State Fair 2012

Posted on by Jordan

Another year at the fair and another failure to capture a picture of noteworthy food on a stick!

The fair featured a whopping fifty-seven items on a stick!

While we didn’t get any pictures of the food on a stick, Heather and I did go to the fair. Not for a real long trip, but long enough to eat some festival type foods and to remember how overwhelming that many people wandering around can be.

They also had a moose made of chocolate:

I mean, that’s worth the price of admission right there! 🙂

In other news this week:

  • I finally fixed the HeatherAndJordan.com front page.
  • Heather took baby pictures for a friend
  • Heather took two-year pictures of a friend’s child
  • I ordered a compound miter saw from Amazon  — best “I can help you with this project if…” deal to date! 🙂
  • Heather was, for the first time 100% sure she felt our baby kick.

 

It’s been a fun week!

-Jordan

Feeling Patriotic

Posted on by Jordan

Like I mentioned before, Heather and I had planned to attend the Iowa caucus.
It ended up being a little difficult to find where we were suppose to be, thanks to the last census having provoked redistricting of our area. I don’t really know the details except to say all the automatic tools that used to exist to tell you where your location is have been turned off on the state website until they get the new districts figured out. I am sure I wasn’t the only person to send an e-mail to the county clerk’s office last week, but they were quick to respond and we finally knew where to go.

Jump ahead to Tuesday night, and it turns out we weren’t the only people who wanted to participate. We got there 30 minutes early, and still had to walk in from a neighboring parking lot. After having our IDs checked against the voter registration logs we managed to find a seat in the arena type place hosting our caucus. By the time they have everyone checked in, we were 20 minutes late starting the caucus.

The time between our arrival and the actual start was spent setting quietly, trying not to gawk at the rapidly filling room. By the time everybody got inside I am told there were 3,000 voters attending. Typically I am not too shy about gawking at a big crowd, but in addition to the voters there were a good one hundred press type people with cameras roaming around looking to interview the unwary. Well, I don’t know if that’s how it worked, but I had no intention of being caught 🙂

After they got everyone inside we kicked off the proceedings. My impression is that the caucusing idea does not scale well… In a room of 25-30 people (a size I am told is more typical) having any old member of the community stand up and say a few words in support of his or her candidate wouldn’t seem out of place. When it’s a packed house like we had, it was clearly intimating for the speakers. Most of the speakers anyway, our last “speaker on behalf of the candidate” turned out to be the candidate.

Rick Perry got the same five minute window everyone else got, and managed to look a lot more comfortable doing it. Heather maintains he looked a little silly, and I don’t think there is any question he was more excited than anyone else in the room was in that moment.

After we heard a short pitch for all the candidates we were instructed to use the paper ballot we had been given to, well, vote. It’s at this point that we discovered we had been somewhat misinformed. Heather and I both thought we were going to have to re-vote and then re-vote again until our district managed a consensus for one candidate. Instead we just dropped our ballot in the box and went home. We later found out the “stay until there is a consensus” thing only applies to the Democrat party caucus.

When we woke up Wednesday morning to find that in the final count, only eight votes separated the winner from the second place candidate it really made the whole thing feel significant. To quote Heather “it makes me feel really patriotic, like we really had a say in something”

Speaking of having a say in things… and I hope this post is the one and only political post I have this year (there are plenty of places for that if you want to read it) I have added a badge off to the right side of the blog for the EFF. I just renewed my membership today, and think what they are doing is important.

Tune in next time where we will be back to cooking and adventures with Heather and Jordan 🙂

-Jordan

 

State Fair Reflections

Posted on by Jordan

Heather and I have been to the Nebraska and Iowa State fairs.

Iowa has what people consider to be a successful fair, and Nebraska recently closed their fairgrounds.

(Granted Nebraska build a new venue, but the impression is that their fair wasn’t so hot)

Having been to both, I can’t really tell the difference. Maybe I am just not a fair person.

My suspicion is that Iowa having slightly more than double the population density of Nebraska helps a lot more than people want to admit.

Omaha being the largest city, not the capital, and not centrally located, all count against the Nebraska fair.

From what I can see in Iowa Des Moines is basically it. The state appears to have more large towns (large from my prospective having grown up in a town of 1000), without having a real competition for “big events.” A concert tour isn’t going to stop in Ames, or Cedar Rapids, or anywhere else in the state… it is going to be in Des Monies. I am imagining that most people are more willing to travel there thanks to it’s status as the big city in the state.

I don’t know how many people come in from out of town… also I am not going to spend the time doing any research… so this is just my musings. It just seems like geography plays into their favor way more than I would have realized a year ago if you had asked me about the relative fairs.

I guess maybe I should re-emphasize my point both fairs are largely ag shows, with food and some live music. I have no idea what would draw someone to spend more than one day wondering around eating a corn-dog looking at sheep. I had always assumed the “successful” fairs had some amazing special things that made them awesome, and Lincoln was lacking. Unless we missed it, they don’t.

-Jordan

State Fair (The Story)

Posted on by Jordan

Well, somehow the entire week got away from me before I sat down to write down some of what we saw at the fair…

Better late than never I hope!

Heather, a friend of hers and I went to the state fair over the weekend.

The fair here is a big deal! I haven’t ever lived in the city that hosts a state fair before, so maybe some of that is normal. When I say “a big deal” I mostly mean that the majority of the people I talk to have plans to at least visit the fair. Often those people speak highly of the fair, again not something I typically saw a lot of in other cities. (I guess I have really only lived in 3 cities, despite my habit of frequent moves) The website for the fair promised 57 different foods on a stick, among other attractions. I didn’t really dig into the website just figured people were positive on it, I would just show up and be amazed.

We set out for the fair late afternoon Saturday, with only a vague idea where the fairgrounds even were. Once we started seeing people hawking their lawns as parking we figured we should find something and start walking, eventually settling on the local VFW chapter area, selling their lot at a slight discount to the average yard (three dollars instead of five!) They made their money back by selling us all water on our way out of the parking lot, but it was warm, and they promised it was cheaper than on the fairgrounds (turns out this wasn’t strictly speaking true, but at least they weren’t over-charging)

Another ten dollars a head got us onto the grounds, and we were at the Iowa State Fair! First up… empty lots, and some combines. I was trying to let the ladies guide our trip, but those combines looked pretty cool. I guess they came up with some neat features in the (20?) years that have passed after the manufacturing of the combine I last had a chance to really look at the internal workings of.

We then headed to a large building that had tiles all around it vaguely hinting at quilting or crafts of some sort. Once inside, we found out it was an arena, and something having to do with horses was currently in progress. There weren’t any signs, and the guy wanted us to buy a ticket or leave so we left, not sure what we missed.

Then we found our way into the adjacent barns, full of the horses not currently participating in the unknown event. I kind of forgot how big horses can be! I also started to realize how much domesticated animal knowledge I had that was new to Heather. We then headed over to a cattle barn, apparently full of dairy cattle. I don’t know if it was heat stress, or something about dairy cows, but practically every cow in that barn had visible ribs and extreme hip-points. I think it kind of set off my subconscious “there is plague and pestilence here, get out!” warnings… so I was glad to leave that barn, but we got to see lots of cows, and again I found I knew the answers to more questions than I would have guessed.

(update, I just did a quick search for “dairy cow” pictures, apparently they all look like they are starving… weird)

We then found our way into another arena, this one free, featuring a two-horse-team pulling competition. I have no idea how it really worked, but  it was kind of fun to watch! Eventually that got old though, so we headed out in search of new things.

We found the 4H steer auction. I have vague memories of going to a stock-auction with my dad when I was a kid. It was kind of fun to see one again. It was also another first for Heather, and technically a first for me as I hadn’t seen an auction where they did it one bovine at a time before. As with the team-pulling the novelty wore off quickly, and it wasn’t like we were planning on buying beef-on-the-hoof.

Somewhere in transition to the 4H craft barn I found an ice cream cone, and we walked past the Iowa Pork booth, featuring the one and only “pork chop on a stick” however the line for that was probably 75 people long. I figured there would be other exciting “on a stick options later”

After the craft barn, full of nice but not really noteworthy fruit, vegetables, flowers, and craft type things, we headed to a nursery barn. The barn featured young examples of most of your stereotypical farmyard animals. To be honest, my thoughts when I walked in were basically “eh, I have seen this before” but I figured it would be fun for the rest of our little group. They had video playing of a live sheep birth, not the most photogenic thing you can imagine. I think it kind of shocked Heather. I don’t know if it was the video or just the fact that we had been browsing a lot of barnyard animals, but we didn’t give that venue much coverage, and then headed out again.

We stopped to get a Falafel for our guest in the main vendor area, then headed over to the non 4H food building to see if we could locate some winning sticky-buns a woman from church had entered. We saw a lot of tasty looking food, but the sticky-bun entries were no longer on display.  A little more wonder-by sight seeing and it was starting to get late. I realized I hadn’t actually tried any foods on a stick, so we headed back to the main food vending strip, to see what we could find.

I have no idea where the exotic options were, maybe I was just being overwhelmed by choices and didn’t notice them, but it appeared that everybody in the area we were in only sold corn-dogs as their “on a stick” option. I didn’t really want a corn-dog so I searched a little and eventually settled on cotton candy. Not really exotic, but it was on a stick, and I thought it sounded good. For the record I don’t really like cotton candy… I don’t know if that happened because I haven’t had it for so long, or if I didn’t like it that much before and just forgot.

After our last pass of the food, we headed back to the car, feeling like we saw at least a good swath of the fair.

-Jordan

P.S. Sorry for the mammoth post, I just wasn’t sure this was interesting enough to warrant splitting into several posts.

NRA Basic Pistol

Posted on by Jordan

Our move to Des Moines had lead Heather and I to look for new things to do together. One of the ideas I put forward was target shooting. Heather was borderline skeptical of the idea, but thought maybe it could work. I was pushing for pistol shooting because we are basically constrained to shooting ranges, and in the distance you are limited to at most ranges rifles just aren’t that challenging. Somewhere along the line, I also realized that Heather did not have the safe firearm handling foundation that my childhood had provided. As a result of all those factors, I signed us up for an NRA basic pistol class.

The class was held this past weekend at the Charles Olofson Shooting Range, near Polk City Iowa. First Off I should point out that the drive out to the range was beautiful! It took us maybe 40 minutes from the apartment, but most of the time we were in open country and really got to soak up the spring weather we are finally seeing. The range has a nice indoor classroom, much larger than was needed considering we only ended up with four people in the class.

The small class size was nice, as there was a wide range in levels of experience, and I think everyone felt comfortable asking questions. The instructor, Larry Krug, did a really good job of covering the basics and keeping everyone interested. We spent a little over four hours in the classroom covering everything you would need to know if you had never seen a pistol before up to the point where you could hold and fire one properly. After a lunch-break we came back in to take a written test over the information we had been presented. I have to brag on Heather a little, and part of this goes to the instructor too I suppose, but with virtually no prior knowledge of firearms in any form, she managed to pass with flying colors!

After the test we headed out to the range for some hands-on instruction. I should mention that, as this was one of the first truly nice weekends so far this year, I think a large number of people were excited to get out and thought throwing a few rounds down range would be a good way to do that. During the test we really started to notice the increased noise outside, as gunfire has a way of getting your attention. Once outside it really got loud!

I think this is the point where we really started to loose Heather. I often forget that people don’t necessarily feel comfortable around guns, and less so around dozens of them being fired in close proximity. Heather is building a tolerance, but three separate range-areas, all running at full capacity was a little much. She stuck it out, and as you can see from the intro picture, she even tried out a few different pistols!

This was also the point where the whole “shooting pistols would be better because they are harder to be really accurate with” hit home. When it was my turn to shoot I quickly realized how much room I have for improvement. The instructor was able to help me with a few small things, but the final verdict was basically that I need to practice a lot more (oh darn).

We learned so much throughout the course of the day:

  • Heather learned a good foundation of gun safety and basic operation
  • I learned that a busy range isn’t the best place to help someone get comfortable with firearms
  • We learned that the local NRA instructor is really knowledgeable
  • I learned that thinking you should probably clean your pistol isn’t the same as actually doing it (kinda embarrassed by that one…)
  • The biggest thing we came away with was that shooting isn’t something we should pursue as a joint activity!

As much as it may be disappointing to find that shooting isn’t something we are going to do together, I am still glad we tried it. We still created some memories, and spent a day together doing something different!

-Jordan

Creepy Crawlies

Posted on by Jordan

Our house in Atlantic seems to be trying to help get me in the mood for Halloween. I have found two small but still cringe-inducing critters around the house over the last week. I took a minute to look up what they are, and as it turns out the “House Centipede” is somewhat mundane.

All the same, I find them to be incredibly creepy in person. If you doubt me, feel free to follow that link for a better picture. I haven’t mentioned this creature to Heather yet, as she has managed to be out of the room when I found the two invaders. I suppose publishing this will increase the chances she will be concerned about them 🙂

-Jordan

Now Coming To You From Atlantic

Posted on by Jordan

It has now been a full week since Heather and I moved into the house here in Atlantic.

The drive is long, but I think we can handle it. The house is… Interesting… more on that later. We realized that this weekend is the first time we have ever stayed home over a three day weekend. Typically we are on the road to somewhere any time we had a free day off, and would have been this weekend too, but the unpacking and whatnot tied us down.

Going back to the house, I think we have both really liked living in a bigger space. I honestly have no idea how we managed to fit all the stuff we apparently own into the apartment in Omaha, because this house does not seem empty in the slightest. Being able to get by with just open windows has been really pleasant, something you forget is even possible living in an apartment. Atlantic is really quiet, and this weekend has been remarkably peaceful.

The more interesting aspects of this house involve power water and gas. Water was, as the crew who helped us move into the house discovered, slow. There isn’t enough water pressure to do two things at once anywhere in the house. After you flush the toilet, there won’t be much water at the sink until after the tank refills. If Heather is in the shower, I cannot start washing dishes. Speaking of dishes, due to the low water pressure, the house is apparently unable to sustain a dishwasher, so we get to hand-wash everything.

Moving on to gas, I assume, without really knowing, that this issue is more with the actual oven/range we have, and not so much the house, but I have no idea. I found out while trying a new recipe Friday night (hopefully I will get a quick summary and pictures of that up soon) that the burners won’t work while the oven is heating. they sort of sputter fire, and you smell a lot of gas, but they wont burn right. It didn’t cause a huge problem, it just slowed things down a lot as I needed to leave a few minutes to preheat between finishing the stuff in the pan, and putting it into the oven.

Finally, we come to power. There isn’t a single three-prong outlet in this house. The outlet positions are kind of strange too, but it’s and old house and I wont complain too much about that. The really disappointing thing about the power situation is that my heavy-duty battery backup system I run on my PC is not happy. It worked fine for about 3 days, and then something must have prompted it to check if it was really grounded, discovering that it was not grounded, it went into some sort of emergency safety shutdown, and didn’t even send the power-down signal to my PC before ceasing operation. My hope is that if I can plug it into a grounded outlet it will at least revert to a non-panic state.

This post is turning into kind of a novel, and I fear I spent too much time on the downsides of the house, so let me restate, Heather and I are really enjoying living in this little old house 🙂

I will leave you with this picture, and clicking on it should take you to an album of pictures from the move.

atlantic_house

-Jordan

Internet… Sorta

Posted on by Jordan

Heather and I have been in Iowa for almost a week now, and I have internet connected to the house finally!

The only problem is that we are currently getting roughly 6% of the 7MBPS Qwest promised us.

The almost dead connection makes being online fairly frustrating… I guess I will be spending some time on the phone with tech support here soon!

************ Update ****************

After 30+ minutes on the phone with Qwest, it was discovered that I had plugged into the wrong port on the modem. I don’t quite know how the modem was even working int he state I had it in. It doesn’t make me feel any less dumb for having hooked the modem up wrong 😦

-Jordan

Move Complete!

Posted on by Jordan

Just a quick note, Heather and I got moved into a little house in Atlantic IA.

We don’t have internet hooked up to the house yet, so I probably won’t be getting a full-length post about the move up for a few more days.

The short story, the combined efforts of our parents, my siblings,  some amazingly helpful friends, and a cousin  made the move as painless as I think a move can be.

-Jordan