 65 mph. This has resulted in improved gas mileage of around 1.5 to 2 miles per gallon. I get around 25.5 to 26 cumulative mpg following this new pattern. I'd heard of gas mileage savings by driving at a slower speed but had not previously tried it.

This will end up extending a tank of gas by roughly 1 gallon per tank. I fill up an estimated 26 times per year so at 26 x $4 that equals a savings of $104 per year just by driving 5 to 10 mph slower. Many people fill up more frequently than this so they could potentially save even more. Try it, it works.

To find out the cheapest gas in your area try out one of these links MSN Auto Gas Prices or Gasbuddy.com.

Dierks Bentley Concert

Here are some pictures from the May 29th, 2008 Dierks Bentley concert in the Power & Light District in downtown Kansas City. Dierks is a great entertainer and put on a quality show. The place was packed with several thousand people all over the courtyard and in the balcony.

If you are interested in licensing one of these pictures, please leave a comment on this entry with contact information and intended use.







Additional pictures are also viewable at this link.

Jesse James: The Last Rebel of the Civil War

Jesse James: The Last Rebel of the Civil War by T.J. Stiles

This is one of the most in depth and well researched biographies that I have ever read. Stiles did extensive investigation into primary sources when performing the research for the book.

There is a great deal of perception of Jesse James as a larger than life myth. Much of what he did was very much grounded in the history of his time and focuses on the Civil War as a driving force behind his actions and behavior.

James's father was a Baptist minister who left the family to go to California during the gold rush in 1849. While there, he contracted an illness and died when Jesse was still a young boy. This left his mother to raise Jesse and his siblings on her own until eventually remarrying.

The James family owned a good sized farm with quite a few slaves and so had a vested interest in maintaining the slavery structure. They were very much a part of the Confederate mindset and supported that side during the Civil War.

Jesse joined his brother as a teenager during the Civil War by banding together with a bunch of "bushwhackers" who were basically guerrillas (or terrorists depending on how you look at it) on the Confederate side. They would walk up to Union sympathizers who were often neighbors and point blank kill them in cold blood simply for being supporters. This instilled fear in the local populace and a general sense of uncertainty and terror.

People from the Union side did similar types of things to Confederates namely Jayhawkers from Kansas. Missouri during the civil war and the days afterwards had a feel like that of Iraq today. People of differing ideological backgrounds resorted to violence and force to push their political agendas and philosophies.

Following the war James stayed with the bushwhackers until they gradually dissipated. At first they targeted banks to rob with Union ties for political reasons. Eventually, however, the targets became less political and more for pure monetary gain.

One of the primary reasons for Jesse James's notoriety and fame was his frequent correspondence with newspapers. He was a voracious reader and constantly maintained his innocence in letters to editors. Newspaper man John Edwards became a champion for James and glorified him and his gang in articles. He cast them as heros and icons for the Confederate political agenda and used them in print to help advance political purposes. In that day, newspapers were very openly partisan and did not try to maintain an appearance of neutrality as news agencies do today.

As James et al gained more and more fame and notoriety, public outcry became much more pronounced against them while encouraging local and state officials to crack down and bring them to justice. After stealing from express companies similar to Wells Fargo who operated primarily via railroad, private business interest arose in tracking them down and preventing future robberies.

His gang branched out into other states as well such as Iowa, Tennessee, Minnesota, Kentucky, and West Virginia obtaining national attention.

The Pinkertons a private investigative agency were hired to find them but most of their efforts were fruitless considering the James/Younger gang's support from local friends and their knowledge of the backwoods.

On several occasions, Jesse was injured in gun fights some requiring lengthy recovery times. All told though he personally probably killed at least 20 men so came out on plus side from his battles.

The gang eventually met their match while trying to rob a bank in Minnesota where the people fought back and injured or killed many members of the gang. Jesse and his brother barely escaped back to Missouri once word got out and posses were gathered to track them down.

Jesse never could settle down to a life of honest work which resulted in his downfall. He was constantly suspicious of those around him but gathered a new gang to continue his exploits. A couple of brothers in his new gang plotted to kill him and eventually succeeded, collecting a hefty reward in the process.

Stiles book reads like a combination of a pure history and real life historical novel. The first 200 pages are primarily devoted to the historical background of the Civil War and environment James grew up in. The last 200 pages are focused more on Jesse's emergence as a bank/train/stagecoach robber, leader of a gang, and Confederate symbol. As mentioned on the book cover, Stiles debunks the myth that James was a form of Robin Hood and was instead mostly interested in his own fame and fortune.

At times the book moves slowly and is exhaustive in its coverage of the material but if the reader stays with it, he or she will have a very complete picture of Jesse James and the history of Missouri during the Civil War and the decades afterwards.

If you found this review helpful, please let Amazon know here.

Spaghetti Fiscal Year End

Last June saw the genesis of the Spaghetti Score (see here for original post). Over the course of the year I've eaten spaghetti 58 times. This equates to 1.12 times per week. This feature of the Wisdom of Dre has generated a slight bit of interest offline so plans are to keep it in affect in the coming year. To see the current score, be sure to check in the side column under the Spaghetti Score section.