Des Moines Loves Mary-Claire Bar Crawl

Last weekend Mary-Claire was in town from Chicago.  She doesn't get to Des Moines much, so I decided to show her some of my favorite spots.

When she got into town we walked to AK's to have some beers.  Todd and Stimmel met us there. AK's was full, as usual, so Mary-Claire was able to witness what an odd mix of patrons AK's has.  

Saturday morning Mary-Claire and I headed to breakfast at Gateway Market.  We had brunch there, but we didn't need to, as there were so many samples at the store.  We picked up some cheese made in Iowa by a guy with a huge unibrow, some salsa made in Cumming, and some sweet chibatta.  Full of samples and needing to get our grocery's home we headed back to my house and played some cribbage while we waited for Kathleen.

Once Kathleen arrived we chatted a bit and then headed to Costco.  By the time we got back it was time for dinner.  We headed down to Court Ave. for some food and to start the evenings festivities.

After CABCo we went to Fong's Chinese Pizza so that Mary-Claire could have a kamakazi.  As you can tell by the picture, she missed her calling.  Mary-Claire clearly should have been a fighter pilot.

Following Fong's we walked to El Bait Shop to try some of the 100+ beers on tap.  While Mary-Claire tried to pick her favorite beer from the Iowa beer flight (6 beer samples from Iowa), Carnahan showed us her talent of molding broken jewelry into hearts.  It was a crazy night.

After all of that excitement we headed home to bed.  We needed to get up early to make it to breakfast at the Waveland before Mary-Claire hit the road.

It was a wonderful visit, and I hope Mary-Claire comes back soon.  I can't wait to see her in a helmet again.

Sporty Saturday

Last Saturday I spent the day as a sports fan.  UNI was in town playing Drake, so the UNI group got together to go see the game.  We met at AK's before the game, as it was a central location (and they have Bloody Marys).

We upped the number of purple shirts significantly as we entered the bar.  

After the basketball game we headed over to Justin's for some beer and snacks.  I couldn't stay too long, as I needed to get ready for my next sporting event.

Saturday night I went to my first Iowa Chops Hockey game.  I can't say enough about my distaste of the team name.  The lost the game.  I'm pretty sure it's because they are named after a cut of meat.

Even if they did loose, and I hate the name, it was still a wonderful time.  Monica was there, and I always enjoy catching up with her.

After the game I headed home to bed.  I like sports, but two sporting events in one day is incredibly tiring.

AK O'Connors

Last night was a fun night at AK's. I was able to truly relax, having turned in my take home final late in the afternoon. After spending most of my weekend thinking about school I was ready to think about anything other than product management.

Upon arriving at AK's I noticed a poster for the band playing that night; Brother Trucker, one of my favorite bands was playing. I knew I was in for a treat. Stimmel, Todd, Todd's roommate Justin, and I ordered some food and enjoyed the band. After a while Todd and Justin decided to head to the Saddle. Stimmel and I weren't about to leave Brother Trucker, so we stuck around.


It's a good thing we stuck around, because about a half hour after Todd and Justin left Nate and Mark showed up. As you can see from the photo of them below, there really isn't anything quite as intimidating and gangsta as a couple of programmers at an insurance company.

Mark and Nate were in rare form. Nate is by far the most conservative person I know. It was enjoyable listening to Stimmel and Nate discuss politics. Mark and I spent our time talking about other, more important things, like beer.

It has been a relaxing, long weekend. I wish all weekends were three days long.