ALL BEEF...ALL THE TIME

2008-05-27T15:53:00.000-07:00

A little over a month ago Mrs. All Beef and I hosted the 2nd Annual Cedar Rapids CITO Extravaganza event near the roller dam. The Cedar Rapids Parks Department said a lot of people illegally dump trash and garbage here, due to it's remoteness, and we can definitely confirm that because their was so much trash it was unbelievable. This is a geocaching CITO (Cache In Trash Out) event and we had 46 people attend (plus one puppy) help pick up all the garbage. We picked up 70+ garbage bags of trash and many, MANY bulky items. You can seen the bags and the bulky items (a chevy tailgate, tires, concrete horse, bed spring, etc) in the photograph above. It was a fun time and we also hid a small geocache in the area to commemorate the event (as we did at last years event).

We also gave out prizes donated to us from Uncle Stan's Military Surplus (2 ammo cans and 3 decon containers) and from IowaAdmin (Groundspeak Trackable 2008 volunteer geocoin). We also gave out some unactivated travel bug dog tags and a couple unavtivated 2007 Iowa Geocoins.

The place was nice and clean after we finished and the Cedar Rapids Parks Department was very happy. :) We're looking forward to next years event!

--All Beef

MOGA 2008

2008-05-23T08:29:00.001-07:00

My wife, our son, and I attended the geocaching Mega-Event (500+ geocachers in attendance) called MOGA (Midwest Open Geocaching Adventure) for the second straight year! It was awesome and we had a lot of fun and met up with friends we made last year JC_Geo (that's their geocaching name). Their were a lot of people from the Iowa Geocachers Organization (IGO) who made the trip to Perry, MO (Mark Twain Lake) which was good to see.

I competed in the one-person competition this year and came in 3rd place! So, you're looking at the midwest 3rd place geocaching champion! :) I found 23 of the 30 hidden geocaches in 3hours 10 minutes. Those 10 minutes put me past the 3 hor time-limit which meant I was penalized one cache for every 5 minutes. So my official score count was 21. I also had two geocaches I could not find...so over all I made it to 25 out of the 30 caches. :) The terrain is not for the faint of heart as I ran and hiked right around 9 miles consisting of steep hills, valley's, ravines, obstacles to watch out for (often covered by leaves and sticks), streams, coves, etc! A total blast.

We stayed in a cabin this year instead of camping. Our son is too young at this point to be camping in a tent (or so says my wife). :) It was still a lot of fun and the place we stayed at was great. Very nice.

The picture above is of the Mississippi river at an overlook in Hannibal, MO. We stopped here on the way to MOGA to take a short break and do a little caching. Hannibal is an awesome town and has many great geocaches to find. We always love stopping here.

--All Beef

Kansas City Chiefs VS Oakland Raiders 2007

2007-11-28T15:24:00.000-08:00

My wife and I went to the CHIEFS VS RAIDERS game last Sunday and had a fun time. The Chiefs unfortunately lost in the last few minutes of the game (again) and dropped their season record to 4-7. You can see some game action in the picture above.

The pre-game skit with KC WOLF was pretty hilarious. It was KC WOLF VS Darth Raider. A raider "fan" was dressed in black, wearing a Darth Vader helmet, and also wearing a black cape. Darth Raider and KC WOLF had a lightsaber dual right smack in the middle of the field. KC WOLF finally had enough and threw down his lightsaber and went for the flying drop kick! Darth Raider went down and KC WOLF proceeded with the bodyslam.

We went to the plaza the night before and had a good time walking around and looking at the famous Christmas lights they put up. We bought a few small items and also ate at UNO's while watching the KU-MU football game for the Big 12 championship. Everybody was pumped down there. We're Iowa Hawkeye fans though, so we just enjoyed watching the game and didn't really root too hard for either team.

--All Beef

2007-10-02T16:27:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share this picture of the sun setting while we were in downtown Tama, IA a couple weeks ago. The next morning we woke up early and went the the Hike-N-Seek geocaching event in Marshaltown, IA hosted by the Iowa Geocachers Organization. Both my wife and I are members of IGO (Iowa Geocachers Organization) and I am on the Board of Directors and also serve as the IGO Treasurer.

--All Beef

CHIEFS VS VIKINGS

2007-09-26T15:52:00.000-07:00

My wife and I went to the Kansas City Chiefs VS Minnesota Vikings last Sunday and had a GREAT time! The game went all the way down to the wire and the Chiefs won 13-10. The Vikings had one final chance at the end and had to go about 60 yards and score a TD in the final play b/c their was :02 (or so) seconds left on the clock. I thought they were going to put the ball up for grabs on a Hail Mary, but they tried the ol' short pass and then lateral the ball around hoping a guy would get free. A few Viking players touched the ball on the play, but the Chiefs were able to stop them and get the win! GO CHIEFS!

During the 4th quarter a drunk (allegedly) fan ran out onto the field and ran the full length of the football field before security and the Chiefs mascot, KC WOLF, brought him down. The security guards tackled him and then KC WOLF put on the finishing move with the BODY SLAM!! Priceless. Here it is on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOofejdChSg

-- All Beef

2007 KC CHIEFS TRAINING CAMP

2007-08-19T16:48:00.000-07:00

My wife and I recently had the pleasure of traveling to River Falls, WI to attend Kansas City Chiefs Training Camp. This is the second straight year we've gone and had a good ol' time. My wife made a nice big sign to take that was a tribute to not only the Chiefs, but specifically runningback Priest Holmes. In the photo above, you can see second year player Brodie Croyle signing autographs who may just be the Chiefs starting QB this year.

We were interviewed by UWRF campus public relations and the KC STAR. In addition to the interviews, HBO filmed my wife a little bit for the reality show "HARD KNOCKS: TRAINING CAMP WITH THE KANSAS CITY CHIEFS."

GO CHIEFS!!

--All Beef

Veterans Memorial

2007-07-21T18:05:00.000-07:00

While out geocaching around Columbus Juntion, IA I came across this very nice Veterans Memorial park (where a geocache just happens to be hidden). Their is a full sized helicopter (see picture) suspended in mid-air which was very cool to see.

--All Beef

Geocaching can be Tricky

2007-05-30T16:28:00.000-07:00

My wife and I enjoyed a day of geocaching in Iowa City last weekend and came across a bit of a challenge on one in particular. You can see the cache (a micro-cache) that we're talking about in the picture above if you look closely. You can also see why getting to it proposed a slight challenge! We managed to get the cache, sign the log, and replace it without incident. No cuts or scrapes.

-- All Beef

Len Dawson - KC Chiefs HOF QB

2007-05-13T16:58:00.000-07:00

I have a friend who works with the great Len Dawson, the Chiefs legendary Superbowl winning QB, at KMBC-TV in Kansas City, MO. Dawson, long retired from the Chiefs, is the current Sports Director there. I sent her a football, she had him sign it, and then sent it back to me. Len Dawson won Superbowl IV against the Minnesota Vikings and entered the Hall of Fame (HOF) in 1987. Dawson remains a popular figure in the hallowed grounds we all call "Kansas City." Follow the link if you want to learn more about a great NFL QB. http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=53

My wife and I took a tour of KMBC the last time we were in KC, but unfortunately Len Dawson wasn't there. Hopefully someday we'll get the chance.

--All Beef

MOGA 2007

2007-05-01T12:42:00.000-07:00

MOGA (Midwest Open Geocaching Adventure) 2007 was a weekend long geocaching event held at Mark Twain Lake, Monroe City, Missouri this year. There were 60 geocaches to find around Mark Twain Lake and if you take a look at the topographical map you'll see red and blue flags. Each flag represents a single geocache and where it is hidden. The difference in color was for everyone who participated in the competitions. Blue flags were for the 1-person competition and red flags were for 2-team and 4-team competitions. My wife and I competed in the 2-team competition and found 17 caches in the 3 hour time limit: a tie for 5th place. We were 3 away from tieing for 3rd place. The terrain was tough as we had to hike down and up ravines, go around inlets, climb rock face, etc. A total blast. We hiked many miles in three hours.

We camped Friday and Saturday nights, we ate at the MOGA Pavillion for our meals, attended the meet-and-greets, went to the evening activities, saw tons of geocoins, and met a lot of geocachers from all over the USA! One geocacher in particular was from KC who owns a business holding 16 KC CHIEFS season tickets! There was so much to do and the entire weekend was so much fun. We found a total of 35 geocaches during the event and hit our 500th find over all (over the past 3 years).

--All Beef

IWC CAREER SYMPOSIUM

2007-04-25T00:36:00.000-07:00

I was recently invited back to Iowa Wesleyan College by the Director of Alumni Relations to participate in a career symposium.

I engaged fellow IWC Alumni in a panel discussion in front of the current student body, the IWC President (Dr. William N. Johnston), the Director of Alumni Relations, and the Director of Career Services. The discussion was based around our experiences on how to aquire a job after graduation. We all talked about our own career paths and any ups and downs during the journey to where we're at today.

At the conclusion of the discussion, the floor was open to questions. We received a few questions, but perhaps my favorite question of the day was "what was one course (class) you took while in college, that you never thought you'd need at your current job?" The most popular answer from panel members was"math." Another answer I heard was some sort of science. I, All Beef, simply could not resist this question. With a raised eye brow I looked straight into the heart of the audience and proclaimed "gymnastics." Then, the explanation was on. When you're out shooting video for TV, you sometimes have to get in the most awkward balancing acts to get that perfect shot. I've been on top of the company van with the tri-pod in one hand and the camera in the other. This maneuver gets even harder when the van's moving. I've been upside down, on the ground, and in tight spaces. ALL for that perfect shot.

After the Q/A session, we broke into small groups with each Alumni receiving their own table. This allowed a more personal interaction and allowed students to ask more specific questions.

It was a fun experience and I was glad to have participated.

--All Beef

CITO 2007

2007-04-24T23:24:00.000-07:00

On April 14th, 2007 - International Cache In Trash Out Day - we created and hosted the "1st Annual Cedar Rapids CITO Extravaganza!" This is a geocaching event in which we organized a litter pick up of Cedar Rapids, IA. We cleaned a two mile stretch of city park along 'L' Street and 3rd Street (which border Interstate 380) between Wilson Ave and 3rd Ave SW. We had 35 geocachers attend and by the end of the event we had picked up 55 bags of garbage! KCRG TV9 was there and did a nice story about the event on the 6PM newscast that evening.

The event was a huge success and everyone had a good time. We had plenty of prizes to give away at the conclusion and next year we hope to have food for everyone. On my final check of the clean-up area I came across two residents who were scoping out the handywork. I stopped to talk with them for a minute and they were amazed at how clean it was. One said "You guys did a great job, it hasn't been this clean around here in years!"

Next year the event will be moved to a different location as we want to benefit Cedar Rapids/Marion and surrounding communites. The intent of this annual event is to be held on International Cache In Trash Out Day each year. You can find more about CITO (Cache In Trash Out) at www.cacheintrashout.org and more about geocaching at www.geocaching.com.

This event took over two months of planning and I'm glad it was a big success. The biggest scare came three days before the event as the spring weather turned cold and snow began falling. We had 2-3 inches on the ground less than 72 hours from the event! Luckily it melted quickly and the weather was warm for the "1st Annual Cedar Rapids CITO Extravaganza!"

--All Beef