Brian

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The Strong, Silent type…Not!

Posted on December 15, 2012 by Brian under Health, Relationship.

I have always been the emotional one in our relationship. I share my feelings and don’t hide when I am upset, angry or hurt. However, when my wife had to get a Thyroidectomy, I decided that I needed to be the strong one this time. Suppress all of those emotions that I normally wear on my sleeve so that she could feel that everything was going to be OK.

What I didn’t realize was that the suppression of my emotions was going to be much harder than I anticipated. On Thursday the day of her surgery I was doing really well. I was worried but I was keeping it together pretty well. I have always been a worrier but it’s just something I have become accustomed to. With all that worry comes a great deal of impatience. I try really hard to keep that in check as well. It’s something that I have learned to be aware of and work to keep at bay. Occasionally it gets away from me but it takes a lot now. Friday evening was when my emotions boiled to the surface and reached a point that I could not hold them back.

I tell my wife everything. We started this relationship with a “No Secretes” rule and we have kept that. I fessed up and told her that I was having a hard time controlling my worry. I explained that it was hard for me to see her out of character, down for the count, not running around wanting to do so much. I always tell her that she needs to learn to relax, needs to slow down. Now that she has, I freaked out and started to worry…even miss it. She reminded me that she just had surgery, she needs to take it easy, but she was not going to let this beat her and keep her down. She wasn’t going to let this stop her from doing what she has become accustomed to doing. I explained to her that I had been researching things that I needed to look out for, things that would let me know that she was not in prime condition. The problem with this is that for every one informative post, I had to weed through twenty post of people talking about how worse off they were. The first few didn’t really worry me, but more and more posts started to wear on me to the point that I could not hold anything back. My emotions surfaced. My worry for our future started to spiral out of control and for the first time in a vary long time, I felt very helpless.

I told her all of this, crying and trying to control it all. Needless to say, even after her pep talk I still didn’t sleep that well. I even told her this morning that I may need to go back to our therapist just to try and get back on track. On the plus side, the therapist had the same procedure done several years ago. She has given me a few pointers as well as my boss and a few other friends and co-workers that I learned recently have all gone through this procedure. I actually learned over the last couple of months that this is one of the most common procedures that is done.

This still doesn’t stop me from worrying. I have learned so much over the last few months in my research. I have learned what to watch for, loss of hair, loss of concentration and memory, violent mood swings, fatigue, extreme depression, the list goes on and on. I have faith in the doctors but that still does not stop me from worrying. Honestly, I have a feeling that I will continue to worry for quite sometime.

I love my wife more than anything in the world. I just hate seeing her like this and I feel so helpless. At this point in time I wish I had the ability to heal her, give her her natural thyroid back so that she didn’t have to take any medication. I know I can’t, so my only option is to be patient, be there for her, support her as much as I can and pray for the best.

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The BISTRO at 151

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Brian under Food and Drink, Travel.

Not to be confused with the “Cafe 151” in Wichita, KS. This is one of the restaurants that is located in the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

We ate at BISTRO at 151 on Sunday evening after our group decided that we were hungry around 8 PM, since we had such a late lunch at Giordano’s.

The menu is a variety of different items ranging from soups and salads to sandwiches and steaks. Since we got there so late in the evening they didn’t have a lot of seating. They had already shut down a large portion of the restaurant and we were being limited to the bar or a 35-minute wait. We chose the bar, of course.

We sat down got our menus and realized that the meals here were not going to be cheap. The cheapest item on the menu was around $8.00 and it went all the way up to about $30.00 for the steak.

I wasn’t that hungry and I really try not to eat that late in the evening so I just had a small chicken quesadilla appetizer.

I was not impressed with my meal. It was alright but not worth the $12 price tag. The guys in my group decided on more substantial meals.

We went there again for breakfast. This time we all had the $22 breakfast buffet.

This was a little better. Again, I am no longer a big buffet eater but for the money you do have a pretty vast selection. The buffet is definitely the way to go, though. The $22 buffet price also includes coffee and juice. It actually costs more to go a la carte. Yes, the coffee and juice were that expensive. I am already looking for a different place for breakfast. The food is good. It’s just too expensive. [Check Urbanspoon Chicago. ~ Ching]

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Giordano’s

Posted on August 26, 2012 by Brian under Reviews, Things to Do, Travel.

I had to make a trip to Chicago for some training. I asked a few of my friends, where to eat in Chicago. They responded with Giordano’s. So I asked the group I was with if they wanted to go and they agreed that it sounded like a good place. And, it was right down the street.

When we walked in they handed us a menu. They told us it would be a 15 minute wait, and then told us that we could order the pizza while waiting for a table since it took 45 min to get a pizza made. This was a little concerning but we figured what the hell, the place is packed, it must be really good.

We started with the bruschetta appetizer. It had really good flavor and was actually a really large portion.

The pizza was not just large, it was gigantic.

This was a medium three topping stuffed deep dish pizza. We each got two slices and we still could not finish it.

We thought about taking it back to the hotel, but we didn’t have any fridges or microwaves in our rooms.

I would have to say that this was a really good place. Prices are reasonable for what you get. But be warned. The wait is pretty long. So keep this in mind if you are making plans for a date or something.

Speaking of dates, I think I will need to make plans to bring my wife back here for a vacation at some point.

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New Dining Panel Review

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Brian under Reviews.

Check out Ching’s latest Dining Panel review for the Wichita Eagle.

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River City Brewery

Posted on July 29, 2012 by Brian under Food and Drink, Reviews.

Last week I was part of a company focus group to help us redesign and rebuild a system that we use. We brought in a few sales reps, a couple regional managers and a director to assist in getting what everyone needs while at the same time fulfilling the companies requirements for useful information.

After the first day we had a scheduled dinner at The River City Brewery. It’s been some time since I had been there, Ching and I used to go there every week when we played poker a lot. However, since we started not eating out so much we have not been in a while.

The food was just as good as I remember it. Our Vice President ordered several appetizers to start with. We had some Sweet BBQ wings that were pretty good. They had just enough heat to them that kind of snuck up on you. We also had some pork quesadillas that were pretty good and a nice spinach and artichoke dip.

When it came time for dinner I ordered one of their pizzas, the Tomato Basil.

It’s really good. I didn’t realize that it came with tomatoes on it. I was just expecting tomato sauce and some nice cheese with some basil sprinkled on it, but I was pleasantly surprised to have gotten whole sliced tomatoes. It was also very, very good.

I also had never had any of their beers so I ordered their Brick Red.

It’s not as good as the Samuel Adams Brick Red that I had in Boston (and can only get in Boston) but it was still a very good beer that I will order again the next time I go.

If you are new to Wichita or are just visiting, I would highly recommend that you pay The River City Brewery a visit.

You will not be disappointed.