My favorite time of the year is the end where I recount the events of the past year by plaguriazing what I've already written.

As I wrote in the 2024 edition, I stayed put for the 2024 Christmas/2025 holiday period. I didn't have much vacation time stored and what time, I did have, I needed to save. I rode my bikes (yes, bikes, I have keep to two or more bikes in my apartment) and hit the gym.

Leaving the gym checking to see if I had everything I came with. Keys? I looked and looked, inside and outside. The gym staff checked their lost and found and retraced my visit with no luck. The receptionist flared her retractable fangs and glared at me when I entered her territorial fortress most folks would call the counter. Snake eyes baby! Hard to fathom where I lost the keys. I don't need a key to unlock the doors as long as it's on my person. Ditto for driving the car. I walked nearly a mile and a half to my apartment in the beginning of a snowstorm in a hoodie, sweatpants, and a baseball cap. The keys were nowhere near where I parked it at the start of this journey. I went to the apartment clubhouse where I hung out in warmth until a locksmith I Googled, came to my rescue. He couldn't pick the lock so he destroyed it with a drill and I got in. He drove me to my car. It was dark but I found the keys lying near my car on the snowy asphalt. Cost of my stupidity? $404. I got a story and I'm happy that I didn't freeze...was only wearing a hoodie and a ball cap with temps in the teens and snow falling...how could that be? My prayers were answered.

The locksmith was Russian. Noting that I'd been to Armenia and Geogia, he asked if I knew any Russian curse words which he translated back into English. The Turks taught me a couple but I remembered one. My understanding of that one word was slightly different. I know a few more like please and thanks. The Armenians hate the Russians and wouldn't teach me Russian.

Check out the photos (left and right). I was the January 2025 employee of the month. I possessed the Johnny Cash bobble head for a month and got to park right next to the office in the employee of the month parking spot. It's kind of a mock-award/morale booster in my opinion but parking next to the office did come in handy in the aftermath of the huge snowstorm.

My company held a work seminar in LA. They put us up in a posh hotel, the LA Westin Bonaventure. I was hesitant to go. I could best use the time at the office. I did go. I got to fraternize with colleagues I'd only seen in video meetings and got a bit more company culture. We toured one of the nearly completed LA County Museum of Art built by my company. I passed on bowling. My highlight was dinner at the Hollywood rooftop restaurant. We got to tour the wax museum. Years ago, I went to Madame Tussaud's in London, but I really went to town with photos even changing my Facebook photo. I had no idea I was so close to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, so I got a couple of photos. I worked the weekend to get caught up on the work that didn't happen while I was gone.

A passed photo opp was several segments of the actual Berlin wall on display in LA. Tagged with spray paint, it was pathetic 'hospitality' for someone who's seen the real thing. As an American, it was uncomfortable, at best, to see history tainted in this way.

I was mystified by the space age looking food delivery robots and the Waymo self-driving taxis.

Hard to believe but someone got this recluse out of his apartment to a huge crowd in KC. What seemed like forever ago, I bought a ticket to see Alison Krauss. I didn't see any rain in the forecast but brought a hat and jacket just in case. During the performance, I glanced at a neighbor's phone showing the weather forecast predicting rain in a half-hour. It couldn't have been more accurate. There was a 10-15-minute break and the show started right up again. I really liked the acoustic sound of both bands...both bluegrass and felt the best songs were done for her encore selections but in the future, I'll stick to her studio albums.

Getting to the concert venue was the big adventure. I scheduled car maintenance for the same day. I stopped at a favorite BBQ restaurant. Many years ago, my father worked in downtown KC in a not so nice neighborhood. Was recalling those days as I passed through that same neighborhood. Made a restroom stop at a convenience store. No restroom. I didn't break stride getting back into the car and driving to the venue.

A former colleague whom I remain in contact with had been nagging me to visit him for a long time. I visited him in Berlin while I was working in Kosovo. He lives in Hawaii so it didn't take much convincing as far as wanting to visit. I find in life I have time or money but never both. In this case, it was time. Frankly, work had been hectic. I was stacked...like drinking water from a fire hose so I really had to hustle to make this trip happen. Breaking free wasn't an option.

Living abroad, I would use my vacation time for my medical warranty inspection (medical checkups) trips back home. Upon my return from medical leave, folks would ask about my vacation, I'd scoff and reply "what vacation?". It wasn't a vacation per se. Now, I take a day and a half or two days max to go for my warranty trips so I have plenty so that wasn't an issue. I haven't had a proper vacation since I made a day trip to Vegas for the Raiders game and Bellamy brothers in December 2023, a day trip or my Easter trip that same year. The Company revised their leave policy; vacation and sick leave are combined. I penciled the trip in my brain and worked it out with the bosses that I could go but couldn't firm up the timing with work commitments until the last minute.

Scouting out the flights and talking to my friend, I would be doing non-peak travel so fares were reasonable. I checked the timing with my friend and his visitor calendar was clear. At the last second, inspiration hit me and I decided to check the possibility of using my frequent flier miles with Delta.

The stars were aligned. I could break away from work while using my Delta miles. I canceled plans for a much-anticipated birthday party celebration and social engagements surrounding that party but choices had to be made. I NEEDED A VACATION!!!. The ticketing fee was $11.20. Staying with my friend. He was my tour guide. Travel cost, including airport parking, was just over a c-note. Doubt many folks have taken trips have had Hawaiian vacations for that cost.

I spent a half day at the office finishing up what needed to be done before heading home with my laptop just in case. Was tempted to bring the work laptop with me but it stayed in the apartment where I left it.

I connected to Honolulu through LAX. I suspected but didn't know for sure if I needed to change terminals with a very tight connection so stopping to eat wasn't an option. Dating myself but I felt like OJ Simpson in the old Hertz commercials...

My only gripe about Delta is the lack of flight service. The flight from KC to LAX was three hours. From LAX to Honolulu was five. Both flights, we were served a snack and a beverage. On the return trip, we got TWO snacks and TWO beverages. Delta stock must have tanked at this coup. On most international flights, you'll get one or two meals and a few snacks...almost to the point of gluttony. These were domestic flights but a five-hour flight needs more than one or two passes of the beverage cart. I was famished when I arrived. We found an open McNasty's where I ravenously inhaled my order in the car.

During a Las Vegas taxi ride, my airport Uber driver, by coincidence, was a Delta flight attendant so I had to ask about the lack of beverage service on the flights. 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.

My friend greeted me at the airport with a Hawaiian lei. My friend has a Tesla which is powered by solar panels from his home. A Tesla and solar power with battery banks to boot...talk dirty to this engineer!

We spent three days touring Oahu. Yes, we visited Pearl Harbor. My high school history teachers were pretty accurate according to the exhibits. Having been to Jamaica, Greece, Tanzania, Australia, Indonesia, and Tunisia, I've seen my share of tropics. Hawaii seemed weird enough to for this vacation deprived working stiff. Enough country dropping.

Though every view was a postcard view, I didn't take a lot of photos. My biggest takeaway made the last big Maui fire (next island over) make sense...the east side is the lush green tropics we think of when we picture Hawaii. When the wet air hits the mountains, the rain falls. It's dry on the western part. We drove past the property occupied by Burak Obama which was formerly the set for the TV series Magnum PI...not really a major acreage as the show led the viewer to believe. How they landed a helicopter on that property is beyond me. With property at a premium...figure at least a million bucks an acre...anything can be disguised as an acreage whether the home was a shed or a fortress. Prices reminded me of my years in Alaska and link.

I enjoyed some of the local cuisine. My first experience was Loco Moco: rice, eggs, beef, and brown gravy. Had to do the Mahi Mahi.

My friend packed sandwiches and snacks for the return trip. My beloved Huskers were playing during my flight. I watched through the third quarter from my airplane seat and the fourth quarter on my phone. I had plenty of connection time on the return trip so I stopped for food at LAX.

The Gin Blossoms put on a free concert here in Leavenworth. I have some of their music so it was a slam dunk for your author to go. I'm sure the band didn't plan on the two passing trains during the show.

We had a potluck lunch for Thanksgiving at the office. 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.

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.

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.

I previously shared this video. My brother-in-law is retired but has a Yuletide Santa gig. At a family gathering where the siblings and I exchanged Christmas cookies at an Omaha 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. THe niece took pity on her 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.

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 Christmas 2026. 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.

The first show on my two-day agenda was the Wizard of Oz at the Sphere. Unfortunately, I bought a non-refundable ticket for December 30, 2026 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.

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 the 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!

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.

There really weren't any major events for Bluelou in 2025, it was more adjusting to a new lifestyle. I added a new state to places I've visited.

For 2024, with a change in jobs, locations, and overall lifestyle, the prevailing 2025 theme for me was adapting and accepting those changes both professionally and mostly, personally. After thirty years of living overseas, moving back to the homeland is a big change. Simply being able to speak to almost anyone I encounter on the street was huge.

Working sixty-hour work weeks abroad but migrating to domestic work with about third less hours, I no longer had to stuff as much as possible after work Monday through Saturday and Sunday. Sometimes, I did nothing, finding that doing nothing isn't a bad thing. It's like part time work. I ride my bikes, hit the gym, and/or just hang out.

My nearly year and a half review of living close to KC. I like Leavenworth better than KC. As the adage goes, it's a nice place to visit but I wouldn't like to (permanently) live here. I like the three-hour drive home.

I do like the KC cuisine scene but doing anything in KC requires driving. Nothing is close/convenient. It's a concrete jungle. I'm doing my best to meet my friends and family to support a few of my fave restaurants in KC: Stroud's, Slap's BBQ, Yard House...to name a few.

Rip off from my 2023 Best of BLT update still true; Bluelou update: Still putting pre- in front of the word diabetic. Still keeping that weight off. I'm still holding at 215 pounds (98kg)...85 pounds (38.5kg) below my COVID 20 high of 299 pounds (136kg). I am still obsessed with my food intake by Excel. It's narcissistic but if it works for me and my health, I go for it! In my last warranty inspection, I'd hoped I could trim down on my medications but that was not to be. It's a goal.

The project finish line is inching closer. No idea what's next. That's nothing new for Bluelou. Stay tuned and we'll find out what's next right here.

Feliz Navidad! Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noel! Happy New Year! Bonne Annee! Feliz Ano Nuevo! Happy Kwanza! Happy Chanukah!