Top 4: Pete

Ok, my turn to take a look back at the 4 years worth of columns on day 3 of our birthday week celebration. I have to say this was really hard to pick 4 favorites from nearly 400  columns. So, I thought it would make sense to focus on the firsts:

1. East Village Fix This is the first post we have on record, September 18, 2008. Technically we started writing in August of that year, thus our birthday celebration this month, but we switched content providers a few years ago and lost the first months worth of posts. So, this is the first one we have on record. It is funny to look back at the style of the post since I have learned so much about myself and my writing ability in the 4 years.

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of going to the East Village with a couple of friends to get our fix of one of my favorite places in the city.

We started our night by stopping into Smash to buy a new T-Shirt, the “Damn it Feels Good to be A Gangster”shirt, mostly because I enjoy the shirts sarcasm.

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2. Seattle Radio Station: Des Moines = Crappy Town I had to feature this one because it was one of the most fun columns I’ve written and it is still in first place as the most comments of any column during the 4 years. This was the most fun because not only did I get to write the post, but I also got to speak on the radio in Seattle and go see the Black Eyed Peas for free, courtesy of the Iowa Events Center.

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.

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3. Why eat at a chain Wednesday: Cafe di Scala The very first post in the long running feature to support local restaurateurs. Also, looking back at this meal brings back many memories of the early days dating my wife. We really enjoyed this meal and the experience at Cafe di Scala.

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.

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4. 80/35 Grin This is the first time we really focused on the 80/35 Music Festival, but it was the second year for the festival, 2009. It was one of those weekends where there were a million things going on, but they were just the preamble to the festival, at least in my eyes. I’ve always loved the fact that there is a music festival smack dab in the middle of downtown, at this post is a pretty good reflection of those feelings back during year 2 of the festival.

Whew….ok, I think I am recovered from last weekend. What a whirl wind! I bet most of us in Des Moines are feeling the weekend hang-over, since it was such a huge weekend!!  There was the Des Moines Arts Festival, the Hy-Vee Triathlon, Big Country Bash, Summer Jam, Keith Urban and Taylor Swift, MCC Fights…all in one weekend!! I heard on the news last night that the initial return from the three days that comprised last weekend was near $4.6 million spent, but they said they had yet to receive the confirmation on that stat from the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Either way, a fantastic showing and a true illustration that Des Moines is not Boring.

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