The blog what speaks for Guido, Troy, Ryan, Brett and Matt
Guido Strotheide | Troy Lowe | Ryan Seggelke | Brett Thomson | Matt Janet
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Courier for sale
Posted by guido @ 6:23 PM
The Copley newspapers in Lincoln, Springfield, Peoria and Galesburg are for sale, it was announced today. Seems like a big shakeup.
[ Permalink ]
[ 0 comments ]
[ Links To This Post ]
Jax Hat piñata
Posted by guido @ 10:38 AMGil from WIU made a video at Jax Hat 2006.
[ Permalink ]
[ 0 comments ]
[ Links To This Post ]
Friday, October 27, 2006
No longer MVP
Posted by Troy @ 7:24 AM Before we went on vacation, my doctor had me get an echocardiograhm to generate some data on my mitral valve prolapse. The results are in and the test verified that I either outgrew MVP or that it was misdiagnosed originally (I think that was when I was in Junior High). All results came back normal and I no longer need to take the tons of preventive antibiotics for minor things, like when I go to the dentist for a cleaning.We are still trying to sell the house. The financing fell through for our buyer, so we are back to having open houses on the weekends as well as random showings.We found several ticks on Sassy, we aren't sure where she picked them up. We may have to look into anti-tick medication for her.
[ Permalink ]
[ 0 comments ]
[ Links To This Post ]
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Oops, typo
Posted by guido @ 11:57 AM Some creative misspellings found on a local resturant's menu: Hogie, tenderlion, sauarkraut, Thrusday, goden brown, fahita, baked potatoe, Hooiser.UPDATE: I noticed the typos have been fixed since I brought them to the resturants attention.
[ Permalink ]
[ 0 comments ]
[ Links To This Post ]
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Illinois Hat
Posted by guido @ 9:41 AM Seven of us from Jacksonville/Springfield Ultimate (plus Willy came over from Bloomington) went to the Illinois Hat Tournament last Saturday in Urbana. My team didn't do so well (sixth out of eight teams, I believe), but I had a good time and we had really nice weather.Illinois Hat photos by Gio. -- See if you can find me in this photo.
We took a couple high school students from Springfield who've been playing with us for a couple months, Cory and Marcus, and they got to experience their first Ultimate tournament. I think they had a good time.
For my own notes, let me see if I can remember names (Guido, Carlos, Craven, Hot Sauce, Katie, Zil, Chris, Geoff, Andrew, Schmalz, woman, woman, P___ )
The days are getting so short that we looked into renting a lighted field for Thursday nights, but it seems that the park district has raised their rates 150 percent. So we've had to go from playing three times a week to just Sundays. I'm disappointed about that.
[ Permalink ]
[ 0 comments ]
[ Links To This Post ]
Friday, October 20, 2006
Leaving Las Vegas
Posted by Troy @ 9:30 PM We are packing up and getting ready for our flight in the morning. Today we had nothing planned, just a relaxing random day.I signed up for the GameWorks rewards program to get 100 more points for free, we spent them after lunch on Dance Dance Revolution and air hockey. I picked up a carton of Coke Blak (4) on the walk back to our place and drank them throughout the rest of the day. We enjoyed our room's 42" plasma screen... I played 360 while Jantina napped and then later this evening we watched some of our Blockbuster Online DVDs that we brought with us.
We had a blast in Vegas, but now we are looking forward to getting back home and into a normal routine.
View more of my Las Vegas photos in my "Las Vegas" set on Flickr
[ Permalink ]
[ 0 comments ]
[ Links To This Post ]
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Las Vegas: Day 6
Posted by Troy @ 10:31 PM we rented a car and drove to the Hoover Dam. It was impressive to see the size and learn about all the engineering that went into creating such a structure. We went in to see the generators, into one of the diversion tunnels, and then back to the top to see a few more educational exhibits.For lunch we found ourselves at In-N-Out Burger. Christopher strongly suggested that we eat there while we were out this way. We were not disappointed! They don't freeze their beef, they use 100% cholesterol-free oil for frying their freshly peeled potatoes for fries, and they don't use preservatives in their spongy rolls ... it all tasted great!
After lunch, we drove to Red Rock Canyon and did some hiking and amateur rock climbing. It was a perfect day, cool breeze and no clouds. We really enjoyed climbing around and seeing the little desert animals.
When we returned to the strip, we caught a quick meal of Hot Dog on a Stick at Fashion Show Mall and banana toffee gelato from the Bellagio. During the walk we happened to catch the pirate show in front of Treasure Island, it wasn't that great but the effects were impressive.
View more of my Las Vegas photos in my "Las Vegas" set on Flickr
[ Permalink ]
[ 0 comments ]
[ Links To This Post ]
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Las Vegas: Day 5
Posted by Troy @ 10:44 PM Happy Birthday Jantina! Today Jantina picked our itinerary, there were a few things she saved for us to do today. We started by buying some Vegas monorail tickets for the day's travels. We hopped on at the MGM and exited at Harrah's for our first stop. We visited Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum to see the life-like celebrities. Jantina's favorite was the Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy. I wished the Patrick Stewart was still dressed as Captain Picard, but they had changed him into a boring suit.
We crossed the street to see the tiger at the Mirage, and then boarded the monorail again to go to the Hilton. The Hilton hosts the Star Trek Experience and it was pretty incredible! We bought the latinum passes which included both rides, the Klingon Encounter and the Borg Invasion. Both were excellent, and designed by Paramount so the sets and props were all authentic. We also took a backstage tour to see how things were done... being transported was pretty amazing. We fit in lunch at Quark's between rides and viewing the Trek museum.
After a day at the Hilton, we had to hurry back to the room so we could change for dinner. We rushed back to our place, changed clothes, rushed back to the Venetian (getting every dollar's worth out of the monorail) to have dinner at Delmonico's. They knew it was her birthday and treated us to a couple complimentary treats. A puffed pastry with pate and caramelized red onions at the start of our meal and a chocolate sorbet afterward. The entire meal was perfect; I had the mini filets with bacon wraped prawns and blue cheese / bacon potatoe cakes ...and even though we had the complimentary sorbet, I still went ahead and had the bananas foster ice cream pie for dessert.
View more of my Las Vegas photos in my "Las Vegas" set on Flickr
[ Permalink ]
[ 0 comments ]
[ Links To This Post ]
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Las Vegas: Day 4
Posted by Troy @ 5:00 PM Today we took a tour of our timeshare here at the Marriott. We earned 15,000 points for an hour's worth of sales pitch. I could get double the points if five of you out there are willing to be added to a Marriott timeshare sales list... let me know!After that we had lunch at Paris and then started our walk to the Excalibur, Luxor, and Mandalay Bay. Before hitting the hotels though, we stopped off at Gameworks were they had a very neat arcade version of Mario Cart. We also dropped into a Coca-Cola store where I picked up a Coke Blak and Jantina ordered a Fresca from the fountain shop.
Tonight we are eating at Wolfgang Puck's Chinois.
View more of my Las Vegas photos in my "Las Vegas" set on Flickr
[ Permalink ]
[ 0 comments ]
[ Links To This Post ]
Monday, October 16, 2006
Las Vegas: Day 3
Posted by Troy @ 8:52 PM We slept in this morning. We had a pretty busy day yesterday. Today was Tillman's last day in town with us, he made Jantina eggs-in-a-poke as a birthday surprise (Matt remembered Jantina explaining that her mom used to make those for her growing up and that she hadn't had them for a long time). Jantina spent the morning at Caesar's Palace Spa getting her hair styled and a manicure. Matt and I stayed in the room playing 360 until it was time to meet up with Jantina.The three of us went shopping at the Fashion Show Mall. Jantina shopped for a new purse while Matt and I hit the electronics stores (Apple and EB Games). I picked up "Mario vs Donkey Kong 2," a really neat puzzle game similar to "Lemmings."
We said goodbye to Matt. He had to catch his flight back to San Francisco. And Jantina and I walked back to the Marriott. We stopped by Treasure Island, the Venetian, and Margaritaville.
This evening we ate at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill. I had the squash blossom appetizer, a coffee glazed filet mignon, and an espresso cake with banana walnut ice cream for dessert.
Now we are back in the room, going to catch up on "The 4400" (on DVD).
View from the roof of our place at night:
View more of my Las Vegas photos in my "Las Vegas" set on Flickr
[ Permalink ]
[ 0 comments ]
[ Links To This Post ]
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Las Vegas: Day 2
Posted by Troy @ 6:41 PM We were pretty tired last night after our trip here and getting into the action right away. Today we woke up a little late and ate one of the greatest buffets, Le Village Buffet at the Paris. It was amazing. We ate what later felt like 80 pounds of food (including some of the yummiest crepes ever).This afternoon, Tillman, Jantina, and I went to an indoor cart racing track. ... I've never been on these really fast carts where they have you wear fire suits and helmets and everything. I was the slowest of the bunch each time we raced, but Jantina's lap times were pretty impressive. Matt actually had the second-fastest lap for the entire day for the facility. (Best lap times -- T: 31.89; J: 31:00; M: 28.57) I also had my first ever Red Bull, and I liked it.
Now we are heading out to dinner at Gallagher's in the New York, New York.
[Update]
I had a great aged porterhouse steak, and the baked Alaska was very yummy. After dinner we walked to see the fountains at the Bellagio then on to Caesars Palace and the Mirage just to look around a bit and walk off our dinners. We are back at the hotel now playing some XBOX 360 and relaxing. We spent some time in a really nice video arcade in the New York, New York, on the way to the roller coaster there. We played air hockey, some driving and flight simulator games.
View more of my Las Vegas photos in my "Las Vegas" set on Flickr
[ Permalink ]
[ 0 comments ]
[ Links To This Post ]
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Las Vegas: Day 1
Posted by Troy @ 10:50 PM Jantina and I arrived in Las Vegas this afternoon. We checked into our timeshare at Marriott's Grand Chateau at 2 p.m. Matt Tillman flew in from San Francisco to join us for the first weekend of our trip. The three of us walked down the strip to the MGM Grand, saw the lions there and ate at Wolfgang Puck's Bar and Grill. We did some shopping at the Aladdin and then headed off to see KA. We had awesome seats and it was spectacular! The big fight scene on a several story tall vertical wall was my favorite part. The shadow puppets were pretty neat too.View from the roof of our place:
View more of my Las Vegas photos in my "Las Vegas" set on Flickr
[ Permalink ]
[ 0 comments ]
[ Links To This Post ]
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Box truck
Posted by guido @ 9:38 PM I worked on the design for the new truck at work recently. Used a photo I took a while back, too, and they had a four-color image made of it. The sign/graphics guys finished it this week, I think. 
[ Permalink ]
[ 0 comments ]
[ Links To This Post ]
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Mysteria
Posted by guido @ 11:10 AM I went to another Ultimate tournament, though I could only make it to the second day. I got about two hours of sleep Saturday night, getting up at 7 a.m. and driving to Macomb. I picked up with the WIU women's team (Mysteria?) along with other guys from Torque and a few guys from Quincy.
The above photo, by Roger H., is of my friend Willy (right), who was playing for the ISU Gnomes at the tournament this weekend. When I got back to J'ville and worked at the gallery for a few hours, making some progress on the bathroom. Of course, I also found out that some of the stuff I had done on the sink wasn't to ADA code, so we'll have to redo that stuff. We tried to watch a movie, but I quickly crashed. But we were back in the gallery Monday, with Julie off work for Columbus Day. Monday night Julie and I watched a couple movies, "Good Night, and Good Luck," and "Everything is Illuminated" last night, too. And I watched the season premiere episodes of "This Old House" and "Veronica Mars."
[ Permalink ]
[ 0 comments ]
[ Links To This Post ]
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Noir's first night
Posted by guido @ 3:25 PM Some friends and Julie and I opened a new art gallery in Jacksonville last night. It's called Noir Art Emporium. The plan is to have it be a lounge, sell a little retail and be available for private parties.Last night was the Gallery Hop downtown, which we participated in. It's like a pub crawl, but for art galleries. Afterward, we had a private party rent out the gallery from 9:30 p.m.-2 a.m. So far, we've sold two paintings, some of our retail items and a good deal of our bottled speciality sodas.
Noir Art Emporium photo
[ Permalink ]
[ 0 comments ]
[ Links To This Post ]
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Under Contract!
Posted by Troy @ 7:20 AM 
I know this is going to seem sudden to some (as we only decided about 2 weeks ago to list our home), but we accepted an offer on our home last night!Jantina and I are considering a move to new development, we will be looking at inventory homes (where people backed out at the last minute, that sort of thing).
Within the next 15 days our buyer should notify us that they have secured financing and then we plan on a December closing! It was a good offer, with the concessions it turned out to be a little better than a 98% offer.
Jantina and I are starting the process this weekend with our bank on getting ourselves pre-approved for our next home purchase. Then we will be scheduling a PODS unit and lining up a short term rental in case it takes a while to find our next home.
Pretty exciting stuff :)
[ Permalink ]
[ 0 comments ]
[ Links To This Post ]
Guido is trying the Chrome browser.
