desmoinesisnotboring.com

Please find the Friday Guest Blog below, this was written by Shawn Harrington

Before getting started, I must first admit that I’m partial towards any establishment that has a multiple-month countdown to St. Patrick’s day broken down by the day/minute/second.  Also, throw in the shock factor of having Court Ave portrayed as the big flashy club/bar scene within the first month of living here, and then stumble into the dark  and eclectic pub only half a block off of the main strip.  With that out of the way, there’s been many other reasons why bar patrons across Des Moines have come to love the Royal Mile.   

To refer to it as a hidden location may be a bit unjustified, due to its popularity, but the environment that it provides is unmatched by any other in Des Moines.  It took me the 3rd or 4th visit to the Mile though to find the “Red Monk” tucked away on the east end of the 2nd floor.  This serves as their secondary bar, specializing in Belgian and bottled beers.  To find the unmarked and unnamed bar, one must wander through the upstairs dining room and out to what looks like could be nothing more than a door to the fire escape.  For those of you who currently enjoy the privacy that it provides, I apologize for blowing your cover. 

While the Red Monk caters to its own crouds upstairs, the main bar downstairs can always be counted on as a  stop for anyone except your typical Bud/Miller/Coors light drinkers (no, they don’t carry it, and yes, the bar does feel insulted when you ask for it).  While this town has many noteable restaurants and wine locations expanding our pallets, sometimes you need a staple like this to educate yourself on what you may be missing out on by sticking to your one and only beer.  According to the bar’s website, they currently have 28 tap selections and over 120 bottled beers.  Sometimes, you just need to trust your bartender and order what you’ve never heard of before.

After having the luxury of living down the street from the Old Toad in Rochester, NY, it now feels like any city I live in is not complete without an authentic British pub and restaurant.  Did I just say restaurant?  It must be true, because on my most recent visit to the Mile, my friend Darrell mentioned that they have pretty good Shepards Pie, too.  Outside of the food, they also pride themselves on providing you with over 85 single malt scotches.

There it is, on a week when this site continued its dedication to the locally owned establishments of Des Moines, I had to extend some blog-love to the Royal Mile.  I feel much better now.

As we all know, Des Moines lost a hockey team last year. The Iowa Chops and Stars are no more and the AHL, it appears, has forgotten about Iowa…at least for this year. Luckily, Des Moines still has competitive hockey and a team that has been in Iowa for longer than I have lived in Des Moines.

Scott Clemmensen playing for the New Jersey Devils

The Des Moines Buccaneers have called Des Moines home since 1981, when their first puck dropped into the USHL League.  The USHL is the top junior ice hockey league in the United States that consists of players younger than 20 years of age, and total of 12 teams, mainly located in the Mid-West. The league has had a number of players progress to the NCAA and the NHL throughout the years, none more notable than Des Moines’ own  Scott Clemmensen. Scott was drafted back in 1997 by the New Jersey Devils while he was attending Boston College, where he helped his team win a Beanpot Title in 1998 and 2000. Scott is currently playing with the Florida Panthers Hockey team in the NHL.

Some might say the reason the AHL teams failed in Iowa was a direct result of the success of the Buccaneers.  During the years the AHL had a team in Des Moines the Buccaneers maintained their usual near sell-out crowds and an amazingly rabid fan base, while the AHL franchises failed to sell tickets. I am not sure if these facts relate to the demise of the AHL in Iowa, but I think they are pretty strong statistics.

Bottom line, if you love hockey and want to see it live, check out a Buccaneers game. They are home this weekend with games against Sioux City Musketeers and the Lincoln Stars, on Friday and Saturday nights respectively.  Friday is Affordable Friday, which means you can get 4 Arena level tickets for $36, with $1 hot dogs, and $2 pizza slices. Not sure there is a much better deal in town.

Why eat at a chain Wednesday is a new feature added to Desmoinesisnotboring.com that will concentrate on local restaurants. Eating at a local restaurant keeps your money in Des Moines and it makes more sense for our local economy. I got the inspiration for this new feature from Luke over at Star 102.5 after reading his Blog about his new policy called ‘Nothing but local eats February.’  So, I am going to take a stab at writing about my favorite local eateries. Hope you like it.

Café Di Scala

My girlfriend and I went to Café Di Scala for our one year anniversary and were very impressed. It was a Saturday night so the place was definitely jumping. We had a reservation, which is recommended, and were able to jump right in and our table. Our server was very prompt in greeting us but she was overwhelmed with another table so she didn’t get back to us that quickly, luckily our conversation kept us engaged to pass the time. We ordered from their wine menu right off the bat, which is very detailed and has many options to choose from. I am just on the cusp of considering myself a wine drinker, and typically fall in line with my girlfriends pallet…which is sweet wine, thus we ordered the Moscato –yes I know it is a dessert wine. After we got our wine the server briefed us on the specials for the night, the appetizer jumped right out at us and we promptly ordered it. Sadly, I cannot recall what the appertizer was but it was fantastic…maybe Tony will read this and recall to chime in.

Regrettably, I didn’t truly challenge the Calabrese style kitchen that night as I ordered the Cavatelli Di Lemmo, which teamed their hand made cavatelli with Graziano’s Sausage, marinara sauce, Pecorino Romano and fresh basil. Jamie –my girlfriend – ordered their Romano di Melanazane, which featured the Eggplant, marinara, green peppers, onions, baked and served with romano crostinis. (bread). My meal was really very good, but it is hard to go wrong with cavatelli – I wish I challenged the kitchen and ordered one of their more intricate meals, but there is always next time.  Jamie loved her Eggplant and said it was by far the best she had ever had, and she has consumed a few Eggplant in her day.

The décor in the old house, located in the Sherman Hill neighborhood, made for a very pleasant experience and one that I will highly recommend, to everyone — obviously, since I am writing it here. It would be a perfect place to take your date for the impending “V” day next weekend, assuming they are not already booked up. Café Di Scala is a local business that is comparable to Bravo! Cucina Italiana out at the Jordan Creek Town Center, but Di Scala is a far better selection in my mind. After all, why would you want to eat at a chain when Cafe Di Scala offers the same experience, only ten times better?

Crazy people jump into a lake in the middle of winter. There I said it. Either that or they are very inebriated.  Guess we’ll see this weekend when the Des Moines Winter Games kick off on Friday.  The initial event this year will be the Polar Plunge, which teams over-enthused – some might say crazy or drunk – people with a freezing lake. It sounds like the organizers have taken every measure to ensure no one freezes as they have a heating area and towels available. But, I am sure it will still take a few warm beverages at the Post-Party to warm those people back up.

Participants before their Polar Plunge

The Des Moines Winter Games is in its third year and is expanding more rapidly than any of the organizers planned. This year, Des Moines will be host to the world champion Zipflbob racer! What is a Zipfibob? It is ok, I had to ask too… The Zipfibob is (I guess) plural for the Zipfly, which is a “uniquely designed rugged plastic snow sled with a distinctive lever used for stability and turning,” according to the product’s promotional Web page. Never the less, there will be more traditional races at the Games this year as well, including:

• Ski Bike racing
• Broomball
• Sno-ball Flag football
• SnoX Amateur Snowmobile Snocross Race
• Downhill Kayak racing
• Collegiate Snow Sculpting
• Rail Jam
• Ski and Snowboard Competition 

All in all there will be three days worth of events held at Easter Lake, Brenton Skating Plaza, Cownie Soccer Complex, Savage Softball Complex, Waveland Golf Course, and Sleepy Hollow Sports Park. There are really too many activities going on this weekend to list on this site so I highly suggest you check out the Games website to get the complete listing and visuals. 

I hope no-one face-plants like Professionals Snowboarder Shawn White did at the X-Games yesterday. I realize there may not be a half-pipe like at the X-Games, but still hope no one has to go through that pain.

Please find the Friday Guest Blog below, this was written by Shawn Harrington 

Not bad to have what may be an annual tradition for our city after only two years.  Most people were assuming the 80/35 Music Festival was automatically a “go” for 2010, especially after our home-brewed midwest music festival brought out crouds of 25,000+  in 2008 and 2009.  For those paying attention though to the role economics has been playing on the national music scene, especially with midwest stops like Minnesota’s 10,000 Lakes Festival and Michigan’s Rothbury Festival already called off for this year, there was reason for uncertainty.

So coming off a year where downpouring rains washed away walk-up ticket sales and many corporate sponsors have been scaling back, it could have been understandable (though not favorable) to put any such plans on hiatus.  However, you must remember that the same people are here with their spirits just as strong as when Des Moines first made a commitment to put its own mark on our nation’s music scene.  

News broke a few weeks ago that the Des Moines Music Coalition (DMMC) was reserving its location in Des Moines’ Western Gateway for Fourth of July weekend.  While it was a good sign, this was still not set in stone as many of us knew that critical funding would be needed before festival plans could move forward.  With all that in mind, it was met with much appreciation by those of us in attendance at DMMC’s Backstage Ball on Wednesday night to hear that 80/35 will be back for sure this summer!!

Flaming Lips during the 80/35 2008

That means it’s go-time for the volunteers who put this on not just with the DMMC, but all the partnering organizations who are passionate about bringing bigger and better things to Des Moines.  Pretty soon our attention will turn to how this year’s line-up will compare to last year’s, and I know many of you are passionate about securing the best acts out there; the first thing you can do to help that happen is to become a member of DMMC and then get the word out!  The more support that 80/35 gets from the start, the better it will be.

Has our support been enough to put the spotlight on the strength of Des Moines’ growing music scene?  I don’t know that answer, but what I do know is that the other cities weren’t wondering before why Des Moines is suddenly getting more tour dates from the ‘cool bands‘.  Maybe by running contests they are just curious to find out for themselves that Des Moines could be up to something worth checking out.

We all know it, it’s cold. In fact, we have received a record amount of snowfall this winter and today is one of the coldest mornings we have had. Yet, there is room for hope — Of a warmer climate? No, not quite just yet. We do have a little over a month till spring and we still have to wait for the warmer climate.

But, there is hope, because we can golf in this cold weather! Yeah, I know it seems very crazy to golf when it is 5 degrees, as it was this morning. But, not to worry, it can be done!!!

How you might ask?

Ask the Downtown Community Alliance (DCA) how, they have the answer.  The DCA figured out how to utilize the 3.2 miles of skywalks downtown to beat a little of the winter blues and cabin fever. Skywalk Golf is its 25^th year and is set to tee off next Saturday, February 6^th. The golf tournament is sponsored by the Principal Charity Classic and is a great wintertime tradition here in Central Iowa. There will be 72 mini-golf styles holes disbursed among the buildings and skywalks, each with a specific theme. Each of the holes will be more challenging than the previous, and it is likely no one will shoot a perfect 72.

Break out the putter and head to downtown next Saturday to get a little practice on your game before Spring comes around. Heck, at least it is something to do on a cold morning.

While we are on the topic of people or radio stations in larger cities thinking Des Moines is crappy or just not interested in our city, it makes sense to look at another example…this one by a New York Times acclaimed author.

Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind and his most recent book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, is on the hot seat this time…yesterday it was 106.1 KISS FM in Seattle.

Mr. Pink’s “people” were contacted about his current book tour in an effort to include Des Moines on his list.  They determined Des Moines was not cool enough for Mr. Pink’s presence. They didn’t say it was crappy, just not a place where Mr. Pink would like to come.  But, that didn’t stop the efforts; one thing is for sure, residents of Des Moines are resilient.   Instead of just taking it in the chin and moving on, the effort was started to email Mr. Pink directly, which was a huge success since he responded to the email. He confirmed the fact as stated above, he could not make a stop in Des Moines on his current book signing tour, but he offered up an alternative…he offered to be available for a Virtual Book Signing using Skype as the medium, an alternative that is pretty cool considering the other option.

What is a virtual book signing?

A Virtual Book signing means Mr. Pink will not be in Des Moines — drat. Actually, he will be in San Francisco signing books in a warmer climate; I can’t blame him for that decision.  He will be at his computer using Skype, which allows users to use a ‘Video Call’ to one another. So, we will be able to see Mr. Pink, just not in the flesh, rather on a projection screen at the Des Moines Social Club…who have been gracious enough to host the book signing.  Since Mr. Pink is not going to be here, he will pre-sign name plates to add to books at the end of the event. The only caveat is if you want a name plate you have to register by February 2^nd so Mr. Pink knows who you are. The event will be on February 16^th from 5-7 at the Social Club.

This is a fantastic work-around to an otherwise crappy situation. Yes, I used the word ‘crappy’ since it appears to be the word of the week. Mr. Pink recognized the efforts to get him to Des Moines were not possible due to his otherwise busy schedule, yet he worked in a great alternative.  The alternative gives us (Des Moinesians) a chance to make some noise and work towards a great turnout at the book signing. If we can show the world, even those people in Seattle, that we are not a fly-over country, we can get more interest from future authors.  If we can have a great turn-out at a Virtual book signing, imagine what we could do for the typical one.

That is right, you read it correctly. 106.1 KISS FM in Seattle thinks Des Moines is a ‘crappy town.’ They are currently running a contest for their listeners entitled ‘Cool Bands in Crappy Towns.’ The gist is they picked numerous ‘crappy towns’ across the nation that are hosting cool music concerts. Each week they pick a concert, and town, and ask for listeners to call in to win the contest, which is a trip to the crappy town for the concert.

Yep, you can guess where I am going with this. KISS’ contest will send a set of their listeners to Des Moines to hear the Black Eyed Peas on March 25.

On the surface, it looks like KISS considers Des Moines a crappy town…hey, they picked us and it’s their contest. But, I think there is more at the root of this contest that needs to be explored. For instance, KISS obviously couldn’t consider truly crappy towns, because no truly crappy town would be on the Black Eyed Peas tour calendar. Luckily, KISS didn’t have to just stick with the Black Eyed Peas tour dates, because Des Moines has had 6 of the 10 top grossing live shows come to one of our venues, so any of those tour dates could have worked and actually made Des Moines a very appealing place for their selection committee.

It is likely KISS’s readers do not have a good grasp on Des Moines, and that is understandable since our cities are so far apart. Luckily, thanks to KISS, the winners of this contest are going to find out all sorts of great things about Des Moines when they search online, such as:

• Des Moines has been ranked in the  top 10 for economic development, quality of life,  and unemployment rates by national publications like Forbes, MainSteet, and CNBC to just name a few.
• New $40 million Pappajohn Sculpture Park was featured in the New York Times, Minneapolis/St. Paul Star Tribune, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 
• Des Moines was just rated one of the top places to start a small business by CNNMoney.

Actually, there are too many accolades for Des Moines to go around, or to discuss here, but I might suggest their readers just Google to find out more.

Plus, I have to imagine the acoustics in our Wells Fargo Arena –opened in 2005 – are much better than in the Tacoma Dome  –BEP play there in April — since it was built over 25 years ago. It actually appears as though KISS is interested in doing the work of our great people over at the Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Iowa Events Center, and the Greater Des Moines Partnership a favor, and I am sure they appreciate the assistance.

I understand KISS wants to help spread the word of our great city, and for that we are grateful. Thank you KISS for taking part in promoting Des Moines to your listeners, we truly appreciate your efforts and promise to take good care when they arrive in Des Moines.

Here is more info about Des Moines for your readers that I initially failed to include.

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• Downtown Des Moines: Parks, Art, Architecture (abcnews.go.com)

Please find the Friday Guest Blog below, this was written by Shawn Harrington

The challenge was thrown out there a few months back, when there was still barely any frost on our windshields.  Would we react as usual to the harsh winter conditions about to come upon us?  Would that same person in our office make a pledge to move somewhere south (a.k.a. the “i’m moving to Florida” guy or girl) only to once again pretend they never said it when spring comes back around?

When I first posted “Des Moines is not boring -vs- The Cold” in early November, I was definitely thinking this was about to become of us.  After some extreme conditions though, that hasn’t quite happened.  Our first test was 2nd week of December when the first blizzard hit us and just about shut down our entire state.  As the national weather experts rushed into town and the roads became snow covered within a few hours, I was able to take advantage of some low capacity crouds at the mall and got much of my Christmas shopping done.  By the next morning, we had 50 mph winds and every major highway shut down.  It was quickly obvious that I would be working from home.

So with all this happening, I can only imagine the pain we must have been feeling in our now interconnected world of social media.  Our friends living in places with much warmer climates seemed to enjoy reminding us of that.  There was a new enthusiasm though that I found everyone shouting out.. “snow day!”  Not from the kids, but from nearly everyone who knew they were being ok’d to stay at home on a Wednesday.  Until that day last month, I thought the anticipation of this remained only with us as kids waiting for our school name to pop up on the list of closings.

At least there was something to cheer about, and those I know with snow removal companies are not complaining either.  This week has brought more of this back in the form of ice, and much more is on the way.  However, many of us have learned to adjust and found new ways to take advantage of this.  A fine example would be what has become of my brother’s backyard.  While living in Ankeny, he has returned to our true northeast routes by transforming the backyard into an ice hockey rink. 

I say it’s never too young for my nieces and nephew to start shooting a puck around, and by the way, has been a great way for them to stay active during the growing number of days without school this year.  

Whether it’s enjoying an unplanned day off, being forced to tackle the home projects we’ve been procrastinating, or simply being entertained by the cars sliding down our street, it’s not all bad when the weather is well.. bad!  Afterall, partly sunny and 70 degrees every single day would eventually get boring, wouldn’t it?

Des Moines is not a big city. I am OK with that; actually it is one of the things I like about our city. We can pretty much get to and fro in decent time, we don’t usually have traffic backups, and generally we are a ‘car first’ city.  We have a transit system with our buses, but don’t yet have (or need) features larger cities have like subways, or elevated trains, etc.

One of the things we do have, that I think is not boring, is the ability to win money for something I think most of us take for granted. Car-pooling. Yep, we can win money by Car-pooling. Who knew?

I first heard about DriveTimeDesMoines from a post my friend Shawn wrote a few weeks back. Shawn is working with the Young Professionals Connectionto bring the concept of DrivetimeDesMoines to the young demographic.  The official roll-out of Shawn’s Challenge to YPC members teamed representatives from RDG and DART together to package their challenge, which provides incentives for young professionals to take the bus or other means to work vs. driving solo in their own car

DrivetimeDesMoines provides incentives for anyone in Des Moines who chooses to take the bus, carpool, or take another form of alternate transportation. Their ‘Rest Your Car’ program allows the option to log your miles online and cross your fingers they choose your name as one of the monthly or quarterly winners. The monthly winners get up to $75 in Downtown Gift Cards, the quarterly winners get $1,000 in cold hard cash!

Considering my average cost per year driving back and forth to work (west side to downtown) is near $200, pocketing either of the incentives will definitely make a positive impact in my bottom line.  Sounds like a no-brain-er to me, saving the environment and having the opportunity to receive a cash bonus for doing it.