GENIUS!!!

Planet Sub: Six-inch Turkey Sub for $2
Go to any local Planet Sub location and mention the Royals the day after ALL Royals wins (HOME and AWAY) and receive a 6 inch turkey sub for only $2. No ticket stub/redemption is required.

Give this guy a raise.

I Like. High Five!

The Trip Fives had their first professional photo shoot last night. Man, was it fun.  Our good friend, Clint Sears (here is a look at some of his work), was the eye behind the camera.  The shot above is the only one I've seen so far, but that one is enough to fill me with elation. He did a awesome job.

I have been apart of photo shoots in the past, but never anything quite like this.  For starters, we had Clint.  But we also had the aid of two other fellows that sort of overlooked the whole project.  One was Kevin Fullerton, who runs Springboard Creative and is also my step-father-in-law (as I call him).  The other, Mr. Jeremy Johnson, who is the genius behind all of the Fives' posters.  Throw in a seamless room at a real production studio and we've got ourselves a photo shoot that none of us could have ever dreamed of.

Out of the 1500+ shots that were taken, Kevin and Jeremy are going to chose around 12-16 good ones.  We will then use them for press releases, promos and our future website.

I am very excite!!!

Warm-ups Before a Show. Good, Bad, or Indifferent?

Welcome to the May improv blog topic for the Kansas City improv community. The topic is the title:  Warm-ups before a show.  Good, bad, or indifferent?  My thoughts...

Sometimes they are good.  If you are in a rut before a show and need a little fix to make things feel right, a good quick energetic warm-up is just the thing to get you back on the performance-minded track.  If it is high-energy and has a little bit of a "pointless" feel to it, those are usually the ones I like the most.    

Sometimes they are bad.  There is such a thing as being put "into your head" simply because the warm-ups got you there.  Ones that have too many rules to it.  Yeah, sure, they're good for concentration. But honestly, If you need a warm-up exercise to help you concentrate before a show, perhaps you're not ready to be on stage.  Just drink a blueberry smoothie and focus on something else.

Sometimes they are indifferent.  What?  Who's indifferent?  Get'em outta here!

This topic isn't really debatable in my opinion.  How can anyone say what is good and what is bad?  Whatever works for the group, right? Frankly, I think warm-ups are great for rehearsals, but not necessarily important before a show.  Most people wanna get all they can out of rehearsals.  So a little warm-up will clean out the cobwebs and prepare you for some serious practice.  But before shows, one should already have enough nervous energy running through their veins, that a warm-up will only hinder the energy.  Sometimes, that nervous energy is better than any warm-up I've ever participated in. That, and a blueberry smoothie.  Seriously.  Every member of every troupe should drink one before every show.  I don't know how many times I have to say this.

Yes, Yes, He'll Learn To Surrender. I Get It.

After his summer vacation, Collin will be attending Kindergarten at Academie Lafayette.  It is a French immersion school and he will be taught nothing but French from grades kindergarten through second. When I say taught, I mean the teachers will speak nothing but French until he hits third grade.  Lisa has nine years experience in French and even spent some time over there during high school.  I do a killer Inspector Clouseau impression.  So we'll have no problem helping him with his homework.

All joking aside, I am very excited for Collin and this opportunity. We have heard nothing but great things from people who have either sent their kids there or have friends who have kids there now.  We all went in on Thursday for a "Parent's Questions" meeting and for Collin to get evaluated.  We met a small majority of the staff and got to see a the school in action.  It was great.

To top things off, even though it's not that important, the school itself has kind of a Rushmore feel to it.  We'll have to keep an eye on Collin's extracurricular activities.   

Ball Joints

Just another car term that is going to set my family back somewhere around $600. 

FANTASTIC!

I've talked about my car history here and I've talked about my recent run-in with the police here.  Because of the ladder, we needed to get our car inspected before registering it in Missouri.  What did the mechanic say?  

"Blah blah Ball Joints.  Blah blah $600.  Blah blah bend over."

Which royally sucks because we still haven't heard from this guy here.

Happy Mama's Day!

I'd like to wish a Happy Mother's Day to my lovely wife, Lisa, and my lovely mom, Marsha, and to all the other mothers on this very special day.

Last night Lisa, Collin and myself spent some time at the Spirit of Mission Days' carnival before heading to the Salsa Grill and Mission Bowl for our friend Marla's birthday.  This was Collin's first carnival. Both Lisa and I have fond memories of little carnivals like this one. The fact that it rained off and on just kinda seemed right for the occasion.  We all rode several different rides. Collin and Lisa started things off with the flying elephants, before Collin dared something bigger.  He and I went on the scramble despite my sensitivity towards motion sickness.  After a minute of Collin screaming "Too fast, TOO FAST!", he relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the ride.  The carney let us go around a second time for free with out even asking or noticing the paleness of my face.  Lisa took her turn on the scrambler with Collin after he rode a couple more of the smaller rides.  I could tell by her face that even she did not expect the speed at which those turns were going.  

The night was very special.  We won some prizes, ate some funnel cake, and most importantly, Lisa got to ride the ferris wheel with very very special little boy.

This morning the three of us went to breakfast at Mama's on 39th street.  This was only Lisa's second time there.  We used to go all the time when it was Nichols Lunch.  Anyway, this place is great.  It's even been featured of the Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives. They've got over 60 omelets on their menu.  I thought I was just going to be getting the standard biscuits & gravy, thinking that there wasn't going to be a single omelet to catch my attention.  I was wrong.  Number 42.  That number will forever be sacred to me as the country fried steak, onions, and gravy omelet.  It was so tasty that I wasn't able to save any gravy for my biscuit on the side.  Lisa got a crab and broccoli scrambler which was tasty as well.  Collin got the chocolate chip pancakes.  Yummy!

To finish off the night, when Lisa gets back from going nursery shopping (the garden kind!) with her mommy, the three of us will head to Union Station to check out an IMAX film about oceans.  But first, I must go search for my stash of dramamine.

"Phone's ringing, Dude."

"We want the money, Lebowski!"

Yeah, That's the Ticket.

I was pulled over this morning for expired tags. They expired at the end of March and I have been taking baby steps towards renewing them. The reason: Everything that goes into registering your car in Missouri. I need to get it inspected, but before I could do that I needed to get my tail light fixed. The tail light is now taken care of, but between Lisa's work, Collin's school and only having one car, it's hard to find time to get it all done in one day. Plus, I don't even know where to go to register. My guess is somewhere downtown, but someone else told me that I should do it in Grandview. Anyway, so like I said, I've been taking baby steps. Thanks to the ticket, I will now be taking grown-up steps in order to reduce the fine.

I have gone a year without renewing my tags once. A full year. I had always known that at some point I was going to have to renew them, but once you hit that three month mark you start asking yourself, "I wonder how much longer I can go?" It ended up being a little over a year. I was actually pulled over twice in the same day. Once on my way to work and once on my way home from work. I should my first ticket to the second cop to prove that I had already been stopped that day. He didn't care. He said something like, "You've gone this long with expired tags that I seriously doubt you intend on taking care of this any time soon." So I smiled, took the second ticket, and got everything straightened out a couple of weeks later.

Oddly enough, It felt good to finally get stopped. I had felt like I had beaten the system for so long. A part of me wanted to say, "It's about time" to the police officer that pulled me over the first time. But I didn't, I may not have been in right state of mind.

Anywho, I think we're going to get the car taken car of next week. The inspection, the registration, the works. If we wait until after May 9th, then President Bush will pay for it all. That will feel good. I think we'll do that.

It's Fun To Stay At The...

So, Lisa and I joined the local Y.  We've gone three weeks in a row now and it is a lot of fun.  There is a television built in to every single piece of workout equipment.  If there is one thing I've learned about exercising, it's that it is a lot easier when your mind isn't focused on it.  I actually spent twenty minutes on the bike just by watching the scores run across the bottom of ESPN. Fantastic!!!

My personal goal, to make it off the basketball court without my face looking like a tomato.  I haven't hit the court yet, but it's calling my name.  I am going to give myself at least one more month of treadmills, exercise bikes, free weights, and stomach crunches before I impress the locals with my sky hook.

Look out!!!