Road Tips

My Chicken Noodle Soup

I brought back a nasty cold from Las Vegas that I passed along to my wife  She was upset to find that we didn't have any of the Trader Joe's chicken noodle soup that she loves so much.  I decided to make some homemade chicken noodle soup for her.  I thought I'd made some before, so I looked through my recipe folder on my computer and, sure enough, there wasn't a recipe anywhere.

I looked through the Internet looking for some recipes and, as I always do, I took a little bit of this, a little bit of that and came up with a chicken noodle soup that was stupidly easy and it turned out pretty damn good.  Here it is:

3 - 3/4 lb. skinned chicken breasts 

14 to 16 cups chicken stock, or water with 2 heaping tablespoons of Watkins Chicken Soup base mix

1 1/2 cups celery - chopped

1 1/2 cups carrots - peeled and chopped (I minced the carrots for this recipe) 

1/2 large sweet yellow onion - minced

4 cloves garlic - minced

3 heaping tablespoons - Italian Seasoning (dried basil, dried oregano leaves, dried parsley, marjoram, sage)

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon garlic powder (Remember - we like garlic and it's good for a bad cold)

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

1 - 16 oz. bag of wide egg noodles

In a large stock pot, pour the chicken stock or water with Watkins Chicken Soup base mix.  Place on medium heat.  Add the Italian seasoning, poultry seasoning, salt and garlic powder. 

Slice and cube the chicken meat and add to the soup base.  Bring soup base to a boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

With a strainer ladle or strainer spoon, remove the chicken from the soup base.  Store in a bowl and keep covered in refrigerator for the time being.  Add the chopped carrots, onion, garlic and celery to the soup base and allow to simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally until the vegetables have all become tender. 

Add the chicken back into the base and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring once or twice.  About 30 minutes before serving, add the egg noodles, stirring occasionally.

You can easily get 12 to 16 servings out of this recipe and the soup refrigerates very well.  You can also freeze the soup in containers, if you so desire.                         

Augusta - Oxford, IA

The state of Iowa is nationally known for having some of the best breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches on the face of the earth.  Now, I have to say that I'm not a big fan of these type of pork sandwiches.  But on the recommendation of my local, yet long distance friend, Burt Gearhart, he told me that I had to try one at Augusta in Oxford, IA. 

Oxford is a small town west of Iowa City, southwest of Cedar Rapids and just to the east of the famous Amana Colonies (see map).  Oxford is a small, non-descript town that reminds me tremendously of my hometown of Kellogg, IA.  There's not much to the town.  I didn't exactly know where Augusta was in town, but I figured it had to be in the small downtown area of Oxford.  After coming off the interstate and taking the trip north to Oxford, I easily found Augusta (see map). 

Ben and Jeri Halperin were living in New Orleans as Ben was working as a chef in some restaurants down there.  Hurricane Katrina pushed Ben and Jeri up to Chicago where Ben worked in a number of restaurants, not finding a particular one that he liked to work for.  When a friend in Oxford told them that a local restaurant was closing it's doors, Ben and Jeri went out to Oxford to inquire about renting the building.  It turned out the rent was reasonable and after some clean-up and refurbishing, Ben, Jeri and a partner, Nathan Ruble opened a year ago.  They named the restaurant Augusta after the street the restaurant is located on.

Ben wanted the restaurant to serve comfort food - Cajun style.  Many items on their menu have a Cajun flair - po' boy sandwiches, crawfish beignets, chicken and andouille gumbo and cornmeal crusted catfish.  They also feature steaks, roasted pork loin and chicken entrees. 

Since 2003, the Iowa Pork Producers Association has handed out an award to the restaurant who has the best breaded pork tenderloin sandwich in the state.  The IPPA focuses more on small family style restaurants and taverns across the state.  Restaurants have to be nominated by two different people and the IPPA officials go out and try the sandwiches.  The winning restaurant receives a plaque of recognition and a $500 dollar check. 

And it also brings in a lot of business.  Since the Town House Supper Club in Wellsburg, IA won the award in 2006, they've served nearly 30,000 of their famous breaded pork loin sandwich.  Other winners include:

2003 - Darrell's Place - Hamlin, IA (I had to look Hamlin up on a map - I'd never heard of it before.)

2004 - Suburban Restaurant - Gilbert, IA (Actually, it's at the intersection of Highway 69 and a county road that takes you into Gilbert.)

2005 - Dairy Sweet - Dunlap, IA (I used to travel between Omaha and Carroll, IA on Highway 30 quite a bit, years ago.  I know I had to pass the Dairy Sweet on each of those trips.)

2007 - Larsen's Pub - Elk Horn, IA (I've been in Elk Horn on a few occasions.  Would have never thought any place in that town would have a good tenderloin.)

I had a meeting in Cedar Rapids recently and I decided to make a side trip to Oxford to have lunch at Augusta.  I walked in and I was the only person in the restaurant, other than a couple of insurance guys talking to Ben Halperin.  Jeri Halperin greeted me and told me that I could sit anywhere.  I took a table toward the front and got a menu from her.  

When Burt visited Augusta last fall, he took along his camera and took a few snapshots of the place.  He sent them out to some friends to show them the place and the delectable sandwich he got.  Here's a picture Burt took of the inside of Augusta.  The tables are topped with table cloths and then a fresh square paper is placed on top of the table cloth each time a table is turned.  There's a small bar that seats two or three people.  They have six beers on tap, including some Goose Island varieties. 

There's not a lot on the menu for lunch items - a burger, a Cajun-style Po' Boy with your choice of catfish, shrimp or roast beef, and a grilled chicken club in addition to the pork loin sandwich.  They feature salads and a kids menu.  But I was in for the tenderloin, which comes with homemade dill pickles, homemade mayo and topped with lettuce, tomato and onions.  You have your choice of either hand-cut french fries or homemade sweet potato chips.  I ordered up a tenderloin with fries.  The waitress asked, "Have you ever had the sandwich before?"

I said, "This is my first time here.  Heck, I went to school in Iowa City for five years and this is my first time ever in Oxford."

She said, "Oh, you're going to love this sandwich." 

I waited for about 15 minutes on my sandwich and the waitress brought it out with a side of ketchup in a small container.  Looking back, I should have gotten a small container of their homemade mayonnaise to dip my fries into.  (That's something I picked up from the Canadians, who, in turn, probably picked it up from the Europeans.  They don't put ketchup on french fries.)

This is just about what my sandwich looked like when it was served to me, only Burt got his with the homemade sweet potato chips.  The pork loin was thick and the buttermilk breaded batter around the loin was light, flaky and flavorful. 

The problem I have with a lot of these breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches is that they take a 12 to 14 ounce, pound the piss out of it, bread it and then deep fry it.  And they're usually too big.  I read somewhere that a true Iowa breaded pork tenderloin had to be three times the size of the bun that is served with it.  Well, the pork tenderloin at Augusta certainly achieved that.  And the breading is usually pretty rich and it's tough to eat the whole sandwich in one sitting.  It's never as good if you take it home and heat it up.  So a lot of it gets wasted.  And I hate to waste food, especially when it's good. 

One other thing that Augusta has going for it, they do their own breaded tenderloins.  I've eaten at restaurants where they have pre-made breaded pork tenderloins and they're usually frozen in advance.  But Augusta's pork tenderloin was definitely pounded out by hand (I could hear them pounding it out in the kitchen) and they have their own breading recipe.  Even though the pork loin was pounded out, it was still pretty thick.  I would have liked to have seen the pork loin before they started to work on it. 

Bottom line - the sandwich was very good.  I didn't care for the mayo on it - even though the mayo was very good - and I didn't use the tomato or lettuce.  A true pork tenderloin is topped with only pickles, onions and mustard. 

As I was paying for my meal, I got to talking to Jeri Halperin.  She was giving me some of the background on the restaurant and how they ended up in Oxford, IA.  It turned out that Jeri was a native Iowan, growing up in far NE Iowa in Clayton County, before she left to go find the world.  We agreed that while places like New Orleans and Chicago are great places to visit, Iowa is definitely home. 

The pork loin sandwich at Augusta was everything that it was advertised to be.  It was a little expensive - $9.00 with fries - but it was worth it.  Every restaurant says they have the best pork tenderloin, but Augusta can really back up their claim.  Augusta is closed on Monday's and Tuesday's, so if you go, make a note of that.  I really want to go back and try the roast beef Po' Boy sandwich sometime.  I'm hoping that with Ben Halperin's New Orleans background it will taste as good as the ones I had at Mother's in New Orleans years ago.   

U.S. House - "NO!" to Delaying Digital Television

In a reversal to Monday's overwhelming vote by the U.S. Senate to delay the switchover from analog to digital television from February 17 to June 12, the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday blocked the delay for the digital transition to occur on the original federally mandated date.  House Republicans effectively blocked the proposed delay saying that postponing the changeover would only lead to more confusion on the part of consumers. 

President Obama and Democrat backers in Congress have said that a delay was needed as an estimated 5.5 to 6.5 million households were not ready for the digital transition.  Studies have found that the most affected families are Hispanics and African-Americans, with Santa Fe and Albuquerque, NM being the two largest metropolitan areas with the most people not ready for the digital changeover, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, TX. 

Texas Republican representative Joe Barton said that the "DTV-transition is neither stuck nor broke," and that problems can be overcome.  At the top of the list of problems is the lack of funds for the coupon program that would provide up to $80 per household to go toward the purchase of digital conversion boxes for analog televisions to receive digital signals that are broadcast over the air.  Barton and Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FLA) introduced a bill that would authorize an additional $250 million for the coupon program without delaying the transition. 

It appears that House Democrats are looking to revive the proposed bill sometime next week.  This excerpt is from the Washington Post:

The bill was considered in the House yesterday under suspension of the rules, a procedure generally used for noncontroversial items. As a result, the bill saw only a short debate and no amendments were allowed. The vote was 258-168, with most Republicans voting against it. The bill needed a two-thirds majority to pass.

Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees telecommunications issues, said he wants to bring the same bill back to the floor next week under regular order, meaning that it would need only a simple majority to pass.

Given the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, it appears that if the measure is brought back for a regular order vote, it should pass rather easily. 

Even with the possibility of a delay, television stations are still running informational commercials on the digital transition still touting the February 17 date.  The proposed delay is being met with overwhelming opposition from owners and managers of television stations who are spending money to broadcast both analog and digital signals.  Also, they say that continued public service commercials educating people on the digital transition will cut into ad revenues. 

Also looking at the possibility of the delay costing them millions of dollars are the telecommunication corporations that paid $19.6 billion dollars for portions of the analog 700MHz bandwidth that would be used for a variety of new technologies for both the public and private sector.  Qualcomm was hoping to soon activate their new MediaFlo technology which would provide real time video and audio content to be broadcast to cell phones, PDA's and personal viewing devices.  Qualcomm was planning on beginning to deploy MediaFlo in four metro areas - including Miami and the San Francisco Bay area - sometime in March.  Qualcomm reports they could lose up to $550 million dollars in revenue generated by MediaFlo if the proposed delay goes through. 

One of the reasons the Senate bill delaying the transition passed overwhelmingly was a promise from West Virginia Senator John Rockefeller (D) that he would not seek another extension past the June 12 date.  And House Democrats said the delay is needed to make use of a proposed $650 million stimulus package to fund the coupon program and call centers to assist customers during the transition.

Although I'm not directly affected by the digital transition, I think it's time to throw the switch and go digital.  Even a four month delay will not help the true stragglers get ready for the transition.  You literally have to be living in a cave to have not known about the February 17 changeover date, and there's a good chance that the person who doesn't know about the February 17 deadline probably doesn't own a television.  Plus, I've been a big proponent of the future technology that would bring real time media to personal electronics and I really want to see that happen sooner and not later. 

Thai Place - Shawnee Mission, KS

As I've said a few times before, I don't eat as much Asian food when I'm on the road as I'd like.  Many of the places I've eaten in literally soak their food in Mono-sodium Glutamate, and MSG and I don't get along very well.  So, it's with a little trepidation that I seek out a good Chinese or Thai place while I'm on the road.  However, this time in Kansas City I found a very good little Thai restaurant - Thai Place in suburban Shawnee Mission (see map). 

Thai Place is owned by the Liberda family, whose mother, Ann, founded Thai Place in the 1991.  Ann came over from Thailand in the mid-70's and initially worked as a beautician after she came to the U.S.   Ann then ended up working in a restaurant called Bangkok Pavilion in Overland Park.  She was a sharp looking, sassy woman who interacted with the customers with ease.  

Ann left Bangkok Pavilion in 1990 and a year later she opened the original Thai Place restaurant in Overland Park.  Helped by her sons Michael and Ted (who is the head chef for all the Thai Place restaurants), and daughter, Chiara, Ann Liberda's empire has now risen to five locations across the Kansas City metro area.  A lot of the local's call it the best Thai food in town. 

The original Thai Place is situated in a strip mall on the south side of Sante Fe Road in Shawnee Mission.  It's set back from the street, so - of course - I drove by it the first time I went there.  Once I figured out that I'd gone too far, I called up On-Star for turn-by-turn navigation and the service took me right to the place.  Since then, I've figured out that I've got the turn-by-turn navigation, I may as well use it. 

The interior of Thai Place is very cozy, white linen table cloths are on the tables, there's Thai artwork on the walls, the light fixtures are interesting to look at and there's a small area toward the back of the restaurant.  I was seated in a booth and was given a menu to look through.  One of the things Thai Place prides itself on is the eclectic and unusual Thai food they have to offer.  After he graduated from culinary school about 10 years ago, Ted Liberda has spent a number of years researching authentic Thai foods to add to the menu.  

Now, I'm not a very adventurous guy when it comes to Thai food, but some of the things they had on the menu were very interesting.  They had four different types of curry dishes that I normally don't see on menus at other Thai restaurants.  They had 16 different types of seafood stir fry, including a squid-jalapeno dish, along with a flash fried Chilean sea bass topped with Thai Place's famous spicy Sam Rod sauce.  

They also featured vegetarian dishes, along with regular rice and noodle entrees, salads, soups and appetizers.  But I was looking for something like my old stand-by - spicy basil beef.  But - oh man - they had some other interesting beef stir-fry dishes, too.  They had a tantalizing jalapeno beef stir fry  - beef stir fried with jalapeno chunks and onions.  Thai Place also featured a beef mushroom stir fry with three different types of mushrooms and scallions.  (I have GOT to quit writing this blog on an empty stomach!)  And they had a garlic beef with roasted garlic, scallions, and white pepper all served over chopped cabbage.  Oh boy!!!

But it got down to choosing between the Ginger Beef (ginger, bell peppers, onions and fresh mushrooms), or the Beef Scallions (scallions, onions and dried chili peppers).    When my waiter came back to take my order, I told him I was torn between the two.  He said, "If you wish, we can combine the two."  He suggested getting the Ginger Beef and adding the scallions and dried chili pepper.  I asked if he could also have the chef sprinkle some white pepper on the top and he said it would be no problem.  He also wanted to know if I wanted fried rice or steamed rice.  I went with the fried rice.

It wasn't long - less than 15 minutes - before my food showed up.  It was a heaping plate of beef and vegetable stir fry served with a healthy side of fried rice.  I eagerly devoured a couple slices of beef and the taste was, well, it was remarkable.  The vegetables were perfectly cooked, the dish was a potpourri of taste sensations and although it was a little spicy, it didn't detract from the overall taste of the food.  In a word, the food was outstanding.  

I don't know what it is about Thai food, but it's so good that I usually end up over-eating each time I go.  It could be the ginger, it could be the sauce, it could be some mind-numbing drug from Southeast Asia they incorporate into the food.  Whatever it is, it's great.  And so addictive.  Each time I look at all the food they bring out and I think, "There's no friggin' way I'm going to eat all of this."  But each time, I do.   

I didn't have any alcohol with my meal and it still ended up being $18 bucks before tip.  While I thought the prices at Thai Place were a little high, it was still a great meal.  In a city where steak and barbecue rule, I'm glad that I was able to find a restaurant like Thai Place.  They have so many things to choose from on their menu, I'll be able to go back time and time again and try any one of the wonderful and interesting food Ted Liberda's come up with.

Mariah's - Bowling Green, KY

During my recent trip to Bowling Green, KY to see a new dealer in the area, I decided to spend the night after driving around the town for awhile.  Bowling Green is the home to Western Kentucky University, a beautiful and very old school that sits on a hill on the southwest side of town.  Northeast of campus is Bowling Green's downtown area, a quaint area with an old time courthouse square known as The District.  It was in The District where I found a place to eat that evening - Mariah's (see map).

Mariah's is located in what is the oldest standing brick structure in Bowling Green.  The original building was built in 1818 by George and Elizabeth Moore as their home.  They had five children, the youngest of which - Mariah - never married and lived in the house all of her life until her death in 1888.  Thus, it became known locally as The Mariah Moore House.  The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.

In the late 70's, Rick Kelley and David Sears bought the Moore house and decided to turn it into an elegant dining establishment.  They stripped the wood down to the original floor, the original brick walls were exposed and the fireplaces were refurbished.  Mariah's 1818 restaurant opened for business in 1979.  

The restaurant expanded in the early 90's, adding more dining, a kitchen area and a bar.  The wood bar in the bar area was built in the 1880's by the Brunswick corporation and refurbished after being bought from an old saloon in the Chicago area.  

In 1995, a devastating fire virtually wiped out Mariah's.  Rick Kelley made a decision in 1996 to rebuild the restaurant.  It turned out that much of the original stone walls were in great shape, so Kelley rebuilt the restaurant using the shell of the original bricks.  Even the antique bar was salvaged and refinished.  Mariah's building has quite the history behind it.   

There's a nice parking lot next to Mariah's (and one across the street) and it was no problem finding a parking spot that night around 7:30.  A rather large party of formal-dressed college-aged girls was milling about the front entrance and the lobby of Mariah's.  I don't quite know why a large group of very pretty Southern girls would be dressed up in formal gowns on a weekday evening, but they were dressed to the hilt. 

Through the large mass of girls who were waiting for their limo-bus to pick them up, I found a hostess to get a seat.  She put me in an old wooden booth in the main dining room and gave me a menu.  The dining area of Mariah's was large, but comfy and homey at the same time.  It was a pretty neat building, to say the least. 

After about a couple minutes, my waiter showed up.  He apologized for being a bit tardy as he was one of the waiters assigned to the large group of girls who had been in the banquet area of Mariah's.  I asked him what was up with all the girls all dressed up and he said, "It was some sort of a cotillion party they have at the university.  The girls all dress up and learn the social graces.  That type of thing." 

I said, "Well, I'm truly in the south."

He laughed and said, "That you are, sir."

After some further small talk, he gave me the nightly specials and then told me he'd give me a few minutes to look over the menu.  I had him bring me a beer while I was perusing the offerings Mariah's had to offer.

A lot of things turned my head when I saw them in the menu.  Mariah's looked like it catered to a wide body of people as they served sandwiches, salads, stir fry, pasta, entrees of fish, beef, and chicken and they also had some stir-fry items on the menu.  I was torn between a number of items, so the waiter left off my beer and told me he'd give me a few minutes.

After a bit, I figured out what I wanted - I got the tri-color penne pasta, topped with shrimp and then covered with a spicy Cajun Alfredo sauce.  The spicy Cajun Alfredo sauce was the deal-breaker for me.  Along with the pasta dish, I also ordered a dinner salad with their homemade Catalina French dressing. 

After a few minutes, the waiter brought my salad out.  I have to say that Catalina French is probably my all-time favorite type of dressing.  The sweet and tangy combination just makes my taste buds dance.  Along with the salad came some home-baked bread served with honey-cinnamon butter.  Oh my God, was that a great combination with the bread.

About 10 minutes after I finished my salad, my entree showed up at the table.  The penne pasta was cooked perfectly, the sauce was rich, but the Cajun spices didn't overpower the taste and the shrimp - about seven or eight total - were wonderful, as well.  It was a great meal.  I was overly impressed with the pasta dish and immediately wondered if I could make something like this at home. 

I finished up my dinner and waited for the waiter to show up.  He came back and asked, "All finished?  How did you like it?"

I said, "It was just excellent."

He said, "You probably wouldn't want to see the dessert menu, would you?"

I said, "No, I don't think so tonight."

He said, "I can't even tempt you into some of our homemade bread pudding?"

That got my attention.  I said, "All right - tell me more."

He described it as a bourbon-soaked bread pudding drizzled with chocolate sauce and topped with a dusting of cocoa.  I was nearly salivating by the time he was finished with his description.  I said, "All right, I'll take one of those."

I was already pretty full, and I'm not usually a dessert type of person, but that just sounded great.

And it was great.  The bread pudding was moist and delectable.  The drizzled chocolate syrup and the powdered cocoa didn't detract from the taste of the bread pudding.  God, I was in heaven.  I was also thoroughly stuffed and hurting by the time I finished what I could of the dessert. 

I'm telling you, Mariah's was very, very good.  The whole experience - the restaurant itself, the food, the service - was excellent.  I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to find the place just by driving around and looking at the town.  I'm hoping to make it back to Mariah's at some point in the future because there were other great things on the menu that I'd like to try.  Southern Kentucky is pretty country, Bowling Green is a nice little city and Mariah's is a wonderful restaurant. (Photo courtesy Popeye Express.com)

(Update - The company that owned Mariah's, Mills Family Realty - who was developing projects around the Bowling Green area - was hit with liens of over $2 million dollars in early 2015 forcing them to close Mariah's until further notice.  It is still closed as of mid-2015.)

A Delay in the Digital TV Switchover?

As I said in my entry on the Consumer Electronics Show from earlier this week, the Obama transition team recently asked Congress for a delay in the switchover from analog to digital broadcasts that was supposed to take place on February 17.  Their argument was that a large percentage of the American public wasn't ready for the change.  The government sponsored and financially backed program to provide up to two $40 coupons to households who need the analog to digital conversion boxes - and who don't have cable or satellite service - ran out of money earlier this month.  There is a reported backlog of 2.1 million of requests from people for the coupons, up from 1.1 million requests that was reported just a week ago.   

Yesterday, Senate Republicans blocked a bill sponsored by West Virginian senator John D. Rockefeller that would delay the changeover to June 12.  Republicans said they didn't want to consider a delay for the planned changeover until the National Telecommunication and Information Agency received more money from Congress to restart the coupon program.  Senate Democrats plan to bring the bill back up for consideration next week, and the House of Representatives plan to bring up a similar bill for discussion this next week.  The bill, sponsored by Rep. Henry Waxman, includes a proposal to make the coupon program easier for people to use.  

Critics say the coupon program is flawed not only because the program ran out of money for the coupons, but it didn't begin until January 1, 2008.  Critics charge that the coupon program should have been in effect much earlier than the first of last year as the Federal Government mandate to changeover to Digital from Analog has been in place since February of 2006.   And because signing up for the coupon program was available only on the Internet, critics say that the people most affected by the digital transition - the poor or the technologically challenged - wouldn't have the means of signing up for the coupon.  

Democratic members of Congress have long said the government's program to educate the public regarding the changeover hasn't been in effect long enough, plus they haven't provided enough money toward the education and coupon program.  Critics point to ads by the cable companies that are "confusing" to the public saying that if they have cable, they won't need a converter box.  There's also some people who say that electronics retailers have confused the buying public saying that they won't need a converter box if they buy a new television that already has an ATSC tuner built in.   And another complaint is that some people have found that not only do they need a converter box, but they'll need a new antenna, as well, as the digital signals are being broadcast in both VHF and UHF frequencies. 

The Republicans contend that the $1 billion the federal government has spent on the digital transition - for both the coupons and on education - is sufficient.  90% of the television station managers polled earlier this month said they didn't want a delay in the changeover.  A delay would also cut into their ad revenue as the majority of television stations have been running public service commercials on the changeover.  Some also say what will happen if by June 12 there are still 2 million people that don't have capabilities to receive digital signals.  Would there be a further delay?

Watching this with keen interest are a number of telecommunication providers who have been waiting in earnest to use the 700 MHz analog spectrum bands they paid for in a government auction that raised over $19 billion dollars in March of last year.  The analog spectrum that was auctioned off is well-suited to wireless broadband, capable of carrying loads of data, can travel long distances, and easily penetrates walls with great efficiency and speed.  This will not only benefit telecommunication providers with video on demand programming for personal viewing devices, but will also benefit public safety organizations with quicker and better communication devices for police, fire and other agencies.   

Last week, Hawaii became the first state in the United States to changeover from analog to digital broadcasts.  While there were some minor technical glitches that were resolved within a couple three hours, most of the transition came off without a hitch.  There were some calls from technology-challenged people who had trouble hooking up their converter boxes, but for the most part the transition was smooth and orderly.  The FCC was monitoring complaints and helping those people who were having trouble with the conversion boxes.  There have been no major complaints or reported problems with the changeover.

Residents of Hawaii who were still on analog could only receive a seven minute video tape message played in a loop that was hosted by a local television personality telling them that the analog signals have been shut off.  Called the "analog night-light", the video gave out information and phone numbers of who to contact and how to get a converter box for their television.  It wasn't known how long the analog video message would run. 

While the estimated number of households that aren't ready for digital has dropped significantly over the past month, governmental hold-ups of the coupon program isn't helping anything.  While the government has begun to re-issue coupons as millions of dollars worth of unused coupons have now expired, Democrats are blaming the Bush administration for dragging their feet in providing more money for the coupon program.  But Republicans counter that Democrats are holding the Federal Government's financial purse strings and could have passed legislation long before the money ran out to replenish the program. 

Don't you just love how the federal bureaucracy runs our day-to-day life? 

Strings - Denver, CO

The night after we took the executives from U.K.-based Cambridge Audio out with us to the Cherry Cricket for burgers, they offered to reciprocate at a much nicer place than the Cricket - Strings Restaurant in Denver.  Strings is an upscale contemporary restaurant in Denver's Uptown section, east of the downtown area (see map).  It's been a hip destination for many of Denver's social elites for a number of years. 

The owner/chef of Strings is Noel Cunningham (left), a native of Ireland who has been working in fine kitchens for over 45 years.  Cunningham - who is approaching 60 -  got his start in his family's restaurant in Dublin in his early teens.  He then moved on to London to work in the famous Savoy Hotel.  By the age of 23, Cunningham had reached the level of sous chef - something that wasn't very ordinary for a non-French chef of his age.

Cunningham and his family moved to L.A. in the late 70's when he became the sous chef at Harry's Bar and American Grill.  Within a few short years, Cunningham became the executive chef for the Spectrum restaurant group - a close knit chain of upscale restaurants that included Harry's Bar, MacArthur Park in Palo Alto, Ca, and Drago in L.A.

Cunningham ran the kitchen briefly at an upscale restaurant called Touch in Beverly Hills for a number of years.  When Touch was sold in the mid-80's, a friend convinced Cunningham to move to Denver and open a restaurant.  Strings opened in 1987 and was soon followed by 240 Union in suburban Lakewood.  In 1991, Cunningham opened a third restaurant in Denver, a contemporary Italian restaurant by the name of Ciao Baby.  In 1995, Cunningham sold his interest in Ciao Baby, which closed in 1997, but  hestill maintains ownership of Strings and 240 Union.

Strings went through a recent remodel and change in the kitchen when it hired Denver native Aaron Whitcomb as their new chef.  Whitcomb, who went to the International Culinary School at the Art Institute of Colorado in Denver, also has a wine background as he attained a first level certificate from the Court of Master Sommeliers.  But cooking was his major passion and he returned to Denver in 2008 after working in Chicago at the famous Alinea restaurant, as well as helping to open the upscale Room 21, which is housed in a building that was once Al Capone's largest illegal liquor warehouse and speakeasy during Prohibition.  No doubt a lot of Templeton Rye was stored in that building. 

Along with Cambridge Audio president James Johnson-Flint, marketing head Peter Brown and international sales manager Paul Masson, we were joined by four other Cambridge Audio engineers they brought along to the annual CEDIA Expo.  We had 11 guys in our company for dinner, so there were 18 of us for dinner.  We were ushered into a back room area at Strings, having a large table all to ourselves. 

Instead of ordering directly off the dinner menu at Strings, the Cambridge Audio guys were convinced by the restaurant staff when they made the reservations that it would be easier if we would order off of what they call the "Prom Prix Fixe Menu".  It's a fixed price menu that severely limited our options of what we could order at Strings.  Still, the choices for main entrees were good - Pan Roasted Salmon, penne bagutta with chicken and mushrooms, New York strip and chicken Parmesan - but I would have liked to have explored Aaron Whitcomb's main menu.  

But the one thing the Brits love to do is drink wine.  God, love 'em.  And because the wine list is mainly California varietals, they let ME pick out the wine!  And I picked out a couple of good ol' standbys - a 2005 Ferrari-Carano Chardonnay for the white and a bottle of the 2005 Ferrari-Carano Cabernet.  Both were kind of expensive, but they didn't seem to flinch when I ordered them.  

We had two waiters working our group and they brought us out three large plates of appetizers that included mussels, crab cakes, tuna tartar and beef carpaccio.  We'd had a long day working the show, so the appetizers didn't last long.  

We each put in our orders for dinner.  I went with a Caesar's salad and ordered the New York strip - a very safe choice.  It wasn't very exciting or daring, but it was OK for what it was.  

And about 15 minutes after I finished my salad, our main entrees were brought to the table.  My steak was very good, but it wasn't anything special.  The mashed potatoes had a brown sauce infused with wine that was very good.  But all in all, it was a good meal, albeit nothing fancy.  

One of my colleagues next to me got the pan roasted salmon topped with shrimp bits in a lemon-caper sauce with garlic-mashed potatoes.  He did nothing but rave about the meal.  I'll say it did look considerably more interesting than my meal.  

For dessert we had a choice of ice cream, creme brulee or a chocolate mousse cake.  Well, I'm always a sucker for good creme brulee.  And Strings' creme brulee was very good.  

All the while after dessert was served, Peter Brown from Cambridge Audio asked if anyone wanted any more wine.  A couple people said they wouldn't mind some more, so he ordered up two more bottles of the Cabernet.  I think we ended up with 7 bottles of the Cabernet and 3 bottles of the Chardonnay.  Now, that's drinkin' some fine wine!  

Strings was very nice, but in a large group like that you really can't find out how extensive and exciting the menu may be.  While the dining room had a great contemporary flair to it, the large room they stuck us in was pretty nondescript.  Our service was very good and the food was very good, too.  But I really liked the fact that the Cambridge guys liked the wine and kept ordering it up.  Now, THAT was the fun part of the evening.       

CES - 2009

It was my 23rd Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month.  And with the down economy, there wasn't really any *big* news that accompanied the annual show held primarily at the Las Vegas Convention Center and at other sites around the famed Las Vegas Strip.  Oh, there was plenty to see, but there just wasn't any blockbuster products that stood out among the others.  But there was still a lot of new technology that will show up in products that will hit the market in 2009. 

Attendance was down significantly at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show.  After hitting 141,000 in 2008, attendance barely topped 110,000 this year.  And I always question the Consumer Electronics Association's head count at the show.  I've heard rumors that the CEA gets kickbacks on room prices from hotels if their determined attendance hits a certain level.  Each year, I think there's always 25,000 to 30,000 less people at CES than the CEA reports.   

Televisions are always a big thing at CES.   However, this year, no one showed a huge television to compare to the Panasonic 150" plasma monitor that was on display last year.  I think the "arms race" between the panel manufacturers had maxed out on that one.  

Speaking of Panasonic, it certainly appears that plasma - in the eyes of that company - is far from being dead.  With most companies going to LCD panels, plasma has been slowly dying on the vine with many of the major television manufacturers.  No so with Panasonic.  In addition to the announcement of a fifth major plasma manufacturing facility, Panasonic unveiled a number of new plasma display units.  While there are some advantages with plasma over LCD, LCD still rules the market place in flat panel televisions. 

For LCD displays, Samsung's LED back-lit technology and Sony's 240Hz picture refresher rate caught the eyes of other manufacturers.  I have to tell you - the Samsung top-of-the-line 950 models that they have on the market have just stunning pictures with the LED back-lit picture feature.  This year, you'll see a number of Samsung models at lower prices with LED back-lit technology.  The result is a more crisp, more sharp and more defined picture. 

And other companies, such as Sony, Vizio, and LG will feature LCD back-lit pictures.  In fact, Vizio (of which I'm not a big fan of, but their monitors are *OK*) will have a 55" LCD panel with LED back-lit technology available later this year at $1999.  Now, that's one helluva price for a 55" panel with that type of technology. 

I first saw Sony's 240H refresh rate LCD panel at the CEDIA Expo last September in Denver.  While I didn't think the difference between a 240 cycle refresher rate was much different than a 120 cycle refresh rate.  But a number of manufacturers have picked up on this technology and you'll see models from Samsung, LG - even Vizio - and a handful of others that will have the 240Hz picture refresh rate in models for the 2009 season.  In fact, I heard that LG was showing a panel that had a 480Hz refresh rate!  I understand the picture was very clear, but it was difficult to tell that big of a difference in side-by-side comparisons of the same picture on 240Hz and even 120Hz refresh rate panels. 

There are a number of companies that showed Internet-ready televisions that allow you to use your television as a big Internet portal.  Although somewhat pricey and still sort of complicated compared to just using a computer, companies such as Samsung (which has had limited Internet connectivity in the past), LG, Toshiba, Hitachi, Sharp and Panasonic all showed a number of models that feature Internet capability that will be available later this year.   

And the realization of 3-D television is becoming more apparent with Sony, Panasonic, Phillips and Westinghouse all showing models that either have been available or will become available later this year.  The sets will all come with polarized 3-D glasses - I believe they're made by 3-M - and will allow for the processing of 3-D information to be shown on the screen. 

(As an aside, my company used to distribute a 3-D processor from Sensio that was years ahead of its time.  I actually have a couple of them at home and they do a pretty good job.  It's just that there isn't a lot of available software to view with the units.  While Sensio used "stereoglyphic" 3-D (sort of what the old Viewmaster viewers were like), nearly all of the new 3-D televisions will use polarized 3-D, like what is found at Imax 3-D theaters and at theme parks.)

The biggest hurdle many people will find with 3-D viewing in their home is that the larger the picture and the darker the room, the better the 3-D image.  Panasonic was showing their 3-D image in a darkened room on a 103-inch 3-D plasma set.  The major hurdle to 3-D continues to be the glasses, which will be required - and will have to be worn OVER regular glasses of that person wears them regularly.  Plus, when you take the glasses off, you'll have to take a few moments to re-orient your eyesight before you can see normally. 

And if there's one term that I'm already tired of, it's concept of going "green".  Especially in electronics.  Going green in electronics means making products with more eco-friendly parts that can be easily recycled when the unit's days are over; as well as having a high Energy Star rating for power consumption.  Energy Star is the international standard (created by the U.S. Federal Government in 1992) for measuring the energy efficiency for electronic products - everything from home appliances, to personal electronic items to home entertainment. 

In November, Energy Star adopted a 3.0 standard for all televisions to be designated as an Energy Star product.  That means that new televisions have reduced power requirements when they're first turned on.  (No more vivid picture right off the bat - you've got to let your television warm up like your grandparents had to years ago.  Only it won't be as noticeable as it was for your grandparents and it won't take as long.)  And since most televisions in the U.S. are in stand-by for 80% of the time, new Energy Star requirements only allow for a television to draw less than 1 watt of power while they're turned off.   

Blu-Ray players were also big news at CES with many entry level players being introduced at around a $200 dollar price point.  And to further confuse the buying public, as our industry is wont to do, the desirable Blu-Ray players will now come with a format called Profile 2.0, also known as BD Live, which allows a user to hook up the player to high-speed Internet and allow for the download of high-definition movie or gaming content.  I didn't really get a chance to read up on this Profile 2.0 format, other than all the trade magazines were saying that if a person didn't have a Blu-Ray player with Profile 2.0, you may as well just throw the thing away.  Blu-Ray players with the Profile 1.1 format will continue to work, but you can only download firmware upgrades onto your machine, and not movies or games.

(To further confuse the issue, I was reading up on the Profile 3.0 format that will be the next thing that will come to Blu-Ray players.  But this doesn't have to do with upgrade downloads or content downloads - it has to do with an audio format to go along with downloaded high-def content.  It just makes me want to pull my hair out what the industry is doing to continually shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to all these formats.)

And in the category of "What Are They Thinking?" - Panasonic proved they can make 150" high-def televisions, but they want to show the world they can make small high-def devices, as well.  They introduced a portable Blu-Ray player at CES that will also allow for wireless Internet video streaming.  The only problem is that the screen will be about 8" in diameter and you really won't be able to pick out high-definition images all that much.  Knowing Panasonic and the buying public, the thing will probably be a hit.

Also on the video front, tiny projectors - known as "pico" projectors - were a hot topic at CES.  These projectors range in size from the size of a small toaster to the size of cellphones.  These small projectors can be used for the projection of pictures, movies or other video content on the wall.  To read more about the pico projectors shown at CES, click here.  I didn't get a chance to look at them, but they can't have an overly great picture.

Actually, one of our lines - DreamVision- got a lot of press at CES with the official unveiling of the Dream'E projector.  The projector features a Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) panel with remarkable clarity and color.  We showed it with a Panamorph lens on a 126" diagonal, 2:35 to 1 screen.  At just under $8995 with the optional lens ($4995 without), we had many people say it was the best looking 2:35 to 1 image they saw at the show - at ANY price, let alone being under $10,000 bucks.  On the strength of its showing at CES, we will have a minimum of six upcoming reviews on the Dream'E in video magazines in the coming months.  It was really a hot ticket. 

And, of course, there's always a number of new camcorders and cameras that debut at CES.  One of the more interesting cameras that was unveiled at CES was a small consumer version of Casio's professional Exilim series that can shoot up to 1000 frames per second.  The Casio XF-FC100 and XF-FS10 cameras are ultra-thin 9 megapixel models that can shoot up to 30 frames per second at 6 megapixels - and both can fit easily into your pocket.  That's quicker than most SLR cameras on the market.  I was blown away at the possibilities of having a camera like this when I was reading about it in a trade paper one morning.

Another big thing at CES were digital picture frames - a fast-growing segment of the consumer electronics industry.  Digital picture frames allow you to be able to download a number of your JPEG pictures from your computer (usually via a USB memory stick - or via a wired hook up) and you can have crystal clear images shown on a decorative frame.  You can keep the same image on the frame, or set the frame to random and show a number of your pictures that change once every, say, 30 to 60 seconds. 

Some digital picture frames can be large - up to 15" or more in diameter - and can be attached to your wall.  But most are 8" or so and are usually table-top models.  These picture frames can handle up to 8 megapixels and beyond, and some can also play recorded video formats.  We have neighbors that have digital picture frames.  It's sort of neat to have a couple on and around when you have guests in the house.  The price has been a little prohibitive for me, but many are starting to come down to below $100 dollars.

Finally, two big pieces of news came out of the 2009 CES.  The first was Apple's announcement that beginning in 2010, they would exclusively show their Mac-based products at CES.  This surprise announcement comes on the heels of Apple's surprise announcement that they would no longer be involved in the Macworld Exposition held in San Francisco either right before or during CES in Las Vegas. 

(Another aside, our company just signed an agreement to sell the Focal XS multimedia speaker system in the over 200 Apple corporate stores.  We showed at Macworld for the first time this year and the XS was a major hit among attendees.)

And the other announcement didn't really come from CES as much as it came during the heart of CES.  (Then) President-elect Obama announced that he was asking Congress to push back the cut-off date when television stations have to switch from broadcasting in analog to digital from February 10 to later this June. 

The main reason Obama and others would like the date moved back about four months is that the government literally ran out of money that was earmarked to help citizens buy the digital conversion boxes just after the first of the year.  The federal government spent $2.2 billion dollars that went toward coupons that provided financial relief to families who needed the conversion boxes, as well as going toward educating the public regarding the digital changeover.  An estimated 7.7 million people are not ready for the transition that is still scheduled to take place in less than a month.

Over 40 million $40 dollar coupons have been sent to consumers since the program was started by the National Telecommunication and Information Agency.  However, nearly 13 million of those coupons went unused and have since expired.  The agency is backlogged with a list of over 1.1 million requests for the coupons to purchase the converter boxes.  Obama transition teams have been working with Congress to try and delay the changeover because of these backlogs, but critics are saying that Obama and his team are overreacting to something that is nothing more than a quick fix by Congress to make things right. 

Another group of people who don't want to see the digital transition delayed are the telecommunications companies that bought coveted analog television airwaves through an auction last year.  The federal government sold nearly $20 billion dollars worth of the airwaves to companies that will provide more and better telecommunication services in the coming years.  These companies are ready to provide services such as video streaming to personal viewing devices and other new technologies that can be used with cell phones.  

Politics are in play now with Democrats blaming the Bush Administration for the debacle, while Republicans are saying the system just needs to be tweaked a bit.  Either way, it may not be until early February before we find out if we have to wait another four months for clearer pictures on our televisions.  

That's what I found to be interesting at this year's Consumer Electronics Show.  And here's a good little tip for those of you looking to buy a new television - wait until after the Super Bowl.  There's a lot of televisions on the market place right now and more will be flooding the pipelines with the liquidation of Circuit City.  If you can wait until after the Super Bowl, we may be seeing some unbelievable prices on televisions.  I'm amazed at the low prices I'm seeing now on some televisions (including the 46" Samsung that we bought last fall).   Remember, it wasn't that long ago that we were seeing prices on 42" televisions at around $5000.  There are a number of good 42" televisions that are now available at prices of between $1000 and $1500 bucks.  I think we'll see even lower prices after February 1. 

Dick's Bodacious Bar-B-Q - Noblesville, IN

As I've said in previous posts about the cuisine in Indianapolis, the area doesn't really have a culinary claim to fame like Kansas City barbecue, Omaha steaks or Chicago pizza.  Actually, Indianapolis cuisine is a melting pot of good to above average restaurants where only a handful of places stick out.  Barbecue isn't one of the things that immediately jumps into mind when I think of eating out in Indianapolis.  But one of my dealers in Indy suggested I had to give Dick's Bodacious Bar-B-Q a try at some point. 

Dick's Bodacious Bar-B-Q began 1999 when Rich Allen, a transplanted Texan, decided to start a catering company specializing in barbecue, much like the type of barbecue he was raised on in eastern Texas.  The catering business went over tremendously and a couple years later Rich opened his first restaurant in Noblesville.  He then opened a second location in Indianapolis (see map).   Just recently, Allen moved Dick's Bodacious Bar-B-Q to a new location in Noblesville (see map).  That was the location I went to on a rain swept Indiana night last fall.

The decor of Dick's Bodacious Bar-B-Q was reminiscent of an old style Texas roadhouse, lots of wood and a lot of pictures and memorabilia on the walls.  The place was less than half full around 8:30 when I got in there.  I was seated by a hostess who handed me a menu while I waited for my waitress to come over.

First - a side story to tell you... 

Earlier this fall, a Texas-based chain of barbecue joints - Dickey's Barbecue - opened a location here in the Quad Cities (look for an upcoming entry on Dickey's in the future).  My long-distant, yet local friend, Burt Gearhart, used to eat at Dickey's when he lived in Texas for a number of years.  He called said of the opening that "heaven had come to the Quad Cities."  I went to their web site to check the place out and I was appalled to see that they had no beer.  How can you be a barbecue joint and not have beer?  Or, at the very least, have a "Bring-Your-Own-Beer" policy.  Burt told me that while they didn't show it on their on-line menu, rest assured that Dickey's did have beer.

Now, back to Dick's Bodacious Bar-B-Q.  My waitress came around and asked if I'd like anything to drink while I looked at the menu.  I said, "Boy, I'd love a cold beer.  What do you have?"

She sort of stopped and said, "I'm sorry, but we don't have beer, sir."

I about came unglued.  "No beer," I exclaimed in a retort.  "What kind of barbecue place doesn't have beer?"

She explained that they hadn't secured their liquor license from the city of Noblesville as of yet.  "We hope to get that sometime by the end of the month."

She then said, "Our Indianapolis location has beer."

I sort of looked at her and said, "But we aren't at the Indianapolis location."  I can be such a penis-head sometimes. 

I then asked, "How long you guys been open here?"

She said, "Well, we just opened last Thursday."

I said, "Thursday?  Really?"

She said, "Yeah, but we moved from another location to this one.  I guess the city council is dragging their feet on getting us our liquor license."

I said, "OK, that's fine.  I'll just get a Coke." 

It was obvious that she'd been asked about the beer situation. 

Barbecue rules the menu at Dick's Bodacious Bar-B-Q.  But they also offer burgers, steaks, appetizers and salads.  I got to looking over some of the barbecue combinations.  They had the Texas Two-Step and the Trio - you got four rib bones and your choice of either two (for the Two-Step) or three (for the Trio) different smoked meats.   Dick's had pulled pork, brisket, sausage, chicken, turkey or ham to choose from.  I took the Texas Two-Step with the ribs, pulled pork and brisket.  Along with that, you got a choice of two of the 14 different side dishes Dick's Bodacious Bar-B-Q has to offer.  I took the jalapeno ranch beans and the baked beans.   I sort of wondered what the difference was between baked beans and the ranch beans. 

I waited about 15 minutes before my food was brought out to me.  The ribs were nice and meaty.  And the portions of pulled pork and brisket were very generous.  There was a difference between the baked beans and the ranch beans - the ranch beans are what I would call baked beans, while Dick's baked beans would be called "warmed up beans out of a can". 

What I didn't care for, however, was Dick's chintzy nature when it comes to their barbecue sauce.  She brought out two small containers of sauce - one their mild sauce and the other their spicy sauce.  Now, I like a LOT of barbecue sauce on my meat.  Plus I like to add it to my baked beans.  And believe me, Dick's Bodacious Bar-B-Q's baked beans needed the help. 

I asked for some more sauce and she brought out two more small containers.  They were the size that some restaurants will give you for salad dressing.  I wasn't happy with that at all.  It's not fun when you have to be judicious with your barbecue sauce.

Still, the sauce wasn't bad.  Their mild sauce was sort of a sweet-vinegar blend, while their spicy was - well, it was spicy!  It was pretty good.  It really zipped up the baked beans, which needed a lot of zippyness. 

The jalapeno ranch beans were pretty good, as well.  I added some of the mild sauce to the ranch beans and that helped them, too.  I definitely liked the ranch beans more than the baked beans.

The brisket was very good.  Nice big slices of smoked beef with a nice hickory flavor to them.  And the pulled pork was also very good.  It was very lean with little to no fat like you find in some other barbecue joint's pulled pork. 

With tip, my bill came to a little over $24 bucks.  I gave her an extra couple dollars above and beyond my normal tip for being such a dick to her when we were sparing over the beer issue.  All in all, Dick's Bodacious Bar-B-Q was good, definitely not the best I've ever had, but it was above average.  Even without the beer, Dick's Bodacious Bar-B-Q was worth the stop.

(Update February 2012 - The Noblesville location for Dick's Bodacious BBQ has closed and the only one that is still open is their downtown Indianapolis location.) 

The Demise of Circuit City

The second largest electronics retailer in the U.S. - Circuit City - announced on Friday that they could not sell their assets to another party who would agree to keep their doors open.  They opted to sell their assets to liquidators who began yesterday to sell what remaining inventory and fixtures the 567 remaining Circuit City stores have in the U.S. with another 200 or so in Canada.

While this development wasn't all that surprising, nor was it as devastating to my company as the announcement of Tweeter liquidating their assets last fall, it's devastating to a number of huge manufacturers in our industry.  And it also raises a red flag in the eyes of manufacturers as the playing field of where they can sell their products just became tremendously smaller.   

Circuit City began innocently enough in 1949 as a television store in Richmond, VA.   It grew into a number of different types of stores along the Atlantic seaboard and up into the Northeast in the 60's and 70's.  One of those stores, a large warehouse-style store called Circuit City Superstore, garnered the most attention from consumers and the format stuck.  In the 80's, Circuit City began an aggressive growth pattern that put over 1000 stores from coast to coast, including Canada. 

The demise of Circuit City probably began with their expansive growth, growing too fast and putting stores into markets that either didn't need another electronics store, or putting too many locations into markets that didn't need that many Circuit City stores.  And since Circuit City leased most of their buildings, they also didn't have the greatest locations for their stores.

A number of people in our industry point to one such location as a great example of Circuit City's questionable decisions that helped bring on the beginning of the end.  In the mid-90's, Circuit City opened a store - a nice location, actually -  that was literally across the street from Nebraska Furniture Mart in Omaha (see map).   Then Circuit City began a very aggressive pricing campaign to either match or go below the everyday low prices Nebraska Furniture Mart had to offer.

What Circuit City didn't realize, or were too full of themselves to realize, is that the Blumkin family, which was backed by gazillionaire Warren Buffett, had deeper pockets and could afford to get into a "pissing" price-war with the upstart chain.  When the Mart began to sell like-products UNDER cost to make their point understood with Circuit City, the chain kept playing the game with NFM.  This kept up for a couple years before Circuit City threw in the towel and began to play nice with their neighbor. 

But many in the industry continued to question Circuit's strategy in locating their Omaha store next to the Mart.  While many business professors will say it's a great plan to be near your major competitor, Omaha was a growing community to the west.  There was nothing in the new western end of Omaha that could have kept Circuit City from having a terrific market edge in the area.  But Circuit wanted to show the electronics world that they had the might to take on the venerable Nebraska Furniture Mart in their own backyard.  All it showed was what many of us already knew - you don't screw around with Nebraska Furniture Mart.  The Omaha location finally closed in February 2004 - one of approximately 14 Circuit City stores that were losing money at the time.   

The reasons for the end of Circuit City are many, with the economy being the biggest factor.  But Circuit City was in trouble long before this recent economic downturn.  Many analysts point to mismanagement by Circuit City decision makers and too much inventory on hand in stores and warehouses.

One of the major blunders by Circuit City management was the decision in 2004 to fire nearly 3400 "high paid" sales people who were making good money selling products on commission.  These long-time sales people were seasoned employees and really knew their stuff when it came to products.  They were replaced by people willing to work for $8 bucks an hour - young people who were really nothing more than clerks who had just a fraction of the knowledge the fired sales staff had garnered over the years.   This, alone, alienated some of Circuit's long time customers who though they could trust the sales staff over personnel at other national chain stores. 

Circuit's decision to stop selling appliances in the 90's also helped lead to where it ends up today.  It didn't embrace the electronic home-gaming industry until it was too late.  It had a chance to partner up with computer companies such as Apple for in-store promotions, but failed to do so.  While Circuit City snoozed, Best Buy garnered more of the market share of consumer electronics.  When Circuit City finally woke up and began to address some of their competitive issues with Best Buy head-on, WalMart nearly caught both of them. 

Circuit City is presently saddled with over $1.2 billion dollars worth of inventory that has to be liquidated.  That, wont for a better term, is a SHIT-LOAD of products that will be flooding the market place in the coming weeks.  As of last week, Circuit still owed Hewlett-Packard about $120 million dollars (couldn't happen to a better company) and Samsung approximately $115 million.  There was a report in industry trade magazines late last fall that Samsung was trying to take back approximately $75 million in inventory from Circuit. 

The biggest problem with the closing of Circuit City is that the major electronics manufacturers now have even fewer places to sell their wares.  The fear is that the major electronics retailers - Best Buy, WalMart and Amazon.com (yes, Amazon.com!) - will be able to put pressure on manufacturers to lower prices on products even more, allowing for more profit margin for themselves, while cutting into the already razor-thin margins manufacturers enjoy today.  While this sounds great for the average consumer, this is turning into a horrible scenario for manufacturers.   Things are already tight for many manufacturers with some announcing wholesale and widespread lay-offs in late 2008 and early 2009.  If they have to continue to drop their wholesale prices to move product, or to appease a power retailer like Best Buy, they could suffer millions of dollars in losses just to keep making products. 

Speaking of Best Buy, things are going so well for the Minneapolis-based company.  Just before Christmas, Best Buy announced they had offered buy-outs or early-retirement to nearly 4000 of its corporate employees working in the home office in suburban Richfield.  Sales are down at Best Buy and profits are eroding.  Best Buy also put a clamp on expenses, including the discontinuance of all non-essential expenditures that were deemed OK in the past.  It wasn't a great Christmas selling season for Best Buy, or for a number of other electronics retailers.  This is not a good time for my industry. 

The closing of Circuit City stores means more market shares for places like Best Buy, Fry's, Ultimate Electronics and other regional chains.  But the retailers I fear the most are WalMart and Amazon.com.   I can foresee a major price battle going on between those two that could lay Best Buy to waste at some point in the future.  And that won't be good for anybody in my industry.

And a New Record! But Upon Further Review...

Even though the National Weather Service office in the Quad Cities moved to the Davenport Municipal Airport a number of years ago, they still take the official readings at the Quad City International Airport in Moline, about 15 miles to the south as the crow flies from the Davenport airport.  Earlier this morning, the temperature gauge at the Moline airport recorded a temperature of -29 (F).  That's -34 (C) for my Canadian and European readers.  That broke the nearly 13-year-old all-time low record temperature for the Quad Cities, which was -28 set on a cold Saturday morning in early February 1996. 

Now, that's cold.  I've always thought that it doesn't matter if it's -5 (F) or -25 (F) - it's just damn cold. 

Of course, there's going to be the inevitable jokes about global warming on a day like today.  While I believe there is a concern for global warming and it's effects, you're going to have to go a long way to convince me any further this morning. 

The saving grace out of all of this is that the temperature could rise as much as 30 (F) to 35 (F) degrees today, giving us a temperature in the middle single digits later this afternoon.  The temperatures are supposed to moderate through the evening on Friday night and top out in the upper 20's (F) by tomorrow afternoon.  Then they're supposed to hit the upper 30's (F) by next Wednesday.  I'll feel like taking my shirt off and running around the yard by that time. 

Now, I'm really worried about the beer in the beer fridge this morning.  I'm afraid to go out to look at the carnage...

(7 p.m., January 16 - There's no carnage in the refrigerator, thank God.  But it was a very cool 12 degrees above zero (F) in there.  It warmed up to 5 above (F) outside today and we're to have steady to rising temperatures overnight. 

However, tonight on the news, there seems to be a reversal of what was reported this morning.  It appears the official temperature gauge from the National Weather Service malfunctioned and they had to take two normal mercury thermometers outside early this morning to record the temperatures.  Both those thermometers registered -27 (F) at 4 a.m.  They reportedly didn't go any lower than that. 

However, the Federal Aviation Agency, which also has an automated thermometer at the Quad City International Airport, reported their gauge hit -29 (F) overnight.  However, it was determined that their automated thermometer was NOT official (although it was probably the same one the National Weather Service uses) and the official temperature was *only* -27 (F). 

So, we didn't set an all time record last night.  Or did we?  There seems to be some government conspiracy afloat here...

Either way, -27 or -29 is too damn cold...)

Coquette Cafe - Milwaukee

I just added a new dealer in Milwaukee - Ultra Fidelis - to the fast growing line-up of Cambridge Audio dealers in my territory.  I did training for them one evening recently and afterward, we ended up at a nice little place in Milwaukee's historic Historic Third Ward - Coquette Cafe.

Coquette Cafe is the second restaurant opened by renown Milwaukee chef Sanford (Sandy) D'Amato.  D'Amato, a Milwaukee-area native who is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, worked at a number of New York restaurants before moving back to Milwaukee in 1980 to join the staff at John Byron's Restaurant, an upscale restaurant in downtown Milwaukee. 

Sandy D'Amato (right)

In 1989, D'Amato and his wife, Angie, opened Sanford in a building that used to house his grandfather's, then his father's grocery store on N. Jackson St. on the north side of downtown Milwaukee (see map).  Sanford quickly garnered a reputation for great food, a long list of wines to choose from and superb service.  Three years later, Sandy D'Amato was one of 12 chefs chosen to personally cook for Julia Child as part of her 80th birthday celebration.

After 10 years of receiving awards and accolades for their Sanford restaurant, the D'Amato's opened the Coquette Cafe in the old Landmark Building in the historic Third Ward area of Milwaukee (see map).  Coquette Cafe is a somewhat informal and unpretentious French-style bistro with top quality food, but a very unassuming menu.  In other words, regular folks - like me - would enjoy the place. 

We got into the restaurant around 8 p.m. on a Thursday evening and even though we did have reservations (made earlier in the day), we really didn't need them.  There were three of us, as one of the guys at Ultra Fidelis had to beg off for the rest of the evening.  We sat at a table next to the wall, giving us a great view of the surrounding restaurant.

A lot of the main entrees on the menu are reminiscent of a French auberge- a restaurant usually found in the French countryside that uses only locally grown produce and meat for their foods.  While I was told that the menu at Sanford was fluid and ever-changing, the menu at Coquette Cafe didn't change all that much.  Some of the main entrees were quite interesting - bacon-wrapped veal meatloaf, mustard glazed ribs with sausage, and caramelized goat onion cheese ravioli, to name a few.  Yes, this was going to be an interesting dining experience. 

Coquette Cafe has an extensive wine list, so when I offered to get a bottle of wine, the two guests jumped at the chance.  I ended up getting a bottle of the Jordan 2003 Cabernet - a safe and always pleasant choice.  

Homemade baguette bread was brought to our table.  It was hot and fresh, just out of the oven.  It was a great little appetizer while we perused the menu.

Speaking of appetizers, one of the guys suggested we get an appetizer consisting of a smoked-salmon carpaccio - thin sliced house-smoked salmon served with a lemon dressing.  We ended up getting two of those to share for the three of us.  It was simply outstanding.  

With all the interesting choices on the menu, I was torn between a number of items.  The had a grilled hanger steak that looked good.  I was really interested in the grilled pork loin with a wild mushroom stuffing.  But the meatloaf kept calling to me.  I ended up ordering the veal meatloaf.  With it, I took a side of their garlic mashed potatoes.  

One of the guys did end up getting the grilled pork loin, while the other one went with the grilled salmon and leeks in a citrus sauce.  Each of us got salads - two of us had the Caesar's Salad, while the other just had the house salad with the Dijon vinaigrette dressing. 

After we finished our salads, our main entrees showed up.  My veal meatloaf was, well, interesting.  I can't say that I didn't like it, but it didn't really knock my socks off like I'd hoped.  Actually, the grilled pork loin with the wild mushroom dressing looked great - and according to my guest it was great.  And my other guest was thoroughly happy with the grilled salmon.  The veal meatloaf had a nice texture to it, sort of a large meatball, if you will.  I guess I'm just used to the taste of my own meatloaf.

After dinner, we passed on the dessert, but we each ended up getting a glass of single malt scotch that opened up a whole new discussion at the table centered on good Scotch, great wine and good beer.  Although I've known the guys at Ultra Fidelis for quite sometime, this was really the first time we got into personal discussions.  It was a really fun night.

The bill came to over $300 bucks with a tip.  It was a very good dinner at a very good restaurant in Milwaukee.  Coquette Cafe is one of those places that serves excellent food, but isn't "snooty" at all.  Parking can be a little tough at night around the restaurant, but even if you have to walk a couple blocks, it's definitely worth the experience. 

At Second Glance, Maybe Las Vegas Isn't So Bad...

As I write this morning, it's -23 (F) here in the Quad Cities.  That's -31 (C) for my friends in Canada and Europe.  It's just colder than hell out.  Well, that is, if hell is cold. 

-23 is five degrees warmer than the all-time low of -28 set back in January of 1996.  I remember that rather vividly.  I was traveling that week with a guy from Marantz and it was the most miserable week I think I ever spent in my life.  Temperatures didn't get above ZERO for four or five days.  This time around, temps are supposed to stay below zero for about 42 hours straight - that's still too many hours for me.

After my bitch fest yesterday about Las Vegas, one thing you have to say about the town is that the weather sure is nice there.  Other than the very rare snow event that hit the city in December, Las Vegas enjoys abundant sunshine and warm to very warm temperatures year round.  While it's easy to spot the tourists vs. the residents in 60 degree weather (the tourists are the ones without the winter parkas), Las Vegas certainly isn't shivering like we're shivering this morning. 

My biggest fear is not if my car will start or if our pipes will burst - it's about the beer supply I have out in the garage.  History tells me to cut down dramatically on the beer stockpiles in the winter time, just for situations like this.  But it was 20 degrees in the beer fridge yesterday and I'm afraid I'll go out this morning and see broken bottles and iced-beer on the shelves.  There's not a lot of beer in there and the rest of the beer that I have on shelves is hunkered down under heavy-matted blankets.  I think they'll be OK. 

Geez, while I've written this entry, the temperature at the National Weather Service at the Davenport Airport just dropped to -25 (F) (-32 C).  That's now only 3 degrees warmer than the all-time low.  Well, I guess the best thing about today marks the half-way point of the Meteorological Winter.  If the second half of Winter is anything like the first half, it may be time to check housing options further south. 

Naw - I love it in Iowa.  Like I say, nine months out of the year, this is a great place to live.  I can handle the cold weather.  For awhile...

Las Vegas - 2009

I'm back in Iowa after a week in Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show - my 23rd visit for the show.  Right now, it is -3 outside and we had a blizzard warning the Monday evening I got home. And now we're expecting another 5 or 6 inches of snow today with sub-zero temperatures forecast for tonight and all day tomorrow. 

In contrast, Las Vegas - where it snowed earlier this winter - had beautiful weather with temps in the upper 50's, low 60's and clear blue skies the whole time I was there.  I usually don't look forward to going to Las Vegas for the show, but just the chance to feel some warm air and abundant sunshine after the harsh December we just experienced. 

At one point in my life, I used to think Las Vegas showed the best and worst of America.  Now, after the financial debacles this past year, I'm afraid that Las Vegas only shows what's really wrong with America.  Las Vegas is built upon excess, not success.  The city was built by losers, not winners.  The city thrives on suckers, not the level-headed. 

I've often said that everyone in America should be sentenced to visit Las Vegas for a minimum of three days, once in their lifetime.  At first, the glitz and glamour will stun the rookies who visit the city.  One can easily get caught up in the fervor that has defined this city since the elegant "Rat Pack" days of the 60's. 

From the time you arrive at and, subsequently, leave McCarran International Airport, you'll see slot machines everywhere.  They're in the airport, they're in casinos, they're in grocery stores, they're in laundromats.  And they're there for only one purpose - to extract money from your pockets.  If I never hear the distinctive Wheel of Fortune four-note chime again, I'll be happy because there has to be over over 100,000 Wheel of Fortune slot machines scattered all around Las Vegas. 

You go sit at a bar - there's video poker.  I have to say that at one time I used to have a jones for video poker.  Now, I can't tell you the last time I put a quarter into a video poker machine.  It is the quickest way to drain $20 bucks from your pocket.  The allure of having a free beer while you're playing notwithstanding, after you're done, you realize that you just spent $80 bucks on four beers. 

And if you're not playing video poker, that bottle of Budweiser costs $4.25 at the bar.  Gone are the days of $1.00 domestic and $1.50 import prices on beer.  You want to drink in Vegas, you either gamble while you're doing it, or pay premium prices on drinks.  Either way, they've got you coming and going.

The biggest thing that always amazes me during my annual trips to Las Vegas is the amount of new, large buildings that go up each year.  And this year was no exception.  I was simply blown away - in this very down economy - the amount of casinos, hotels and high-rise condos being built in Las Vegas when I was there.  At one point, I counted over 20 large cranes in the Strip Area from my hotel room window on the 28th floor of the Las Vegas Hilton.  The whole time I'm thinking, "Where is this money coming from?  I would think there has to be an end to this madness at some point."   

The new City Center project is one of these huge developments going on right now.  Owned by MGM Mirage, the City Center will have three high-rise luxury condo towers, be the home for the new 4,000 room Aria resort, conference center and casino, and will also have an upscale shopping district on the property.  But all is not rosy with this huge development.   The day after I arrived, MGM Mirage announced that they were cutting back on the project to help raise cash and cut costs.  The announced cut backs would save the parent corporation around $400 million dollars.  

I was talking to a friend of mine about the amount of building going on and he said, "Yeah, but have you noticed that not one crane has moved since we got here last week?"  I began to look out the window during the day time and see that he was mostly correct.

Developer and hotelier/casino owner Steve Wynn just opened Encore, his new hotel/casino that will complement his pricey Wynn hotel and casino next door.  Encore, which looks exactly like the Wynn, was already facing an uncertain future before its doors opened on Jan 2.    

Gaming revenue and tourism in Nevada are down sharply.  Over 4000 people have been laid off from casinos in the Las Vegas area alone.  And in December, city officials said they had *only* a net gain of 20,000 people for the Las Vegas area in 2008 - down from the 50,000 to 60,000 people they normally have move into the area on an annual basis.  

When you pull back the curtain and look at the infrastructure of Las Vegas, you see the real dirt and grime the city has to offer.  You see the crappy little strip malls filled with nail shops, pay-day loan establishments and endless Chinese restaurants.  Even the famed Strip is not immune to the sleaze and crap that permeates Las Vegas with businesses with names like Sexpresso, Cheap T-Shirts and Strip Liquor.  The dregs of the earth walk the streets of Las Vegas as over 12,000 homeless people are now in the Las Vegas area - a 50% rise in the homeless population in Las Vegas over the last decade. 

There are really no winners in Las Vegas, except for the hotels, casinos and restaurants.  There's always the guy who says he just won $6700 bucks in Vegas, but he neglects to tell you he had to lose $9200 to make the $6700.  Then there's the hustlers and con-men that permeate the city, the degenerate gamblers who literally live inside the casinos, and the hucksters who implore you to take in a show that features cheesy performers impersonating Cher, Britney Spears and Tom Jones - all for $75 bucks when you can go see the real Cher, Britney Spears or Tom Jones just down the street.  As I said, this city was built by suckers.

Suckers, like me.  Each year, I send my dirty laundry, copies of trade magazines I picked up at the show, and other things back home via UPS or FedEx Ground.  On Sunday, one of the guys from Cambridge Audio who was showing with us told me that he had sent some things back to England using the business office at the Las Vegas Hilton.  He said, "It was rather convenient than taking it all the way out to DHL at the airport." 

Even though there was a FedEx/Kinkos just down the way on Paradise Road, I decided to take my 25 pound box of stuff down to the business office to send out.  By the time the adding machine had stopped smoking from the addition of handling fees and what not, the bill came to just over $61 bucks to ship this box back to Iowa.  Did I say, "Wait a minute..."?  Nope, I pulled out my Visa card and puckered my butt hole when I signed the receipt.  Something that would have cost me about $22 bucks at FedEx/Kinkos just cost me nearly three times the normal amount because I got suckered at a Las Vegas hotel. 

And finally, the prices some of these restaurants are charging in Las Vegas is absolutely outrageous.  You'll be hearing more about that in coming entries on Road Tips. 

Honestly, though, I'd like to go back out to Vegas with Cindy sometime when there isn't a convention going on and I'm free to do whatever I please.  I'd love to go do the full tour at the Hoover Dam, go out to Death Valley, and just walk around and see the good stuff in Vegas.  But really, that should not take much more than three days.  That's because Las Vegas continues to be the world's largest living toilet. 

Ed n' Joe's Restaurant and Pizzeria - Tinley Park, IL

I'm always a little leery of the results of people polls that tout restaurants.  I've found that many of the winners are of a direct result of ballot box stuffing by the businesses that win.  When I found a place called Ed n' Joe's Restaurant and Pizzeria being named the best pizza place in the Chicagoland area by Citysearch readers in 2007, I thought it may be one of those restaurants where the ballot box was stuffed in their favor.   Recently, I just happened to be on the south side of Chicago one evening and I decided to check out Ed n' Joe's.

(As an aside, the 2008 Citysearch winners for best pizza in Chicago have been named and this year Home Run Pizza was voted as the best by readers.  While Home Run Pizza is good, it's no where close to some of the great pizzas I've found on the south and west side of Chicago over the past couple of years.  Home Run Pizza is on par with Godfather's Pizza here in Iowa and other parts of the Midwest.  Godfather's is good pizza, too.  Not great, but good.)

Ed n' Joe's has been in existence since 1961 in suburban Tinley Park.  The current owner, Michael Clark, is the son of one of the original owners of Ed n' Joe's.  He got his start in the restaurant when he was 13 years old, washing dishes, busing tables, doing whatever needed to be done to make a go of the place.  Over the years, Ed n' Joe's became a full service restaurant serving sandwiches, salads and entrees including fish, meat and pasta dishes. 

I pulled into the parking lot behind Ed n' Joe's (see map) around 7:30 and went in the back side door.  That took me directly into the bar area.  I thought about sitting at the bar, but there was a guy and two women sitting there who were extraordinarily loud.  I stood at the hostess stand near the entrance of the dining room and waited for a table.  The hostess seated me at a booth near a table of four couples who also were very loud.  One of the guys had a piercing laugh that literally scared me a couple times because it was so loud. 

Oh well, so much for a relaxing evening having dinner.  I got a menu from the hostess and ordered up a beer while I looked to see what I wanted.  Well, I knew what I wanted - Citysearch voters said they had the best pizza in the suburbs, so I needed to try one.

The waitress came back and I ordered my standard thin crust, sausage, pepperoni, and mushroom pizza.  She asked if I wanted any bread sticks or "scmods".  I said, "What's a scmod?"  She explained they were an appetizer of bread dipped in Italian beef broth, then baked in an oven with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.  I said, "Man, that sounds sinful and great, but I want to try the pizza tonight." 

It wasn't long where the loud couples were leaving, and then another large family left the dining area, so it quieted down considerably.  I sat reading my Chicago Tribune and enjoying a cold beer, relaxing after a long day of appointments. 

About 20 minutes after I ordered, my pizza showed up.  The pizza pictured on the left was not my pizza, but it has a very close resemblance to the pizza I was served.  The crust was thin, flaky and flavorful.  The toppings were excellent - the sausage chunks were huge and very tasty, the pepperoni was great and the mushrooms fresh.  The sauce was sweet and tangy - very, very good.  The pizza as a whole was very, very good.  I was pleasantly surprised.

(Man, I have go to stop writing these blog entries on an empty stomach!  The above picture of an Ed n' Joe's pizza makes me want to crawl to Tinley Park right now to get one.)

This time the readers of Citysearch didn't steer me wrong.  I was very impressed with Ed n' Joe's Pizza.  The restaurant was very nice, the service was good, the pizza was great.  I look at this as another very good south side pizza restaurant - one of many I'm beginning to find in the Chicagoland area.  While it may not be the best I've had, it was still damn good. 

Harley-Davidson Museum - Milwaukee Part III

In my two previous entries this week, I took you on a visit to the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee.  My pictures don't come close to capturing the true feel of the museum and I highly recommend visiting the place - even if you aren't a motorcycle enthusiast.  The third part of my entry on the museum focuses on the outdoor area, restaurants and gift shop.

After going through the main part of the museum, there are a couple more places that you'll need to see to conclude your visit.  The grounds surrounding the museum include a terrace area and riverwalk along the Milwaukee River, two Rivet Plazas - an area where memorial "rivets" are displayed, and a bronze statue called "The Hillclimber", which was donated by the grandson of William Davidson, Willie G. Davidson - currently a senior vice-president and the defacto "face" of Harley-Davidson.  Davidson said the family "chose the hill climber as a subject because it portrays the thrill and adventure of the sport and because of the important role motorcycle competition played in developing enthusiast culture.”  The statue is one and a half size normal scale and was designed by Jeff Decker, a Harley-Davidson licensed artist. 

Between the main restaurant building and the restaurant/gift shop building is a plaza laid in bricks.  I'm guessing the Harley-Davidson Museum people encourage "burn-outs" on the bricks, given the number of tire marks left on the pavement.  Even for a cold day in early October, there were a number of bikes parked near the museum.  But I didn't see any of them lay down any rubber while I was there.

I actually went backwards on my tour of the museum.  I went into the restaurant and gift shop areas first before heading over to the main museum. 

The restaurant at the museum - Motor - is a full service restaurant that serves lunch and dinner.  The decor is sort of a contemporary industrial design in a big open space.  With brick floors, floor-to-ceiling glass on three sides and a very high ceiling, my guess is that the place gets very loud when there's a lot of people in the place.  It was just around 5 p.m. and there was just one couple having dinner and a couple guys at the bar.

I took a seat at the bar and ordered up a Leinenkugel Oktoberfest and watched part of a ballgame that was on the television behind the bar.  The bar seats were heavy duty, welded bases, probably made at the Harley-Davidson factory.  I can't say they were very comfortable.  The full bar featured mixed drinks, wine and beer.  There were a number of teardrop shaped Harley-Davidson gas tanks on display behind the bar, as well. 

I asked the waitress for a menu, just to see what they had to offer.  Although it didn't seem to be anything that I would call outstanding, there were some interesting items such as Chicken Schnitzel, a one-pound pork chop, barbecued ribs, and "Ma's Meatloaf", the ultimate comfort food served with mashed potatoes and gravy.  Motor also featured a couple of burgers, chicken sandwiches, and a beer-battered, deep-fried walleye sandwich.  I thought about coming back there for dinner, but I had another place in mind for a meal that evening. 

I got to looking a little more closely at the contraption they had to separate the bar area from the dining room.  It turned out that it was a series of rods, gears, engine parts and pulley wheels most likely fabricated by Harley-Davidson workers and welded together.  The intricate placement of the bars and gears was sort of interesting to look at.  It was definitely unique and pretty cool. 

The Harley-Davidson Museum touts itself as a family destination and for those families who don't want to have a meal in the Motor restaurant, they have a sort of snack bar area - Cafe Racer - that serves a variety of fast foods for breakfast, lunch and light dinner.  The limited menu features soups, salads, wraps, some sandwiches and breakfast burritos.  There's counter service only and it doesn't have the ambiance you'll find at Motor.  But, if you have a lot of little kids, Cafe Racer is probably better suited for their tastes. 

Cafe Racer sits in between Motor and the Harley-Davidson gift shop - known as "The Shop".  The large room keeps the "contemporary industrial" decor that is thematic throughout the museum grounds.  The gift shop has the usual items - shirts, jackets, biker clothing and leathers, signs, posters, memorabilia, stuffed-toys and knick-knacks. Here's a word of warning - Although many items were very interesting to look at, nothing was cheap.  If you have kids, don't take them into this place or you're going to be buying overpriced trinkets.

This is a wall display of old Harley-Davidson pictures and memorabilia.  There were a number of coffee-table books, as well.  But they were certainly proud of the things they were selling.  Some of the books were over $30 bucks, while some of the pictures and posters went from around $50 to well over $200 dollars.  You either have to be a deep enthusiast or have deep pockets to buy some of these items.

One full wall of the gift shop was nothing but t-shirts.  $25 dollar t-shirts.  Ouch.  And none of the t-shirts were what I would call anything special.  They had both men's and women's t-shirts for sale.  Oh, there were a couple of nice designs, but nothing that I really needed to have - especially at $25 bucks a pop.  Actually, there wasn't much of anything in the gift shop that I really couldn't live without.  Especially at the prices they were charging.  My God! 

All in all, the Harley-Davidson Museum was a wonderful experience.  I promised my late mother years and years ago that I'd never get a motorcycle.  Although I've wanted to get one, I've held on to the promise I made.  That doesn't mean that I don't have an affection for the Harley-Davidson motorcycles.  But as I said before, even if you're not much of a motorcycle enthusiast, the Harley-Davidson Museum holds a lot of history.  It's truly a celebration of American design, engineering, and ingenuity.  If you go, bank on spending at least three hours in the museum.  It's really worth the trip. 

Harley-Davidson Museum - Milwaukee - Part II

During my recent visit to the Harley-Davidson Museum in downtown Milwaukee, I took a ton of pictures, so many that I've had to break up the blog entry into three parts.  Here's the second part of my visit to the Harley-Davidson Museum.

The second floor of the Harley-Davidson Museum is a historical capsule of the company from its inception in 1903 up to 1950.  But if you take a sky-bridge across from the second floor to the archive building, you can take a peek at the archived historical items and the restoration of some of the old motorcycles they've either kept or rescued over the years.

Since it was after 5 p.m., the archive section was closed.  Actually, I'm not even certain if the archive section is open to the general public.  But there were a couple of windows that allowed you to look in to see some of the items they had in the area.  These are a number of the old time posters and signs Harley-Davidson was restoring to eventually put on display.  I can almost imagine the number of neat old things they have in the archives section.

Going up an elevator takes you to the third floor of the archive building and this is the motorcycle restoration area.  This is where they house the overflow of the museum (remember, they have a model from every year Harley-Davidson has been in existence) and where they restore bikes that were either donated or rescued.  This picture doesn't really show the size of the room and the amount of bikes they have in the area.  These racks are three shelves tall and there had to be over 400 motorcycles in the room, either fully restored or getting ready to get restored. 

The restoration area is fully temperature and humidity controlled.  You can look into the room through windows to watch the workers restore old motorcycles to their original state.  Each motorcycle that is restored is taken fully apart, meticulously cleaned and then put back together.  If a part is missing, they locate a similar part in their restoration "bank".  Sheet metal parts are never re-painted or stripped.  Much of the original finish is retained by cleaning and only slight touch-ups of paint is used to help restore the original look.  I don't know how many people work in the restoration area, but it was a pretty good sized work room. 

Going back down the elevator to the second floor, then back across the sky-bridge to the museum, there's a hallway that has a display of a number of different types of the "teardrop" gas tanks Harley-Davidson has made over the years.  Some are in custom colors with unique designs, while others are basic colors with the Harley-Davidson logo.  As you can see, it's a pretty and colorful display of gas tanks.

Here's a picture of the gas tanks up close.  This gives you an idea of the different types of colors and designs the company has used on their gas tanks over the years.  At first I was thinking, "Oh, these are just gas tanks."  But looking at them more closely, you find there's a lot of painstaking work that went into the artistic design of some of these tanks.  It was actually kind of neat to see. 

That was pretty much it for the second floor exhibits.  It was down the industrial-type stairs to the first floor which housed the collection of motorcycles from 1950 to the present - the "Glory Days" of Harley Davidson.

The first floor of the museum was a modernistic, multi-media potpourri celebrating the golden years of Harley-Davidson.  There were monitors showing movie clips of famous motorcycle movies such as Easy Rider, and The Wild One.  Actually, a lot of these movies hurt Harley-Davidson's image because of the outlaw and gang element that Hollywood was trying to portray and glorify. 

After World War II, highways were being built, gas was cheap and America was becoming a mobile society.  Harley-Davidson had embarked on aggressive marketing campaign to show America the fun that motorcycles can bring.  These are two models from 1951 along with a lot of ads and memorabilia from that time.  The bikes became colorful and smaller, allowing for people even with the slightest build - including women - to have their own motorcycle. 

Along with the rise in popularity of motorcycles as recreational entities, a number of people began to customize their bikes, giving their bikes their own personal signature.  One such bike on display is the "King Kong", a motorcycle with two merged chassis' and a lot of accessorizing.  This motorcycle, which was fabricated by a man from, I believe, Ohio, took four years to finish.  It is garish, over-the-top and a remarkable engineering feat.  The detail that went into the design and the accessorizing of the motorcycle is just dizzying.

The first floor also has a number of bikes on display from 1951 through today.  Included were a number of sportster-type bikes Harley-Davidson began to build in the 60's to help stem the tide of the proliferation of Japanese-made motorcycles that began to gain significant market share in the 60's.  Harley-Davidson sales plummeted and the company was eventually bought out by AMF.  AMF immediately streamlined the operation, slashed the H-D work force, and began to make very inferior motorcycles.  In the 12 years AMF owned Harley-Davidson, their motorcycles were no match in price and performance vs. their Japanese counterparts.

Some of the other things AMF tried to do with Harley-Davidson was to diversify their offerings.  Also on display were a number of Harley-Davidson/AMF made products such as boats, golf cars and mini-bikes.  With the company facing bankruptcy, AMF sold Harley-Davidson to a group of investors that included former executives of the original Harley-Davidson.  Times were tough, initially.  But Harley-Davidson was able to persevere and become one of the more remarkable success stories in the history of American manufacturing. 

Rather than trying to emulate the smaller motorcycles from Japan, Harley-Davidson executives decided the road back to success pointed toward re-tooling their large bikes. This part of the museum showed a number of proto-type bikes they came up with over the years (as well as some possible designs we may see in the future).  The formula must have worked as Harley-Davidson continues to show tremendous annual sales growth.  

Back to some of the more interesting displays they had in the museum - the famous bikes they have on hand.   The motorcycle shown on the left is a 100% fully brushed stainless steel motorcycle.  The was quite a striking looking bike.  This is a 2002 model that was made by Harley-Davidson as a 100 year anniversary model just to show that a fully stainless steel bike can be done.  It was pretty cool and had to be pretty expensive.  

This bike (with the picture courtesy of Popular Mechanics - the picture I took didn't come out well) was billed as the most decorated Harley-Davidson of all time.  Yep, those are rhinestones adorning the bike - thousands of rhinestones.  If I remember right, a husband and wife began to decorate the motorcycle with rhinestones and, well, it looks like it got a little out of hand.   It was donated to the museum.  I wouldn't want to get caught riding that bike in public.  Would you? 

This 1956 KH model was the first Harley-Davidson owned by Elvis Presley.  The original invoice is also on display at the museum.  Presley bought this bike from a Memphis area dealer just before the release of his first hit single "Heartbreak Hotel."  Presley owned a number of larger Harley-Davidson motorcycles during his lifetime. 

These two bikes are replicas of the ones used by Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper in the movie "Easy Rider".  There were actually two motorcycles exact models of both bikes used in the movie.  Two of the models were destroyed in the movie's climactic final scene, while the other two "mysteriously" vanished, no doubt taken by a crew member or members looking for a pricey souvenir of their work on the film. 

This motorcycle I found to be somewhat interesting - mainly because it has an Iowa connection.  This is a 1990 double-engined dragster that is believed to be the first Harley-Davidson to go under 8 seconds in a quarter-mile.  The Iowa connection is that a Spencer, IA man - Gary Gilmore - made the bike in his welding and fabrication shop and raced the bike himself.  This bike had two V-twin motors.  I can't even imagine how loud that thing was when it was fully rapped out. 

From some of the famous bikes on display on the first floor, there was a multi-media area that had a number of pictures, videos and other displays.  There was a great video loop in this area that talked about the dark days of Harley-Davidson, the problems they were going through in the 60's, the subsequent sale to AMF, the buying back of the company by investors, and the problems they had in getting financing to keep the company going in the 80's.  The picture at the right shows a back-lit picture wall that also had a number of small video screens interspersed that showed owners of their Harley-Davidson's over the years. 

This motorcycle and sidecar is a 2003 commemorative bike that has the signature of every Harley-Davidson employee on it for the 100 year anniversary of the company.  At first, I thought it was just a weird design on the bike and sidecar, but then I saw that the decorations were actually signatures in a gold color.  Then I read the sign which told me the story behind the bike and sidecar.  I thought it was pretty cool.   

The last stop one the first floor is an interactive display that allows people to get on different types of motorcycles and get the feel of driving while looking up at a big screen.  I thought it was kind of hokey, but it's probably pretty big with the kids.

That was it for the main part of the museum.  In the third part of my visit to the Harley-Davidson museum, I'll take you over to the gift shop, snack shop and restaurant/bar they have on the premises. 

Harley-Davidson Museum - Milwaukee - Part 1

The brand new Harley-Davidson Museum just opened up in mid-summer 2008 in downtown Milwaukee (see map).  The 130,000 square foot, $75 million dollar museum opened their doors in July, right after the conclusion of the annual Summerfest celebration in Milwaukee.  It houses tons of history from the Harley-Davidson collection and archives. 

I had just finished my day calling on accounts in Milwaukee one Wednesday in early October and had some time to kill.  I thought I'd go down to see if the museum was open.  It turns out the museum is open until 8 p.m. on Wednesdays, May thru October.  (Normal closing time is 6 p.m. - 5 p.m. November thru April.)  There's a spacious parking lot next to the facility and not a lot of cars were parked there.  Good, it wasn't packed so I knew I could get some great pics.

And there is so much to see at the Harley-Davidson Museum.  Even if you're not a motorcycle rider, there is a ton of history and interesting items to see throughout the museum.  You really need to give yourself a minimum of two hours just to see it all.  And that may be estimating too low. 

The main entry way where you buy your tickets to the museum is a combination of modernistic and industrial themes.  It costs $16 bucks per adult to get in, $10 for kids.  College students with an ID can get in for $12, as well as senior citizens.  You can by-pass the long lines on weekends and order your tickets on-line and print them out to present to the Harley-Davidson people who man the entry to the museum on the second floor of the building. 

One of the first things that you see when you get into the museum is a line of motorcycles lined up behind one another.  The museum houses the largest collection of every model of motorcycle Harley-Davidson has made since 1903.  The company began in 1915 to actively go out and re-purchase motorcycles from every year prior.  They've since kept at least one production model from every year they've made motorcycles.  This display shows nearly 50 years of motorcycles from the early 1900's to the late 1940's. 

This is believed to be the first production model Harley-Davidson made in 1903.  There's documentation on the model and it has serial number 001 on a lot of parts of the bike.  It looks like a combination motorcycle/bicycle.  To have the very production model says volume about the vision William Harley and Arthur Davidson had when they began their company.

In a number of rooms off to the side of the main hall on the second floor were displays of signage, ads and other memorabilia from the beginning through the middle part of the 20th century.  Many of the signs in this picture were from early Harley-Davidson dealerships in Wisconsin.  There's also some early press clippings and pictures of Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

This is a 1918 model with a sidecar like those that were used in World War I and by police departments during that time.  If you notice, most of the models built during that time were one color - sort of a drab olive green.  There are a number of former Harley-Davidson workers or college kids who have been schooled on the history of the motorcycles who hang around to answer questions.  I talked to an older guy and he said most of the motorcycles built during that time were more for professional use and not for pleasure like the majority of them today.

Here is a display showing some 1933 models.  I believe this was the first year Harley-Davidson began to sell their motorcycles in five different colors.  In addition to a lot of visual displays, there was a lot of reading material talking about the significance of each display.  Given that I was up against a time limit, I only gave cursory glances at a lot of the information placards. 

This is a picture of how some Harley-Davidson motorcycles were used for World War II armed forces.  The one on the right is an old Shore Patrol cycle, and the one in the foreground was used by the Army.  Harley-Davidson motorcycles were also used to ferry crates of ammunition to the front lines.  Check out the gun holsters and guns on the front of the army motorcycle. 

This is a vintage 1945 motorcycle made by Harley-Davidson for the U.S. Army.  Surrounding this display was a number of pictures of a similar motorcycle in action in the battlefield.  These motorcycle were mainly used to carry orders or information to the battlefront.  Once again, the motorcycles featured gun holsters on the front of the bikes for easy access should the rider be attacked. 

After the war was over, Harley-Davidson made a number of motorcycles for police departments around the nation for parking control.  Shown in this photo are two 1947 models, one of them which has been modified into a tri-cycle mounted with a trunk.  You can also see the marking stick police used to chalk the tires of cars to signify they'd been there during a previous drive-by.  

Although they didn't show models from every year on the museum floor, they showed a very good cross section of bikes from nearly every year from the company's inception thru to 1950.  The evolution of not only the design of the bikes, but the engine design changes they experienced was quite dramatic.  To go from a simple motor mounted on what was nothing more than a heavy bicycle frame to the revolutionary V-Twin motor Harley-Davidson first used on bikes in 1911 and beyond is nothing short of extraordinary for its day. 

Speaking of V-Twin motors, in one of the rooms on the second floor just off the main hallway was an area that featured nothing but motors.  This was a display that showed different variations of motors Harley-Davidson had made over the years.  You could see the differences in engines such as the Shovelhead, Knucklehead, Flathead, Evolution and others.  There are also individual interactive video kiosks that give information on the design and performance of the engines from the early 1900's on.  You could also press a button that allowed you to hear how specific engines sounded via a digital audio soundtrack. 

The engine room display also showed the evolution of the V-Twin engine in the modern era.  First was the Shovelhead, which was manufactured from 1966 thru 1984 for use on the big Harley-Davidson models.  The Shovelhead evolved into the Evolution model that was used from 1984 thru 1999.  The Evolution was then replaced by the Twin-Cam 88 (shown at left) in 1999.  While the basic engine design used by Harley-Davidson motorcycles mirrors the basic engineering ideas of the first V-Twin nearly 100 years ago, research and development over the past number of years have made the engines lighter and more efficient. 

From the engine room exhibits, I went into the next room that featured Harley-Davidson competitive bikes that were built for speed beginning in the 1920's.  America had a fascination with speed and distance in the 1920's and 30's with many locations featuring races that would pit motorcyclists in track races that would run for 200 or more miles.  Here is a Harley-Davidson bike from the 20's that was one of the first competitive racing models they made. 

As the need for speed continued into the 30's and 40's, Harley-Davidson sought to come up with specially designed aerodynamic motorcycles to challenge for world land speed records for motorcycles.   The motorcycle at the left is a 1936 Factory Streamliner that was used to try to break the world's land speed record on the sands of Daytona Beach.  Although it did break the American record at the time, it did not break the world record.  But Harley-Davidson did not shy away from making faster and more powerful bikes to try and garner the world land speed record for motorcycles.  They finally achieved that goal in 1970.  In fact, Harley-Davidson holds the world land speed record for factory built motorcycles that was set in 1988 at 322 miles an hour!  Wow!

Also becoming big in the 30's was the sport of motorcycle hillclimbing.  Many Harley-Davidson bikes were modified and out-fitted with chains to help gain traction up the steep hills the cyclists tried to climb in competition with one another.  Motorcycle hillclimbs were a big event in the pre-war and post-war years.  I can remember attending motorcycle hillclimbs not far from my home outside of Kellogg, IA. 

One of the more interesting parts of the competitive motorcycle exhibit were a number of posters advertising the races, as well as articles and pictures of many of the top racers back in the day.  Also shown were a number of posters touting the "gypsy tours" motorcyclists used to participate in during the pre-World War II years.  These events - which still happen today - usually consist of a group of riders meeting at a pre-determined spot, then riding aimlessly around the countryside, ending up at another pre-determined spot to bed down for the evening miles and miles away from the original destination.  I have a friend in upstate New York who participates in gypsy tours on his Harley.  He said modern gypsy tours can put 200 miles plus on a bike in a day.  You can ride alone or with others in a group.  The basic premise is to wander the countryside on your bike.  Now, that sounds like fun. 

By the way, Eureka Springs, Arkansas - which we visited over two years ago and I profiled in a post here - is a very prominent gypsy tour spot for motorcycle enthusiasts. 

The Harley-Davidson Museum is a big place with a lot of great picture opportunities.  In the second part of my visit, I'll talk about the archive and restoration sections of the museum, as well as some historic and unique bikes they have on display on the ground floor of the museum.

Argonaut Wine and Liquor - Denver

As I've mentioned in previous posts, whenever we get together at trade shows we usually go out and buy a bunch of wine, beer and liquor and congregate in one of our rooms for a few moments of company camaraderie after the show ends for the day.  Being that yours truly is usually the one who knows where all the good liquor stores are in the area, I'm the one who usually drives two or three of my colleagues on a beer run.  Now, I've taught them all the chorus to comedian-songwriter Todd Snider's great song "Beer Run" (you can hear the song here), so we're usually singing it at the top of our lungs when we pile into a vehicle to go get booze.  This past fall at the CEDIA Expo in Denver, we were singing it as we drove to Argonaut Wine and Liquor, just east of the downtown area in Denver in the Capital Hill neighborhood (see map). 

Argonaut Wine and Liquor has been around for over 40 years, serving a combination of Denver's upper class wine sophisticates, everyday drunks and good ol' party dudes - like most of the guys I work with.  With over 25,000 total square footage, Argonaut Wine and Liquor is the largest store of its kind in Denver.  They feature over 9000 different liquors, wines and beers, along with all the fixing's you'll need to have a big party.  

When we go to a place like Argonaut Liquor, each of us will usually fan out in different areas of a store.  I usually go to the beer section, a couple of my colleagues will go scope out the domestic and imported wines, and another will go check out the liquor for any good buys on Scotch, rum or tequila. 

Actually, this year, I shipped a couple bottles of Templeton Rye out to Denver (which, I found out from my local FedEx drop off site, is a federal offense) for us to have during the show.  We drank all but about a quarter of one bottle.  It was a hit among my colleagues.  But that didn't stop us from gathering up a couple more bottles of Scotch and a bottle of tequila for the room. 

My boss, Daniel, doesn't drink beer or hard liquor all that much, but he sure does enjoy his wine.  We always get a couple three bottles of wine for the room - usually a couple reds and a white.  My colleagues from Canada and California usually pick out the wine.  

I was pretty impressed with the beer selection at Argonaut Wine and Liquor.  In addition to most of the usual Colorado beers (many of which I don't care for), they also had a selection of great beers from the Pacific Northwest (to see my post on the beers of the Northwest, click here).  Some of my colleagues like the heavier European imports, so I pick a couple three sixers of those up.  The Oktoberfest marzen-style beers were beginning to show up on the shelves, so I grabbed some of those, too.  

We also picked up some glasses (we learned our lesson after viewing this blog entry on the horrors of the cleaning staffs in hotel rooms), a styrofoam cooler and some ice.  Actually, we got the ice for free.  One of the guys just gave us a bag because it had been accidentally opened when they were putting it in the ice freezer.   

With all we got, it came to just a bit under $300 bucks - pretty good considering that our guys can easily spend $300 bucks on bar tabs during a week.  And my boss doesn't seem to mind picking up the bill for the libations.  

It's too bad we didn't find Argonaut Wine and Liquor until our last year the CEDIA Expo was in Denver.  Right now, they're in the midst of getting ready to open a new and improved Argonaut Wine and Liquor Store just down the street from the original one (see map).  (An artist's rendition is shown on the right.)  At the time, I thought the interior of Argonaut was a little tired and the displays could have used a little sprucing up.  But when I found out that a new store was going to open in a couple three months, I quickly forgave the appearance of the old store.  I hope I can get back out to Denver and check the place out someday.