Tag Archives: Schrubbe

Climate, General, Sports, Uncategorized

Potpurri

Leave a comment

One of my favorite things to do is argue with Dave Slotten about whether or not climate change is a myth. D-Slo is full of shit, of course.

Anyway, thinking of that made me want to whip this tidbit from the AP out there, because it features some of the Senate Republicans turning global warming into a partisan issue when Al Gore sat down to chat with them last week. Follow the link, or check out my summary:
AL GORE: Polar ice is melting at such an alarming rate, there probably won’t be any during the summer by the middle of this century. That is tragically fucked up.
JAMES INHOFE, R-OK: Piss off, Al– I distinctly remember shoveling last month…
JOE BARTON, R-TX: Yeah– and didn’t you leave the lights on at your house when you flew to L.A. for the Oscars? Prick?

And speaking of dumbasses working for the federal government, file this one under “surprise, surprise.”

Elsewhere, the Brewers finally traded a damn outfielder today, and by my count, that means they only need to move one more to get down to a reasonable number for the season. The prediction that I offered Schrubbe was “Jenks or Mench will be gone as soon as Nix is healthy.” Even though Laynce Nix is the least of the three, the fact is I think Ned will wind up with a king-sized bitchfest all year if those two really, really, really actually platoon for the balance of the season. That being said, one has to go and let the other take the bulk of the work.

Even if the Crew winds up with Geoff being their everyday guy back in left and he tanks, you’ve got 3 more guys in the system just clamoring for PT.

It’s warm today in a not-so-comfortable way. It’s too random and early for this sort of shit. On the positive side, I think it’s kept a lot of students off campus…

Finally, I think I should try to take some more pictures than I have been over the last few months, but I tend to fall into subject-ruts pretty quickly. Any suggestions?

General, Uncategorized

And Then It Was Thursday

Leave a comment

Last evening, I missed LOST, but I doubt there was much to write home about.

Instead, Michelle drove up because she really wanted to go skiing on what very well might be the last cold week of the winter. We took a ride over to Mt. Morris and Nordic Mountain. It was pretty nice, without a lot of people, several runs open, and some fresh snow from the day before.

This was my second ski trip ever, but I impressed myself by actually advancing a little in a relatively short period of time. I think properly-fitting boots and thinking through how skiing should work were a big help (and that’s not to mention my very sexy ski instructor).

We had gone down a number runs by 8:30, and for some reason I patted myself down at that moment, because I had my phone, my ID, and my car key all in pockets inside my jacket.

As it turns out, it was right about then that I realized the car key was no longer present. I didn’t freak out too much– felt really stupid, more than anything. I don’t know why keeping something important in a pocket that doesn’t zip or button closed seemed like a good idea when we first got there, but…

I also felt sort of bad about ruining that last hour that was had on the hill for Michelle– I know this was probably the only chance she was going to get to ski this year, and she had been spending the majority of the night babysitting me on the way down each run.

So between about 8:40 and 9:25, I was fumbling around in the snow in the one spot that I really took a digger earlier in the night, to no avail. Michelle gave the heads-up to the staff people, and one of the patrol dudes came out and ran his poles around in the snow with us a little. One of them tried to be optimistic, saying maybe the groomer would pick it up the next day, but I’m not going to hold my breath.

How did we get home, you ask? I’m lucky that I have a network of reliable friends who know that I’m a douschebag here in Oshkosh. Dave Schrubbe ran over to my house to open the door and retrieve my extra car key, and then Joe and April drove out to meet us there so we could get back home. This, and Joe had a paper to write for today, too. I didn’t realize that when I asked if they could help us out…

When all was said and done, we were asleep by about midnight, which probably wasn’t that much later than we usually would’ve gone to bed.  My shoulders and ankles are a little more sore than usual, but, all things considered, we coasted into Thursday no worse for wear.

General, Sports, Uncategorized

Technorrogy Good

Leave a comment

I convinced myself to pony up the 15 bucks for unlimited online access to MLB gameday audio this season with this argument:
There’s no radio station carrying the Brewers up north, so we could still listen to Bob and Jim when we’re up by Mom and Dad.

So that works for me. I’m currently in the confines of my desk at work and happily listening to the Brewers’ TV team calling today’s game.

— Speaking of that: brewers.com had a live chat w/ the new TV guy (Brian Anderson, I think his name is), and in reading the transcript, he came off as a total douche. This is not the announcer’s fault, though; I think it’s the team’s fault for making him do one of those before he’s really familiar with the town or the team. He had a lot of canned, dipshit answers to questions. Basically, if you kept up with the news surrounding the Brewers over the winter (and anyone participating in a February chat definitely has), you had all the insight that he did.

As I listen to today’s game, though, he’s doing a good job. Seems on top of the action. Doesn’t *sound* like a douche…

It’s also fun to email the guys during the web-only broadcasts in spring. Smaller audience, more laid-back approach, also seems to encourage more interaction with the web-o-sphere.

I was over at Schrubbe’s the other day helping him run some cat5 for his new Xbox. I mentioned that of all the current generation consoles, the one I’d be most interested in is the Wii (pronounced ‘we’) from Nintendo. Then I read this review today, and I’m more certain than ever– I have to absolutely avoid purchasing one of these at all costs, because it would only be a time-waster for me. I still have enough old games to waste time on.

If you like me, please help by all means– if I ever mention buying a video game system to you, smack me upside the head and tell me to stop being such a hump.

General, Uncategorized

Snow Covered, Etc.

Leave a comment

The weekend, considering the weather and stuff, turned out as well as could be expected.

On Saturday morning, I got up at my regular time so that I’d be ready for movin’ fun w/ the Knitts when they called. Snow removal pushed the excitement back to around 10am, after I stopped off at the U-Haul joint on Ohio & Witzel for a few extra boxes.

Joe and April had plenty of help, and a lot of stuff already loaded up, so the moving itself didn’t take too long. I’d say the biggest pain of all was removing a few doors in order to get furniture in and out of houses. I definitely favor moving into a house over an apartment, big reason being the shorter trip from the truck to the door. Hiking up and down a lot of stairs with armloads of stuff sucks.

There is a not-too-flattering photo of Joe and April in their living room at the end of our Saturday on my Flickr page, and I took a couple more pics around the house, too.

It’s a nice little old house. Apparently, the previous occupant had been there for a very long time, and it was in need of some significant renovations. At this point, though, there is fresh paint on all the walls, new carpeting on the floors, and some new windows, too. The only other work it desperately needs is a coat of paint on the outside, and that’s going to be tackled once the weather warms up.

Saturday evening, Michelle was due to show up around 5:30, 6-ish, and we were going to go to Dave Schrubbe’s birthday grand re-opening of DHI. We ate at about 7, and then Michelle needed to finish up some other stuff online before we went over. I don’t even really remember what we were watching on TV or whatever, but it was around 8pm that I just curled up on the couch and fell asleep, basically for the rest of the night.

I felt bad about missing Dave’s shindig and disappointing Michelle with a boring evening, but I guess I was just wiped out after the moving day. *That* realization also made me feel like a tool, because it wasn’t as if we busted our humps for hours upon hours on Saturday– I got to Joe & April’s at 10, and we were done with everything by 3:30. *Shrugs*

I guess I just suck.

On Sunday, Michelle and I did make it to Sheboygan for her Grandma’s 92nd birthday. I was pretty nervous about the weather before we left, but it turned out to be not that big of a deal; it was crappy when we were leaving from there, and we had to drive pretty slow between Sheboygan and Fond du Lac, but otherwise didn’t have any problems.

I was glad we went. I got to meet another one of Michelle’s aunts and her Uncle Larry, and Grandma was looking & feeling lots better than the last time we saw her (she was in the nursing home for a week or so when she came down with the flu earlier this winter). We also watched some old home movies that had been dubbed over to VHS. It was neat.

You’ve probably heard about or experienced the weekend’s snowfall. It’s actually really warm today (34), and the snow is just a mess. I had a wet, treacherous walk to and from work once already today, and if it freezes a little bit later, I expect more of the same.

Tonight after work I have to go the WI Review office and help with the choosing of pieces for the spring issue. Basketball tonight is at 8:15.

I think we have something like 3 games left. Could be a couple more depending on the “playoff” situation. I’ve had a pretty good time playing basketball, but I don’t expect that I’ll do it again next year. It’s been a little frustrating that we never have time to practice (we only show up for the games), and my weekly basketball nightmares, while silly, are pretty annoying. Long story short, it seems like too much anxiety and stress for something that is supposed to be a good time.

Thinking about this sort of thing makes me worry that I’ll be a bad “sports dad” at some point in the future– I won’t have the skills to teach kids sports, and who knows if I’ll have the right sort of attitude to be a good spectator at their events.

I wonder if other people who don’t have kids (or even a spouse) worry about crap like this.

General, Uncategorized

Calm Before Another Storm

Leave a comment

You thought I was talking about the radar, didn’t you?

Work has been very quiet this week. All the problems associated with the unstable first weeks of the semester are settling down. We’re passing the “point of no return” for dropping and adding and getting refunds. It’s been good for catching up on things.

Next week, though, the storm is going to hit when we shift the focus to next year and the freshies and their folks start calling. It’s the time of year when I feel the dumbest, because there are a lot of questions that you have to answer that only come up for about three weeks every spring. Most of our problems (and hence, my job) relate to making money show up in the kids’ accounts or sending it back. OK, that’s a major over-simplification, but it’s not like you care.

Point is, right now is when the relative-weirdos come and ask you their questions:
“Well, I live with my Mom on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and weekends from October to May, but from June to September I actually go to Tiajuana and get drunk with a talking chihuahua named Jose. None of this is that important, though, since Madonna adopted me with Brad Pitt back when I was 13. So whose information should I put on the FAFSA?”*

So, I thought I would take this opportunity to do a posting during the day for the last time for a while. What can I tell you that’s new?

Had the toilet overflow the other day. That sucked. Got up in the morning to take a shower and there was water EVERYWHERE. I got a little upset, and Michelle got upset because I was angry about the toilet, but we calmed each other down a little and took care of it.

I called my landlord the next day to tell him what happened and ask if he wanted to come over and look at it. It really seemed like he didn’t believe me when I said it overflowed during the night and we had no indication it was going to do that. I don’t know that much about plumbing, but to me it doesn’t seem like it should be *impossible.* He hasn’t been over yet, but it’s just some veneer that’s peeling away from the base of the vanity, and the flooring bubbled up a little near the toilet. So it’s not the end of the world or anything; I’ll put a note in with my rent next week if he forgets about it.

I really, truly do not care to hear another goddamn word about Anna Nicole Smith or Britney Spears, preferably ever. What’s happening in celebrities’ personal lives has never been on my radar, and when people get obsessed with a particular story, for me it becomes a game to learn as little about it as possible.

Just don’t be surprised if you bring it up to me and I bitch-slap you.

The Bucks narrow loss at the hands of the Pacers earlier this week really got me excited about baseball season. I called up Dave Schrubbe, and we agreed to go in together on a 9-pack of Brewers tickets. We chose the “Retro Fridays” package, viewable here:

One of the cool things about it is that we get an ’82 Brewers player bobblehead at all 9 games. Pretty sweet. We also get “free” tickets for Opening Day. So when you average it out, it was about 23 bucks a game for 10 games. I can live with that.

Also, like I mentioned to Dave– last time we bought a multi-game ticket package for a professional sports team in Milwaukee, they had a pretty good season.

Later this weekend, I am due to help out with the Knitts’ move across town. The weather may factor in to their plans, so we’ll see how it goes. Dammit, I gotta do some laundry tonight, too.

Enjoy yours…

* - the answer is David Hasselhoff