Homemade Ice Cream, of which we have devoured three batches so far, is best in the homemade vanilla variety.

Peach is a close second if made with fresh, Texas hill country peaches.

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Tonight, we stopped at QuikTrip, a local convenience store of immense popularity. We, alone, give them mighty support although primarily in the form of $.86 refills in a styrofoam route 44 Sonic cup.


Their slogan is "Every Trip Guaranteed." I proposed to Leslie that this is an inferior slogan because it is too vague. Certainly slogans require the customer to infer the meaning. An example of a clever, working, slogan is Cingular's "Raising the
Bar." Certainly, inference is needed but it is easier and "bar" has a dual meaning - the bars indicating the signal strength of a cell phone and excelling in your endeavor - again, raising the bar.

What does "Every Trip Guaranteed" mean? How does a place of business guarantee your trip? Or might it just be the same as saying, "Boy, you just made a trip." I mean is the guarantee simply found in that a trip was made, and, if so, why is that something to guarantee? Doesn't "guarantee" naturally refer to a product, a service, something guaranteeable? Guarantee that you will have more drink options than anyone else, guarantee low prices which by the way is Wal-Mart's (Everyday Low Prices. Guaranteed.), guarantee cheaper gas, guarantee clean restrooms. Don't guarantee the trip.

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Tonight, we also shopped at Target. Their slogan escapes me. We purchased Caleb, age 12, new shorts. Men's department. Size 30 waist. Again, age 12.

Leslie and I wonder if flies communicate with one another because if they do then they need to communicate this:

"The people in that house will kill you if you go in there. Inside that abode there are fly-killing atrocities taking place."

Pass that along to your descendents, Mr. Fly. That seems to us to be critical information to the fly.

On another independent insect note. Why do roaches always seem to expire, be in their death throws, on their back? Die like a noble roach with your feet on the ground. Leslie, the Mrs., would like me to point out that said expired roaches have not been observed at our home. The roaches have been observed at my place of employment after the insect executioner made his summer visit.

Caleb has an insect project during the upcoming school year. We are to spend the summer collecting insects. I think there will be a fly and roach in our collection soon. That is the extent of it.

As a gift for Father's Day, I received an MP3 player. More importantly, two cards made by my daughter and now sitting out where they are frequently viewed.

Back to the MP3 player.

On it I now have the following musical artists:

U2
One Rascal Flatts song at my wife's behest which I will be deleting soon,
Little Big Town - good group, new.
Michael Jackson. Yes, Michael Jackson.
Duran Duran
Abba - Go ahead admit it. When you are in your car driving alone and Abba's Dancing Queen comes on you bop your head and sing along.
Hoobastank - which I am afraid is a dirty word that I do not know.
Phil Collins
Annie Lennox
Earth, Wind, & Fire - several songs.
38 Special
Acappella
Ambrosia
America's Horse With No Name, Sister Golden Hair, and Ventura Highway which are all probably illicit drug references of which I am unaware.
Dan Fogelberg
Newsboys
Pablo Cruise
Gino Vannelli
The Commodores with Lionel Richie and without.
James Taylor
Susan Ashton
Gordon Lightfoot
Five For Fighting
John Mellencamp - Cougar and non-Cougar
Journey
Michael Buble
Vince Gill
Don Henley
Fleetwood Mac
William Ackerman - instrumental New Age Guitar
Mac McAnally
Jackson Browne

Yesterday, I asked Leslie if it was o.k. for a 44 year old to play air-guitar. I just got a look but played on anyway.

I have just returned from Omaha, Nebraska. A friend from College Station, Barry Jackson, and my oldest son, Caleb, and I attended the first four sessions of the College World Series. We saw all eight teams compete. Put your dollars on Rice.

A run-down of the trip follows.

We began early Thursday after a short morning at work and promptly headed north into Oklahoma. We stopped at a Norman, Ok, joint for BBQ. Great fried okra, fried being the only way to eat that particular veggie. We passed the south campus of the Oklahoma Horseshoeing School which brought a chuckle from Mr. Jackson.

That night we stopped in Manhattan, Kansas, and were very hospitably treated by Mr. and Mrs. Larry Jackson, brother of trip companion. We ate out in the boondocks at a place that advertises itself as providing the best rural food in America or something akin to it. There, Caleb ate his first buffalo burger directly devouring it. While there, we were instrumentally and vocally entertained by the Haymakers, a local collection of farm tractor drivers who plucked their way through the best Hee Haw hits. Topped the evening off with a drive through powercat country/campus, Kansas State University. On the liveability scale, Manhattan, the little apple, ranks very high due to the hills, yes - Kansas hills, the Flint Hills to be specific, the fact it is a college town, the cleanness/neatness of the said city, and the general beauty of the landscape.

From there Friday morning, we drove to Omaha by way of Lincoln. One of our goals was to give Caleb, a sports fan, a personal view of some Big XII campuses. By the way, another trip goal was to eat at only unique, one of a kind joints. No chain restaurants. We, Barry, veered from this in two ways which I will outline in the next paragraph. Back to Lincoln and the campus of the University of Nebraska, the children of the corn. While the stadium is splendid though my last trip there was less than pleasant due to the failure of the Aggies to show up on game day, the campus is striking only in that it is not striking. I expected more. More of what? Landscaping, beauty, eye-catching, university, architecture.

The two deviations from our "not eating at chain restaurants" were Barry Jackson violations though I admit these violations are minor and took place at chains but chains not located in Texas. Lincoln was the sight of the first and the restaurant of temptation was Taco Johns and the overwhelmingly tempting food was the Potato Ole. The Potato Ole is basically a tater tot with nacho cheese. I am not a fan of the tot.
The second violation was Barry's need, for nostalgia, to eat a sandwich from Runza's. A Runza Original is a sandwich that mixes the meet with cabbage. I am not a fan of cabbage. I must admit here that Caleb and I did each partake of one tot each. That was clearly enough. We had not Runza bites.

From Lincoln into Omaha for the first match-up between Clemson and Georgia Tech, a Clemson victory. Rosenblatt stadium is an outstanding facility with many enjoyable game-watching amenities. The atmosphere in and out of the park is fair like. Fans from all over the nation converge for the event regardless of the teams playing. Many we saw had been attending for years and plan their vacations to or around the CWS. We bedded down in Council Bluffs, Iowa, right across the Missouri from Omaha. Though we did not drive around Omaha extensively, it seems somewhat large in area, we got a feel for it and find it inviting in it's own right even without the CWS. Council Bluffs, however, did not impress even though we visited right prior to our leaving a monument to Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery.

We ate at other places, that while good, aren't worth reading nor writing about.
We stayed two nights, attended all four games featuring all eight invitees. On the second game day we sat behind a gentleman from Rockdale whose son is an assitant coach for Rice. He had VIP passes to the next game which he could not use and was kind enough to hand those over. That night, much to Caleb's delight, we sat with unlimited food and drink, in the air-conditioned comfort of the Stadium Club.

After attending church services at a congregation in Council Bluffs, we headed south stopping at Taco Johns for Barry's tater tot fix, but it was closed which I am sure is a sign of things to come for the establishment as a whole because one can't cast one's livelihood totally on the attractiveness of the tater tot.

Heading south we decided to make an attempt at getting to Stillwater, Oklahoma, and scope out the home of the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Took sustenance at Eskimo Joe's near the campus with a plate full of Pepperjack Bacon Cheese Fries. We plan on attending the Ag's away game their this fall. Stayed at a Best Western for a discounted rate after signing up for some Best Western Royal Club. This morning arose, ate at a local donut shop, toured what turned out to be a beautiful campus and drove south arriving home this afternoon.

Other thoughts:

I am indifferent, also, to the Dipping Dot or whatever that ice cream is that is purported to be the ice cream of the astronauts that is sold in the middle of mall walkways. We didn't eat that or walk through a mall. It was just an item of discussion.

Kansas is green and gold. Great corn fields rowed up to great wheat fields.

Making memories with your son is beyond words.

I enjoy shopping for the "treats" that those who don't make the trip receive upon my return. Jeb got a Georgia Tech Yellowjacket cap with the insect on the front. Erin, a heart necklace on colorful string/rope (She is not into cheer gear), and Leslie a door knocker from an iron works place in the Old Market area of downtown Omaha. It is classified as decor, and she likes decor, and she, at least, convinced me this afternoon that she liked this decor.

Texas A&M, while I love the school, is not that pretty of a campus. You notice this when visiting other campuses that seemed to have had some plan in regard to building style and architecture.

I am not checking this for grammar or spelling before hitting "Publish Post" so deal gently with me.

Have you gotten old when you walk instead of run?

The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard is a great book. I am reading it and Freakanomics, a bestseller with some interesting perspectives.

What essential knowledge does an insect collection assignment bestow?

When I am old, I want to count wolves in Yellowstone National Park. Leslie can serve coffee at the park cafe/coffee shop.

It is hard to beat throwing a ball with your kids in the living room, from one side to the other while sitting in the big red chair. A soft ball.

Vanilla Bean over Homemade Vanilla and Moo-llinium(sp?)Crunch over both.

I am now addicted to Caffiene Free. How is that? I think it is the burn as it goes down that I am addicted to. Caffiene Free Diet Coke, not Pepsi. Definitely not Pepsi.