kansas city: day 2

boy was i ready for this trip.  and despite the fact that i was in kansas city for work, i was on a mission to have a good time.  even though i sometimes complain about being on the road too much, travel is addictive.  thanks to the knee, i've been home for a month and a half, and i was in desperate need of a fix.  add that to my impending birthday, an event i always greet with mixed emotions, and all the question marks surrounding knee surgery, scheduled to take place immediately upon my return home, and i was seriously ready to let loose.

lucky for me the 'work' part of the trip went remarkably smoothly, leaving me plenty of time to enjoy myself.  having my little helper along (diana) was a great bonus.  she has been interning for my colleague for over a year now, but she is sharp and hard-working and genuinely pleasant to be around, and we wanted to keep her.  the solution was to bring her on full-time, with her spending half her time focusing on (but amplifying) her current job duties, and half her time helping me with events.  and trust me, i need the help!

diana has no background in events which is kind of fun for me.  she's bright enough and learning quickly, and i'm enjoying showing someone my world from the ground up.  it was also a great help to have her onsite helping me manage the little tasks made more difficult by my physical limitations. and i was glad to have someone to laugh with me and at me as i learned to operate my transportation for the show; an electric scooter.

since i didn't feel it was an option to miss this event, the vp of my department insisted on my renting (on the company dime) a scooter, to help me minimize the pre-surgery wear and tear.  since, in the past, i've pedometered myself, and seem to average about 10 miles per day at events, it seemed like a good idea. in hindsight, i simply could not have managed without it. and while it turned out to be a genuine necessity, it also provided a great deal of entertainment.  one memory etched in my brain forever occurred after i picked the scooter up from the front desk (the mobility company having dropped it off earlier that day).  i carefully cruised my way into the small elevator, and needless to say it was less than graceful.  in fact, it was SO non-graceful, diana literally had to prop herself up in the corner of the elevator to keep from falling down because she was laughing so hard.

and the scooter resulted in a LOT of laughter throughout the weekend. i think i want one for every show from here on out! ;)

me (and my vicodin smile), julie, melissa, and diana

after a relatively smooth conclusion to the first day of setup, we proceeded to the fun stuff, which, in this case of course, was food.  i had scoped out the triple d list before heading to kc and had chosen the restaurant's i wanted to try.  on tap for the evening was swagger, a bar, serving some rather unusual menu items.

woo-hoo! look at this menu!

and lucky for me, melissa was able to break away from her conference duties to join diana, vanessa, julie and i for a very yummy dinner.


melissa went with the suribachi burger, a 1/3 lb. burger patty grilled then tempura battered and fried, with asian mustard, sriracha hot chili sauce, pepper jack cheese, wasabi coleslaw, and boy was it yummy! while the combination of the wasabi and hot chili sauce quite literally made her cry, she let me take a bite, and i completely enjoyed it.  i mean a tempura burger? seriously?!


diana and i both went with the steve martin, a teriyaki marinated chicken breast coated in jamaican jerk seasoning with swiss cheese and topped with wasabi coleslaw.  and holy hannah, i'm still craving it.  it was the most amazing combination of flavors i've had in a really long time.

diana, me, julie, and melissa in the 816 (area code)

while i was mildly disappointed no one opted to try the dead texan (two texas toast grilled cheese sandwiches with a 1/3 lb. burger, 1 egg, 3 slices of bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, jalapenos, and peppercorn mayo in between) i was pretty happy with my choice, and pretty happy to get another check mark on that ddd list!