Peoria Illinoisan

Last night I went to Barnes & Noble with my wife and bought some books and music. I didn’t think to look until later, but I was erroneously charged 9% sales tax instead of the correct 8%.

This morning I called and spoke to a manager who said they became aware of the situation “a few days ago” and were working with corporate to fix the problem.

Unlike the Journal Star who is running with this story, I will give credit where credit is due. CJ @ The Peoria Chronicle reported two days ago that a store in Northwoods Mall was incorrectly charging customers 9% sales tax instead of 8. Coincidence? I think not.

I know a game doesn’t make a season, but this game was pretty darn sweet. It’s nice to be back in first place headed into August.

I know a game doesn’t make a season, but this game was pretty darn sweet. It’s nice to be back in first place headed into August.

I proved that today as I attempted to qualify for the Peoria Men’s City. Best of luck to the rest of the field. If I can come away with one thing, at least I can say I gave it my best shot, even though that wasn’t nearly good enough. Ah… maybe next year.

…albeit sometimes a bit sporadically, but we finally passed the 300 mark, and as I had done at the 100 and 200 mark, I made a short video recap.  Enjoy.

http://namethispeorialandmark.blogpeoria.com/

1-99:

100-199:

Is Billy finally going to have his dreams realized? If not, what the heck is this thing, and why was installed outside my office window today?

If the fine for parking in a handicapped parking spot is $350, what is the fine for dumping mulch in a handicapped parking spot?

I have several. This the result of my latest which hangs in our hallway along side such things as our wedding picture and our kid’s school portraits.

Before you ask, yes, my wife finds my fascination with cemeteries a bit odd, but she humors me and did like the final result of my collage.

(this picture was taken at an angle to keep the flash from bouncing back off the glass in a tight area.)

So says first round leader and five time British Open champion Tom Watson.

Indeed.

Update: Two huges stories came out of today’s 2nd round. Tiger Woods imploded and missed the cut – what I believe is only his 5th missed cut as a professional – and Tom Watson shot even par to retain a share of the lead and will be teeing off in the final group tomorrow.

Round 3 Update: If you’re reading this, you already know what happened. Unfortunately I’m going to miss the final round, and what a final round it is going to be, because… well… I’ll be golfing.

Round 4 Update: Congratulations, Stewart Cink.  Thanks for the memories, Tom. You’re a class act.

Yes, I’m the one who told the bored Walmart parking lot cop about the guy who was bitch-slapping his woman around at the CitiLink bench at the University Walmart. (I was going to call 911 before I saw the rent-a-cop)

I was also the one who layed on the horn at a dumbass kid who was half walking/half riding his bike along the curb along University as he flirted and tried to act cool to two girls who where actually on the sidewalk. (at least his pants weren’t around his knees)

It was my wife who yelled “Get out of the street!” (..before you get mowed over by a less kind and observant driver – they laughed)

I hate going to Walmart.

This is an aerial view of what all golfers know to be a very dangerous area at Leo Donovan Golf Course, specifically the 3rd tee box. For the non-golfers out there, I’ll try to explain this in the simplest of terms. You see, the 2nd hole is a par five reachable in two, which means after your drive you will be hitting towards the green with one of your least accurate clubs – a long iron or fairway wood. The fairway narrows towards the green and to your left (right side of map) is out of bounds. The natural bail-out area is to your right, or towards the 3rd tee. If you miss it too far to the right you end up on or near the 3rd tee, which you can’t see because it is hidden by a row of trees. Adding to problem is the fact that the average golfer cannot reach the green on their second shot, but the tee box is slightly closer than the green, so short and right hits the tee area.

Now if you’re standing on the third tee box, because of said trees, you also cannot see the golfers on the 2nd hole, so you don’t know to watch for errant shots. I understand that errant shots are part of the game of golf, but generally you know to watch when someone close by is hitting and the one who is hitting can generally see if any players are in the path of a miss-hit shot and will shout FORE! to warn of danger.

Neither of these precautions can be taken here; a person on the tee box cannot see a ball coming, nor can the one who hit the ball know if anyone is near where the ball is headed.

A friend of mine ended up in the emergency room after taking a 200 yard shot to the head today while standing on the 3rd tee box. I am told that he will ultimately be o.k., but this should have never happened in the first place. It can and should prevented in the future. The cost is minimal.

A large fence or net needs to be erected to protect errant shots from landing on the tee box. This is not unprecedented on golf courses, or even in Peoria. There are large protective fences on the equally dangerous 10th tee at Madison and another on the 14th hole at Newman. There needs to be one here, and if memory serves me correct, there actually used to be one.

Ironically, as we motioned for the next group to play up to the 2nd green, one of the balls landed in front of the 3rd tee box.

Hearing the Thunderbirds flying around town today, I’m reminded of the best air show I ever attended.

It was the first year the Prairie Air Show was relocated to Peoria from Bloomington and the Blue Angels were in town. As I recall, it rained all weekend – Saturday was pretty much a wash-out, and Sunday was proving to be a bust also.

Around 5 o’clock the skys cleared and I heard the Blue Angels take off – I grabbed my son and made a bee-line to the airport.  The place was empty.  We parked right up front and tromped our way through the ankle deep mud, past the un-manned ticket booth, through an empty VIP tent and stood center stage at the edge of the runway. The Blue Angels put on one hell of a show.

Just for us.

It was surreal.

Nice monument, but where did the gravestones and markers which used to sit behind the 7th tee box of Kaufman Park Golf Course go?

After poking around a bit I was shocked to find them randomly tossed in a row of trees and overgrown brush.

I really love Kaufman Park Golf Course, but this disgusts me.

Our dinner at Rizzi’s downtown two nights ago was perfect in every possible way.