MySideOfTheBar

Ok, this time the Madness I am talking about does actually have something to do with College Basketball, however also about the foot of snow we received this past weekend. It started to ice late Friday evening as we were taking a cab back from one of our favorite sides of the bar. ( Fidels in Westport ) By the time we awoke on Saturday we had over 6 inches and started to snow again an hour or so later and snowed the entire day dropping another 8 inches on us. The Kansas/Northern Iowa game was going to be played later that day and we had planned on walking to the ESPN Sports Zone to watch the game. As the snow kept falling and Central Patti was making her famous chicken wings we had nixed the idea of going out and planed on watching the game from home. Well Mother Nature was doing her best to get us back outside. I discovered about 2 P.M. that the dish was out because of the heavy snow and if we wanted to watch the game we would need to venture out after all, or would we? I remembered...

On this day in 461 A.D., Saint Patrick, Christian missionary, bishop and apostle of Ireland, dies at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland. Much of what is known about Patrick's legendary life comes from the Confessio, a book he wrote during his last years. Born in Great Britain, probably in Scotland, to a well-to-do Christian family of Roman citizenship, Patrick was captured and enslaved at age 16 by Irish marauders. For the next six years, he worked as a herder in Ireland, turning to a deepening religious faith for comfort. Following the counsel of a voice he heard in a dream one night, he escaped and found passage on a ship to Britain, where he was eventually reunited with his family. According to the Confessio, in Britain Patrick had another dream, in which an individual named Victoricus gave him a letter, entitled "The Voice of the Irish." As he read it, Patrick seemed to hear the voices of Irishmen pleading him to return to their country and walk among them once more. After st...

That’s right, MySideOfTheBar was on the road, or should I say on the water last weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks on the St. Patrick’s Day Celebration Cruise . This is a great time and very cheap for a couple of hours of cruising. Big thanks to S.O. for getting our group of Baypoint “Usual Suspects”(which incidentally made up half of the entire cruise this year) a great rate of only six dollars a head. The weather was not great but then again I actually stood outside on the back deck almost the entire cruise (thanks to a patio heater) and wore only a sport coat. The drink specials were also very good they had several beer specials for the ridiculously low price of two dollars a bottle, while I enjoyed a green drink they called “Grog” which I was told contained about every type of white liquor you could think of for only three dollars. Don Akers provided the entertainment in the bar and sang a mixture of all types of music from 60’s and 70’s tunes (Brandy you’re a fine girl!) to tradi...

Well it is that time a year again here at My Side of the Bar. Yes indeed and I am not talking about the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Even though with one more win my alma mater, The University of Northern Iowa Panthers will win the Missouri Valley Tournament and an automatic bid to the big dance. What I am talking about is the madness of the Academy Awards being presented tonight for the 82nd time. The Oscars are always a special occasion here at My Side of the Bar as we consider ourselves somewhat of movie aficionados. However what makes the event this year pure “madness” is the movies up for the best picture Oscar. "Avatar," "The Blind Side," "District 9," "An Education," "The Hurt Locker," "Inglourious Basterds," "Precious," "A Serious Man," "Up," "Up in the Air" Is this really all the better productions Hollywood could come up with this year? Hell I could have made a movie this year a...

Ok, so the third annual Condo Crawl is a thing of the past. I believe it is safe to say that a good time was held by all. We did not have the attendance we had in 2009 with a few cancellations due to Weather and Family Issues, but while we missed those regulars who could not attend a good time was hadd by all. A special thank you to K. and J. B. for organizing even though they could not attend this year and a note to say we really missed some of the others. J. and P. C. and A. and A. S. Also we had another couple retire to sunny FL, B. and P. S. (no relation to A and A S ) and the S’s were also missed. For those of you not familiar with a Condo Crawl you have as may wishing to attend have a drink special (or two or six) a food item if they wish and some even may have a theme (not required). You spend approximately an hour at the condo and proceed to the next. During the usual cocktail hour on Friday night we decided to start the official Crawl earlier (1:00 P.M) so we could have two ...