Weekend Escape To Michigan

This last weekend the Renter and I got out of Milwaukee and hit the road for Gobles, Michigan. That's about a 240 mile drive but going through Chicago makes it seem like a lot farther. We usually leave after work on a Friday and that timing doesn't help any.

Once we got there everything was lovely. Between our friends' cooking (awesome) and time spent chilling, talking and cruising the lake, you couldn't have asked for a better time. I took three 30-packs and a cooler pre-filled with 22 on ice and managed to go through all but ten cans by Monday night. I've driven there before with nothing but warm beer and the hour spent waiting for the beer to get cold is excruciating; hence the cooler being pre-stocked. I walked up to their house with a cold one in hand.

We left on Monday and were invited to stay at our friends' house in Chicago. The Renter and I have off from work this whole week. I figured this would be a nice break in the drive, dividing it up in half. But I guess, after many beers, it was decided that we'd spend a couple days in Chicago. I felt like getting out of our friends' hair after one night. We had off from work but they didn't and who wants two people camped out in your living room for any extended period of time? And I was down to $30 in my wallet. I caught hell from the Renter for wanting to leave but even she was worn out by the time we got home on Tuesday. Oh, and leaving at 1:00 pm on a Tuesday in Chicago meant there was no traffic on the freeway. That made a huge difference.

I had been getting texts from my friends while I was out of town.

"When are you guys coming back?"

"I'm jonesing to go sit on your deck!"

"How do you put up with babysitting the Man-child?"

Wouldn't you know it, even with the threat of rain looming, I had friends over four hours after I got home. We all huddled under a canopy as the rain came down, watching the Brewers game from the TV in my kitchen window. While leaving one group of friends was tough, seeing the regulars after a four day absence was nice, too.

A Little Vay-cay

I'm currently in Gobles, Michigan. If you blink while driving through downtown you'll miss it. But time spent with friends at there lake house is priceless.

I'll be back in touch once I meander back to the great (ehem) city of Milwaukee.

Tennis Elbow

This slight pain in my elbow that's been bothering me for the last three weeks, I'm starting to think it's tennis elbow. It only hurts on the inside of my elbow. I know, I don't play tennis, but I do enough "swinging og the racket" if you know what I mean. But for that theory to work, tennis elbow would have to be contagous like pink eye since it's my left elbow that hurts and I predominately "bat" right handed.

Back to the drawing board.

August Issues

I've had a number of issues this month. In no particular order...

1. I should get my snowbower fixed. I'm anal about my Jeep, changing the oil every six months even if I've only driven 1,000 miles over those six months. But my snowblower, just two years old, had an oil leak and seized up on me. Two days before we got 24" of snow. I'm guessing it's going to cost me $300 to fix it. I don't want to pay $300. The alternative is shoveling all winter. One of my grandfathers died shoveling snow. I'm still contemplating getting it fixed, wouldn't have to save for retirement that way.

2. The gym membership at Marquette, across the street from my work, would cost me $135 for the fall semester. Not only would I not have to workout after work, I'd have access to more equipment than I have in my basement. I could probably make noticable improvements in those four months. Also, I? Glad the Brewers are doing well, and padding my pocket with low scoring games, but when it takes me an hour to drive six miles after work I don't really feel like working out. I'm still contemplating getting the membership.

3. I thought about doubling up my monthly check to the FA. With the market being down the last month I figured I'd could buy in at some reduced prices. Hopefully, heaven forbid, I won't need the money for years to come, but there are still global worries about pert near everthing. The market might still go down more but shit, I remember how it was three years ago. That was scary. Paying down my 5.5% mortgage doesn't sound that much more appealing but it's always a safe option. I don't pay any interest on my credit cards so I'm good there.

4. Hot tacos. The Renter made some unbelievably hot taco meat on Sunday. On Tuesday I showed a new co-worker my breakfast (tacos). He commented on the smell that was whafting out of my office. It was pretty strong. So was the smell in the bathroom that afternoon. One of those where you don't notice it while you're sitting there, but when you stand up and catch a whiff of what's hovering above you - man. I'd like to add that I missed half of the Brewers game that night due to bathroom issues at home.

I ate more of said tacoes tonight since they were both available and free. Can't wait till tomorrow morning. Fireworks, baby.

5. I've been thinking about looking for a new job. This won't fix all my problems, but it might help. With my job I have to live in the City of Milwaukee. Well, the City of Milwaukee is going to shit. With all the black youth ganging up and beating up white people, with my neighbor's 16-yr-old daughter getting drunk/high and lying in the street, and with me owing more than my house is worth, getting a new job and moving out of the city isn't much of a option. At least the moving out of the city part, getting a new job would just be the first step to freedom. But then again, most of my friends live within walking distance to my house. Sure, I could do without my neighbor and his loud stereo but that's fixable. I could call the MPD about the noise nuisance at midnight and they could call me back, waking me up at 2:00 am, wondering if the loud music is still there. No joke. Now I have two noise nuisances.

My issues, minor/major as they may seem, I hope anyone reading this is doing better.

3:00 Munchies

3:00 pm today at work I got bitten by the munchies. The cafeteria closes at 1:30 so I knew I'd be hittingthe vending machine. I don't like chocolate so my only other option was Ruffles potatoe chips. I grabbed $.85 and went down the hall.

There were some people from the business next door doing a tour so I tried to stay low key - even after my bag of chips didn't fall. My first reaction was to feed a buck in the machine and hopefully two bags of chips would fall but I only had a $5 and some $20's.

Fuck.

I went outside and had a cigarette, thinking about the chips the whole time.

After seeing that the chips were still hanging there (and after trying to rock the machine) I brought up the courage to ask a co-worker for a buck. Being the only financial person at my work this was a little hard, needing cash and all, but all I could think about were those chips.

Thankfully the first person I confronted had a dollar and both bags of chips fell.

My old savings technique of leaving every $1 bill in my pocket at the end of the night at home failed me miserably. My new savings technique of stashing $100's in my wallet didn't help any either.

Some days you just can't win. Thankfully the Milwaukee Brewers are taking care of that for me.

24 oz

I'm not messing around today, starting with the monster 24oz Milwaukee's Best Ice.

Before/After

I've gone through 26 30-packs of beer since July 3rd. Can you say "Ouch?" I figured when the Renter picked up 24 packs that it would last me at least two months. Obviously not the case. Mind you this is with going out occasionally and having two or three pitchers of beer. Sad to say, but thankfully Milwaukee's Best Light is on sale again for $12.79, except this time she's picking up 36 30-packs. I say "she" because if the Renter goes solo they load the Liberty for her, I just have to handle the unload. Maybe 36 will last me two months. God I hope so.

How my blood tests come back with a higher rating than the U.S. credit rating...

State Fair Mob Scene

I'm really surprised this didn't make national news. If it did I didn't see it. The News media here tried to down play it as much as possible.

On Thursday, opening day of the Wisconsin State Fair, a group of 200-300 youth stormed the grounds, beating up fairgoers on their way out and on the streets around the fair.

That's how the media tried to play it off. In reality, it was 200-300 African American youth in the 15-18 age range who were beating up white people. This is not my opinion, just the disturbing truth. State Fair is located is West Allis, also known as White Allis. I'm not talking about rich white people but old school white people, those who've lived there their whole lives who worked in the local factories. Hard working people who don't put up with nonsense. When I heard reports of a standoff with local residents on one side of Greenfield Ave. and the mob of black youth on the other yelling at eachother, it blew my mind. There were ten officers inbetween the two groups. Ten. Individuals were being beaten in the street and anyone who tried to help were also attacked. A State Fair police officer was hit in the face with a Masterlock that was tied to a shoe lace. The black youth blocked 84th St., looked into the windshields of all the cars and attacked more white people. The youth were running over cars on the street and assaulting people as they went north on 84th street. The media reported hardly any of this.

Local representatives of prominant African American organizations went on TV and said the whole situation was not racially motivated but from all the forums I read that was the main cause.

It's really sad that Milwaukee is still like this. I won't be attending the fair this year.

If You Aren't Watching...

The first episode of Jersey Shore Season 4 is on tonight. If you're not watching, you're gay. Or is it you're gay if you are watching? Either way, I'm confident, I'm watching the train wreck.

I'd Like To See This Replay

With Corey Hart on first and George Kottaras on third, this is how the ESPN Gamecast read: Nyjer Morgan struck out swinging, Corey Hart stole second, George Kottaras scored, Corey Hart to third on throwing error by catcher Yadier Molina.

That's a lot of action for a play that starts with a strike out.