Posts Tagged St. Louis
Rhyen’s First Vlog
Posted by Versa Dave in Versa Life on February 13th, 2010
I can’t think of a better place for Rhyen to record her first vlog than in an Apple store. FTW.
It’s A Hearing Aid. No Wait..It IS Bluetooth.
Posted by Versa Dave in Geekdom on January 15th, 2010
When I was barely a year old, my mom realized that there was something not quite right about me. Sure, laugh it up chuckles…I know there’s something not quite right with me. She however, could see something else, a pattern, a deficiency in my learning and speech. It wasn’t until I was nearly 3 that she got an ENT to finally see me, and then all was brought to the surface. I had a hearing impairment. 30 years ago though, things were different. My eustachian tubes didn’t grow right when I was born; they grew flat and narrow, not round and open. For years the doctors just threw sets of tubes in my ears. Eventually, it turned into more complex surgeries, prosthesis and implants, reconstructions, and just about any other procedure you can throw at broken ears.
At the age of 8, the doctors wanted me to start using hearing aids. I adamantly refused; by 14 I said yes. And as my Mom drove me home that afternoon, with ears filled with miracles of audiology, I stuck my head out the car window like a golden retriever; my eyes, closed, but my ears, open…to a brand new world.
Over the years, I’ve gone through many hearing aids. For about 10 years though, I went without a hearing aid in my right ear because of an extreme case of cholesteatoma. It completely disintegrated all the bones and my ear drum was nothing but a lifeless flab of flesh. Fortunately, an awesome doctor in St. Louis at Washington University named Dr. Joel Goebel, was able to bring new life back to that ear; and now coupled with the experience and talent of audiologist Jennifer Listenberger (again, of Washington University), I can now hear in my right ear with the assistance of a hearing aid.
When I first got the new hearing aid for my right ear, I had the option of picking a color for it. A color? Hearing aids are flesh color aren’t they? Jennifer asked me if I was going to grow my hair out. I said “Hell no!”. “Gimme the blue one” I said. And since then, I’ve been asked, no less than twice a month, by someone, if whether or not my blue hearing aid was some kind of a new bluetooth headset.
The day has come however, where I can answer that misguided person, “Why yes…it is bluetooth…but it’s a hearing aid too”. As of today, I’m now the proud owner of a Phonak Versáta SP for my left ear; along with the iCom communication accessory. In short, I can talk on my iPhone, via bluetooth, without ever picking up the phone, putting on a headset, or plugging in an ear piece…it all goes right through my hearing aid. I can even listen to the iPod on the iPhone through the iCom. As I sat in front of the TV tonight, with Rhyen leaning over my shoulder and Dylen laying against me, I was able to pair my bluetooth hearing aid and iCom with the MacBook Pro and listen to videos…yep…right through the hearing aid. I’ve already paired up with my Cisco phone at work too…worked flawlessly. In short, I’m happier than a puppy with two peters that I can hear.
Post #SeattleCatTweetup Coverage
Posted by Versa Dave in Versa Life on October 24th, 2009
On my way to The Atomic Cowboy, I get a text message from Sonya that she was driving behind me. I unfortunately didn’t see it until we pulled in front of the bar. It probably wouldn’t have made a difference that I knew she was there…but I realized later, that we’d not have an opportunity like that again. This would be the last time I got to see @chinacat for awhile.
I had never eaten at The Atomic Cowboy before and quite honestly didn’t hold my standards for them very high. However, afterwards, I was sold on their flavor! I only ordered guapo fries with cheese sauce and cheeseburger sliders but Oh.My.Goodness! They were soooo good. I believe @mdhugo helped me eat the fries but I have no doubt that I could have finished it off.
As we left, it was decided that we’d go to Novak’s which is a gay bar across the street. In fact, most of the bars in this neighborhood are gay bars. Not really a problem for me to be in a gay bar but as we were leaving, I made a comment like “Ok, let’s go to the next gay bar”. Everyone kind of got quiet for a second. I believe it was @tojosan that said “What do you mean ‘next’ gay bar?” As I explained that I thought The Atomic Cowboy was a gay bar, everyone began laughing at me. I really had no idea that it was NOT a gay bar. It really didn’t matter to me one way or the other…but the whole situation was comical and provided a laugh for the rest of the night.
As the night moved on, so did the fun. A few people had to take off, but a few more hitched on for the ride. Novaks ended up being alot more fun that planned on since there was Karaoke. We had a few of our party goers sing, like @SgtHotPants and @AngeBird.
The end of the night came sooner for me than the rest of the party animals because I had to be up for work by 4:30 in the morning. Sonya and I had a few minutes to say our goodbyes. It was very emotional for me and caught myself shedding a tear or two. I know that she needs to do this, but selfishly I want her to stay. We wish you well Sonya Kim and hope to see you very soon! Todd mentioned making a road trip to Seattle one day…I’m totally down with that!!
I tried to take a bunch of images throughout the night and managed to capture some really good shots. You can even check out the video below of some of the Karaoke happenings. Click on the image to the right to view the Flickr album.
Say Goodbye ChinaCat, Hello SeattleCat Tweetup
Posted by Versa Dave in Versa Life on October 15th, 2009
You might remember a few months ago, I blogged about what social media did for me. In that article, I spoke of a particular woman named @chinacat, or Sonya to her friends. As much as it pains me to say this, Sonya and her son are making a cross country relocation trek in just a few short days. St. Louis has been lucky to have her as a friend, a mother, a tweep, a blogger, a developer and an adventure seeker.
As a final farewell, we will be seeing Sonya off on her journey in true social media form….a tweetup of course! On Wednesday, October 21st, join us at The Atomic Cowboy from 6-10pm. Come say hi, remember old times, create a new memory and say goodbye to a friend.
The Atomic Cowboy
4140 Manchester Road
St. Louis, MO 63110
Google Maps
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 @ 6-10pm
Feel free to let @atomiccowboystl know that you’re coming and use the hashtag #SeattleCatTweetup to let everyone on Twitter know where you’ll be hanging out.
Taking Chances
Posted by Versa Dave in Versa Life on October 9th, 2009
I meet alot of people in my day-to-day activities; at work, at the store, online social media networks, through friends. Some of them I’ve become really good friends with, some of them I learn something from them and I move on, and others just come and go. I enjoy those that I learn from though.
On Tuesday night, I did something I’ve never done before. I willingly (yes without coercion) signed up and paid for a class about food and wine pairing at Provisions Market over on Olive. I’ll give you a moment to catch your breath. One of the very interesting people I’ve met in my travels, @STLWineGirl (aka Angela Ortmann), announced that she was holding this class a few weeks ago. I knew she had a similar class a few months ago, but frankly wasn’t up to the challenge yet. For whatever reason though, I decided to take the plunge into “having class” (although I still think there’s no hope for this boy).
If you don’t know me…I mean really know me, then let me explain to you what my diet consists of. Meat, potato, meat, mac & cheese, eggs, meat, sausage, mac & cheese….you get the picture right? Seriously, I have no variety in my culinary choices. I’m picky, I’ve always been picky. I don’t eat for fun or hobby or whatever. It’s more about function for me I guess. I eat because I know I have to, so I figure I might as well just eat what I like. Before you go judging me, I already know it’s not healthy. I’m ok with that, for now.
Enough about me, let’s talk about Angela and her amazing experience she gave me. There were 30 of us and we sat on 3 sides of a large square made with tables lined with fancy wine glasses and stemware. Fortunately, she preemptively placed me next to a few gals I knew from Twitter, @bekahclark and @MilliGFunk. As she began the night, Angela explained that we would be going through 5 dishes, each with a different wine, from 5 different regions of the world. This of course gave me the heebee jeebees because when it comes to international food…I just don’t do it. Angela assured me that I could do this though and her warm smile & glowing eyes convinced me.
Below is the menu we went through, where it’s from and my thoughts on the dish, the wine, the combination, etc.
- Black Bean and Corn Cake with Shrimp Tomato-Garlic Vinaigrette with NV Gruet Rosé Sparkling (New Mexico): When this arrived, I saw what appeared to be good, but hesitated because I couldn’t see what was really inside the cake thingy. The wine was, ok. Everyone kept saying something about a BBQ tastes but I didn’t get it. After my initial bite, I really had to concentrate on not knowing what all the ingredients were. I ate the entire thing though. It wasn’t fantastic, but it satisfied me. The wine didn’t taste any better before or after for me.
- Chickpea and Vegetable Samosa with 2007 Chateau Indage Chenin Blanc (India): More so than the first one, this gave me the heebee jeebees. It was so tasty looking in this perfectly sealed triangular pastry…like a yummy hot pocket filled with cheese and meats. Only this wasn’t cheese and meat…it was nasty green vomit from a badger. The wine was good. I definitely enjoyed it. And it’s a good thing too, because I had to swig it to wash out the one bit of this devious delectable that tainted my palette.
- Rustic Brazilian Beef Pastry with 2006 Miolo Pinot Noir (Brazil): This tasty tantalizing treat rejuvenated my taste buds because it tasted just like beef stew! This might have been the only meal that I thought the wine was actually worse after eating though.
- Frikkadel Meatballs w/ Quinoa with 2005 Golden Kaan Pinotage: Ahhh and we’ve arrive to my favorite. This was a classic meatball with some kind of sauce stuff. Angela tricked me though…it had mushrooms in it. Despite those fungus hugging shrooms though, I devoured this dish. The wine was a pleasant treat and added some kick afterwards. By far my favorite pairing of the night.
- Canadian Brown Sugar Pie with 2004 Konzelmann Late Harvest Gewürztraminer (Canada): I’ve never been a huge dessert guy. This was like a tiny little pie shell with a thick filling. I didn’t even doubt this one, but then WHAMMO! The filling was so gooey and the pastry so thick that my upper and bottom teeth were sticking together. To be honest, I don’t even remember how the wine tasted. I only had 2 bites of this one.
My overall thoughts are that this was a very eye opening experience. This was completely outside of my comfort zone, but because Angela was so patient and kind, and a few of my friends were there, I took this well. Angela will be having another class soon and I whole heartedly plan on attending it. You should too. Check out STLWineGirl at www.stlwinegirl.com to stay caught up on all of her happenings.
Post STL Apple Picking Tweetup Coverage
Posted by Versa Dave in Versa Life on October 5th, 2009
Aside from @MilliGFunk being a little chilly in the restaurant, I don’t think we could have asked for a better day for the first ever St. Louis Apple Picking Tweetup. The sun was shining, the temperature was cool, and the air was crisp.
The afternoon started off with a little bit of excitement though as we stood in front of the Country Store. There was a 2 car accident out in the street. No one was seriously injured that I could tell, but it was remarkable how fast the paramedics made it on the scene. There was an off-duty Search and Rescue worker who showed up on the scene within literally 2 minutes…I’d say about 5 minutes for the actual ambulance.
After that bit of drama, we continued on to the line for getting on the tractor trailers. It was busy…but we waited in line patiently and ensued in some conversation. I’m not sure of the exact time, but I’d say it was about 30-40 minutes of being in line before we hitched our ride. We had alot of kids come with their Twittering parents, which made this a really fun family event. We definitely need to plan more family friendly events in the future…I think that could increase our attendance for sure.
Once we boarded the Twitter Train (yes, we had one all to ourselves) the real fun began. Since there were about 20-25 of us, we just kind of wandered off in our own little groups. The bulk of the group was able to stay together and rode back to the main farm. We made a quick pit stop through the pumpkin patch first though so we could make our evaluation on coming back for another trip in a few weeks. There were plenty of apples eaten out in the fields but a bunch of us were still hungry. We made our way to the Country Store for dinner. I had heard good things about their food here and felt it was worth a trip. Boy oh boy was it worth it. Some had the bottomless fried chicken, while the kids stuck to more mainstream classics like Macaroni & Cheese and hot dogs. FYI, the fried biscuits were certainly a treat.
By 7:00, it was time to head on out of the corral and get back to the city. I for one had an excellent time as did my kids. It would be advantageous for the social media community to certainly mindful that some of us have kids, and family friendly events would allow a much larger attendance at events planned.
Thank you once again to Eckert Farms for having us. If you’re planning a big group event, they’ll be more than happy to talk with you. Be sure to follow them on Twitter as well @eckertfarms.
The St. Louis Apple Picking TweetUp
Posted by Versa Dave in BingBong on September 28th, 2009
On a weekly basis I’m looking for things to do with my kids on the weekend. Sometimes, things seem to drop in my calendar and other times, I find the most obscure random events going on. However, this weekend was kind of a no-brainer because now that we’re in full autumn swing, the fruit orchards are harvesting. Apple picking is not only a fun thing to do on a Sunday afternoon…but it’s even more fun when you can do it with your family and friends.
On Sunday, October 4th, 2009, I will be taking my girls to Eckert’s Farm in Belleville, IL for some good ole country fun. Everyone is invited to join us as this will be a peak time for picking Golden Delicious and Red Delicious apples. Eckert’s charges $1.59/lb for their apples but it’s worth every penny!
We’ll meet at 2:00pm at the country store. The weather is slated to be beautiful so I hope to see all my friends there.
Be sure to follow Eckert’s on Twitter and let them know you’re coming and supporting our local economy. If you decide to retweet this event, be sure to use the hashtag #STLAppleTweetup.
Eckert’s Farm is located at:
951 S. Green Mount Road
Belleville, IL 62220
Google Maps
Low-light Photography at Firebird
Posted by Versa Dave in Geekdom on June 27th, 2009
My friend @mdhugo and I decided to take our cameras to Firebird in St. Louis this past Friday night in order to work on our low-light photography. Of course we were also there to be entertained, but mostly just to be geeks. @donhead also joined us but was without camera. I tried and tried, using my Nikon D40 with 55-200mm f/3.8 lens to get good shots, but it just wasn’t happening. Out of 176 images taken, only a few actually came out with any kind of clarity. I’m going to try and find a reasonably inexpensive 50mm f/1.8 lens (I think that will make a huge difference).
You can check out the other 6 photos that I thought were semi-worthy enough by looking at my Flickr page.
*UPDATE: Check out @mdhugo’s post with his pictures.
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