I Bought a New Camera: The Samsung Galaxy S5

I bought a nice new 16 megapixel camera. It fits in my pocket and is water resistant. It doubles as a phone and even has the internet! Here are some examples of the photo quality out of the camera.
If you'll notice in the photo of the sewing machine the background is blurred. That's actually a feature that mimics the depth of field you get from SLR and DLSR cameras. Just gives the photos a look like they've come from a high quality camera. The list of features on this phone is ridiculous. Voice commands for everything. Camera that shoots in slow motion video and super high def video. It even has a built in heart rate monitor as gimmicky as that is. The way this happened is I took one of my "Scrabble bitches" to the Verizon store on Thursday after work because her son (who lives in Portland, OR) had suggested that she get an iPhone and she wanted someone to help her at the store. Karen is 70yo and has only very limited experience with a pay-as-you-go flip phone that she always left turned off except when she needed it in emergencies. So this was going to be a big step up. The salesperson pointed us in the direction of the Galaxy because of its larger screen and the ease of a "Simple Mode" that can be engaged for people just like Karen. And they quoted her a price on a 1gig data plan that was equal to what I currently pay for my dummy phone with NO data plan. I fell in love with the phone and the price made it a no brainer. So I did a little research and pulled the trigger yesterday. Very happy with my purchase. I am going to love having a nice camera with me at all times! Sidenote: I am on the Verizon network now. I used to be with AT&T.

Throttle Cables Lubed

Even before I got back from AR, I knew I wanted to resolve my sticky / binding throttle cable. It was beginning to fatigue my throttle hand and I was always getting blisters on that hand. So I did some research on the board. I checked the area between the plastic throttle tube and the handlebar. I lubed that and it did nothing. I wound up taking the throttle box apart and re-routing the cables. I had read on the board that the cables should run parallel and should not overlap. That may be good that I did that for the cable routing, but it did nothing to diminish the binding. I pulled on the cable to try and open the throttle and couldn't even budge the thing. So, after a phone call to John and a little instruction, I gravity fed some THREE IN ONE oil down into the throttle cables until oil came out where the cables meet the carbs. That is what eventually fixed the binding. All good now. See the video below. I had read that you're supposed to spray graphite into the cables or some sort of silicone spray. But I've always read in repair manuals that oil is fine to funnel in there. And I usually take John's word as it is informed by many bikes, years, and miles of experience.

"Snip Snip"

Well, fellas, it's officially hiking and riding season. Hiking spells ticks and biking means helmet hair. So, out come the clippers. Snip snip.

Cold Weather Gear

This is another one where the pic ALMOST says it all. These two fellas didn't quite pack warm enough for the fall rally 2012. A trip to the local Dollar General store (for the purchase of these distinguished sweat shirts) was their solution. I remember walking in to the Pizza Hut a little late for dinner to see these two characters. It just made me laugh. I shouldn't make fun; I think Neal shared his pizza with me that night.

I Was a Karaoke God Last Night

I went back and looked at the calendar to try and figure out the exact night that my mormon friend took me to karaoke for the first time. I think it was September 13. She asked me to go with her and she's such a fun gal, I couldn't refuse. I reluctantly agreed to actually participate by singing at least one song, but I told her I would mostly be there to clap for her. I was nervous of course. I think the first song I sang was "If I Only Had a Brain" from "The Wizard of Oz", and that's mainly because I know all the words. We sang Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman" as a duet. We laughed and had such an incredible time. One of the most memorable performances was from some white guy who got up and sang "When Doves Cry" while two girls danced for him over on the side. It was like an improv comedy act. We laughed so hard that night. I could not believe how great a time I had. I was hooked from that night. I told a bunch of people from work about it. I couldn't stop talking about it for a week at least.

The following week, I went back. None of my friends were interested in going, so I went alone. I think I sang FIVE songs that night. And I realized that the more preposterous the song choice, the better. Johnny Cash and Elvis…..those are predictable song choices for me. But a week or two later, I realized Jackson Five and Prince songs are way funnier for a guy like me. I've sung a Jay Z song ("99 Problems") even. I thought Biz Markie's "Just a Friend" was off the charts, but I got blank stares from that particular crowd….likely just because it's such an strangely peculiar song.

I thought I had hit an all-time high when I sang "Kiss" by Prince a few weeks ago. I figured "THAT one is going down in the books." But last night I was a karaoke god. I sang "Roxanne" by the Police. I can hit those high notes like a champ. When I finished, the DJ said, "That, ladies and gentleman, is why I have been doing karaoke every weekend for the last ten years." I got a couple high fives on my way back to my seat. The guy at the table next to me turned and shook my hand and told me how great I did. I heard the next fella go onstage and say, "How can I be expected to follow THAT?"

A little while later, a good singer got up and sang "Georgia on my mind." I was feeling ballsy and decided to get out of my comfort zone even more. I noticed three women sitting alone and so I went and asked if any of them wanted to dance with me. Dana took me up on the offer. A slow dance. A bit later, her friend Laura asked me what kind of dance moves I had and so I busted out my best Running Man, which I have mastered, by the way! I asked if I could sit with them and by that point I was being called up on stage to sing my next song: Pat Benetar's "We Belong". I told Dana she had to be my muse for the performance. I gave it hell. She was dancing around me and hugging on me….all whilst I was singing. Then, about midway through - at a sort of crescendo in the song - Dana ripped my pearly button snap shirt completely open. And I mean all the way open. So there I am singing Pat Benetar, bare-chested in front of a room full of strangers. I didn't skip a beat. By then it had turned into a duet, though I was doing most of the heavy lifting as no one else seems quite as comfortable SCREAMING into the microphone. That's one of my strengths; I project.

By the way, bear in mind that this is all done WITHOUT the aid of any amount of alcoholic beverages. All stone sober. Though it may help that other people are drinking.

I stayed until at least 1:30am last night. On the way home, reflecting back on an overall kick ass weekend that contained a lot of social activity, I thought sincerely, "My life can't get much better than this." Sure, in theory it COULD. But last night, I was convinced that nothing could have made my life any better than it was at that moment. Getting out, meeting people, making my own fun, finding people to connect with, finding people to have fun with, breaching my comfort zone, getting out of my head, laughing my ass off.... Living well.

Skeen Family

My grandfather was in the Navy in the second World War. When he was fortunate enough to return home, he married my grandmother and bought a tract of rock-strewn land in East Tennessee. They started a family there in Rocky Valley, and it all began with my mom around 1949. They had five daughters in all. Luckily the camera was rolling, at least for about five or six years back in the early Sixties.

The Skeen Family / Ratatat "Cherry" from Douglas Kivett on Vimeo.

A Good Used Shirt

I am a whore for the open road. I did a whirlwind tour into Arkansas just two weeks ago. But the weatherman was calling for beautiful, unseasonably mild weather this past weekend. So off to Arkansas I went again.

I left at 7am on Saturday. It's late July so I went out with a t-shirt and a mesh riding jacket. Within 10 miles or so, I realized I had made a mistake. The temp was hovering around 60 degrees. It was overcast and I was freezing my ass off. But I thought it would burn off and I would warm up fast. So I toughed it out….just waiting for the thaw. No such luck. By mile 100, I had made a pass through Nevada, MO, looking for any open thrift stores. At a gas station, I stuffed my coat (mostly the arms) with paper towels from the bathroom. This impromptu insulation (a trick John taught me) helped a little, but it didn't solve the problem. I caught myself scanning the side of the highway for exploded luggage.….perhaps I could scavenge a shirt for myself the way vultures clean up roadkill. I didn't want to go into a Wal-Mart because I had my tank bag with me. I was even considering propositioning summer travelers for spare clothing - with the promise of returning the item by mail on Monday morning. I kept thinking, "This is Saturday; surely someone will be having a yard sale once I get off the highway." I was happy as a clam when I rounded the corner in Sarcoxie, MO and spied this little oasis.

I bought the first thing I laid hands on, which took all of ten seconds to locate. The lady only wanted a quarter for the long sleeve shirt I picked out. But I gave her a dollar and told her it was worth way more than 25 cents to me. I jokingly asked her if it cost a hundred dollars. She clearly didn't understand the law of supply and demand. I exposed my bare chest to her for a dollar, and then I was back on the road.



This time I went through Kingston, Ponca, Mt Sherman, Low Gap (where I hit that deer), Jasper and then to Mt Judea. I did the phenomenal part of 123 that we all love. But then I took the lower leg of 123 as well. I had to turn around and come back since that's the opposite direction of Mountain View. But that gave me the chance to hit it in both directions. Then 16 over to Marshall. I took 27 to Harriet and then on to Mountain View. We bypass 27 most times, but that is one kick ass stretch of road. I think we quit taking that route because of all the logging trucks, but it has been resurfaced and is quite the roller coaster. I took a handful of roads this time that I haven't taken in a while and I was pleasantly surprised by each one. It added some nice variety. I even hit Push Mountain Road before I arrived at Jack's Resort for dinner. Hush puppies with tartar sauce, pinto beans, and a baked potato. $4 for dinner.

I checked in at the Dogwood motel by 7:30pm. 525 miles for the first day. I took a shower and then headed to the town square at around 9pm. I took in a few hours of wonderful bluegrass and folk music. Great music as always. Quite a big turnout. I left close to midnight and I spotted this small group of folks still going at it. There was a young girl all of probably 9 years old singing Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon Over Kentucky". What a sight…..on a lonesome Arkansas street corner at midnight on Saturday night. Doesn't get much better than that.

Sunday was more of the same. I had to hit hwy9 before I left town. Then up 14 to Push Mountain Road for another up and down pass. Then on to Yellville. At this point, I know the ferry boat schedule, so I planned my arrival accordingly. That's where I got that nice pic of my bike with Bull Shoals lake in the background. I boarded the ferry boat with a full length camper. That was a first. He took up the whole length of the right side of the ferry. I talked for a while to the guy pulling the camper. Nice fella. We impressed each other with our complete and thorough knowledge of every town and road in that area. I passed him half an hour later in a corner on 125. I could see through the corner, but I'm sure I looked like a total squid coming around him in a sweeper, leaned over, with my hand raised in a friendly wave. Speaking of passes, I have decided that passes are most enjoyable when you don't have to slow down at all for them. In other words, if you're hauling balls (correction - hauling ball) and you come up on a driver and you overtake them at your current speed (fast) without ever having to break or even really accelerate…..those are the nice ones. I made a couple of those on 125. Timing has to be just right, but it's fun when it works out that way.
The rest of Sunday was pretty much just getting home. the last 160 or so miles is just slab. I stopped at an old abandoned building in Chadwick and happened to luck up and find some nice ripe blackberries. That was a unique treat. It's fun when you can tear up the corners and put down a lot of miles, but you still find time to stop and pick some blackberries along the way.

About 80 miles from KC, I stopped at Taco Bell for an early dinner. Mental acuity begins to lag by that point in the weekend and it's nice to stop and recoup and wait for a second wind. That's where I took this cool pic of my hand. I wanted to document how my throttle hand blisters are becoming calluses. But then I realized that I could see the blurred image of my Rex in the background and I liked the photo even more.

I finished out the weekend with about 950 miles done. I was home by 6:30pm Sunday evening. There is no moral to this story. I like riding and I had a free weekend. Joe B gave me some sound advice when I told him I was considering going back to Arkansas this weekend: "Do it."

991 miles in 36 hours.

Deciding to go to Arkansas alone on my motorcycle is tough. I worry a little about how I will deal with mishaps or mechanical problems without my crew there to “save my life” as Neal so elegantly puts it. But I do it from time to time because I know that bumps in the road are part of the journey - better cherished if not avoided. I don’t know how much I “cherished” hitting that deer a year and a half ago, but such is life.

I left Kansas City early Saturday morning at around 6:30am. I was in Eureka Springs by 11am. I made great time, and from there I knew it was ALL TWISTIES for the rest of the day. I made my way down hwy-23 and took hwy-16 east. I hit some “side road attractions” along the way, including doing a pass up and down hwy-123. I stopped a guy on a Ducati for a “bear report” before making my run on hwy-123. No cops, but by that point the sky had become overcast and I knew there would be deer out. Sure enough, I saw 2 or 3 deer in the middle of the day. Same thing for hwy-16 as I was heading over to Marshall. But that forced me to stay off the gas in the straights and to be aggressively scanning for wildlife.

I made it to Mountain View by 5pm, which was my goal. I didn’t want to be riding at dusk. I checked into the Dogwood Motel, took a shower, and then headed out to Jack’s Resort for dinner. It was 6:30pm by then and still overcast and nearing dusk. But even with the deck stacked against me, I couldn’t help but hit hwy-9 since I was right there at the turn off. My cards showed 20, but... “Hit me again, dealer.” A nice fun pass up and down Nine before my dinner of pinto beans and hush puppies at Jack's.


I headed back into town after dinner and enjoyed some nice folk music down in the town square. Beautiful weather and it being a Saturday night meant there was a pretty good turnout for the music. I absolutely love the music scene there. The town gets good money for the festivals it holds and the Folk Center pumps a lot of that back into folk music classes for the kids in the community. It's great to see kids no bigger than a guitar playing the fiddle and playing it well. One highlight of the evening was getting to hear a rendition of Dolly Parton's "Mule Skinner Blues", a song I have liked for years.


Sunday was more of the same. I had breakfast in town and was on the road by 8:30am. I hit hwy-9 one more time on my way out of town. Then hwy-14 to Yellville (hitting Push Mountain Road along the way) and on to the ferry boat. I backtracked and enjoyed hwy-160 in Missouri because Neal and I had discovered in May how nice that road is. Then I hit hwy-125 three times before I called it quits. Hwy-125 is the last great road, so I had to make it last. Easily one of THE best roads in the area and hands-down the best road I have found in Missouri.

The last 160 or so miles is just pure slab. I called it the dentist's chair. You climb up in the chair and go to your happy place. You make small talk with a guy who has his fist in your mouth and you just try to get through it so you can go to work later and not break down crying. It's unpleasant but has to get done. I hate slab.

NOTEABLE: 991 miles in 36 hours. I referenced my map exactly ZERO times. That's how well I know those roads down there. Zero contact with law enforcement. It kicked all kinds of ass. I hit ALL the best roads: hwy9, hwy123, hwy341, hwy125 and a lot of other good ones in between. I had a little bit of a "body hangover" Monday morning, but this bender was worth it.

The RidicuLoop

I installed the braided brake lines and clutch line this week. The weather was perfect and the bike too, so I decided to plan a ridiculous loop (The "Ridiculoop") up north of the city to explore some of the alphabet roads around here. Alphabet roads being Missouri state highways with letters instead of numbers.
With the exception of one small road that I was unable to find, I managed to stick to the route completely....even when the pavement ended and turned to gravel. I maybe dealt with 5 or 7 miles of gravel over two stretches of road. I have to say I really enjoy painstakingly coming up with a good route by pouring over Google Maps. Taping the route to the tank is badass for some reason. And I like trying to navigate it to the letter.
I was rewarded with a decent number of twisties. Not anything near as good as Arkansas, but it'll do in a pinch. 217 miles for the day. No incidents or contact with law enforcement. I'm approaching 53k on the odometer.
Forgive the quality of the pics as they were taken with my crappy cell phone.
As for the last pic.....I just held my breath and prayed it wouldn't slip out of first gear while I snapped a photo.

That's a Cold Ass Honkey

This is another one of those blog posts that pretty much writes itself. I heard this song for the first time a week or so ago. Actually, someone told me about it before I heard it. They said it reminded them of yours truly because most of my close friends know I'm a hard core, to the max, balls to the wall, rock-out-with-my-cock-out thrift store junkie. I'm a Lieutenant Colonel in the Salvation Army. I've been hitting thrift stores since I was in high school. Shoes, boots, pants, wool socks, t-shirts, thermal long johns, dress shirts, the coat I'm wearing this winter. All of it bought at thrift stores. I even have a couple pairs of high dollar boxer briefs I bought at a thrift store; they looked BRAND NEW. So anyway, back to the song. I pulled up the video tonight and the first thing I noticed is that the dude is riding a SCOOTER. No, not quite a Footbike, but dang close. And then at one point in the song, he mentions buying a broken keyboard, which I did just this year. Watch video and see support photos. The shirt in the photo of me below (holding the keyboard)....people love that shirt. Pic doesn't do it justice. Strangers approach me to tell me how great that shirt is. And yes, bought at a thrift store just this year. Oh yeah....Brooke Shields poster in the background? I've owned that since the mid nineties. Thrift store find.

Highway 123

I could post up some big long story to go along with the pic. But we all know how this story goes.

Ipod Mini UPGRADE

I've been using the same music set up on my bike for years now and I can't imagine riding distances without my tunes. For those interested, I use the iPod Mini in conjunction with a Griffin Airclick wireless, full-function remote. I mount the remote to my handlebars and never have to go fishing in my coat to turn my music on or off. The remotes are $5 SHIPPED on ebay. Cheap and available. So recently I decided it would be a good idea to buy a backup Ipod Mini for when mine finally dies. I started looking around on ebay and found that people are actually taking these old minis and upgrading them from a spinning hard drive (called a microdrive) to static memory using an ordinary CF (Compact Flash) memory card that many DSLR cameras still use today. The benefits of the upgrade are that the ipod will no longer be prone to hard drive failure if you drop it, the static memory is just more reliable, and the battery life is improved because you're not spooling up a hard drive. But arguably the biggest benefit is that you can expand the memory from the factory 4 or 6GB to as much as 128GB. A 128GB CF card is not cheap, but a more moderate upgrade to 16GB will only set you back $22.91 from Amazon dot com.

I procured 2 working Minis recently for $20 each. One from Craigslist and one from the Want Ads at work. I've also scored 4 more off ebay recently. They were sold in paired lots. Those were cheaper at around $12 each. I figured I would "hop" one of these up for John as well since he has been trying to get a wireless set up as well. By the way, here's what one of these tiny microdrives looks like on the inside. Skip through the video and see how cool this little drive is. About 1.5 inches long and tall and a couple of millimeters thick. Pretty cool.
And here's the workstation. I won't go into the details about HOW to take the ipod apart. Just takes a lot of patience. There are plenty of DIY pictorials on the internet about how to do this task. But the CF card is a straight plug in to where the old microdrive was. It's a 50 pin connector. Simple as can be once you get the dang thing apart. I tried it with a couple of old 2GB CF cards first just to make sure it actually worked. When I had success, I went ahead and ordered a couple of 16GB CF cards off Amazon. I had enough Cashback from Discover to pay for it. Fun Money!!!

While I was at it, I decided to go ahead and upgrade the battery in this one as well. From the factory, these came with a 400mah lithium ion battery. That battery in my old faithful Mini used to last me a full day of riding in Arkansas. I never had my battery go dead on me once. However, I had to charge the battery every single night. The upgrade: I purchased TWO brand new 1300mah batteries off ebay for $7.28 SHIPPED. So, in theory, if I'm understanding MAH ratings correctly, these new batteries should last me over three times as long as factory......IF I were still running the old microdrive. I would expect the battery to last even longer now that I've upgraded to static / flash memory. And the result: My first 16GB capacity Ipod Mini.

Suzuki TU250X

I had a fun test drive on a little bike yesterday afternoon. I have a coworker who has just gotten into motorcycling. He took the MSF course a few weeks ago and during the class, they had him riding around on the new Suzy TU250x. It's a fuel injected 250cc bike. He (my coworker) had looked around for an old UJM to cafe out but he kept coming back to that Suzy because he remembered feeling good on the bike. He's a tall fella - probably 6'02" or more, but slender. Anywho, he found a 2011 with 75 miles on it and he pulled the trigger. Got a good deal. But he didn't feel comfortable riding the bike the 40 miles back to his place as the MSF course didn't actually give him any real riding time on the street. I respect him for knowing his limits. So, I jumped on the opportunity to ride it home for him. After work yesterday, in 105 degree heat, I donned FULL riding gear and rode this little bike back to his house on back roads. I mapped out a really good route and had a lot of fun on the ride. I had it up to about 75mph (indicated) at one point, and the next minute I was rolling past a cop sitting on the side of the road clocking people. Luckily I had already "scrubbed off speed" (HA!!!!), and the cop paid little attention to me, but I kept glancing back in my mirror just to be sure. What a badge of honor it would have been to get a ticket for speeding on a 250cc. We got to his place and I was soaking wet with sweat. But it really was a blast and well worth the oppressive heat.

I love riding new (to me) bikes. And the little SUZY is a great starter bike. A VERY wise decision on his part. It has enough power to keep you going at highway speeds - though I probably wouldn't do much interstate travel on the bike. The fuel injection makes it essentially maintenance free. And to top it all off, I personally think the bike looks great. It has really grown on me.

The very best part was his two boys literally squealing with joy when they saw that motorbike. Even his wife was excited to see the bike. Very cool stuff.

The Front End Gets Light...

Approaching 48k miles on the ZRX, I decided it was time to go through the carbs and see how they looked. I also thought it would be a decent swing at the intermittent starting problem I’ve been having. So I rode the bike out to John’s place on Saturday morning. I hadn’t seen his new place since he moved out to the boonies a couple of years ago. It was nice to see his new home in the country. He has spent the last two years transforming it from a junkyard into a habitable and comfortable home place. He reports removing a dozen junk cars, some 25 full-size old-school satellite dishes, and upwards of 10 thousand pounds of other various scrap metal.

As for the carbs, the short answer is they looked pretty good for almost a decade of hard riding and sometimes sitting while I waited out the cold Kansas winters. There was a little bit of varnish buildup, but really nothing worthy of a photo op. John adjusted the float height on the second and third carb, but they weren’t that far off to begin with. Same goes for the carb sync; they were pretty well synced when we started. In lieu of an actual manometer, he used a homemade vacuum gauge device to sync the carbs (see pics). John used the standard clear tube trick to measure fuel levels in the float bowls. I had only heard about the process for measuring fuel level with clear tubes, and I didn’t have a clue about the logic or the physics behind it. So that was an entertaining bit of education for me.

I also changed the spark plugs while we had the gas tank off. I had done this previously, but I remember using long ratchet extensions and it being a little more difficult. This time, John started off by asking me if I had my own plug wrench in my tool kit. Sure enough, I did. John explained that the factory tool kit often contains the best plug wrench for the job. And of course it was. I wound up not really needing any assistance for that part of the job, but it’s always more fun wrenching with a buddy around.

We started at around 9am. We worked right out in the sun on an old rusty workbench in a fair bit of shade. I wound up getting sunburned on the back of my neck. (I’m a bona fide redneck now.) We skipped lunch of course and had the bike buttoned back up around 4:30pm. I test rode the bike first and was pleased. The throttle at idle seems a bit more responsive now. Not sure if that’s in my head, but that’s the only difference I noticed.

I’m not sure why, but John had never ridden my bike. So I suggested he take it out for a spin. Sure enough, the bike wouldn’t start for him. So clearly my intermittent starting problem persists. That’s a story for another day. When the bike finally fired up for John, he carefully crept down to the end of his long gravel driveway. Then – out of my sight but still very much within earshot – John evidently became possessed by the spirit of the great Eddie Lawson himself as he tore south on Missouri Highway Double “H”. A few moments went by and I thought the storm had passed when I heard him (still farther away) wind it through the gears for a second time. When he returned, he was clear that there is nothing wrong with how the bike is performing, other than the front end reportedly “getting real light” in first and second gear. I told him that’s why the imprint of my nose is permanently smudged on the gas gauge.

We decided to head into the nearest town for some Mexican food, so he pulled the SV650 out of the living room and fired her up. We had a good dinner and parted ways at around 7pm. I rode over to a friend’s house and we watched Kansas come back yet again and beat Ohio State to make it into the NCAA basketball Championship game. I flipped my dark shield up and rode home at around 11pm. The air was still warm after a daytime high somewhere in the eighties. It was 25 miles of super slab back to my place, but it was one of the more peaceful rides I’ve had in recent memory. Weary of deer, I kept my speed down and there seemed to be absolutely no wind at all. The round headlight mod really does make a difference. It was just a quiet, calm ride. 99 miles of riding for the day.

The Steamboat Arabia

If you're ever in Kansas City, do yourself a favor and go see the Steamboat Arabia. In downtown, next to the quaint Farmer's Market and a stone's throw from the mighty Missouri River, there sits this awesome museum you've probably never heard of. The story goes this way. In 1853, the Steamboat Arabia left out of Kansas City heading north on the Missouri River. It was fully loaded with goods for homesteaders up the river. But within six miles of departure, the boat snagged a tree and sank. There were no casualties surprisingly, but all those goods went down with the boat and the mud of the Mighty MO sucked it up like quick sand. There the Arabia lay for well over a hundred years. In the 1980's, some average fellas from Kansas City decided to try and find the Arabia. The river had shifted over the years and the boat was found out in the middle of a corn field. The only catch was that it was 45 feet under ground and under an aquifer. If you take the tour, you get the full story and it's a great one. But the bottom line is that the Arabia was found with most all of the original goods still intact. And so the Arabia museum is full of literally TONS of goods, the thousands and thousands of items that were resting 45 feet below the surface in that Kansas corn field. It's like going back in time. Here are a few pics.

That's my boy!

I will not preface this with much. Just watch the video. This is my step son. He taught me the joy of Halo (among other things). We have had a lot of great times and good laughs together. He has a great sense of humor. And now for our feature presentation....