Yo Gabba Gabba Live vs. The Grunion and Z

The Grunion and Z went to see Yo Gabba Gabba Live in Tulsa this past weekend.
GRUNION:  Man, road tripping to a show is awesome.  Oooooooooklahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plain!  Pass me some snackies!

Z:  I'm kinda nervous about the show.  Do you think they'll just play stuff from the new album, or do you think they'll do a bunch of the classic stuff?

GRUNION:  All I know is that they better play the Wiggle Song or I will throw the biggest hissy the world has ever seen.

Z:  For sure.  We'll throw a double hissy.

GRUNION:  Are you gonna crowd surf again?

Z: Probably.  The last time I crowd surfed I was all RAWR!  Take this suckas!  Lost one of my shoes though.

Z:  That was the best I ever crowd surfed.  Ever.

GRUNION:  Finally!  These seats are boss!  I hope the Gabba starts soon.

Z:  Whoa!  What's up with the ladies in row N?  Are they checkin out my Muno hat?  What's up, ladies!

ANNOUNCER:  Boys and girls, please welcome Yo Gabba Gabba!

GRUNION:  Awesome, they're recreating the '86 tour!

Z:  Wait...is that...I think it's...

ANNOUNCER:  Boys and girls, please welcome Biz Markie!

Z:  Biz Markie?  Was he on the '86 tour?
GRUNION:  Let me think....I don't think so....

Z:  CROWDSURF!  Waaaahoooooooo!

Z:  Man, that was totally awesome!  It's gonna take me hours to come down off the adrenaline high!
GRUNION:  Totally!

Two minutes later...

Victory:  Yo Gabba Gabba Live

BOK Center in Tulsa Oklahoma

I usually try to stay away from the mega-coliseum chains, but I was in Tulsa this past Saturday and I had heard some good things about the fries at the BOK Center so I popped in.

$3.50 for about 30 good-sized fries.  Straight out of a bag, but crisp, hot and surprisingly delicious!  I tasted a hint of popcorn oil, so I figure some of it falls into the fry oil or something.  $3.50 is kinda steep, but you have to expect a gouge at an arena.

Extra points for the old school fry cup.  7 out of 10.

The Grunion vs. Halloween II

Last Halloween the Grunion was only a year old.   He didn't really grasp the concept, but he fought Halloween valiantly.  Unfortunately, he ultimately "lost".

This year, the Grunion informed us that he was gonna "kick Halloween's butt".  We weren't sure what that meant, but he showed up for breakfast on Halloween wearing this:

GIBBY:  You know, without the mask Spiderman's identity isn't secret.
GRUNION:  I know.  I WANT Halloween to know who's kicking it's butt.

GIBBY:  Okey-dokey then.  Do you know what Halloween is all about? 
GRUNION:  Of course I do.  During the third sub-century on the fourth moon of Snanggabor...
GIBBY:  Wait....what?  Snanga-what?
GRUNION:  Snanggabor.  The planet?  Ever heard of it?
GIBBY:  No, and I'm sure it doesn't-
GRUNION:  Keep quiet or I'm not gonna tell the story.  Anyway, Elicoor the Flabbergasted decreed that in honor of the anniversary of the victory of Gene and Dean Ween over the Hallopotroids at Helgemuth during the Ranco-Tripsidian wars, October 31st would be a holiday.

GRUNION:  And since it's a military holiday you're supposed to dress up in war paint and challenge your neighbors to battle.

GRUNION:  And they bribe you with candy to spare their lives.

Neighbor Marcus was having his annual (super-clever) Halloween party at his house where he tells all the kids a story about how a bunch of Halloween candy has been disappearing and probably it's ghosts taking the candy and "how about we get on this hay ride trailer and ride up to the nearby park to see if we can find the candy" and lo and behold there is candy all over the park for the kids to "find".  I hope I can think of this kind of stuff when the Grunion starts to get bored with us.

Anyhoo, the Grunion wasn't having any of the story, but he enjoyed running around the yard at top speed with the rest of the kids.

Victory: Grunion?

Feltner's New Location

One of the very first reviews I did was of Feltner's.  They recently opened a new location on North College, and I went there to see if they were keeping it real.

In short, they are.  Check out these cool video screens that look like old school peg boards.

The dining area is very German-lots of metal and wood.

The Feltner boys were on hand that day to make sure everything was cool.

Great burger, good fries.  They are definitely rockin it.

Jack gives the forks a 7.

Feltner's North College.  Do it.

Springfield Oktoberfest Freude

A couple of weeks ago we went to Springfield to attend "the second largest Oktoberfest celebration in Missouri".  The website and related Facebook page spoke of wonderful knockwurst, bratwurst, schnitzel, pretzels, beer, traditional German events, games, music and the like.  We were pretty excited.  In fact, I was so excited I commissioned MeMaw Allred to make me some lederhosen so I could be properly attired.  We arrived at the Estes ranch just in time to see the bar Rusty was in the process of building for his pack of dogs.  Seriously.  Rusty built a bar on his farm for his dogs.  Or maybe it's for people, but it was certainly full of dogs that night.  I'm just sayin, you gotta attract the right kind of crowd from the beginning or else your bar gets stereotyped...

The goats next door to the dog bar were jealous, as they have been asking for a salad bar for months.

RUSTY:  Hey, let's go on a driving tour of the farm.
BANDIT:  We can't all fit in your appropriately equipped farm truck, Rusty!
RUSTY:  No worries!  We'll just take your jeep.  What could happen?
5 minutes into the farm tour:

While he was taking a break from changing the tire, Rusty told Amy about all the bear and mountain lion maulings that had taken place in the area over the last few months.  Amy decided to wait in the jeep after that.

We spent the rest of the evening getting warmed up for Oktoberfest by drinking American beers we found at the store with the words "Oktoberfest" on the label.  The next day, I was so excited to show off my lederhosen and be with all the rest of my lederhosen brethren.  We got there and........um........I WAS THE ONLY PERSON WEARING LEDERHOSEN.  DAMMIT!

Unless you count the ACTUAL GERMAN DOCTOR on loan to the local hospital who happened to bring his lederhosen with him cause someone told him there was an Oktoberfest while he was visiting.  Also, all the actual German food was gone since there were only "samples" and all the "early birds" (old people who got there at 7a.m.) ate it all.  DAMMIT II!

The only good thing about the event was that people kept stopping me to take their picture with me.  I pretended they were laughing "with" me.

The Bandit had a sweet backup plan to go to the nearby Mother's Brewery tasting room.

We "tasted" a bunch of good stuff while I asked everyone over and over if I looked stupid. They all kept saying I didn't look stupid, but I could see in their eyes that they were lying....

The Grunion Reviews Applebee's

As a general rule, I don't go to Applebee's.  Mostly cause years ago I ordered something they had called "Riblets" which were disgusting and made me sick.  But recently my uncle sent me an Applebee's gift card, and a free meal is hard to turn down even if it makes you sick.  I decided to let the Grunion review the fries. He had a bad attitude about it.

GRUNION:  Hmmm.  Looks like a happenin place with the walker crowd.

GRUNION:  Let's see what's on the menu.

GRUNION:  Everything has a cutesy name.  Forget that crap.  I want a platter of fried stuff.  Make it happen fat man!

About 20 minutes later...

GRUNION:  Ah....brooding....subtle notes of vinegar and canola....

GRUNION:  Uh oh....

GRUNION:  BUUUUUUUURRRRRRRP!

GRUNION:  Whew!  Glad that wasn't barf!  I'll give em a 5 out of 10 cause they're stupid and Snoopy doesn't like them.