Adventures in Kansas City

[Raiders Army]

Well, for the past two and a half weeks I've been in Kansas City (actually Ft. Leavenworth but I've been staying in northern Kansas City). There were some really funny things that happened that I'd like to share.

First off, I flew from El Paso to Denver to Kansas City. The day I left, I wore one of my Oakland Raiders t-shirts...just out of habit. The looks I got in Denver and then in Kansas City especially when I picked up my rental car were pretty bad. I just told 'em not to be haters. :)

Anyhow, I stayed at the Embassy Suites. Nice place and I had a nice room. It was great until I found that they disabled the inputs to both TVs in the room so I couldn't hook up my Xbox 360. I then went to Walmart and bought a 13" TV. I really thought about switching motels, but after stopping at two other motels (Days Inn and Fairfield Inn) and striking out (not many had 17 days available) I stuck it out at the Embassy Suites.

Because they charged me $10 a day to access the internet in my room I didn't do so until later in the week when I had to check my work email. I then thought, hey, I can hook up Xbox Live and play some NCAA Football online. Wrong answer. It just didn't work. I did, however, play two full seasons while I was gone.

Last weekend I saw Pulse and The Descent. Pulse wasn't too good and The Descent was really good.

Back to the Embassy Suites. Since I'm on official government travel, I don't have to pay taxes. I get my bill yesterday morning and I see an "Arena Fee" for $1.50 per day. I asked the desk clerk what it was and he told me that it was to help pay for the Royals and Chiefs stadiums. I told him I wasn't going to pay for it because of two reasons: one, it was a tax, not a fee and two, I hate the Chiefs. IMHO, a tax is an involuntary payment whereas a fee is voluntary (although it may not seem voluntary). I don't give any money to the Coliseum so I'll be damned if I give money to the Chiefs stadium. I had to talk to the manager to get it removed.

I finished up yesterday with work about 12:35 and my flight left at 7:01. I had some time to kill so I saw Snakes on a Plane...right before I flew. It didn't affect me much although there was a bit of turbulence and it made me a little nervous.

It drove me crazy with all the people wearing Chiefs jerseys walking around. I swear to God I wanted to punch this kid wearing a Daunte Hall jersey just because he was wearing the jersey. I held back...a lot...while I was there. I have no desire to go back (although the Smokehouse BBQ was pretty good).

[Lorena]

RA, glad you're back!!

In 1994 (when the Chargers went to the Superbowl) Antmeister had to make a trip to Denver and wore a Stan Humphrey's jersey and got the same nasty looks, so reading how you wore that tshirt cracked me up.

Good story, I laughed a lot :)

BTW, how did you family do in El Paso with the floods and all?

[kcchief19]

Anyhow, I stayed at the Embassy Suites.
I chuckled when I read this first because I used to know someone who was a desk cerk there (sounds like you're staying at the Tiffany Springs location) and she would tell stories about how most of the other desk clerks were skanks who would hook up with the extended-stay guys for "tips" and nights on the town. :)
I get my bill yesterday morning and I see an "Arena Fee" for $1.50 per day. I asked the desk clerk what it was and he told me that it was to help pay for the Royals and Chiefs stadiums.
Actually the arena fee is for the new downtown arena we're building only, not for Kaufman and Arrowhead. It's a fee on hotels and rental cars. I won't get into the debate over a whether a fee is a tax or not, but legally a fee is technically not a tax. The hotel has to pay the fee regardless, so they just ate the charge. Why do you think we hate Raiders fans? They're all dicks. :)
I have no desire to go back (although the Smokehouse BBQ was pretty good).
The Smokehouse is in my opinion the best and most underrated barbecue in town. I rank them No. 1 in meat quality, beans and coleslaw and definitely top five for sauce. And the corn nuggets are out of this world.

[stevew]

Come to Pittsburgh area some time. You'll go ballistic with all the black and gold, even during the offseason.

[RendeR]

Come to Pittsburgh area some time. You'll go ballistic with all the black and gold, even during the offseason.

Of course there is black and gold all year round, its not like pittsburgh has anything else to support or anything worth dressing up for other than their sports teams, talk about one seriously dead town...




;)

j/k, I'm sure pitt is a lovely city, but I'll never admit it publicly!

GO CINCY!

[stevew]

Actually, you were probably right.

[MizzouRah]

I chuckled when I read this first because I used to know someone who was a desk cerk there (sounds like you're staying at the Tiffany Springs location) and she would tell stories about how most of the other desk clerks were skanks who would hook up with the extended-stay guys for "tips" and nights on the town. http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/images/smilies/smile.gif


Stayed there quite a bit as the Embassy Suites are always my favorite hotels to stay at (I'll take a ham, green pepper, and tomato omlet and a side of blueberry pancakes please). Never knew about the skanks though.. dammit!! ;)

[Raiders Army]

BTW, how did you family do in El Paso with the floods and all?
Family is fine. We're on Ft. Bliss, which is on a good "level" compared to our neighbors down the street from us. Thanks for asking!

I chuckled when I read this first because I used to know someone who was a desk cerk there (sounds like you're staying at the Tiffany Springs location) and she would tell stories about how most of the other desk clerks were skanks who would hook up with the extended-stay guys for "tips" and nights on the town. :)

Yup, the Tiffany Springs location, exit 10 on I-29. The chicks who worked there looked a little skanky so I wouldn't touch em. :) Being there for two and a half weeks, I saw a lot of weird stuff. There was a Ballroom Dancing competition last weekend and the people involved were...interesting. This past week, video store owners had a convention. Very cool stuff out there. They just put junk outside of their rooms and everyone was wandering around on the 2nd floor. For those who don't know, Embassy has eight floors and they're all "open" on the inside. So you can stand on the eighth floor and look all the way down into the lobby. It's pretty cool and comparable to what I stayed in at Dallas. I have a guy going to Leavenworth the next two months for two weeks apiece so I'll let him know about the skanks. :D

[Raiders Army]

Stayed there quite a bit as the Embassy Suites are always my favorite hotels to stay at (I'll take a ham, green pepper, and tomato omlet and a side of blueberry pancakes please). Never knew about the skanks though.. dammit!! ;)
There was a huge difference when I tipped the cooks a buck. When I tipped them a buck, they put cheese on top of my omlette and gave me 15 pieces of bacon. I told the cook that I didn't need that much and he replied with a wink, "You'll be okay. Thanks for the tip."

The unfortunate thing was that I had to be at work at 6:30 AM every day at Leavenworth. That meant I got up at 4:45 and left about 5:45. Breakfast started at 6 on the weekdays so I missed all but three breakfasts. :(

[MizzouRah]

There was a huge difference when I tipped the cooks a buck. When I tipped them a buck, they put cheese on top of my omlette and gave me 15 pieces of bacon. I told the cook that I didn't need that much and he replied with a wink, "You'll be okay. Thanks for the tip."

The unfortunate thing was that I had to be at work at 6:30 AM every day at Leavenworth. That meant I got up at 4:45 and left about 5:45. Breakfast started at 6 on the weekdays so I missed all but three breakfasts. :(

Yeah, I always tip the bartender like $20 during the "free" happy hour on the first day I'm there. After that, who needs drink tickets. :)