Watch your ass, Twin Cities (and I don’t mean Neenah/Menasha): these four people are coming to visit October 3-5. Mark your calendars and stay in touch…
Category Archives: General
Extraordinary Desperation
So, Ned Yost is out, and for the time being, Dale Sveum is the Brewers manager. If you ask me, that sort of move stinks like Jim Lefebvre. As I said to Lorch via text, it is the last act of an understandably desperate owner who realizes this is probably the best shot he’ll ever have at winning big, and he’ll do anything to get there. I would not be surprised to see Jobu in the home locker room at Miller Park on the next homestand, complete with the sacrifice of a live chicken, if necessary. This is THE shot, and if they can’t do it, a bunch of things (not just the manager) will change.
And I didn’t even come in here right now to comment on the team in general– I’ve just enjoyed the season so much, and it’s looked so promising most of the way. It has felt so good, and been so much fun. But when your team regularly falters under the late-season pressure, despite being the SAME 25 GUYS that went 20-7 a month earlier, you start to feel like kind of a fool for it, y’know? You get comments or observations from outsiders that are wondering why you bother– what do you waste 7 or 8 months of every year on this team for when they just perpetually let you down? I just really enjoy the game, and a season that stretches from the naturally optimistic spring through the most beautiful and relaxing 3 or 4 months of the year. I just wish the TEAM would make it easier to justify.
Regardless, I am still holding out hope that things can work out– they haven’t been eliminated yet, and Ryan Braun said it best when he commented that it can’t possibly get any worse. Try not to let me down this year, Brewers. I have been there all season long– last night was the first time I turned off the game because it go so ugly. I have screamed too loud and clapped too hard and high-fived too often to go home and hope for beter luck next time. I really, really, really want you to pull it out. Try to give us something to get hopeful about…
Back In the Saddle
The busy season at work is starting to calm down a lot faster than I expected. Here we are, just mid-way through September and things are looking up. I think it also helps to put in your vacation requests for the rest of the year, and thereby have a good sense of when you’re looking forward to what in the upcoming weeks (I’m taking off a week and a half in October).
You probably noticed I got back to business in the blog this past weekend, too. Feel free to catch up at your discretion, and take a look at some new pictures that I posted in the “Day to Day” gallery.
What else is new? Feels like I’ve been off the grid for a while, so I may have lost touch. Share if you like, via comment…
Late In the Season
This time of year, it gets tricky trying to plan fun stuff outdoors on the weekends. It gets tougher after you went out and bought those end-of-season closeout items that you really want a chance to use before fall gives way to winter.
Michelle had her eye on a bike at Target (a pink one, of course) all summer. She had a plan for saving and using a series of discounts to purchase it. She has fantastic fiscal discipline– if I had seen this bike that I knew I wanted, I would’ve picked it up the first time I had enough cash in the bank to do it. But she stayed the course, and wound up getting exactly what she wanted for about 50-60% of its retail price. Not bad at all.
We had a chance to bike together here in town for the first time early last week. We made a pleasant discovery: the Oak Leaf Trail (I’m pretty sure that’s the name of it) connects our respective residences quite conveniently (Michelle lives about a block and a half from a point where she can enter the trail, and I live across the street from one). And it’s a straight, paved, easy-to-pedal route. I didn’t realize there was a place in Milwaukee where you could go to see this many trees. It’s a nice change of scenery.
Our first day on the path, and literally about 30 seconds after we realized we were across the street from my apartment, my bike kind of fell apart. I’m not really hip to bike-parts lingo, but the rear… cogs (??) I guess you would call them, just about fell off the bike and made it impossible for the chain to stay on very long, or for the bike to stay in one gear during that brief time. It was lucky that we were so close to my house when this happened. We went back to Michelle’s on the trail, her riding, and me walking. It was the first time I walked anywhere with her and wasn’t once reminded that I was walking too fast…
So anyway, since I hadn’t bought a NEW bike since 7th grade (the last couple that I had were free or purchased at minimal cost at a police auction), and since I didn’t care to go to the trouble of fixing the old one, I decided I would go out and get one. Y’know, immediately. Because that’s how I roll.
Last Wednesday night, then, Michelle endured the bike shopping trip with me. I wanted to spend no more than $150, and after visiting Target and Wal-Mart, I ended up with this Schwinn mountain bike. It took a combined 2 hours of standing in the aisles of each store staring at bicycles before I reached this conclusion, and I ended up about $10 over budget, but I think it’s going to work out.
We really wanted to get out and ride more of that trail this weekend. The hurricane and it’s related precipitation pattern has not cooperated, though. We were both literally on our bikes pedaling toward a meeting in the middle last night around 6:45 when we thought better of it– for the benefit of our appearance at dinner, and the prospect of rain later in the evening…
I’m sure there will still be a few days of nice weather to get out there, though. After that, we’re also all set to start again in the spring!
Facts Are Nice
Sent this in an email to some, so sorry if it’s a repeat…
I haven’t made my voting intentions a secret during this election cycle. I think there are a lot of unique, 21st-century sort of problems facing the United States right now, and I really don’t have any faith in a presidential candidate who’s been entrenched as a member of the GOP establishment for 25 years to have a useful perspective or any new ideas (let alone the political freedom from special interests to execute them).
The onslaught of negative advertising from the GOP has been, and will continue to be, relentless. Here is a nice video summary that I was sent today, poking holes in the half-truths and sniffing out the BS in McCain’s ads to date:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH0xzsogzAk
I’ve encouraged people from the start of the primary season to collect the facts, read up on the candidate’s actual positions, and make informed decisions based on the issues at stake. With that in mind, bookmark this one for yourself, too:
http://www.factcheck.org/
Whatever you choose to do in the voting booth in November, I hope that you won’t just *think* you’re doing the right thing, but be knowledgeable enough to KNOW you are…
Evidence
I wanted to throw this out somewhere while I’m thinking of it, so if there’s ever any doubt, say, 20, 25 years from now, here it is:
My kids will not be allowed to go to an out-of-state public school for college unless they have a scholarship that completely negates the non-res tuition. Wanna go out of state? Go to a private school.
That is all.
PS – I hate college.
Sifting Through the Static
This is the time of an election year when it gets the hardest to sift through soundbites and 30-second ads and mudslinging in order to get at pertinent materials that deal with issues. I was saying to Michelle last week that I would really like to get more policy specifics from Barack, because it seems like the only things I see on TV from him are defensive reactions to the McCain camp’s relentlessness. I’ve watched some of those McCain ads, too. Just ridiculous. Regardless of who you want to support in this election, you have to agree that an ad whose thesis is “all of that candidate’s supporters are fickle dipshits that just like rock concerts” is pretty weak.
Instead of just repeating over and over that your opponent has no plan (which is patently false), let’s talk about some actual voting records positions on issues.
So with that in mind, here’s a little shortcut to Obama’s page on new energy and the plan for combating global warming and dependence on oil. You’ll jjust see summarized info on that web page, if you want more details, you should download the PDF that’s linked from there.
Also remember that factcheck.org is a good resource for getting the stories of the candidates straight. This is an important election cycle, and I hope we can all make informed decisions about these folks.
Oh and a little PS — sorry for dearth of new info, between working on school and working AT school, it’s a helluva month. Stick with me, folks, there’ll always be more to tell…
That One's Good
Proof
Today, I offer up direct evidence that there is not nearly enough useful knowledge or information being produced by our species to justify the size of the Internet:
This is how Brewers pitcher Manny Parra puts on his pants.
You’ve just gotta love that riveting ESPN psuedo-journalism.
Yes, I Have Been Taking Some Photographs
There’s been some barking over the last week or so about the lack of new photos (of my apartment, in particular). Rest assured, I have taken photos and you’ll all have a chance to see them. First things first, though: a month later, please take a look at the handful of shots from Jen and Joe’s Justin Roth House Concert. They are in the Milwaukee gallery.
Have to get back to making dinner now– I have plans to go to Mayfair to see Batman, and the show’s on in less than 2 hours.