Showing the East How the (Mid)West Was Won

Holy cow what a week this was. The Yankees came to town to play the Brewers this week and I had bought tickets to go to all three games. Monday I went with Jocelyn. The weather was nice and the roof was open for a night game which seems to be a rarity. The Brewers did great and took the first game from the Spankies, one of my least favorite teams in the world.

Tuesday I went with Luedke to the game. Since I get out of work at four and he is taking the summer off we got to the park early for some tailgating. We had a few more beers than I was expecting but it was worth it because the Brewers won again.

Wednesday is when this already crazy week went into overdrive. My friend Chris from our old hangout The Blind Tiger in NY decided to fly in for a couple games before going to see his beloved Red Sox take on the Cubs in Chicago. This was Chris’s furthest trip West in the US. The furthest he had been before this trip was Pennsylvania. He isn’t a NY city hermit refusing to leave the “friendly” confines of Manhattan Island. Many New Yorkers are like this. He lived in Austria and Europe for a bit. So I took off about noon and met Chris at my apartment. After I got changed we headed to the Milwaukee Ale House to get a bite to eat and take in the city of Milwaukee’s ambiance. We walked in and took a seat and low and low and behold Tyler was there. He was waiting for his girlfriend Angela so we had him join us. Chris also knew a group of guys from the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network (YES). They were a group of people doing a reality TV show for the station. A group of 4 people get to follow around the Yankees to all 162 games. Chris was their tour guide when they went to Boston so he already had a rapport with them. A couple of them met us at the Ale House and we set up a tailgate for them. We headed to the park after the Ale House. We started up the tailgate and got the party rolling. These NY people don’t understand what a real tailgate is all about so I was under pressure to show them a good time. The tailgate went over well. I had plenty of beer and brats for everyone including the cast and crew of the show. It appeared that they had a good time and I was even civil to the Yankees fans. We shut down the tailgate and headed into the park. Chris knows another guy named Paul from Pewaukee. Paul was one of the nicest guys I’ve met and I’m not saying that just because he got us third row tickets behind the plate. The seats were some of the greatest seats I’ve ever had. We were able to heckle the Yankee players (Bostonian Chris especially like this) and Jocelyn almost got killed by a flying bat. One of the players let go of his bat and it came right at us. It hit J in the back but she didn’t get to keep the bat because it hit the guy behind us in the nose. Not only were we able to sit in these great seats but Paul also had access to a suite! So in the seventh inning we headed up to suite and had some free drinks and some sandwiches, what a perfect baseball game experience. The YES network people met us in the suite and we had a great time. It would have been a perfect experience but the Brewers lost. They still took 2 of 3 from the Yankees so all was not lost. After the game I showed Chris the Safehouse. We had a drink there, watched the magician bartender and headed home, some of us have to work in the morning. Thursday wasn’t quite as crazy but still fun. I met Chris for lunch at Potbelly’s. Chris was looking for a souvenir and ended up buying a pipe from the Milwaukee’s historic downtown smoke shop Uhle’s. After work we went to Jazz in the Park and had a couple bottles of wine and smoke our pipes. The weather remained gorgeous throughout the night. After JitP we went to the Lodge and got a couple pitchers of beer and a couple pizzas (Pizza and a pitcher $10 on Thursdays). After that we went to the Harp and had a beer and headed home. Chris left Friday when we went to work. It was great seeing him again. We had a great time and it was well worth the lack of sleep.

Friday after work we drove down to Peoria for the 4 mile Steamboat Classic race. We were pooped so once we arrived in Peoria we fell asleep as soon as we were horizontal. Saturday morning we woke up bright and early for the race. The start was at 7:45 so it was another early morning. It was my first race of the season and also the kick off to my marathon training. There are a couple thousand people that run this race each year. There are Olympians and Boston marathon winners, it’s quite the event. I started in the eight minute mile grouping because I didn’t know what kind of pace I could sustain. I finished the four mile race in 28:31 which is about 7:09 mile pace. Not a bad start but I still have a ways to go to get to 17 minutes to compete with the three Kenyans that swept the podium. Jocelyn’s aunt and uncle did very well. Her uncle took third in his age group but her aunt showed everyone up by taking first in her group. It was a lot of fun and a good start to the summer’s race season. Aside from completing a marathon I also want to get my 5k time under 20 minutes, stay tuned. After the race we headed back to J’s dad’s apartment, watched some tube, and got caught up on this week’s lack of sleep. We headed over to J’s grandparent’s house at about two to sit with the family. At about five we went to have dinner with the family. After dinner we had dessert back at the house. The dessert and craziness of this week caught up with me. J wanted to go out but I was paralyzed and forced to call it a night. We headed back to her dad’s place and called it a night.

Sunday we woke up early again and met with J’s mom’s family and went for a hike on a really nice path. The path used to be an old train track bed so it was really the ideal surface for walking on. After the latest physical activity was complete we went to lunch with J’s dad’s family and then headed back to Milwaukee. This was quite the dyslexic weekend. I had all the partying and fun during the week and the fitness and physical exertion on the weekend. Either way the whole week turned out to be a fun one, even with the exhaustion.

Another Fun Wedding, Ain’t No Bull

This weekend was the wedding of one and only Mr. Greg Neerhoff. After work on Friday I drove up to Sheboygan Falls to go to the rehearsal. I was a little late because traffic in Milwaukee was awful and I had to stop and pick up my tux in Sheboygan. I made it to the church about five minutes late but it wasn’t a big deal. The rehearsal took less then an hour which was nice. The rehearsal dinner was held at The Villager in Falls and was the typical Falls dinner, fried chicken, ham, mashed potatoes and all the fixings. I can’t count how many times in my life I have had this meal but it has to be nearing a hundred. Don’t get me wrong, this meal is very tasty and I could probably eat it every day if I had to. The Villager and Rangeline are neck and neck for the best chicken in the county too so I always request extra skin at these establishments. After dinner all the groomsmen received nice grilling sets, perfect for tailgating. Once that was done a handful of us went over to The O for a couple more drinks. Most people took off after one drink but Chad and I stayed out until just before midnight and headed home to rest up for tomorrow’s festivities.

Saturday a bunch of the guys woke up early and went golfing at Riverdale. I was lucky enough to get matched up in the first foursome with Greg, the groom, and the other more docile people in the bunch. We shot nine holes and I did pretty well. I got my first legit birdie on a par four and things were off to a good start. After golf we all went home to change. We got to the church at 11:30 which was WAY too early. There was a lot of sitting around time waiting for pictures. Once we got some of the pics out of the way it was show time. The wedding was very quick and this in turn constitutes a nice wedding. Badda boom badda bang you’re married. After the wedding there were more pictures and then we headed to the Bull for the reception and more pictures. We got a couple of quick pictures at the Bull when the rain started to come down in buckets. So off to the open bar we went. We sat there and waited for the reception to start. The reception was fancy and nicely done. There were two main courses for the meal, one, a choice of pastas and the second swordfish or pork tenderloin. The food was delicious and got me ready for the rest of the night. The rest of the night was your regular dancing and other wedding festivities. When the wedding ended I walked to the O and spent the remainder of the night there with Chad. It was a nice wedding. Congrats to Greg and Trisha!

Deep Throat Revealed!

The Daily show did some in depth reporting on the hot political news of the week, the identity of Deep Throat. Link

Enjoying “the Offical” Summer Weather

I had a very fun weekend this week. On Saturday I had Greg’s bachelor party. I took it easy Friday night and cruised to Sheboygan on Saturday morning. I spent most of the morning driving around Sheboygan with Rich trying to find a place that could lathe the Montero’s rotors so I could get the brakes fixed. We were finally able to find a guy to do it so we had the brakes fixed by noon. After that I went to Randy’s and played with the nephew for a bit. Then it was time for the party. The party was held at Rochester Park in Falls. We had some beers and some brats and played yard games. I dominated the basketball court taking 5 of 6 games of 21. I also did well in the bean bag toss and the nut toss. I pretty much dominated all the games. After the festivities we headed up to the O and spent the night pinballing between there and big Jimmy’s. We got Greg pretty shined up and it’s always a good time watching him when he’s a wet noodle. After some world famous root beer shots we called it a night.

I woke up early Sunday to take advantage of the holiday weekend. I drove back early to get ready for the mini tailgate party I had planned. We got all the gear together and headed to the park early. We had a tailgate crew of about fifteen so there was lots of fun to be had. We had a gorgeous day and plenty of food to grill. We enjoyed the parking lot and then headed into the game. The outcome was a 2-1 loss v. Houston but the day was going great so we weren’t about to let a loss pull us down. After the game we went to Kelly’s Bleachers for a little post game Golden Tee. I did ok but it wasn’t my best GT showing. After that we headed downtown the Eastpoint Pub. We spent the remainder of the afternoon and part of the evening being rowdy at the EP. We headed home, had a bite to eat, and went to bed early. It was one of the more fun days that I’ve had in a while. Everyone was in a good mood and everyone was happy and just having a good time.

Sunday we woke up, went on a bike ride, and relaxed the rest of the holiday away to get the batteries recharged.