Folgers Kansas City Shutting Down - Folgers Closing

Folgers plant in Kansas City to shut down leaving 179 employees looking for work. The Folgers coffee plant has been in Kansas City since 1908, employing many Kansas Citians throughout the years, including my grandpa back in the 50's, and serving it's product throughout many Kansas City Restaurants. Most people in KC only associate the Folgers plant with the incredibly bad smell that permeates downtown Kansas City. You know the smell, burnt coffee beans mixed with the Missouri river stink, it's less than desirable, believe me. So, on a good note, we will lose the smell in downtown Kansas City.

On the downside, 179 people will have to look for a new job. Some will probably retire as I'm sure that there has to be a substantial amount of senior citizens working there since Folgers has been in Kansas City for over a century and they have a great reputation for keeping their employees for the long term. I think that it was great of Folgers to at least give 2 years notice before pulling the plug on what was probably the only job that some of Folgers employees have ever had. I once thought that the days of the companies that held on to their employees for the long term were over, but with Obama's socialist influence, the big brother companies might become more solidified and actually bring back the days where you started working for a company when you were 22 and retired from the same company when you were 65. That's one advantage of a Socialist nation; long term job security.

In the case of Folgers in Kansas City I'm guessing that they had a lot of employees who had worked there for the better part of their lives. They will move their plant production to New Orleans in mid 2012, according to new corporate owners The J.M. Smucker Company. I don't know if the new owners had anything to do with the closing of the Folgers plant in Kansas City but I'm sure it had something to do with it - Part of a grand plan, no doubt.

Coffee itself is a strange phenom - basically a legal version of SPEED that the working class consume in mass quantities in order to be able to function in a spastic, condescending, pointless, wasteful corporate world. So basically, millions of Americans get all hopped up on SPEED (and yes, it is a version of speed), drive like spazzes to work, drink MORE coffee (speed) when they get to work, and then babble and spaz around the office. Just in case you didn't understand that last rant - the point is COFFEE IS A DRUG. If you think that you're living a healthy lifestyle, setting a good example for your children, an upstanding member of community and all that crap, you're not - you're just a speed junky in training. Don't take yourself so seriously - you're a slave to the man, and your job is most likely a meaningless shuffling of papers, faxes, numbers, sales figures and lies that only fuel a large entity that will certainly not share it's success with you, but will eventually let you go without a moment's thought of regret. Soak that one up.

So, with that said, selling an addictive product like coffee makes Folgers seem a little less sanctimonious and a little more evil. I know that the smell in downtown Kansas City is DEFINITELY evil and we will not miss that.

Road to the Show MLB 10 Franchise Create Player

Road to the Show MLB 10
The Show Franchise Mode and Creating Players

Franchise Mode

Ok, let's say that you're favorite team is really bad like my home team, The Kansas City Royals. You won't have a chance of winning at MLB 10 The Show - you are just going to suck. You may do better than your real life team, but probably not by much. I didn't pay $64.00 to play this game and get my ass beat all night long after a hard day of work. I bought this game to have some fun and to win every once in awhile. I tried playing The Royals as they came stock on the game and oh boy do they suck. I couldn't do anything but ground out and the other teams absolutely SHELLACKED my pitchers. I know that it's cheating (a little), but dammit I want to have fun at MLB 10. So...Here is my solution:

Create Players

It is important that you do this in the exact order that I'm about to tell you.

First, go to the create player screen. Create all of the players that you are going to create. DO NOT attempt to create a player, go draft him, then create another one. It's better if you create all of the players that you want at the same time. I created myself, of course, and I also created a KILLER pitcher, George Brett Jr., Amos Otis, U.L. Washington and John "The Duke" Wathan (these are all players from the World Series Champion Kansas City Royals from 1985). When you create your players be sure and pump up their hitting ability on both the left and right handed sides because for some reason MLB 10 takes both sides of the skill into account when configuring their final skill rating. So basically, if your player is right handed, be sure and pump his skill rating on the left side too, even though he will only be batting right handed. It's a game glitch or something - just do it. I would stay away from switch hitters as they tend to suck in both directions. If your team is really bad like The Royals, you had better create a couple of really good pitchers. Hell, create Dock Phillip Ellis from the 1971 Pirates who pitched a no hitter while taking ACID - now there's a pitcher. Anyway, create some players that will rock.

Second, after you've created your players go to roster movement. This part's a little tricky so stay with me - the best thing to do is go to the left half of your screen, choose the team that you want to play, scroll all the way to the bottom of the players list (the worst players are at the bottom). Let's say you created a pitcher, ok, well then find your team's worst pitcher (at the bottom of the list) and select him. Then, go over to the right side of the screen and use R1 to move the list until it says "Free Agents". You should see all of the free agents that you created in that list. Simply swap crappy players from your team's roster (on the left) and replace those players with your created ones.

Third, once your roster is set go to game modes and select Franchise mode. Pick your team and when it asks you, select CURRENT roster.

Fourth, the game might tell you that your roster is "invalid". You will need to hit "auto" when the game notifies you that your roster is invalid. Go to each of your rosters (major league players, minor league players, and AA players) and hit "auto" fix roster. This part may take some fiddling around - but keep hitting "auto" and you will eventually get past it.

Lastly, set your lineup and go! Hit schedule and it will show your games - select and go. Keep an eye on your players during the season - at the beginning of each game you will see your line up. Your players will have green bars to the right of their name - this is how much energy they have left. You may need to sit some players out every once in awhile to rest them. Road to the Show MLB 10 will tell you when a player gets too low to play.

One last cool thing is the "fast forward" option in MLB 10 The Show. During a game you can pause the game and hit "fast forward". You can skip a half an inning (I do this all the time because I don't really like to pitch) - that way you can just bat - pretty sweet.

That's all I've got for now - have fun playing franchise mode in MLB 10 The Road to The Show!

If you have specific questions, please post them as a comment - no sign up required - quick commenting - and we will try to answer your questions quickly.  Thank you!

Good Neighborhoods in Kansas City

Good neighborhoods in Kansas City are everywhere, but they can be hard to find if you're not from Kansas City.

Obviously, there are several good neighborhoods in Johnson County, which is actually in the state of Kansas but is considered a part of the greater Kansas City area. Neighborhoods in Johnson County that are good include:

Leawood

Leawood, Kansas is an upper middle class neighborhood in Kansas City that attracts upper class people who want to pay middle class housing prices. If you are considered upper class in Kansas City, you are probably considered middle class in larger cities like New York and Scottsdale. Therefore, the neighborhood of Leawood looks very similar to upper class neighborhoods in larger cities, but housing is much more affordable. Good neighborhoods in Leawood include Hallbrook, which has it's own golf course, bank and security gate.

Loch Lloyd

Another good neighborhood in Kansas City is called Loch Lloyd, or "The Village at Loch Lloyd". It is a private, membership only neighborhood that is located at the southern-most tip of what is considered to be Greater Kansas City. Loch Lloyd has a country club, a golf course, and it's own zip code!

Prairie Village

Prairie Village, or "perfect village" as it is affectionately called by it's residents, is THE perfect Kansas City neighborhood to raise kids. Littered with the area's best school districts, young parents and children alike thrive in the neighborhood of Prairie Village. The houses are not extravagant or fabulous but they will cost you plenty. A small little 3 bedroom house will double in value if you pick it up and place it in Prairie Village. Security is great in PV as well, patrol cars will stop anyone who isn't white and driving a mini van or SUV full of soccer kids. One thing to remember about the neighborhood of Prairie Village is this: Don't try to drive through PV after school gets out!

More good Kansas City neighborhoods to come...

If you have specific questions, please post them as a comment - no sign up required - quick commenting - and we will try to answer your questions quickly.  Thank you!

MLB 10 The Show Tips - Pitching, Batting, Road to the Show

MLB 10 The Show Tips - Pitching, Batting, Road to the Show

First of all, don't panic! MLB 10 The Show is HARD - I mean REALLY hard. Do yourself a favor and practice. When you first put the game in, go straight to practice mode. The only exception is if you've mastered MLB 09 The Show - then you can probably go ahead and start the Road to the Show, Franchise or Online play. This article is not for you, this article is for people like me who completely SUCK at this game.

The best thing to do is practice. Practice pitching first as that is what you will spend most of your time doing. The first thing to realize about pitching in MLB 10 The Show is that the optimal "line" you are trying to hit on the pitching meter is at the beginning of the curve, towards the middle - NOT at the end of the meter where the colors are (yellow, orange, red). I must have spent 2 hours trying to land the line in the color zone when all the time it is supposed to land in the middle of the whole curve - the color part is just the power. After that it is just a matter of how good your pitcher is at throwing the different pitches. Pitchers with higher skills can throw more pitches correctly etc. If your pitcher sucks then he's just going to suck - there's nothing you can do about it.

Next practice batting. The x button swings normally and the square button swings for the seats. One article I read on MLB 09 The Show said to start (before the pitch) by raising the left joystick up before you swing. In practice mode in MLB 10 The Show you won't need to worry about the pitch count, but it is essential in regular gameplay. Just like the real game, pitch count will determine what kind of pitch you are going to get next. It is wise to let a few pitches go by, especially if you are up in the count. You've got to be really patient. MLB 10 is not an arcade game where you're going to hit home runs constantly - or even get a hit for that matter. You have to wait for your pitch. Oh yeah, and if you're first starting out, set the game on Rookie.

Fielding in MLB 10 The Show is pretty much like any other baseball game - just run to the ball (there is no sprint button in case you're looking for one) pick it up and throw it to the right base or you can throw to your cut off man (R1).

Base running is an art form but the easiest way to do it is R1 means return all runners, R2 means steal (before the pitch) and for some reason R2 means STOP the runner after the pitch. L2 (before the pitch) will make all runners steal - which is good for the bottom of the ninth with 2 outs. The MLB 10 The Show book that comes with the game spends almost the entire time talking about base running - there's 6 pages on it. Read it and you will probably be even more confused then when you started. Just remember that after the pitch L1 advances everyone and R1 makes everyone go back.

To sum it up, practice a lot, drink several beers before attempting to play in the first place. And remember that this game is meant to simulate REAL baseball and therefore it might move a little slow and require a shit load of patience.

If you have specific questions, please post them as a comment - no sign up required - quick commenting - and we will try to answer your questions quickly.  Thank you!

kc auto show - info on the Kansas City Auto Show 2010

kc auto show - info on the Kansas City Auto Show 2010

The KC Auto Show is on this week at Bartle Hall in downtown Kansas City near The Power and Light District.

Several great cars will be on display as well as some great Kansas City bands. On Friday night the kc auto show features The KC All Stars on the main stage. On Saturday night the kc auto show features beatles tribute band Liverpool. On Sunday night the Kansas City auto show will feature Woodstock Flashback.

The entire auto show is set in a 60's theme and they have chosen some of Kansas City's best entertainment acts. Kansas City bands for the kc auto show were provided by Adam Blue Productions.