Cinco de Mayo 2006

It was another successful party at the Starrs this past weekend when we celebrated Cinco de Mayo with some close friends, classmates, and co-workers. There were plenty of margaritas, mojitos, beer, and salsas to enjoy. Although I think we needed more of just about everything at the end of the night. Kristen and I will take that as a compliment.

Damn that Stedman!

Hello from the Windy City! So, I was up at 4:30 this morning to catch my plane for old Chi-Town. Everything was smooth as silk: the flight, the rental car, finding our hotel....

We had lunch with some Sprint people at a restaurant in Itasca called Shula's. We then went to meet with some trainers in another office and had a conference call. Slight kink: we were supposed to have a meeting downtown but due to the immigrant rally, which had a turn-out of 200,000 people, we could not make it down to the store. Therefore, we went back to the hotel for a couple hours before meeting downtown at a great restaurant called Shaw's Crabhouse.

We were told at Shaw's that part of the restaurant was shut-down because a lot of the staff didn't show up because of the May 1 immigrant boycott, but that the wait should be approximately 15 minutes. Thirty minutes into the wait, in walks Oprah's main squeeze.....Stedman Graham. Boy, what a scene. Women were pointing and taking pictures. Stedman was like "back up off a brotha." And then, wouldn't you know it, 10 minutes later, Stedman and his entourage were SEATED! Before us!!! Unreal. To which I say - "Damn that Stedman!!!" All in all, though, great crab cakes at Shaw's!

The Lonesome Boys

Kristen flew to Chicago today for her segmentation project with work. She'll be there until Thursday night. The boys and I already miss her. We'll be counting the hours until she returns safely. I have class tonight, so Blue is going to be getting a lot of "alone time" today. He'll need it, though, after his busy weekend with his new best friend, Chili. They had a ball retrieving the dummies. As for Sony and Yoshi, they can't even get out of their bed due to their depression. They miss their momma.

B.J. and the Bear

Lowrider Heaven

I found these the other day on the Internet and laughed out loud. Who knew that lowrider bicycles would become so popular? "Mark, they're not popular," you say. They are in California. Regardless, I thought they were striking enough, and such a change of norm for Kansas City life, that I had to share them with you.

Chili Dog Has Arrived

Chili Dog is finally here from Austin, TX! He is very well behaved, but has never encountered stairs and doesn't like water. He's also fairly terrorized by marmalade cats. We're so glad he's here! He and Blue are cousins and they both have black spots on their tongues. Blue cannot wait to get acquainted with his kin.

Twin has Twins!

What are the odds? The stars were aligned!

Troy Maurath, who I have known for 20 years, is an identical twin. Strangely enough, his wife, Marcy, has just given birth to another set! A girl named Lauren, and a boy, Lakin. Very exciting! Mother and babies are doing fine. Below are the pictures of Troy and Travis and the babies. Congrats all around!

Baby Momma Comes to Town

A couple weeks ago, prego Molly B came up to the Ozarks from Tulsa. It was a very wonderful surprise. We had a great time. We watched TV and went for walks and made some very delicious kabobs. Below are a couple pictures. Can't wait to see her again!!!

I HAVE GAS

(soon to be Kristen & Mark on the way to work)
Pardon the rant, but I’ve just about had it with the gas prices in this country. Until now, I was hopeful that it might go down soon, but it’s just going the other way. Is oil really that scarce? I think not. But you know what, that’s American corporations for you. Give you the worse possible service they can, but charge you more for it. Hmmmm….I wonder why American car companies are on the verge of going out of business while foreign companies are prospering. Anyway, it pisses me off and I just wanted to share my frustration with you. Perhaps instead of enjoying my new car, I should just bite the bullet and go buy a new Vespa. That way it would only cost me $18 to fill up the tank instead of $58.

In Memoriam - Bubba (AKA Pooter/Bowman)

After an operation to remove a cyst, our beloved Bubba had trouble recovering and went off to the shiny Pupperoni Factory in the sky. He will be deeply missed by his family.(Scroll down)



Bubba with his favorite chewy bone at the lake for Father's Day 2005.


Bubba and KK by the fire


Relaxing after a hard day of chasing the ducks.


Floating with best friend, Trooper.


...with his second best friend, Blue.


Favorite place to lounge with Koffee.


Born lake dog. Loved to soak.


Last trip swimming at the lake.


Little puppy Bubba with Emily and Kyle in 1994.


Rest in Peace, loving friend, Bubba....