Peoria Dreamin’

Not much to report this weekend. J and I went to Peoria to visit her family. Friday was spent driving there after work. We had to go through Chicago to pick up her sister at O’Hare. We arrived in Peoria around 9ish. We ordered pizza and went to bed.

Saturday was a long day. We woke up at 6:30 because J and her sister were running in the Steamboat Classic. This race is dubbed as the fastest four mile race in the world. I don’t think I’ve heard of any other four mile races so I think it’s the only four mile race in the world. Jocelyn tried to get me to run the race but I’m not paying $25 to someone so I can kill myself and then receive a t-shirt reminding me of the torture. It was a hot sticky morning so it was more of a steam bath classic. It was 80 and humid. The humidity didn’t affect the crazy Kenyans who finished first through fourth. They finished the race in 17:30 sec. It was kind of cool seeing a couple people who are headed to the Olympics in Athens. Jocelyn’s uncle did very well finishing the race in less than 24 minutes. Jocelyn’s goal was finishing the race and she did. I don’t know her time so I can’t post it for you. We’ll just say that Jocelyn is more of a water animal than a land animal. I give her and everyone else who ran the race props for finishing though, good jog. We stayed by the riverfront until ten and then we had to get home and get ready for lunch. We had lunch by the aunt’s house. After that we had to run home and get ready for dinner. We had dinner with her grandparents, aunts, and uncles at the country club. The dinner was delicious. After a brief stop at her grandparent’s house to look at some pictures we hit the Peoria nightlife. There was an Elton John impersonator down by the riverfront so we headed down there for the beer. I say the beer because why the hell would someone want to see an Elton John impersonator? Any-who we met up with some of J’s old high school friends. Once pseudo-John was done performing we went to some bar down the street. It was a really nice place and I had a great time talking to Jocelyn’s old friends and wasting the night away. We headed home about one and got some much needed sleep. I actually had an event happen during the week. J and I went to the Brewers game on Tuesday. We tailgated a little and had a couple yards from TGIFs. Nothing crazy but a good time none-the-less.

Riding America

This weekend was out of the ordinary because it didn’t involve a Brewer game. It was a normal weekend in that it did involve drinking in a parking lot. It also had high adrenaline racing and blistering sunburns. This weekend we went up to Road America in Elkhart Lake to see the AMA Superbike races. On Friday, J and I went up to the Log Cabin Inn to get our fish fry base and have some Old Fashions. We really didn’t know what we were going to do that night but that all changed when Ervaets called and said that he was being kick out of the house by his woman so she could have a girls night at their house. Craig wanted to hit the Elkhart bars and check out the race scene so we decided to meet in the Fleet Farm parking lot. I needed a few things from Speedy Barnyard anyway so I went and got a key made and picked up the blowtorch that I’ve been needing. After waiting a bit for Craig we finally spotted the M3 and piled in for the trip to Elkhart. The first place we went was pretty laid back. Besides the cool swings you could sit in at the bar and Donkey Kong the place wasn’t worth the one drink we had. So we cruised to the Road America hot spot, Siebkens’s. Sieb’s didn’t disappoint. There were a ton of motorcycles and plenty of people to make fun of and question, why the mullet with black jeans. We met up another group of guys there and shot the breeze all night. Also for the second week in a row I got the opportunity to inhale toxic rubber smoke. One of the riders smoked up the entire beer tent doing a brake stand inside the inside it. From there we had the bright idea of hitting up some of the townie bars in boondocks. We started out at Nap’s place. Named after the drunk owner with nappy hair. We walked in and got he usual, “Who the hell are these out of towners?” stare. Nap was working and Craig came up with a fun new game for the night. He asked Nap every 10 minutes if the grill was open. So we hassled the locals and admired Nap’s wife as she drank brandy out of a shot glass with one ice cube in it. Nap’s was closing so we headed to Richels for on last one. Craig walked in and asked it the grill was open while I did a shot of tequila that one of the townies bought me. As much fun as this was we called it a night and headed home to get some rest of the big day tomorrow.

I have to admit that this race Saturday didn’t hold a match to the previous ones in terms of sheer craziness. J and I woke up at 9 and headed to the farm to pick up some plywood to put on the top of Rich’s truck so we could use it as a standing platform. We got to the track at 10, set up the truck, and got situated for the day. Craig and Feyer had already mixed up what they called wop. This stuff was far from wop. It was a large vodka & red bull in a Gatorade jug. There were two bottles of vodka, a case of red bull and a two liter bottle of Sprite. The stuff didn’t taste that bad but I really wanted some nice fruit punch wop. So the day was spent grilling out and watching a the bike races. We did go and see the stunt show which was crazy. The these guys were doing tail standing wheelies, sitting on their gas tanks and doing wheelies, endos, and other crazy stuff. The day was fun but there really wasn’t the craziness of times of yore. Though the race lacked the craziness it was still a lot of fun hanging at the track and getting my third degree sun burn. At six we packed up the truck and headed to the farm. Jocelyn had never actually been on the farm before so we walked through the barn and check out the cattle, goats, and sheep. She had also never shot a gun so we got out the .22 and took out some soda bottles. When we got done with all that we headed to my brothers to clean up and relax for a bit. After we got done showering I was all ready to head back to MKE and just call it a night. For some reason J insisted on going to Falls and staying at the O all night. Even after we got there I still wanted to go after the first drink. Then some of my high school buddies showed up so we did end up staying all night. We sauntered up and down the streets of Falls to all the fine establishments. At one we headed home, had a pizza and went to sleep, another Sheboredom venture over.

Two Saturdays!

Ahhh, my fist day of actual vacation from ASQ came this week and I took advantage of the long weekend. On Friday it started with a Brewers game. Babcock hooked up Todd, Steph, Luedke and I with some tickets to one of the luxury boxes at Miller Park. Not only were the seats great but the thing was stacked to the hilt with free booze and food for everyone. The group took full advantage of the amenities and I have to admit I didn’t watch much of the game because I was in deep conversation with those around me. In the end the Crew lost but who goes to watch the games anyway. Once the game was over we all went to Mo’s for a couple pints of Guinness. There was a two person band there that had a drum machine do all the backing music but they did some awesome covers. After that we headed to the Metro and finished up the night with some martinis.

On Saturday Jocelyn and I had our traditional Memorial Day weekend grill out. We invited Todd and Steph over and we relaxed the day away. We had marinated kabobs, German potato salad, chopped salad, and most important of all, fresh fruit daiquiris. The weather was cool and rainy but the men braved the cold and grilled the manly food to perfection. The next couple hours were spent relaxing and sucking on daiquiris. At about nine Tasha and her new/old boyfriend came over and joined the fiesta. After the Chappelle show and Insomniac marathons we headed to the High Hat on Brady to meet Luedke. The way to the High Hat was quite the adventure. Tasha’s male friend’s Mustang got stuck in reverse and we couldn’t parallel park the thing. After some torque on the shifter we cracked the thing out of reverse and into first. After destroying is transmission and driving around in first looking for a parking space (he couldn’t shift out of it) we managed to find a spot. One problem still existed though, we had to parallel park the car. So we pulled up to the spot and I got out and pushed the car backwards into the spot. Once that thing was parked it was no longer my worry and it was time to have some fun. All the craziness caught up with me the second I stepped foot inside the High Hat. As soon as I entered the bar I hit the proverbial wall. I had one beer, talked to some college buddies, and headed home.

Sunday, or Saturday #2 as I like to call it, consisted of a second Brewers game. The weather was absolutely horrible. Torrential rain and thunder were the weather of the day. After confirming with Todd that we were going to go to the Crew game, bad weather or not, we headed off. I thought for sure it would be us and the players at this game but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Upon arriving at the stadium we discovered that there were quite a lot of diehard people already in the parking lot. We were on the east side of the stadium so we took our three beers and headed to Gantner’s Gardens shelters. Every shelter was packed elbow to elbow with crazy people tailgating before the game. Our shelter was no less crazy than the others. One guy accidentally started the rubberized bench on fire with his grill so we got a nice whiff of toxic smoke. Another observation I didn’t understand was seeing all the people taking their umbrellas to go pee in the bushes. Don’t you think you’d get plenty wet from walking through the foot high grass and standing in a bush? Well after I pondered this questions for what seemed like minutes we finished our beers and headed in to the stadium and the safety of the roof. We spent almost the entire game in TGIFs drinking yards and talking to Delahunt’s parents and one of my other buddies that we happened to run into. Another loss for the Brewers but the game was a great was to spend a Sunday. After the game we headed back downtown and got Edwardo’s with Todd and Steph. I then finished the weekend the way all weekends should be finished, with a three hour nap. Monday was spent doing nothing, the way all days off should be spent. A great weekend, I wish they were all three days.

Birthday Wheels

This was fun weekend. On Friday we went out for a nice dinner for Jocelyn’s birthday since we were up in Sheboygan last weekend. I reserved a dinner cruise on the Edelweiss. The dinner was a lot nicer than I expected. For $60 a person we got a 2 hour cruise and a nice dinner. We started off at the Third Street Pier. From there we went down the Milwaukee River and then circled the harbor a couple times. Dinner was delicious and consisted of a fillet with a whitefish. The whole thing was excellent and Jocelyn and I both had a great time. Yet another thing I have to recommend to others.

On Saturday we had to get up early and go to Chicago to get Jocelyn’s new/used car. She bought a Mitsubishi Montero from a dealer in the Chicago area. We left MKE at about eight and got back at three just in time for our next event of the day.

Twelve of us decided to go on the Lakefront Brewery tour. I met the whole clan at the brewery. Since the tour was packed and since most of us had already gone on the tour we just drank our free beers at the bar. After relaxing on the banks of the lovely Milwaukee River we went to Wolski’s by UWM to get our free that we get with our tour ticket. After a couple beers there the clan broke up. Todd, Steph, J and I went to the Milwaukee Ale House for a burger. KB from WKLH was playing there and the place was packed so we had a good time there. From there we cruised to the ol’ Metro. We met up with some of the wounded soldiers from the other clan there and spent the rest of the night there. Thanks to Todd and Steph for dinner.

Wedding Season

This weekend wasn’t too crazy. Friday night we stayed in because we had a wedding in Sheboygan to go to. It was couple beers and a movie night.

Saturday was the best woman on the face of the earth’s birthday, Jocelyn! There is no better way to spend a birthday than to spend it in Sheboredom at a relatives wedding. We went to my cousin Dirk’s wedding and it was actually a nice, small wedding. We left Milwaukee early and headed to Sheboygan around 8. We had some errands to do and that took us until around noon. The wedding was at one so we went to that and then headed to Dave’s Who’s Inn for a couple good Sheboygan hamburgers and some beers. The reception started at seven and was a fun time. We had some cocktails with my relatives and listened to their fish stories, you gotta love my uncle Tommy the man who things he Frank Sinatra. The wedding got so crazy EVEN MY MOM was taking shots, a definite rarity. When the wedding wound down we headed to Falls to finish the night in style. We started at the “O” and spent a good amount of our night there. Then in one of those “split second sounds good at the moment” ideas we got wrangled into going to Plymouth and seeing a band.  With no birthday being complete without going to Big Jimmy’s and getting a root beer shot we went down the block and pounded two root beer shots with Jimmy himself. He was disappointed to see us go but we were off to Plymouth. Cruising in style in the ’88 Towncar we made it to P-town with about an hour until bar time. The band was a jam band and they were pretty good. We hung out with my buddies Popper and Richie and grooved the night away. Nothing is ever dull in Plymouth and bar closing is no exception. On our way out we got to see a huge fight and some chick sprawled out in the middle of the road with her dress over her head after getting pushed down. Don’t know what that was all about but I chalk it up to Plymouth. That’s enough Plymouth for at least two years. Happy birthday to J. Sorry for the boring week, I’ll make up for it.