Category Archives: General

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A Day-Plus In L.A.

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We left the hotel in Chicago on Sunday morning around 6:30AM for our 8:40 flight.  We made sure that Michelle’s mom would be able to get dropped at the bus stop for her return trip to Milwaukee, and hopped into the queue for United.  It was LONG.  In the course of the time we spent in that line, we discovered that Michelle’s bag was a bit overweight (about 58 lbs.), so we were shuffling through the line with our bags open, redistributing toiletries over to mine to even things out.  By the time we finished that process, we noticed Michelle’s phone was missing.  Fortunately, it had been quickly picked up by one of the airline employees and it was back on her podium.  One disaster averted!

As we finished getting through the security line, it turned out that we missed one item in Michelle’s carry-on: a brand new, 4.5 oz tube of Aveda hand lotion.  Although it was tough for Michelle to let go, it had to get tossed in the trash.  Cuz, y’know, if they let you keep your hand cream, the terrorists win.  Stupid terrorists.

We flew on a tiny jet to Oklahoma City.  Even the woman checking passes at the gate thought that L.A. via OKC was the dumbest connection ever.  But it was cheap.  We landed in OKC with only about 20 minutes to catch our connecting flight– which we quickly discovered was at the same gate, on the same plane.  So that was easy.

We made it to Wordy and Jessica’s place without incident– I like their new apartment.  It’s nice, roomy, conveniently located; I told Wordy it was my favorite place that he’s lived in here so far.  Sunday afternoon, the three of us went to In n’ Out for burgers while Jessica was at the spa.  We were thinking of taking a ride into Hollywood, but decided to rest up for the evening concert at the Hollywood Bowl instead.

We saw Ray LaMontagne, Jenny Lewis, and one other opening band whose set we mosted missed.  They sounded good, though.  The show was great– by the time it was wrapping up, Michelle and I were utterly exhausted after our Indian weekend and our travels, so we both caught a couple Z’s.  That fact was NOT indicative of our enjoyment; we really enjoyed the show, the venue and the company.

More to come on our full day in L.A.– sorry these posts are about 24 hours behind, but we’ve got to travel again, and Monday was exciting, so stay tuned…

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A Summary of Very Early Days

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Finally had a chance to get on the actual Internet and talk a little about our vacation up to this point– the hotel that Michelle and I stayed at in Chicago had wifi, but charged 10 bucks for 24 hours of use.  Tweeting throughout the days are a decent means of getting some words out there, but I wanted to fill in some of the gaps…

In case you missed it, we are on our matrimonial summer vacation.  We started out on July 9, mid-day, with a coach bus ride from 4th and St. Paul in Milwaukee down to O’Hare in Chicago.  From there, we were able to catch a shuttle to the Hyatt Regency O’Hare, where Michelle’s friend Amisha was getting married (I suppose technically she did not get married at the hotel, but rather the Rosemont Convention Center across the street).

We caught a later bus out of Milwaukee than we originally planned, so on Thursday night, Michelle and her mom, Sheryl, had to head straight over to the henna party at Amisha’s parents’ house.  I tried in vain to get on a subway train to downtown Chicago (would have taken an hour to get there, and I was starting at about 9PM), see Public Enemies (the last show of the day started just a little while before I got to the theater), and find a grocery store within reasonable walking distance.  I ended up having some wings and a beer in the hotel bar for dinner on Thursday night.

I should probably mention here that Amisha is Indian, and the experience of an Indian wedding was new for all three of us.  There is a LOT of ceremony throughout the entire event, which can last for days.  With Michelle being a bridesmaid, we had to keep a very tight schedule and spend a lot of hours at each location.  It was extremely interesting, a lot of fun, and exhausting.

Friday, we were back at Amisha’s parents for a ceremony to get Amisha prepared for her wedding day.  Most of her visiting family attended the event from about 9AM to 2PM.  We had lunch, then returned to the hotel to get ready for the Garba, a dance/party the night BEFORE the wedding Most of you, you might have throughout this was the reception just based on casual observation; it was a little more like a prom the day before the ceremony.  There was one dance in particular, toward the end of the evening (around 10:30) that nearly everyone participated in (did I mention that there were several hundred people at the Garba?) lasting nearly an hour!  And it was a non-stop dance.  We wondered where everyone got SO MUCH energy, and by the end of the night, Michelle was suffering from some mild heat exhaustion and dehydration.

Saturday wedding ceremony was unbelievably ornate and spectacular.  Even some of the Indian friends that we made over the weekend commented that this was possibly the largest and most extravagant Indian wedding THEY had ever been to.  I will post photos when I get a chance to give you a better sense of what the ceremony looked like, but I will sum up a few of the key points:

  • the day started with the groom’s 200-person procession by horse-drawn carriage from the hotel across the street to the convention center
  • the room where the ceremony was located seated over 1000 people
  • at the height of the ceremony, there were about 60 people on the stage with the couple
  • from start to finish, the ceremony itself was over two hours

The reception in the evening featured 10 dance performances, a Slumdog Millionaire parody, and an entire room just for desserts.  Toward the end of the evening, it was fairly similar to an American reception, with all the younger folks on the dance floor to the end.

More to come as time allows on our trip out of Chicago and our first couple days in sunny southern California…  off to the Hollywood sign!

General, Uncategorized

Summer Posting

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I was starting to feel a creeping “link rot” sensation on the blog here, until I scoped out some of the other folks that I subscribe to.  Here in these northern climes, I think we tend to feel any extra time that’s available this time of year should be spent enjoying the outdoors while the days are long and the mercury is high.  Guilt = subsided.

Speaking of getting outdoors, I did have a chance to do that on the first legitimately warm weekend of the season.  Friday night, Schrubbe and I were at the Brewers’ only win of the weekend.  What a horrific homestand they had!  On one hand, it’s good to know they’re not going to tromp Manny Parra out there again on his next turn, but on the other: they’re not going to get through this season with 4 starters.  I really, REALLY hope he gets himself straightened out…

On Saturday, I got involved with WILS for the first time– I was a chaperone for one of the volunteer sites.  It was a good day.  They’ve got some really good kids involved there, and everybody did a great job.  I’d definitely be willing to volunteer again next summer…

In the evening on Saturday, Michelle and I met up with a group @ Taylor’s to see Praveen off to India.  He is moving back there for what is planned to be about a three-year stay.  It was a nice send-off.  We didn’t even make it to the after-bar and didn’t go to sleep until about 4 AM.

Eventually on Sunday, we did get out to enjoy the weather.  Michelle and I took a bike ride down on the lake front (where there were TONS of people just loafing along on the path; Michelle had to continuously ring her bell to warn the peds we were behind them), and we enjoyed some custard at the new Northpoint snack bar, now being operated by Bartolotta Restaurant Group.  I don’t really have any previous experience there to compare it to, but there were plenty of folks lined up, and the turtle sundae was tasty.

So, back to work on my third week in Oshkosh, then!  Everything’s going well, but I’m thinking I’m going to need to do even better making lists of stuff that I want to do on my lunches, in the evenings, etc.  But then again, it is summer and maybe I should just not feel guilty.  😉

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Friday Near 2:00 And All Is Well

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Sorry if you were thinking I might’ve had more to say about my new job this week– didn’t have complete access to my workstation for part of it, and was busy with reviewing procedures, etc., for the rest.

Overall, Oshkosh is just about the way I left it.  There’s a new building here, or a remodeled office there, but things seem to be largely where they were when I last lived and worked here.  I said to someone early in the week, “it’s almost like I dreamed the last two years, and when I woke up, Bobby was in the shower.”

It’s too early to say much about what my new job entails, or “how it’s going,” so to speak, because I haven’t been able to dig in that much yet.  However, I can tell that it’s going to be a lot different than my job has been for the last five years or so.  There are a lot of things I’ll need to learn, more stuff than I can think of that I will need to re-learn, and who knows what else that I can’t predict.  I think it’s going to be exciting and interesting, though.

The commute is OK.  Even after just a few days, I’ve calmed down a bit about the time “wasted” in the car.  I have a bunch of podcasts to listen to, I can try to catch up with some folks on the phone, and as long as I don’t freak out too much about what time I’m getting home, there is still enough of each evening to be productive.

At this point, I can definitely say that the pace in Oshkosh is more my style than Milwaukee ever was– around here, there is enough staff to deal with everything on a day-to-day basis, people are pretty much up to speed on what everyone else is doing, and the students feel calmer as well.  I guess it mostly comes down to time: in Oshkosh, there’s enough of it to get things done, and also explain to one another what’s going on.  In Milwaukee, it always felt like I was just keeping my head above water, and there were a lot of guessing games about who was doing what and when and for what reason.

Anyway, I need to jet for my late errand-running lunch and then get primed up for a camp weekend in the Kettle Moraine.  Here’s hoping the weather holds out.

General, Uncategorized

Need to Save Some Time

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It’s after the first of the month, so I got all my “books” (i.e., personal accounting) done this week.

I downloaded a java-based, stand-alone app back in 2006 to help me keep an electronic check register, because I was tired of writing down all the transactions that were going through on my debit card (even then, I barely used checks), particularly since I could log in to my bank accounts every day and review.  So, jGnash was and has been a big help there ever since.

The thing is, back then I only wanted and needed a paperless register.  I was only inputting data from that one account, and it wasn’t a big deal.  Over time, I added a whole bunch of different bank accounts and credit cards that I’m tracking, and now I’m feeling that I would like a more holistic overview of my personal finances.

I would also like something that is smart enough to know that when I am transferring money around, or making payments what have you, it’s essentially one transaction– I don’t want to key everything in at least twice (as a debit over here,  and a credit over there).  I spent about an hour and a half making all those entries last night, and I really only needed to “think” through it for 20 minutes or so.  I like to have that information at my fingertips if I want or need it, so crawling back into the cave of tracking things on paper will not do at all.

It’s entirely possible that what I’m using already does these things, and I just need to figure out to use them.  There are also things out there like Mint, which purport to be dead simple to use, but my security alarm bells go off ANY time I am entrusting a large portion of personal data to somebody else’s server.  There’s actually a portable version of GnuCash, too, but that one always felt geared toward somebody with more complex accounting needs than I have on my own.

Do you have any thoughts on this?  What are you using to digitally manage your personal finances in the 21st century?

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Time to Enjoy the Summer

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The summer season is undoubtedly, officially here.  I had things to do around the house yesterday evening, but couldn’t bring myself to stay in, after seeing all the people dining outdoors on my bus ride home.

Michelle and I biked on the Oak Leaf Trail (despite the insects breeding like gangbusters in every stagnant pool of water) and we used a restaurant.com gift certificate for dinner at Bayou.  It was a really nice meal– Michelle ordered a catfish fillet entree, and the portion was huge; three whole fillets.  I had a cajun shrimp meal, and if you don’t think 9 little shrimps sounds like plenty of food, let me assure you– it was, and it was tasty.

We sat out on their patio, which overlooks the segement of the Milwaukee River near the corner of Humboldt and Commerce Street— the Humboldt bridge is out, so you have to make a few wacky turns to get there, but it was still a nice view and a pleasant evening.  It was windy, but warm enough that there was no chill whatsoever.

We’ve got a number of summer weekends booked solid already, but there was an opening for next weekend (May 29-31), so we’re going on a weekend camping excursion to the north Kettle Moraine and good ol’ Mauthe Lake.  There are a number of campsites up in that park that don’t require a reservation, so we feel OK about going on short notice.

Back to work and enjoying my open windows for now…

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You're Saying You Didn't See This Coming?

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Gina from Lifehacker had a post yesterday about Google’s dominance of her personal online data and her [late, futile] attempts to stop it.  Well, basically, it’s a post about how Yahoo! search is more or less just as good as Google, but my summary of her motivation is accurate.

I’m not saying “I told you so,” or anything like that, because I am every bit as guilty of feeding the Googles as most average internetters.  To be honest, there is just too much that they do too well to justify NOT using a lot of their (free!) services.  To only come to grips with the risk inherent in giving one company control of so much information at the three- or four-year mark seems oddly shortsighted, though.

Have we just buried our heads in the digital sand up to this point, innately aware but consciously ambivalent about this course of events?  Is it possible we’ve reached a social tipping point, and this may signal the start of a mainstream Google backlash?

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Long Shots

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I looked at my sad little list of tweets on the front page today and it made me feel kind of bad.  Really just haven’t had a lot of blogocity flowing of late.

Anyway, later on this evening I will be taking in a second screening of Star Trek with some of the geek men from MKE.  We caught Watchmen as a group, too.  I’m going to turn in a little earlier than I usually would on a Friday, because I have to head over to the Wordell house in the Falls tomorrow to work on a computer; want to get said work done in the AM hours, so I’ll need some good sleep…

Went out and took some pictures last night after the sun went down.  Been meaning to do some night photography with my new camera, but this was my first chance.  Picked up a couple tips from Wordy on how to make some of them look better (I only uploaded a few of the decent ones).  Tip #1: remember that when you’re doing a 5-15 second exposure of a building and you’re zoomed in @ 300mm, you’re asking for blurring.  It’s just gonna happen.  Good point there.

What’s with the Brewers lately, eh?  They started slow, but things are looking up after a 5-1 homestand that came on the heels of a 3-1 road trip.  Brewers have won 6 series in a row, and they go to St. Louis this weekend playing for first place in the Central.  Yeah, it’s still early, but I see signs that the team is more relaxed and grown up than people were counting on.  I hope they don’t lose it, and they remember what is working during this good stretch.  Oh, and having Trevor Hoffman to handle the 9th doesn’t hurt, either.

I’ve got 2 weeks to go @ UWM before heading back to Osh Vegas for work once again!  How bout them apples??

What’s new with you?

General, Uncategorized

Cinco de Mayo IS On Tuesday!

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Here you go– to commemorate the day, a live performance of my favorite Cinco de Mayo song:

firing from the hip since 2002