Current Kiki Events - Part I

Wow. It's been so long since my last post and I have tons to talk about. Before I go any further, I should mention that we are fine, our apartment is fine, and our respective workplaces (though both were imperiled) are fine. After that, it's hard to even know where to begin.

First, work is going much better in many respects. I'd rather not get into this too much but I will say that our interim director has been doing a great job of getting our "management team" to come up with more consistent policies and procedures. I think we, the peons, know more of what's going on and feel more involved. There, of course, have been bumps and things we don't like. My current least favorite change so far has been the new day-off-request policy...or at least the part that may keep me from going to Comic Con next year. We'll see how that plays out.

Speaking of days off, I just had some vacation. I went to visit my parents about two weeks ago. We went to the KC Zoo. I got to see their African hunting dog puppies (5 of them) play with the adults. The male black footed cat was out (they also have a mom with kittens) and active. I got this great picture of the meerkats.

[Picture coming soon]

Other highlights included some great scimitar horned oryx, a very visible pride of lions, active Sumatran tigers and orangutans, and a beautiful day.

It was very windy and rainy about half my time in KC. We planned accordingly. One rainy day, we went to see Across the Universe [review coming soon]. Another day, we took a trip to the Nelson Art Gallery and took a tour of the new Bloch Building. It's not my favorite style, but I thought it was a nice addiction to the grounds (I also love the giant badminton birdy sculptures, so I'm the pro side of both of the most controversial additions) and it's a very fitting surrounding for the modern art. We also ran through the European art in the old building and found all our old favorites. My only regret is that, because of the downpours, we couldn't tour the grounds. I don't think I've been through the sculpture garden since high school.

On another beautiful (though still windy) day, we went out to Liberty Memorial and toured the new World War I Museum there. We thought we'd be there half a day...we stayed from open to close. it is a wonderful museum. There is way too much stuff to read for a single visit. There are lots of videos, great recreations of the trenches and a mortar shell crater, interactive displays, quiet booths where you can listen to speeches, music, poetry, and prose of and about that time, and an absolutely fabulous set of various wartime posters. We didn't make it to the side galleries and barley made it up to the top of the memorial, before it closed, for a fantastic view of downtown KC. If you are ever in the area and are the least bit interested you have to go. Another reason: it's the only WWI museum in the whole country.

I didn't do much else, really. I went back to the Zoo to meet up with ed. folks to share program ideas. Hung out with D and some of his friends (and his cute, cute kitties). Did a teeny bit of cleaning of my stuff in the attic. Went shopping - bought: a new pair of shoes, Alien 3 for the SNES, an Ace of Base CD (ya'll can all just shut up), 3 Dragonlance books, Demon City Shinjuku (DVD), and a trade paperback with Batman and Tarzan for F (and to help support my theory that Batman will eventually fight with or against every other character ever created). All of these were bought on the cheap...and I totally needed none of them! Of course, I visited some of my favorite eateries, including Genghis Khan (awesome Mongolian BBQ joint in Westport) and Fiorella's Jack Stack (KC BBQ at its finest). We also went to a cute little new Japanese place called One Bite...so...good...

Recent Events

So, I know I haven't posted in a while. I've been caught up in a few things. First, I've been trying to get my new site, Melampous, off the ground and have been giving it a lot of attention. Second, my work hours have increased lately and the computer I normally post from at work has been crappy lately. Third, my parents were in town for a week, so I didn't pay attention to much else while they were here.

Speaking of their visit, I thought I'd share some of the pics we took while they were here. We took a deluxe 3.5 hour Photo Caravan Safari at the Wild Animal Park. Here, my parents are feeding acacia leaves to Baringo Giraffes and I'm feeding apple slices to an Indian Rhino. Actually, my mom's getting slimed by giraffes.

After the caravan ride, we went up to where I work and I was able to bring out Akisa, our Madagascar Ground Boa. She's about 7.5 feet and 22 lbs. She's a sweet girl and sleeps most of the time when we have her out (she's nocturnal). At 10 years old, she is retired from a breeding program down at the zoo, where she also was an exhibit animal. Isn't she beautiful?


Another day, we visited the Birch Aquarium (Scripps Institute) at UCSD. Unfortunately, I got eaten by a shark. Actually, I was able to poke it in the eye and escape. In all seriousness, it's a small, but really great aquarium and we had an awesome time.

The final point of interest was the Maritime Museum downtown. It's pretty awesome. You can look through the ships they have and/or the museum exhibits, which are placed on the ships. They have:

The Star of India, a mid-19th century barque, which is the world's oldest active sailing ship

The HMS Surprise, a replica 24-gun frigate (the ship from Master and Commander)

The Berkeley, a steam ferryboat

The Medea, a steam-driven private yacht

The Californian, a replica tall ship

B-39, a Soviet diesel electric submarine

The ships are all cool. The sailing ships are fully rigged. You can go through the boiler area on the Berkeley. However, I think my favorite was actually the submarine. You go down inside and then from the fore to the aft torpedo rooms. The thing is huge but teeny. It's like hobbits lived inside. And we had to get through four of these water-tight doors.

Anyway, fun was had by all. On previous trips, we have visited the Zoo downtown, Disneyland, the Petersen Car Museum (LA), the Tutankhamun exhibit (when it was in LA), and the Anza-Borrego State Park (desert). The Dead Sea Scrolls are going to be in town starting in June. Comic Con is in July. So, if any of you want to visit, just let me know. I'll set you up!