Tag Archives: Grandma M

General, Uncategorized

Let's Roll

Leave a comment

Glad to get a lot done around the house this weekend– the laundry is done, the floors are clean, the dishes are put away, and the bed is made.  Why I couldn’t get some of this stuff accomplished last weekend (when it was raining like hell), I really can’t say.  But now I can forget any guilt I might have had when enjoying the nice weather, watching baseball, or doing other more recreational activities.

Michelle and I took a ride over to Grandma’s today to have lunch and observe Grandma’s birthday.  We picked up a cake @ the Metro Market that was fabulous; it was an Irish Creme Mousse cake.  I don’t know how they get that top layer of cake to sit on top of that inch of moussey goodness, but I’m glad that they do.  We had a nice time chatting with Grandma and watching a little bit of the Brewers game.

Michelle is working on her portfolio website this evening.  When she first decided to do one, I thought it might be easy to use some sort of quasi-pre-fab software (akin to WordPress or something else similar) to whip a site together.  Little did I know how unique and cool these sorts of websites really are.  Michelle is doing hers from scratch, and the mock-ups I’ve seen so far look great.  Hopefully her web host (me) has enough bandwidth to support her efforts 😛

Really looking forward to getting that new laptop delivered this week.  I had sort of forgotten how much I like to work on the computer away from the desk until I couldn’t do it anymore.  Here’s hoping for a nice productive week…

General, Uncategorized

Please Excuse the Brevity of This Post

Leave a comment

Things at this new apartment are coming together just swimmingly.  Jen helped me out with the kitchen and hauling some stuff down to storage yesterday, and Grandma was here today to help with some other stuff (she got the paint off the front of all the bookshelves with steel wool).  Grandma also took one for the team when the coffee table got tipped over and tagged her in the melon.  I gave her some ice in a washcloth to keep the swelling down, and that seems to have worked OK.

By the end of my “vacation,” which comes to a close tomorrow, I think I’ll have all of the furniture arranged, and some spots plotted out for things on the walls, anyway.  I’m definitely more excited to live here than I was in the last place.  So that’s something.  Also– even though I only moved across town, it feels like I’m in a totally difference place.  Can’t really account for that, but it is what it is.

I’m going to turn on the pre-game for the Brewers now and try to finish up in the living room.  More on this and other goings on later…

General, Uncategorized

Weekend Successes

Leave a comment

Had a real fine summer solstice weekend here in Milwaukee.  The weather was mostly beautiful, with a couple occasional rain showers.  It set up a nice backdrop for outdoor activities…

On Friday, the Justin Roth show at Jen & Joe’s was great.  The hosts provided ample food and beverages (including Spotted Cow on tap), and the music was awesome.  We got to hear a few new songs, and some classic faves like “Dead Horse Trampoline,” “Ones to Hold On To,” and “Fatima’s Waltz.”  Got a chance to chat with Justin a bit, and he said he is starting to work with a new producer on an album– but it sounds like it’s nothing that’s immediately on the horizon (maybe within the next 12 months or so?  Hopefully?).  Also got him to sign the picture that Christy took of him behind the wheel of the Festiva; he chuckled recalling the days when he shaved his head.

It was really cool that a lot of Jen and Joe’s friends who had never seen Justin or Storyhill, et al. were around to take in the show and enjoy it.  That’s been my experience more often than not– if you get a chance to see the talent that these guys have in person, and how much they truly enjoy what they’re doing, it’s hard to not feel that energy and to have a really good time yourself.  Justin sold a ton of CDs afterwards, if you want to use that as a measuring device.  And of course, I took pictures during the show, so I’ll post a few of them here within the next couple days.

On Saturday, Mom, Grandma, the Mundschaus and I all went over to PolishFest for a few hours.  I rode downtown with Mom and Grandma.  We parked at WI & Plankinton, then caught the shuttle down to the grounds, but considering how early we got there, probably could’ve parked right there just as easily.  We ate, drank, shopped for some Polish paraphernalia, and got to catch part of a set by Neal Zunker’s Music Connection, and Eddie Blazonczyk & the Versatones, respectively.  We also ran into our cousin Chris and his buddy Scott, who got some free tickets from Uncle Mark.

Sunday was Michelle’s mom’s 60th birthday shindig at Joey Buona’s on Water Street.  It was EXTREMELY filling, as usual.  Sheryl seemed to have a really nice time; a number of her old high school chums made it out, as well as Michelle aunt & uncle from Sheboygan, among others.  It was a fun party.

Earlier that day, I got to visit with Eric and Christine Kiefer for a while (!!).  Yes, you read that correctly.  I was thinking of them as we got primed for the Justin Roth show, and decided that I had put off actually getting in touch for long enough.  They seem to be doing well, both on a professional and personal level.  They’re staying very busy with 2 young kids around the house, but they seem pretty happy, top-to-bottom.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to stay in touch a little better, particularly since I’m moving to their side of town.  I got to share what limited news I could about myself, and I also spilled the beans about everything going on with everyone I know from back in the Osh Vegas days; didn’t think I was probably spoiling any surprises.

Sunday night, Michelle came over and helped me actually start packing a little bit.  We took everything that was hanging down off the walls, and I began to strike the living room.  I think I’m going to work on finishing that up tonight; I barely watch TV in the summer anyway, and if I really want to veg out, I have a laptop and the Internet.  Packing up always seems daunting when you get started, but once you’re on a roll, it moves along.  I think I’ll pick out my wardrobe for the rest of the week and get clothes packed out of the closet tonight, too…

Got a short week at work this week (took Thursday and Friday off to doing moving business), so I better get to it.

General, Sports, Uncategorized

Quick Notes Slash Recap

Leave a comment

Hi.

Successful weekend for the most part, but I still have more to get done this evening…

  • Brewers took until today to win a game, but at least they avoided the sweep.  What the hell is with the Cubs?  How long do you think they’re going to wait to start losing?  All-Star break?  Maybe.
  • Here is my new address, effective June 28: 4121 N Ardmore Ave, Apt 9, Radio City, WI, 53211.
  • Grandma’s floor is back, it’s dry, and it only took about 4 hours to finish up.
  • Since Marty and Lise are going to start showing my place tomorrow, I have to go now and get some stuff picked up around here.
General, Uncategorized

Twinkies and the Weekend

Leave a comment

Schrubbe couldn’t make it to the baseball game last night, because of the flooding up in Oshkosh.  He didn’t miss much.  Just 12-20 thousand g-damn Twins fans making a ruckus and the Brewers doing exactly squat at the plate.  Seems like they’ve had a tendancy to make average or below-average pitchers look like Cy Young a lot this season…

Anyway, Michelle went with me to the game instead, and we still had a good time.  It was hat day, so we got those, and the weather was really nice for a game.  Summer is 100% officially here, and I don’t mind one bit.

I have to make a run today over to my new apartment building to confirm which unit I want– the one that I’ll probably move into is occupied right now, so I wasn’t able to see it the other day.  Worst-case scenario, if there is something horrific about this one (I don’t anticipate that, but…) I will take the other that I saw on Thursday.

When I get home, I think I’m going to get busy with packing.  I’m going to pull all my stuff down from the hotter-than-hell attic, and see if there’s anything there that I can get rid of.  If not, it’ll just be time to start putting stuff back in boxes and getting it set to move.  Two weeks to go, and I’ll be on my way out.  After this afternoon, I’ll know my exact new address, too, so I could make calls to arrange for moving my electricity and cable services, forward my mail… I could probably get the trailer booked, too.  So I’ll be busy.

Tomorrow, Joe and I are putting Grandma’s kitchen floor back together.  So, y’know, fun weekend top-to-bottom.

General, lists, The Singularity, Uncategorized

Some Notes for Thursday

1 Comment

Couple random items from around the web for you this morning:

First, a short Obama ad about a summertime reprieve from the gas tax, with a good point:

Second, I do enjoy lists. New Scientist offers a list of the Top Ten Fictional Scientists in popular culture.

Finally, it’s exciting that Kyle and Robin will be headed to Thailand next month to pick up Thanu, but I’m a little conflicted on their plans for conditioning him to accept the reality of the coming robot menace. I guess it will be up to MY children to lead the resistance.
Thanu's robot overlords
And a PS, not from the webs, but from the real world– today is Grandma’s birthday. She is 77!

General, Uncategorized

Sending Out the Belated Holiday Wishes

Leave a comment

Hey.

So the Christmas snuck up on, and then snuck past me. Hope you enjoyed yours. It was nice around here. We were over at Grandma’s house on the 22nd, and Michelle and I swung by the Behling’s, too. It’s always nice to see everybody. Hard to believe how grown up all the Bock kids are getting…

I was kind of sick on the 23rd and 24th, but I managed to visit the Mark Bock house on Sunday for the goddamned Packers game, which was nice, despite the outcome for GB. Being on the road in the playoffs might not be a bad thing for this group… Then on Monday (Christmas Eve), I slept in late to try to get some rest before riding up to Michelle’s aunt & uncle’s house in Sheboygan for dinner and a visit to her grandma. I didn’t go over to Grandma’s, what with my sickness and stuff.

On Christmas Day, Michelle hosted the family get-together at her apartment downtown. I had my doubts about how that was going to work, but she made it happen. It was definitely successful, and proof positive that you can make things happen in whatever space is available if you think creatively about it.

Today, I worked a little bit on the web server, realizing that I have a lot out there that could use cleaning up, and then Michelle and I went out to brave the mobs at the mall. I stood in a line at Kohl’s for a while, but we had a fine time browsing the post-holiday deals.

Can’t believe tomorrow is already Thursday. DEFINITELY glad that I don’t have to be back to work until next Wednesday, and it will be a short week to get back into the swing of things. For the rest of this week, I’ll probably be busy with party preparation here at my house. Got a lot to clean up and shop for before Monday. I’m definitely looking forward to having folks over and ringing in the new year.

Hope to see you soon, but if not– have a great week and a happy new year.

General, Sports, The Singularity, Uncategorized

(Sort of) Regularly Scheduled Programming

Leave a comment

I’ve had a productive work week so far that I don’t want to jinx or derail. That being said, please take note of the following:

Dad and I did go to the Brewers game on Friday that they lost in fairly unspectacular fashion, but since then, it’s been 4 victories and now they’re back in a tie for first. This pennant race shit is pretty cool.

Grandma has a new kitchen floor. Regardless of what anyone tells you, it is definitely there. I’ve seen it. There are other tangential projects to complete, which surround the floor, but the floor is done.

I’ve started reading The Singularity Is Near, after hearing its title in an AP story that I blogged about a week or so ago. While I seem to share some beliefs/feelings about the future with the author, I am trying to approach it with an objective mindset.

Speaking of blogging other things, Wil Wheaton has a post today about the continuing saga of Internet radio and the RIAA. It’s a good read, and offers some leads links to additional sources of info on this topic.

That is all…

Climate, General, Uncategorized

The Return of the Monday

Leave a comment

I said to Michelle last night that it would be nice to get Mondays back after the conclusion of my basketball season. Like I mentioned to her, when you typically only spend 4 nights a week at home, getting a 33% boost in time to do stuff is pretty huge. I think I’ll work on… well I don’t quite know what I’ll work on tonight yet, but I know that it’ll be at my house.

Had a somewhat non-descript yet enjoyable weekend. Got a gradual start to my Saturday, wherein I made it to Milwaukee eventually, and spent a little time reading a Ron Rindo story while I drank some coffee in Red Arrow Park. Michelle was looking at an apartment someplace up Prospect with her mom, then met me there afterward. It was a really nice afternoon.

We took a walk around downtown for a bit, but when the wind picked up it got sort of chilly. It was right about then that the fog rolled in off the lake, and it was IMPOSSIBLE to drive near the water. We swung over to Grandma’s house to drop off her other 2 dollar coins, but nobody was home. Christy’s phone was there, though, so we changed her wallpaper.

Had dinner rather early (about 5:30) at Louise’s. We ate a pizza. It was good. The booth was a little cramped, though. We were thinking of going out and maybe bowling or throwing darts after that, but we didn’t want to get started right away. We didn’t want to drive all the way back to waukesha, either, so we stopped over at the Mundschau’s and watched a DVD for a while. Michelle had been up really early on Saturday in order to get to a meeting for work at about 7:30, so she zonked out pretty quick. We watched 1 disc worth of The Office, then called it a night. Pretty low-key.

Made it to St. William’s for 10:45 mass on Sunday morning, and it was a pretty full house. I noted that the deacon was a very, very young guy. He had a well-constructed homily that started to drift at one point, but I was impressed when he tied it all back together and made some sense.

Michelle has been stalking Girl Scouts for about 5 or 6 weeks now (ever since the cookies went on sale), and after church she made what I imagine will be her final purchase of the year– a dozen boxes of Thin Mints. Yes, that’s correct– TWELVE BOXES. I hope she can make them last. When I have treats around the house, I can’t help but eat them, so that’s why I usually don’t. Michelle has a lot more self-control…

We took a ride into Pewaukee and had lunch with Michelle’s mom @ The Chocolate Factory. They were woefully understaffed, but I think that had more to do with the uncharacteristically warm weather than anything else. I imagine that they can usually get by with 2 people working there on a Sunday. Anyway, the sandwiches and ice cream were good.

We did stop over to visit Grandma and ate another sandwich a little later in the afternoon. The drive up to Vegas was quick, and there was no need to eat anything else.

Now that the kids are back from spring break, I could go for a week or two of vacation.

Hope you had a nice weekend. I’m back on the job…