Vote for us so we can get some mulch!

The competition is really heating up on the Mulch Contest! New entrants are threatening our lead.

Please visit the Messenger’s Lawn Facebook photo contest and vote for our yard picture. The backyard really needs the mulch though!

Click this link -> http://a.pgtb.me/cj93
Once there, just scroll down and click vote by our photo (hint: it’s the same one attached to this post).

Thanks,

Dan

The following were already taken:
60CH
60XL
XLCH
1960

Background on the bike:  It is a 1960 Harley Davidson XLCH Sportster  883cc

The Rules: Five (5) letters or numbers; apostrophy, dash and space are acceptable too.

The Prize:  Knowing you helped me out

Map

Brochure

Join University of Missouri Extension for a day of learning in the classroom and in the vineyard. Extension personnel will be on hand to provide research-based information about growing grapes in Missouri, including grape varieties, trellis systems, and equipment needs. We’ll also visit with Jason and Colleen Gerke, owner/operators of Jowler Creek Winery about how they got started in the business and what their experience has been in developing a commercial vineyard and winery. Participants are then invited to tour their vineyard near Platte City and enjoy free tastings in the winery.

To register for the workshop, contact Platte County University of Missouri Extension at the address and phone number below. Registration includes light snacks, and Extension publications. Register by March 20th for $20. After the 20th, registration is $25. We hope to see you on the 28th!

Platte County
University of Missouri Extension
11724 NW Plaza Circle, Suite 300
Kansas City, MO 64153
Phone: 816-270-2141
Fax: 816-270-2512
E-mail: platteco@missouri.edu

I am not affiliated with this event.  I am merely republishing the details as I will probably be in attendance.

After the salad, we had our main courses.  In the past, I’ve enjoyed the Brisket (the most tender brisket I think I’ve ever tasted) and the Berkshire Pork Loin Chop. This time, though, I decided to try the flat iron Akaushi beef steak.  This was one of the tastiest pieces of  beef I have ever tasted.  Cooked medium-rare, the marbling of fat was unparalleled.  This was a well seasoned, juicy piece of beef.  Oh yeah, the Luna Benegas cabernet sauvignon went very well with the beef.  Although I found myself eating more steak than drinking wine.

The jaunt to Smithville is well worth it to sample one of the great restaurants in the region.  They use local ingredients where they can and it’s apparent that they enjoy inventing new and flavorful dishes as much as they enjoy seeing the happy faces of their clientele.

Anybody else notice these search result abnormalities?

get news: I follow several of the google business news updates as well as wine, advertising and tech news.

make friends: Since my interests vary from motorcycles, wine, internet marketing to music, I find myself following people with similar interests. It’s cool to chat with people around the world.

communicate with friends: Along with new friends around the world, I even have some friends in real life who I like to update and stay updated on.

communicate with professional network: Being an interactive marketing professional in Kansas City, it makes sense to get acquainted and  chat with fellow twitterites in the area.

give live updates: Sometimes if I go somewhere and I want to try to entice my friends or make them jealous, i might do some updates or even some twitpics of the good time.

get live updates: There’s always something going on and always someone on twitter willing to send updates.

get opinions of friends: the thing about twitter is if you’re registered, chances are you like giving your opinion.

allow non-twitterers to keep tabs on me: My wife is subscribed to my feed on her iGoogle page and my in-laws know how to get to my profile… so I gotta watch what I say.

So, why and how do you use twitter?

I like to do a mix of whatever occurs to me.  Personal updates give friends a heads-up as to my whereabouts and professional updates are usually intended to start a conversation.

I tend to follow people who mix personal and professional tweets because I feel I get a more authentic picture of them.

Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/thewebdawg

Day: Saturday
Date: July 19th, 2008
Time: 11:00am until sold out
Location:
Cellar Rat Wine Merchants
1701 Baltimore
Kansas City, MO 64108
(816) 221-9463

Call it what you will…an ‘End of Bin’, ‘Closeout’, ‘Inventory Reduction’ or ‘Discontinued Item’ sale, this is where you will find some amazing values. Each year our distributors feel the pressure to clean out their warehouses to make room for new arrivals. Funny thing about agricultural products such as wine - each year there is a new ‘crop’ of wines and each year the wineries need to sell the wine, the distributors bring in the new vintages and whatever older vintages are still there tend to get somewhat forgotten about. The distributors (just like retailers) are not in the business of ageing wine - they are in the ’selling’ business and need to get rid of the old to make room for the new.

So, once a year, they closeout some of the stuff that has been sitting in their temperature controlled warehouses for a couple of years (or more) and this year we were offered a chance to get in on the closeout madness. Who knows why the wines are still there and haven’t yet sold? There is so much freaking wine out there and it all has to be sold but not all of it does as quickly as it should. When the deals are this good sometimes it is just plain smart not to ask too many questions - just grab it and run. So that’s what we did! We grabbed around 100 cases of wine at prices that make us feel like we just robbed the bank.

Keep in mind that many of these wines have already done their ’short-term’ cellaring in the warehouses and are now at PEAK drinking. For example, while doing research on one of the wines I was reading a review from Robert Parker and in his review (which he scored a 92 point rating) he gave the wine an anticipated maturity of 2007-2012. Plain and simple…these wines are ready to go and many of them are in the ’sweet spot’ of their maturity and evolution. This is a rare opportunity to get wines with a little bit of bottle age - a completely different drinking experience.

We can’t give you the names of the actual wines here but can give you an idea of some of the savings you can expect to find:

2004 Sonoma County Reserve Chardonnay
retail price: $25 GARAGE SALE PRICE: $8

2001 Paso Robles Syrah (92 points Wine Enthusiast)
retail price: $42 GARAGE SALE PRICE: $12

2005 Spanish Grenache
retail price: $12 GARAGE SALE PRICE: $5

2002 Rosso di Montalcino
retail price: $22 GARAGE SALE PRICE: $4

1998 Napa Valley Reserve Red Meritage
retail price: $70 GARAGE SALE PRICE: $15

2003 Chateauneuf du Pape
retail price: $45 GARAGE SALE PRICE: $14

2002 Washington Claret (94 pts Wine Enthusiast)
retail price: $50 GARAGE SALE PRICE: $10

2001 Cotes du Rhone (90 pts Wine Advocate)
retail price: $18 GARAGE SALE PRICE: $7

1999 Seleccion Toro (Spain)
retail price: $30 GARAGE SALE PRICE: $9

2001 Super Tuscan (92 pts Wine Advocate)
retail price: $72 GARAGE SALE PRICE: $22

Those are just a few of the insane bargains you will find as we celebrate summer with the biggest wine sale in our history.

Quantities on many of the wines will be limited and in some cases very limited.

Oh how I covet you…

The idea for the site materialized in 2000 while on a trip to San Francisco. So many of my favorite tunes, many of which he had not heard in years, were one hit wonders. I searched for songs and their respective creators, finding that no site offered a comprehensive listing of them. So I decided to build my own site, enlisting Josh Hoff in the cause. Hoff researched and wrote biographies for the artists. The message board is quite popular too.

After 8 years of the same layout, I think it’s time for a more modern look. The new layouts should be implimented this year.

Comments welcome.