Tag Archives: weekend

"Roll Your Own", General, Sports, Uncategorized

Enjoy While They Last

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It’s a hell of a Saturday out there.  Not a very good time to be blogging; better to be out taking advantage of one of those last nice weekends before the weather takes a turn toward autumn.  Just a couple quick comments then:

  • The Brewers have taken a turn toward winter, about 8 weeks early.  As amazed as I would have been if you’d said to me on August 31, “the Brewers will not make the playoffs,” I will now be SHOCKED if they manage to get in somehow.  The Phillies and Mets are neck-and-neck in the NL East, and really, what we need to do is overcome both.  It would a feat as spectacular as the September collapse to turn it around now.  But I will be there until the bitter end…
  • Michelle and I are leaving shortly to head out to my cousin Aaron’s housewarming party in Cross Plains.  I think it’s pretty remarkable that Aaron set himself a good goal of staying with his folks and saving up for a house, and it took some time, but he did it.  I envy that sort of discipline.  We’re looking forward to the party, too…
  • Kyle and I are going to try our hands at podcasting in the near future.  We’re going to have our first go of it very soon, and we’ll see if anything interesting comes of it.  Stay tuned for details and/or to download.

Have a great Saturday!

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Just Like That, It's the Weekend Again

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This was a zippy week.  Work is a complete F-show at this point.  We’ve gotten to the point in the year where processing is SOOO backed up, and people are SOOO far behind, and students are SOOOOOOO pissed about the whole thing, we have little meetings to talk about how far behind we all are and how no one should bug anybody else with anything or we’re going to have to start putting in OT.  Which would be bullshit.

Other than that, I’m just putting some finishing tweaks on my new apartment.  By popular demand, I will shoot up some photos of that sorta stuff in the ensuing week.  I ordered a wall-mount for my LCD monitor to help save space.  I’m trying to get creative with storage and using all the space as best I can.  I think I could have guests over night, but probably not more than 2.  Anyway, you’ll see what I’m talking about…

Here’s another interesting thing– Joe Knitt started himself a blog.  So if you’re interested on the latest from Brookings, SD (and I mean seriously, who isn’t???), check it out.

End of day.  That is all.  See you at the ballpark.

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Weekend Successes

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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

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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.
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Twinkies and the Weekend

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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.

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Minor Accomplishments

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Yesterday I didn’t leave the house for a very long time; I think I was gone a total of 40 minutes, but I felt good at the end, having gotten a ton of little stuff done.  I got my kitchen and bedroom cleaned up, did a ton of laundry, and I figured out two or three little nagging problems I was having with computers for quite a while.

It’s rare that I feel good enough about what I did during the day that I’m OK with just kicking back and relaxing in the evening, but Saturday was just such a day.  I think tackle another room or two and get some writing done today…

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Your Feedback Is Welcome

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Had a couple unrelated thoughts this afternoon after discussing a point or two with different people– interested to hear from others on either or both:

  1. Why do you think it is that couples tend to hang out with other couples?  You don’t seem to see a couple with a “third wheel” that often, or, just for example, maybe a couple with a pair of un-coupled friends.  I mean, it happens, sure, but why do you think “another couple” would be a couple’s first choice for partners at a social engagement?  What makes that better than one of these other scenarios?
  2. The way that people get information seems to shift more and more toward non-traditional means within cyberspace (pseudo-reporting/opinion pieces through blogs being one example).  I wonder if there’s any verifiable evidence that average Internet users are shying away from traditional news mediums, and, if so, I wonder if and when there will ever be a backlash where someone starts saying, “What the hell does this guy know?  That’s just an opinion…”  Maybe it comes out of time and experience, or maybe there has been a slow and steady shift, but journalism seems to be more subjective than ever.  I’m wondering, when is the backlash due to happen, and is there any way we can speed it up?

Carry on with your weekend.  I have 64 minutes to go.

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Gimme the News

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Had a productive weekend of “getting some shit together.”  There was Joe’s help w/ the mail server, some general household sorta crap on Saturday, and oil-changing, computer-fixing, furnace-repairing, condo-cleaning action on Sunday.  Michelle and I even got to go out on a date on Saturday evening.

Decided I would try to keep it going today, so I was looking around my insurance carrier’s website at lunch for doctors and whatnot.  I found a dentist pretty quickly (he’s only a couple blocks from my house, but of course that’ll change come July 1), and I have it narrowed down to three doctors.  As I was sharing with Wordy, my criteria for selecting a primary care physician are as follows:

  1. Geography– someplace close to work or home, in a hospital (not a strip mall)
  2. Sound of name– whose name do I like the best?

So, yeah.  I have Jack Kaufman, Geoffrey Lamb, or Theodore MacKinney.  I like #’s 1 and 3 the best.  I’m partial to Jack, though, probably because of Alias and LOST.  Which I understand is absolutely ridiculous, but I’m just being honest.
The dentist I picked is named Barry.  That also sounds like the name of a dentist to me.

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Empty List!

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This is the first time in the history of my instant messaging that I signed on to see a COMPLETELY empty buddy list. Glad that everyone is getting out for the weekend.

I’m just working on some crap w/ the computer quick before Joe shows up so we can head to Mt. Morris. We’re going to help Uncle Bob w/ some computing and telephone stuff @ the retirement home, I guess.

Kind of a bummer that I started running a task on my laptop that I didn’t think would take that long, but as it turns out, is going to last about 4 hours. Hence, no laptop at the cottage for me. Probably not too big a deal; I rarely use the computer when I’m traveling on the weekend, but of course, if I don’t have it, I’ll probably be thinking about it the whole time.

If you didn’t have a chance to take a look at my Flickrs lately, I moved into a new office this week, so that’s something new. I have a window now. Being able to see out is nice. The breeze is good, too.

I think Joe might be here, so I’m gonna roll. Good weekends, y’all.

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Matrimonial of Omaha

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We went to Dave and Amber’s wedding in Omaha yesterday (Sunday, 9/2). It was a nice little service in an old mansion near downtown that reminded me a lot of the place(s) where Joe and April got hitched. David and Amber know all these fantastic, interesting and really friendly people– it was a lot of fun to meet them, and we were really grateful to Allie and Jeff in particular, who let us stay over at their house for three days, even though we didn’t know them coming in.

The city of Omaha itself reminds me of a mashed-up hybrid of Oshkosh, LaCrosse, and some other city, although right at the moment I can’t think of which one. Michelle enjoyed the fact that the streets were all pretty straight, so if you got on one with numbers and started heading in the right direction, you would eventually find the place you were looking for. Never mind the fact that some of the streets run one-way in the morning, the OTHER one-way in the evening, and both ways during the day and on weekends.

When I got in on Saturday, we took a ride into what I guess is the downtown area– a place called the ‘Old Market’. They had the cobblestone streets and lots of shops easily accessible by the peds and whatnot. It was neat. We ate some food that night at a place that I didn’t realize was a chain– ‘Old Chicago’ pizza & beer. We split an “individual”-size pie and there was some left over. Granted, it was after 10pm, but whatev.

Right now it’s about 10 to 10 on Monday morning, and we’re working on getting packed up and headed back home. We each have our own rental cars, so that’ll be fun, but at least Michelle’s has cruise, so I can have her set the pace and just follow along. The trip home takes about 8 hours or so, but we’ll probably stop at one of the free-wifi rest stops in Iowa, since I haven’t been on the Internets since Saturday morning, and Michelle has no idea how much she got paid on Friday or how much money she spent while she was here.