The government today announced that it is changing its emblem from an eagle to a condom because it more accurately reflects the government’s political stance. A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks, and gives you a sense of security while you’re actually being screwed.
Friday was a great night because I got a great meal and didn’t even have to leave the comfort of the couch. Jocelyn was cooking a nice meal and she insisted that I didn’t help with any of the cooking. So I sat on the couch and drank Riesling (which was very good and ended up being from Aldi’s of all places). So I watched movies while J made fillets w/ mushrooms, crab stuffed poblano peppers, roasted veggies and dough balls with berry chutney. It all turned out very good and it was delicious. After that we had a couple bottles of wine and watched Sideways which was a very suitable movie. It was a great night and some great relaxation.
Saturday was a pretty eventful day. It was spring madness at Miller Park so Todd, Steph, Adam, Stacy, Chappy, Katie, Dave, Erica, J and I headed to the park for cheap tickets and most importantly $1 hot dogs. We got to the park pretty early to have a couple brews and enjoy the scenes. The weather wasn’t terrible. It was bit windy and when the sun went behind the clouds it did get a little cold but we can take it. We didn’t do any grilling out because we had hot dogs to eat. Once in the park the game within the game began. The hot dog contest was pretty much dominated by yours truly. I was able to get down my goal of thirteen hot dogs. Dave O was doing pretty well but fell off at eight dogs. I’m glad I reached this year’s goal but I think my hot dog eating days are numbered. I think my limit will now be ten hot dogs or less. The game was actually pretty crappy through the sixth inning but then the Crew fired up. They chipped away at the Reds four run lead and tied it up. Then in the ninth Damian Miller knocked in the go ahead run and we all left as winners, Crew 6-5, Ryan 13-8-7-6-1-1-1. We went home and got in a nap before the night. Saturday night we went to Port Washington for Craig, Feyer, my brother and Amy’s birthday. I really struggled to wake up from my nap. I was comfy in my post hot dog glow on the couch and could have easily called it a night. I pulled it together and J and I went to Port to meet the crew at Foxy’s. There were about forty people and they had rented a bus to take the partiers from bar to bar. We knew we weren’t going to be out all night so we followed the bus. The party wasn’t really my brother’s party or Feyer’s or Craig’s, it was Amy’s. I didn’t know anyone but the three birthday boys and I think they were put on the list as a courtesy of sort. We had a couple drinks at Foxy’s and then headed to Booze Inn in Random Lake. We stayed there for one drink and then went to McCarthy’s Irish pub in the Saukville area. It was a very nice little bar. We had a couple drinks and stayed there when the bus took off. We headed back to Milwaukee and most of the people I knew headed home as well. Back in Milwaukee we went to the Metro for a little while and called it a weekend.
Tuesday we went to our first Buckethead game vs. the Cubs. J and I grilled out some gourmet brats pre-game. The park was obviously filled with Cubs fans which was fine because the Crew won and sent the Chub fans home with a tear in there eye. The Crew went on to sweep the series and are currently riding a seven game win streak. Go Crew!
This Saturday we got a taste of football. The draft was held this weekend and we went over to Adam’s house for a draft day party. We decided to grill out and I volunteered to do the grilling which ended up being a huge mistake. I have been to Packer games in December that were warmer than this day. It was sunny but the wind was constantly whipping off the lake and it was flat out cold. Once I got all the grilling done I went inside to warm up and see the Pack’s first pick. We ended up drafting Aaron Rodgers, a QB from Cal. This pick actually jarred something and I realized that one day the Packers will be on the field without Brett “the man” Favre. I guess this is the beginning of the much talked about end and we will one day see another number other than 4 under center. I need to start preparing for a Favreless Packers but I hope I still have a couple of years of Favre as I am not quite ready for the transition. This new guy also needs a couple years apprenticeship to learn to be half the man of Favre. Half a Favre is better than a whole quarterback on any other team. The rest of the day we watched the draft and debated players, teams and the Packers. The conversation was never dull and because we had Graham there to stir the pot with his barrage of counterpoints and opinions. I went home about six to eat a pizza and meet Schwenker at my apt. We ate the za and I was able to get revenge in mini-shot checkers. My head was clear this time around and I beat Schwenker 2-0. Jocelyn came home about 8 and I got dressed and we went to Cans on North Ave. This was the first time I visited this establishment and I really liked it. It was a little pricey but I liked the atmosphere. The rest of the crew was there and it was a coincidence that Evraets and Billy were across the street at a different bar. They came over to Cans for a bit and we headed to 3. 3 was completely dead so J and I had a drink there and ditched the rest to go to the Metro. We wound down the night there and headed home.
As you can see there has been a significant change to iRau.com. I’ve decided to move away from my home grown application and I’m going to try a pre-fabbed program. The program is called WordPress. This program has a ton of built in features, features that I eventually wanted to get implemented into my blog but I never had the time to program it myself. This program is easily customizable and has many many more features such as being able to “subscribe” to my website and also add comments about my posts. I’m going to give it a test run and we’ll see if I stick with it or not. Leave me some comments.
This weekend the Brewers were back in full swing and that means fun at the park. Friday we hit up the first Beer Pen of the year. J’s sister’s boyfriend was in town from the VI. He works for Miller in St. Thomas and was in Milwaukee for the yearly meeting. We stopped at the Milwaukee Metro market on the way to the game to pick up some brats. These brats really put a damper on my great plan for the Brewers season. I was planning on getting a sausage maker and making my own brats and sausage for the games this year. I was going to make good funky sausage like Cajun jerk and turkey. But the MM had all these sausages already and they were awesome. We grilled out before the game and I had a bell pepper and mozzarella brat as well as a spicy Hungarian brat. There are tons more to try and I plan on eating at least one of each before the all-star break. I would like to say that Chad saw a good game and the Brewers kicked butt but it was a very boring game. The Crew only got a couple hits and got their butts kicked by the Cardinals. After the game we headed home.
Saturday was Wians’ tailgate. I’ll start by saying Adam did a bang up job. He organized a tailgate for 50 people and setup the tickets, food and drink, and bus. We all met at A’s around 10 and boarded the bus. We set up everything once at the park and that is when the craziness ensued. I manned the grill and had a good number of Bloody Marys. I talked with a bunch of people about every topic under the sun. I got so caught up in the conversation that I forgot to eat any of the ten plus pounds of meat that I grilled. We then headed into the stadium. We got lucky because the weather was gorgeous and the ever unknowing weatherman said it was supposed to rain. A couple of us sat in the lower level and enjoyed the game and the radiation of the sun. The game flew by and the next thing I knew it was the seventh inning. Needing another beer I went with Ham to TGIFs to get a brew. This is where the tragic event of the day occurred. It may have fallen out of my pocket but I believe that someone stole my camera out of my pocket. I had just taken a picture with the things and I put it back in my pocket. I think when I was getting a beer the cord was probably hanging out of my pocket and someone just yanked it. Once I realized that it was gone I went into an immediate funk. I didn’t have much fun the rest of the day but it was time to go back to the bus anyway. We got back to the bus and headed back downtown. One small bit of fun I did have was I played some Metallica through the bus speakers using my iPod FM transmitter. The Metallica was a hit with the patrons of the bus and everyone got a rockin’. Once we got home I surveyed the scene and there were a bunch of messed up people. I don’t know how they did it but Adam said many of them went out that night. I wasn’t about to do this so we walked back to my place. Ham, Jessica, Todd and Steph were all staying with us. I was still in my funk and everyone wanted to go eat at Bucca’s. I didn’t feel up to it so I stayed at home, watched COPS and ate a couple ham sandwiches. I was sober as a judge at this point when I got a call from Schwenker. He was on his way downtown and wanted to go out. I told him he could chill by my place until everyone got back from Bucca’s. The big man came over and I played him in mini-shot checkers that I got from my brother. I somehow lost but my heart wasn’t in it to begin with 🙂 . Everyone finally got back from dinner and they were unbelievably drunk and everyone, but J, ended up passing out almost immediately. So Schwenker with no one to party with headed home and we watched some TV and stayed put for the night.