Tag Archives: milwaukee

Quick Milwaukee Springtime Shoot

I pulled the shots off my camera from a little walk around the east side of Milwaukee that I took a couple Saturdays ago.  The sun was bright and began setting while I was outside the Art Museum.  Some of these turned out pretty well…

I parked near Wells & Milwaukee, then walked toward the lake, with stops in Cathedral Square and at the War Memorial.  Here in the upper Midwest, I feel like spring can be a funny time to shoot photos outdoors — the trees are still bare, the streets can be wet, sloppy, and/or still peppered with snowbanks… it’s just not very pretty.  A beautiful sun-soaked day makes quite a difference.

[flickr_set id=”72157643613665763″]

Back In Full Effect & Birthday Excitement

Joe helped me out yesterday to get the blog back online and in your faces.  By the time we finished (it did take a few hours), we were both satisfied that the solution we found to the hosting issue was the best one possible.  Everything seems to be working just swell, but let me know if you notice any problems…

Having the site back up obviously makes it a little easier to whip a post out here and there, so look for an up-tick on that in the next couple days– this morning, I can mention that we had a good time in Milwaukee on Saturday for Michelle’s and our friend Stephanie’s joint birthday parties.  Some photos to come in the next couple days when I get back to the homestead and can load them up.

Today, we are getting ready to head down to Schaumberg, IL for a visit to Ikea.  Tomorrow, we’ll be in Chicago for Michelle’s actual b-day, enjoying some tourist-y stops in the city.  Til then, enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Into the Home Stretch

Michelle and I are moving this upcoming weekend.  I have made it pretty clear to everybody that, giving my brutal moving schedule of the last several years, I feel like I have no karma left when it comes to requesting help for a move.  We seriously contemplated hiring movers before coming to the conclusion that we just couldn’t afford it.

Michelle had the wonderful idea of turning it into a “moving party,” complete with an evite, competetive furniture moving, and of course, plenty of food and beverages along the way.  We got a lot of our friends and family to voluteer to help, and because of that, I feel like we’ll probably have an OK time with the move.

Here at my house, I am starting to run out of places to stack the boxes and still be able to pack.  Probably going to have to start stacking in front of the TV pretty soon.  Maybe I should have packed the living room first instead of last…

Anyway, if you’re helping out this weekend, thanks in advance.  I was really impressed with all the support we got up front.  Off to bed for now!

Winding Down the Summer

Michelle and I were originally supposed to be out of town this weekend for StoryhillFest-Midwest, but the plan fell through (mainly for financial reasons).  We ended up being at home in Milwaukee instead.

No complaints here: we had dinner together on Friday and just relaxed at home making some plans for the weekend.

Saturday, we each had some chores to take care of around the house before a shopping excursion to a couple of area malls.  After that, we went to Atwater Park for a while just to enjoy the beach and the view.  That night, we made a meal at my house and watched a movie.

On Sunday, we took a ride out to Lake Geneva to go to the beach.  The weather was cool and overcast over there, but the water was still pretty nice.  We ate an early dinner at a place called Popeye’s, near the lake, and then we had some ice cream as we mozied out of town.  We were getting back in the car just as Prince Fielder hit his walk-off homerun to salvage a victory against the Giants.

Sunday evening, Steph S had a house “warming” party (albeit 7 months late), and when that died down, Michelle invited the bulk of the party goers over to her place.  We hung out, had some drinks, ordered some food, and played games until about 3AM.

I’ve got more to do around the house again today, but I’m really hoping we can get out and enjoy the last day of a beautiful Labor Day weekend.  It’s been a very relaxed, easy-going unofficial end to summer…

Summer Posting

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.  😉

Time to Enjoy the Summer

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…

Greatest Hits

Nothing in and of itself particularly bloggable today, but I did run across a few interesting tidbits on the tubes today that you might find interesting in case you missed ’em:

  • I was drawn in by the spectre of New Scientist’s title, “Could the Net Become Self-Aware?” but you should also stay tuned for the rest of their 8-part series.  Interesting stuff…
  • Brett’s gonna come back again.  Oh, yes he will.  But I do think he proved last year that 2007 will gone down as his last great season.
  • Tons of kids staying home from school next week in the metro-Milwaukee area, what with the bacon disease.  Hey, remember when we were kids, and there would be a chicken pox outbreak, and if you hadn’t had it yet, your mom would make sure you went to school, with instructions to lick all doorknobs trade pencils all your itchy friends?  Yeah, I remember that, too.
  • Don’t know if they’ve changed much in Amarok 2 since I was last using it a couple months ago, but I will say this: the album shuffle seems to be doing a better job.  I wonder if there’s anything else I can do to optimize the tags on my tunes..?

OK, well, I’m gonna eat some dinner and get ready for a party that Michelle and I are headed to in a couple hours.  Yes, I know it’s already 8:30.  The party goes until 3 AM.  Seriously.

Days of Summer

It was a helluva nice day here in Beer Town.  I regretted being at work, considerably.

Lorch came down at the end of the day, though, because he needs to be at Mitchell to work at about 4:00 tomorrow morning– seriously.  So we went out for some beers and a pizza, and we watched the baseball game.  What a game for Yovanni, eh?  Pretty cool for him to throw his first-ever complete game down in Houston, with most of his family in attendance.  And great for the Crew to pick up another win…

After that, we watched an episode of Flight of the Conchords.  It’s a pretty damn funny show.  But it’s so dry, I’m not sure Michelle will even be into it.  I mean, the humor is brittle.  It could snap off right there in your hand.

OK, time for sleep.

Nutritious AND Delicious

I felt like having some chocolate milk after my dinner.  I also felt like a beer.  Fortunately, I found a delightful compromise that still needs a name (unless it has one already):

  1. Prepare a tall glass of chocolate milk (I used a Spy’s Demise glass, for those of you in the know), leaving room for about 3-4 ounces of liquid
  2. Add approx. 2 ounces of Kahlúa
  3. Add about 1 ounce (maybe a little less) crème de cacao
  4. Mix well (might be even better shaken with ice)
  5. Enjoy

It's Just About Time

While Jim is sad about the lack of exciting sports-goings-on at this time of year, I am delighted to look ahead to baseball season.  Tom Haudricourt, from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, posted a blog with a link to Baseball Prospectus’s 2009 predictions earlier today…

They mathematically project a team’s record by tallying up individual player projections for the year.  They have the Brewers finishing with a winning record, but missing the playoffs.  It’ll be interesting to come back here in 7 months and see what actually happened!