So I was walking home yesterday. And I was at the corner of Irving and Jackson. At the stoplight there was a car with a couple of young men inside. It had out of state license plates. I watched the one on the passenger side try to subtly drop some trash out onto the curb. I was standing right there as he did it.

I wrote down the license plate number of this car, as I talked to Lorch on the phone. I asked him for his opinion, if I could call the cops or something, because frankly, I was more appalled that this had been done in plain sight of another human being than anything else.

Who does something like that? I’ll tell you who. Goddamned savages.

These are the same people that walk into my office or others on campus rudely chatting on their phones while trying to conduct business at the reception desk at the same time. They’re the same ones that let their kids do what the hell they want, whereever they are, without any consideration of how to behave in a civilized society.

I really just can’t believe at times that I turned out the way I did, while at the same time, there are all these savages sharing the streets.

I didn’t call anyone about the littering, because, as Lorch and I discussed, what the hell would a cop do about littering? I didn’t say anything to the young men in the car, mostly because they looked to me like fellows that could kick my ass. A little garbage is probably not worth a trip to the emergency room, but as I think back, I probably could have just picked the garbage up and thrown it out at home.

What I should probably do, beyond lamenting the existence of the savages, is to find some way to tame them– I should focus on what human knowledge and civility I can pass on to their ape-like kind.

To begin, let me share three simple rules for beginning to not be a savage:
1. Have some respect for yourself and the other humans around you
2. Don’t say or do things to others that, if done to you, would make you upset, angry, or otherwise put-off
3. Have respect for the world at large, thinking of it not so much as something that belongs to you, but something that belongs to a person that you care deeply for

I very nearly let it go for three days, sans update. But here I are.

I went up north for the weekend. Got into ER at about 8:00 pm or so. It was a very quick trip. I passed Erika and Patrick on the way. There were bound for the NPHS class of ’96 reunion. I tried to get in touch to hook up with them for drinks on Friday evening, but the cellular gods conspired to defeat me. I stayed in and played Oregon Trail instead. It worked for me.

On Saturday, I helped Dad and Uncle Mark with the lean-to that Dad’s been wanted behind the garage for about 2 or 3 years. It didn’t *look* like a lot got done in the course of the day, but I’d say some of the most difficult, time-consuming measurement got done that day.

We also went go-karting. Uncle Mark bought the tickets. We went to Elmer’s in St. Germain. It was fun.

I left pretty early on Sunday, with the expectation that I would need to head down to Milwaukee in the afternoon. It didn’t turn out that way, so instead, I cleaned out my car and just relaxed some at home.

I’ve been living here for over a month now, so I decided I’ve pretty much had it with living in the disorganized mess. I picked up a lot in the living room today, took some more stuff out for storage in the garage, and I hung up the dart board.

I think I might have come up with a way to get the desk to fit in the bedroom upstairs, but I’m not yet sure I’m going to like it. The thing is, with any design I’ve thought of so far, I’ve been trying not to block the loft railing. I’ve come to the conclusion that won’t be possible with the furniture I want to put up there. I think I’m going to put the headboard of the bed against that railing and the dressers roughly in the position that my bed currently occupies.

I understand that only a few of you have actually been over here. I guess you’ll have to use your imagaination for the time being…

PS- Here’s a pic. -JB, 8/8

I also got ultra-frustrated with my phone again today. I had it plugged in for HOURS and it hasn’t finished charging. Then Wordy called, we were talking, and when I jostled the cable, the phone died. So I don’t get it. I’m going to try turning it off to see if it charges. That seemed to work before.

I did log on to my Verizon account, and one new thing that they have is a gauge that tells you when you’ll be eligible for the “new every 2 (years)” discount on a new phone. I was happily surprised to see that I have that coming up on 12/3, where I thought it was a good three months more than that.

So Wordy, who has been using my old phone for a while, is getting a new one soon. I’m going to have him send that old one back, and I think I’ll re-activate it for a couple months. What a crock, though, eh?

Well, it’s now about 11, and I need to get some sleep. Damn– I could just about sleep on the floor in the living room…

The title has absolutely nothing to do with this post; honestly, I just wanted to work the word “chorizo” in there somehow.

So it’s State Fair weekend, and this means a couple things—
1.Time to get an early start on that “winter insulation layer,” ala cream puff
2.Summer is winding down
3.School is ramping up

I’ve had a really busy week of work after the vacation here. I think next year, I’ll do the summer break a little bit earlier; maybe late June instead of late July, so as to avoid hitting the ground running so hard afterwards.

If you are the parent of a student who attend college for the first time this year, please please PLEASE read the stuff that all those offices all over campus are sending you. 97.5% of all your questions are answered in there. I know it’s a lot of reading, but hey—how bout make the college kid do it?

(related topic) I had a convo with one of my work colleagues a couple days ago to see if we could pinpoint when parents stopped thinking their kids were kids (people who are absent-minded, insecure, and frankly, prone to lying in order to avoid “getting in trouble,”) and started to think they were androids, incapable of lying/misleading, and moreover, forgetting or misunderstanding anything.

Because let me tell you, if I had a kid who told me one thing, and then I called, for example, MY office, and I got contradictory info, I know the kid’s a “lyin’ sack,” to borrow a euphemism from Big Andy S. Not the case any longer with these parents, boy; I (the person they’re talking to) must be just that vindictive, because of course what I have time for at work is cooking up all sorts of crazy mind games to play with you and your kid, telling them one thing and then telling you something else. That’s what I love to do. No really.

And just let me say that that is the most stressful and infuriating aspect of my job. It almost makes me apprehensive about teaching these kids anything, because what if there are parents that call professors, too? There have to be some that are just that nuts, right?

So enjoy your weekend and if you’re in Milwaukee, eat some Fried Whatever. Maybe I’ll see you. I haven’t really decided yet.

Oh, and if you’re in Eagle River drinking and carousing in honor of the 10th year since you graduated from HS, please come back to me with a report on who got the fattest.

Sorry to waste your time with another really short post, but I thought this was kinda strange:

Had a dream last night in which I was helping Cesar Millan shop for a shotgun.

That’s all.

(shrugs)

Now my phone just finished charging. *sigh* I don’t get it.

I’m up watching the History channel half the night again. This is a problem for me nearly on par with Schneider’s MySpace? obsession.

I started out with the Brewers earlier, but when it got to 5-0, I decided to switch over. Right now, there’s a show on History about the development of ice cream. I wonder if some earlier incarnation of myself would kick the current me in the face for being such a TV-watchin hump.

Damn TV.

So then I had this other problem on my trip, and, I guess if I think about it, a little earlier, too, where my phone won’t hold a damn charge. I took Mundschau’s advice and checked the Internets for a recall on the battery, but didn’t find one.

I went ahead and found a new one on ebay for 9 bucks. I guess 9 bucks isn’t terrible. But still. The funny part is that the battery I have isn’t even the original one. I swapped batteries with Jen once behind her back when hers was charged up and mine wasn’t, and I needed to make a call. That was like, eh, more than a year ago. I think it was at the rehearsal dinner for their wedding, actually…

But that’s something I did this evening.

I can’t even flipping imagine what my electric bill is going to look like this month. Can you BELIEVE how hot it’s been? Damn. Damn, damn, damn. How can a person even enjoy the fair when it’s so hot?

It’s 8-2 now. What a crock. 2 freaking runs. The Crew is gonna get killed over the weekend in Saint Louis. Mark my words. Killed.

I really don’t like this Kevin Mench chump. I mean, if they’re gonna get rid of Carlos AND Nelson Cruz, at least put Corey Hart or Tony Gwynn out there every day or something. If JJ Hardy was healthy, shit– I’d say Billy Hall could play every day in the outfield.

Anyway, the Crew’s down to their last out, and I should probably get to bed.

Hope you enjoyed the vacation pics.

Thanks to those of you who were keeping up with the trip… nice to know that one’s life is interesting enough for other people to wonder about it.

And in that case, sorry that I was out of internet range for so much of the vacation.

But Michelle and I got back to Waukesha late last night (Monday), and then I drove up to my apartment early on Tuesday AM to get to work. It was a long day, but it’ll probably be a longer week with unpacking, laundry, and then going back to the “settling” into my new (now 1 month old) home.

I’ll have more to recap on the trip tomorrow or so, but today I am pretty tired. I put up the pictures. There are a LOT of them. We took about 11 or 12 hundred, and I posted about 860. There are a bunch that look really similar. I didn’t want to take the time to look at a group of 3 or 5 or 6 similar shots and pick one, so you’ll probably be thumbing through them and saying, “Hey, I already saw this one,” or something like that.

Two recommendations for you in that case:
1. “Sort” the gallery by name first
2. You might want to carefully consider whether or not you should really be looking at these with a dial-up connection. Not that you can’t, I just don’t want you to feel like I’m wasting your time…

OK, so that’s all I have for now. Have a good evening. Go Rangers. Err– Brewers…