Kurt's Posterous Playground

It was great to see a college buddy I haven't seen in years. One of these photos shows Laura (right) with my wife Janis, last night. First time they'd met. She was visiting from Boston.

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Apparently, the terrorists have won

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:10:46 -0700

The sign says, "Just a friendly reminder: Mini Souvenir Bats Must Be Transported In Checked Luggage. Thank you, TSA."

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Autumn on Rainy Lake Drive

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 07:54:34 -0700

Who needs Maine? Also, reason No. 23 why it's great to have teenagers in the house.

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Nobody speaks in passive voice; why do people write in it?

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 06:22:00 -0700

And here's another thing I hate: "Switch the power button to the 'On' position." How about "turn it on"? It's amazing how many writers won't use one word when six will do.

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Fawn in the back yard

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:49:52 -0700

This little guy seemed lost. It was about 4:50 p.m. today. He didn't run when I pulled into the driveway, or when I left to take Matthew to school 30 minutes later. He was gone when I came back 10 minutes after that.

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John Grogan at Maryville University

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:20:20 -0700

Got to see my old friend tonight on a speaker's tour. Charming as usual. Pleasure to see him...and he's got the crowd in stitches.

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The boys, bundled up against the cold

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:44:46 -0700

Of course, they don't really know what it means to be cold. This is in the family room. Of our house. I can't tell where Snickers ends and Hershey begins.

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Possible Christmas presents for Janis

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:40:36 -0700

Ideas!

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Learning the state capitals

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:40:22 -0700

Matthew is learning the state capitals now, in eighth grade. This toy puzzle is getting more work than it ever got when my kids were little munchkins.

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Yummo on the McFlurry

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:14:55 -0700

A rare chance for lunch with the boy. This was about a week earlier than today.

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Driving in St. Louis

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:12:44 -0700

Forwarded to me by a friend at church. It's pretty amusing, particularly if you know anything about driving in St. Louis.

If you live in St Louis ...You'll understand this.

If you've ever visited St. Louis ... you'll understand this.

If you've never been to St. Louis ...consider this your Visitor's Guide to Driving in St. Louis

1. There are 75 "unofficial neighborhoods" in the City of St. Louis . St. Louisians commonly give directions--especially for restaurants—to strangers based on these neighborhoods, which aren't marked on any maps that are handed out by the tourist board, the AAA or Map Quest.

2. There are 54 school districts--on the Missouri side alone--each of which has their own school bus system with scheduled times to block traffic.

3. There are 91 official municipalities in St. Louis County . Each municipality has its own rules and regulations, and often their own police departments.

4. More importantly, most have their own snow removal contracts so it's not uncommon to drive down a road in winter and have one block plowed, the next salted, the next piled with snow and the last partially cleared by residents wanting to get out of their driveways.

5. Snow plowing is never a problem in the City of St. Louis . They plow nothing, and if the forecast calls for snow, they close everything. Exception "The Hill" (refer to #1 above) where each homeowner goes out to the street and shovels out one car-sized rectangle and then stands watch over it.

6. Any car parked longer than 4 hours on the street in the city is considered a parts store.

7. The City of Ballwin actually proposed that drivers use connecting strip mall parking lots to get from place to place rather than drive on Manchester Road to cut the traffic on Manchester (And for good reason. There is a stoplight at every intersection on Manchester ).

8. Laclede Station Road , McCausland, Lindbergh, Watson, Reavis Barracks, Fee Fee, McKnight, Airport Road , Midland , McKelvey, and Olive mysteriously change names as you cross intersections.

9. Gravois Road, Spoede and Chouteau can be pronounced only by St. Louis natives. (Highway 40 is pronounced as "farty".)

10. A St. Louisian from South County has never or rarely been to North County and vise versa. West County just has everything delivered.

11. No native St. Louisian knows that Lindbergh runs from South County to North County . And if you tell them, they will not believe you.

12. Lindbergh belongs to every neighborhood except Kirkwood , who had the nerve to creatively change the name to " Kirkwood Road " (which may be the reason for number 11.).

13. There are 2 interchanges to exit from Highway 40 onto Clayton Road and 2 for Big Bend . Stay alert, people!

14. If you need directions to O'Fallon, make sure to specify Illinois or Missouri . This is also true for Troy , Maryville , St. Charles , Springfield and Columbia .

15. The Page Avenue extension and Airport expansion projects took over 20 years to get approved. St. Louisians lost track of how many political figures claimed them as their own ideas.

16. St. Louisians were aghast when the federal government required them to redo the highway signs to indicate that the federal highways went to cities in other states instead of local municipalities.

17. Drivers are starting to cut their OWN plates rather than go through the Missouri Department of Motor Vehicles to get new tags. You can also purchase tags from dealers behind Quick Shops in the city. They are cheaper, the clerks are nicer, and the service is faster.

18. Lambert Field and St. Louis International Airport really are the same place. The East Terminal, however, is a different place but also at Lambert/St Louis International.

19. Highway 270 is our daily version of the NASCAR circuit.

20. You can go all four directions on Highway 270: North and South in West County , East and West in South County , and East and West in North County Confused? So are the St. Louis drivers.

21. The outer belt is Highway 270 which turns into Highway 255 in South County . The inner belt is Highway 170. Highway 370 is an outer-outer belt. Highway 40 is the same as Interstate 64 (but only through the middle part of St. Louis .) If you are listening to traffic reports and they are calling it 64, the traffic jam is in Illinois . If they are calling it 40, the traffic jam is in Missouri .

22. The morning rush hour is from 6:00 to 10:00 AM. The evening rush hour is from 3:00 to 7:00 PM. Friday's rush hour starts Thursday morning.

23. Never ever try to cross a bridge in St. Louis during rush hour unless you have a sack lunch and a port-a-potty in the car.

24. "Yield" signs are for decoration only. No native St. Louisian will ever grasp the concept. (Actually, the drivers who are supposed to yield will not, and the drivers who are not supposed to yield will wait politely for the ones who are supposed to yield, so it all works out.)

25. If someone actually has their turn signal on, it is probably a factory defect, or has been on for the last 17 miles.

26. Construction on Highways 40, 64, 70, 255, 270, 44, 55 and 170 is a way of life, and a permanent form of entertainment.

27. All blue-haired old ladies in Cadillac's driving on Olive west of 270 have the right of way.

28. If it snows or rains, stay home!

29. St Charles is whole another story.

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This video is cool as heck

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:15:11 -0700

Now, of course, I want to hear the story behind the video.

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