Kansas City (day 2)

It's amazing how my body does not do well with a simple one hour time change. Last night I thought I set my alarm to wake me up in time, but either I didn't hear it, or I didn't set it right, so I woke up a little bit later than I intended and barely made it to the first meeting on time. (But I DID make it ON time).

In summary, the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) is a large organization where we manage volunteers, beg for volunteers, beg some more, train those volunteers, and then beg for more volunteers. So, today I learned from others how to do all that begging more efficiently. The best part about these types of meetings/trainings are the great people you to meet. Today I met many people from Missouri, Kansas, Bozeman, Montana and Omaha, Nebraska. The most fascinating presentation today was about the Madrid Fault (pronounced Mad-Rid) in the Arkansas/Missouri/Kentucky/Tennessee area). Maybe I was only fascinated because I live in the shadow of ticking time bomb called the Wasatch Fault, but I like to think it was interesting to all.

Lunch today consisted of more BBQ food (Kansas City is serious about their BBQ), I think I am going to gain a total of 10 pounds before I go home tomorrow. Sugar here, sugar there. They even soaked their corn on the cob in a sugary/buttery/honey stuff. (I think they should try some Utah sweet corn - no sugar needed!)

After all that BBQ I needed to take a long walk. So, walk I did. My destination was the Legends, a large open air shopping center similar to the Gateway in SLC, just a couple miles down the road. After walking the length of the mall twice, I finally settled on getting a bite to eat (sandwich and homemade chicken noodle soup!) at a cute little family owned bakery called MeMa's Bakery. They had plenty of pastries, cakes, cupcakes, and cookies (including ruby red slippers like Dorothy's in the Wizard of Oz) and was charmingly decorated. I also (finally) found Heather a Kansas shot glass at a small gift shop. Mission accomplished!

On the way back to my hotel room I stopped in to check out the Nebraska Furniture Mart. Imagine an RC Willey store the size and feel of Ikea - big double decker show rooms with high end merchandise. The interesting thing about the Nebraska Furniture Mart is it's owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, just like RC Willey is.

Finally, I really, really, really had high hopes for Sarah Palin tonight. Seriously, I wanted to think she would do a good job, make me a proud female American. But, if I hear the word "maverik" again or the phrase, "the details of the details of the detail," I think I just may scream. Go Biden.