Howdy! Welcome to The Bluelou Times! I've visited and lived in many interesting places in my young life. I've recorded many of my memories in letters I've sent to my friends. This web page archives several of those letters. This is a sample. My friends think I should be a writer. These memoirs are my first attempts at being that writer. If you like it, you can find many more just by clicking on the links to the left, right, or top of the page. You can also let me know by clicking the e-mail link below. Please Check Out My Sponsors (And Some Interesting Stuff Too..) You can click on some of the flag links above. In 1994, I'd sold or given away most of my worldly possessions in three weeks (truck, ATV, fridge, washer, ACs, etc.) and boarded on a plane from Atlanta to Frankfurt Germany thinking I'd made the dumbest mistake in all my life. The story of those three weeks is a tale of its' own. I decided that since I'd made my bed, I'd best sleep in it. I flew on to Istanbul and then to Ankara. I was fumbling with my luggage trying to explain to the customs agent that those were truly cooking spices. Who in their right mind would want to take drugs INTO Turkey? All the while, someone who could have easily bailed me out of this mess...was laughing at me and my traveling rummage sale. Hey, I deserved it! I'm still the world's worst traveler. This person was my then roommate and longtime buddy, Mike Veal (aka Mr. Wheel). It turned out to be the best thing I'd done and I don't regret a minute. Mike's still with my company and we stay in touch. He's been a long reader of the Bluelou Times. Believe it or not, he's been to more places than I've traveled.

Thanksgiving was spent in Omaha with my sisters' extended family. I brought dessert from the deli section of the neighborhood grocery store. Temps were sub-freezing but that didn't dissuade me from a couple of bike rides around the neighborhood lake. Construction of the bike trail around the lake was complete. It was only a year and a half ago that I regularly rode and walked this neighborhood but with all the new houses, it seemed new to me. The company paid our expenses to fly to Houston for a company seminar and the Christmas party. I missed the early bird discount. I've spent over four decades in construction knowing the next phone call could be from the boss telling me to drop everything, pack up, and move across the country or the world. Money spent would be wasted. The brain won't let me break the habit of waiting until the last possible moment to make travel reservations. My girlfriend flew in a few days earlier. She too, has the habit of waiting until the last minute to make travel reservations though I haven't figured out her cause. I took a couple of days off from work, so we took a day trip to Omaha and hung out the next day closer to Leavenworth. We had just returned from Omaha stopping for dinner at Pizza Hut. They'd brought drinks and I made my trip to the salad bar when the power kicked out. We dined by cell phone light. Someone took out a power pole, so the drinks and salad bar were on the house. We went elsewhere for pizza. It took some planning to make it work but she sat right next to me on the flight to Houston. We stayed at Margaritaville. In July, Mr. Ed and I had dinner at the KC Margaritaville. It looked like they're planning on an attraction of some sort to be built later at the KC location. It appeared to be a soft opening. I didn't see anything at the KC location as an attraction other than the pool and the name. Ditto for the Houston branch. There was a golf course at the Houston hotel but I'm not into golf. It was on the Lake Conroe coast. Houston weather wasn't much warmer than KC where the snow was melting from an early snow. I left my warm weather gear in Kansas. It wasn't needed or missed. I was told there are two Margaritaville locations in Houston. This one opened on August 15, 2025. We arrived early but getting a room took a lot longer than it should, leaving me to abandon the business conference to deal with the hotel staff and a cranky girlfriend. There were several hotel restaurants with common but limited menus at a premium cost. The first night, our room heater didn't work. The radiant temperature of the room walls and the ambient temperature of the room made it a miserable night. In our business conference, we did trivia. I got the Jimmy Buffett trivia questions which were mixed with the company trivia down. I drew a blank when they asked the name of Jimmy's Coral Reefer Band. I did get some company historical trivia correct though I'm a company newbie. My current company was the competition for the first company I worked for out of college. My colleagues used prize money from a company award to rent a boat and buy lots of alcohol for an afternoon party before the official party. My official drinking days are mostly behind me. My girlfriend and I Ubered to breakfast and a bit of shopping for her return trip the next day. The next day was our company Christmas party. The party theme was a colorful, Cuban Christmas party. I wore my best tuxedo T-shirt and contrasting black jeans. The girlfriend was jet lagged so she skipped the party. I ate dinner and headed back to be with her. About bedtime, the fire alarm went off so we donned our coats to head outside and hang around a fire pit until we got the coast is clear notice about an hour and a half later. In earlier editions, I've written about my college brother from another mother, the Rahajneesch. He passed a few years ago, but I'd hoped to connect with his brother who lives in Houston to raise a toast to our departed brother on his birthday. That didn't happen but I did connect with a cousin from my father's side of the family whom I'd only heard about through her mother and sister. We tried intersecting our histories...probably about six decades ago. We caught up at breakfast, and she drove us to the airport. It made the trip worthwhile. Our project did win the lip sync video contest between projects. Our song was Jailhouse Rock by Elvis. I did a cameo from my office chair. I was pushing for Folsom Prison Blues or In the Jailhouse Now, both by Johnny Cash. We posted the video to YouTube but our client said to take it down. Jealous I guess! Nope, not going to post it! As I wrote a few issues ago, the travel luck of my girlfriend is gone but it wasn't too bad for this trip. She refuses to bring a carryon bag. Her luggage didn't make the KC connection, so it was delivered the next day when we returned from Omaha. Her return leg from Houston to Atlanta was cancelled but we arrived at the airport early enough where she caught an earlier connection to Atlanta. For the first time in a long time, her luggage, including an old laptop I no longer used, reached her destination without spending time in Paris without her. My flights went normally. I still don't miss flying. I was impressed with the Conroe Margaritaville hotel staff but not much else. While checking out, I told the desk clerk the bugs of our trip and got a hundred dollars taken off our bill which went back to the company. Though I'm not a major hotel dweller, I've stayed in several. The Margaritaville franchises continue to flood my Facebook feed, but I won't recommend the franchises, nor do I intend to stay there in the foreseeable future. I generally skip business surveys because business done right, needs no review (including this blog) and a standardized form cannot truly express my thoughts but this visit was very disappointing, so I filled out two surveys letting them know my honest review in hopes they'd use this information constructively: limited menus, limited web site that wasn't easy to navigate, high cost, lack of hotel features, room heater, and fire alarm. In short, it was a money grab stealing away the legacy of a favorite singer. Made a recent trip to Omaha. First stop was in the shadows of my favorite Mexican Restaurant, Howard's. In this case, to ride across the South Omaha Bridge on the Omaha River Front Trail to the Western Historic Center to the Indian Creek Trail. I've seen this trail on several Omaha trips and it piqued the interest. It was a sunny day but not exactly warm. My wrist mounted GPS read a strong battery in the warmth of my apartment but froze and shut off during the ride. I did well going east/west with a northern crosswind. Turning north, I slowed down considerably. I could have ridden further but I had another mission, a family cookie exchange. I finished just before lunch time and the Honda instinctively wanted to drive to Howard's parking lot, but I fought it. Years ago, I was home for a family tradition, the the Christmas Cookie Bake. Living abroad, except for cookies set aside for me, I've been absent from these exchanges. My sister invited me to bring my own cookies to the family cookie exchange. Hmm! Bluelou hasn't baked cookies in over thirty years! She gave me ideas on what to bring. I was thinking of doing something special. I thought about making cookies from a recipe of my late mother, but time was short. I scouted out premade cookies with images of the Grinch, Frosty, and Santa from local grocery stores that I could live with. I also thought about some Turkish cookies, made in Turkey, my first international experience. I brought the latter two. I'm positive only I understood the significance of the Turk cookies. Only my work counterpart, an Egyptian, recognized the brand.

For the actual exchange, my Omaha siblings, along with a few family friends, met at a local restaurant to exchange our sweets. With my carb counting diet, my cookie consumption is limited but I took exception during the exchange. Keeping the fudge, I shared the rest of my booty with my neighbors and the Turkish cookies with my colleagues.

I'm no baker but had no issues baking these cookies except for a slight burn on my left forearm leaving a discoloration but no pain.

I previously shared this video. My brother-in-law is retired but has a Yuletide Santa gig. Restaurant customers and staff wanted their photos with Santa. Mrs. Santa, handed out candy canes to all the good boys and girls but some were a bit old to sit on Santa's lap. Santa did nothing to discourage these grown-up children to act their age. Santa's sleigh, a full-size red Ford pickup nicknamed Rudolph, has reindeer horns and a string of working Christmas lights powered by the tailgate outlet.

Spent Christmas lunch with Santa's daughter, son-in-law, grandchildren, and their extended family and dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Claus. They took pity on their uncle not wanting him to eat an air fried turkey leg on Christmas. They had smoked ham. It was the first time I'd been to their home since they moved in.

The next day, I visited the doctor, had lunch at Howard's, and returned to the bike trail above before heading back to Leavenworth later that afternoon.

Theresa and her herd went to the Big Apple to see the Rockettes Christmas show. NYC is on my bucket list. Pencil it in for next Christmas. I've been to NYC but it was limited to the airport, eating delivered food, watching National Geographic, and staring at the ceiling of my hotel room for three days. Read on.

Looked into spending Christmas in Vegas but there weren't any shows that interested me. At the suggestion of a friend, I investigated Husker tickets at the Vegas Bowl for New Year's Eve. Bingo! Bought tickets to John Fogerty, Toto and Wizard of Oz at the Sphere. I pieced together the trip. I checked with friends and a Cornhusker neighbor who couldn't join me so I'm making the trip solo like the last few trips. I normally forgo trip insurance, but I've had vacations cancelled by company events so this was a no-brainer.

I bought a reasonably priced souvenir hoodie from the closeout rack of an Omaha Husker attire store. I debated wearing it, but it stayed in the apartment wanting to travel light. I only brought the shirt on my back. Nothing planned was formal.

Flying Spirit Airlines both ways went to plan though the cheap ticket indicated a cheap, nickel dime airline...a growing travel theme. A feature on the news prior to my trip indicated travel delays due to weather but we flew to schedule.

In KC, I grabbed the wrong boarding pass from the ticket dispenser. That ticket was for a woman to fly from Vegas to LAX. I was amazed that TSA let me go even though the boarding pass name didn't match my IDs.

I hadn't flown Spirit airlines and I'm not too warm on flying them again. Paid $79 to check a bag that should have been allowed on the plane without charge. On the return flight, they had me prove that my second piece of carryon luggage was in fact, a CPAP, which doesn't qualify as carryon luggage. They charge for sodas. If they could have figured out how to monetize the toilet or the air I breathe, they would have. Got an email wanting me to bid on a seat upgrade. Simple seat selection cost $29 where I'd be guaranteed a seat location. On the return flight, I asked the gate attendant if they wanted me to ride in the overhead luggage bin. I wanted to dump on the gate agent, but they handed me my wallet I forgot at the gate counter. Neither flight was sold out as they announced. There were open seats around me. Everything they tried was a simple money grab. Both times, I waited out the flight and they gave me the exit row.

I surprised myself that I read my e-book for most of the flights rather than play games on my phone. I used to be a reader. I haven't found book content that interests me other than scrolling through my usual web content.

My hotel let me check in my room early in the morning as I checked in online. It was good to be in Vegas.

The first show on my two-day agenda was the Wizard of Oz at the Sphere. Unfortunately, I bought a non-refundable ticket for a year from now so I had to buy another ticket for the show that day. Frustrating. Ticketmaster and Lasvegas.com weren't much more help for a refund. It'll be a bit of a wait but the ticket insurance company is going to eat the cost of that ticket as I can't unload it. I'll be working which is compensable for the insurance I bought. The show itself was the colorized version of the show I watched as a child. There were new special effects such as winds inside the auditorium, blowing leaves, chairs shaking in connection to the movie, and apples falling from the ceiling. I got a couple of leaves and an apple which I gave to my neighbor who wanted to buy one from eBay. That earned me a hug. My Leavenworth counterpart called during the show...nothing like some Deja Vu. His request waited until my return. The Sphere...wouldn't go out of my way to see it again, especially with overpriced concerts. There's nothing the venue would add to the performance of the musical artist.

I'm not a huge Toto fan. I have a bit of their music. It was a good trip down memory lane.

Walking down Fremont Street, I had to work my way through the Husker and Ute battle of the bands on the way to dinner on the eve of the game.

There were lots of folks in Husker attire...not me. Typical for road games, there were more Husker fans than even home team so away games seem more like Husker home games. Both NU and Utah team colors are red and white so the whole stadium was red. In my black tee, I was decked out to support the NU defense. My big dilemma was both socks worn inside out...do I change them? Short answer is no. It's fashionable if they match! Not like it was any mystery but there was hope that we might keep the score close, we'd have a chance. Not to be. We were up 14-7 in the second when Utah put on 37 straight points in route to a 44-22 victory. I left at the end of the third quarter.

On the previous trip to Vegas, I noted that there wasn't a taxi stand at Allegiant Stadium but found a racist pimp taxi driver to amuse me back to Fremont Street. There would be tens of thousands of fans competing for taxis with none in the neighborhood. Even a taxi driver confirmed that they don't like picking up fares from the stadium. I walked a long distance to the closest hotel taxi stand finding a taxi with little waiting. The Las Vegas Golden Knights, pro hockey team, were playing concurrently with the bowl game so area traffic was a mess. Workers were beginning to barricade the Las Vegas strip compounding traffic fiasco.

New Years Eve travel by taxi to and from the Fogerty concert venue was slow but the taxi drivers knew how to circumvent the roads at my expense. My girlfriend and I went to the same location to see Lionel Richie several years ago. Fogerty could have played for another two hours and still not played all his hits. I was hoping he'd cut it short because finding a taxi wasn't fun due to the limited Las Vegas strip remained closed to vehicle traffic with thousands leaving the concert venue competing for a few taxis. I cut through a neighboring hotel and kept asking for directions to the nearest taxi stand.

For New Years Eve, Fremont Street had an admission for several concerts...pass. I was in bed before midnight. Always the party animal!

In the previous update, I noted the lack of beverage service on my five-hour flights from LAX to Honolulu and back. International flights have lots of beverage and food service, almost too much. My airport Uber driver, by coincidence, was a Delta flight attendant so I had to ask about the lack of beverage service on the flight. He confirmed that Delta is reviewing this policy and perhaps, I had some influence on this policy. He didn't want to dish any dirt on freak incidents but noted they involved US government agents carrying weapons.

As usual, I avoid gaming machines but invest money in mutual funds without hesitation. It's my retirement fund.

Las Vegas weather was sunny on Tuesday and rainy on Wednesday. Both days were cold. The coat I brought worked equally well in Kansas and Nevada.

For those unfamiliar with Las Vegas, the old casinos are on Fremont Street. The newer casinos are on the Las Vegas strip. I prefer staying on Fremont Street because anything you want to see or do is within walking distance. Fremont Street is a 24-7-365 freak show circus. Most shows are on the strip. You have long, more expensive, taxi rides between Fremont Street and the Strip. I spend a lot of money on taxis to the shows, but I enjoy speaking with the taxi drivers. Most are immigrants in places I've visited. I surprise them with my knowledge of their homeland.

Don't forget to buckle up! Don't look out the windshield. Taxi drivers keep their homeland driving habits.

After I returned to KC, a friend said there was a disturbance at the KC airport. A google search indicated a bomb threat lockdown on New Years Eve delaying a couple of flights and an unruly passenger on New Years Day. I managed to avoid both incidents.

Lessons learned: Pass on future New Years Eve Las Vegas runs. Too of a traffic mess. It was a quick in and out trip flying in on Tuesday and leaving on Thursday but there wasn't much more that I wanted to see. I did enjoy what I did but the traffic will stick out in the memory. Spirit Airlines...the people were good, the airline sucked.

In 2025, the company changed leave policies. In 2024, we earned our leave each pay period and could accumulate it. I was saving it up for a trip to visit my girlfriend but that didn't materialize. In 2025, we were given a combined lump-sum vacation/sick leave. We had to burn off all the 2024 leave by mid-July and the 2025 leave by the end of the year. My main obstacle was work events not allowing me to plan my leave in advance. Between company holidays and paid time off, I used most, but not all, of my 2025 leave. I did give some leave back to the company. I'll do better at using my time off allotment in 2026.

This time off was my trial for when I do hang up my boots. Having time off with something to do is the best. Not having anything to do is my greatest fear of my retirement but I admit idle time isn't bad either.

Also from the last update: I dumped Hulu resuming with YoutubeTV and resumed my Peacock subscription. There is no remorse for dumping Hulu. Hulu wasn't what I remember from my first experience with them. ESPN+ is now included with YoutubeTV but not ESPN Unlimited. I need to resume my Hulu subscription or subscribe to ESPN Unlimited so I can watch my WWE PLEs.

PPS from the last update as well: Shortly after I posted the last update, the Bermuda Triangle of bicycle flat tires got another tube on the same bike in the same area making it four flats in about a year. Yes, the electric pump didn't work either but was replaced by my twenty-year-old pump. And yes, the electric pump worked when it was home in warmth.

I'm still riding my bicycles as winter weather allows and hitting the gym two to three times a week.

Hoping everyone had a blessed Christmas and New Year's Eve. May 2026 continue those blessings.

Christmas has twelve days so I'm not late...Feliz Navidad! Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noel! Happy New Year! Bonne Annee! Feliz Ano Nuevo! Happy Kwanza! Happy Chanukah!

Stay tuned for my favorite issue of the BLT, the Best of BLT for 2025.