The Relaxing Weedend That Wasn’t

I knew the relaxing, sober weekend was as fictitious as a unicorn. I was doing good Friday night on the start of my bachelor weekend. I was doing wash like most men do on Friday nights and staying sober and saving money. Then at 10 the phone rang and I answered, “Yes, I will go out.” So I met Wians and Chappy at My Office and watched them beat two real winners at darts. You should have seen these two. An older man and woman, seven sheets to the wind, yes seven. Well as much fun as that was we headed off to the Metro and wasted the majority of the night away there. When two came around at the Metro I drug Adam to My Office for the walk home night cap. Neither of us needed to go there but I insisted. Upon walking into the sketchball bar we saw Adam’s buddy passed out on the bar stool so we promptly woke him up and bought him a beer. I snapped a couple pictures of him and Adam with my phone and we shot the breeze with the guy until we got kicked out.

Saturday I headed to the Brew Crew game. I picked up Marti and we cruised to the park. I crashed my old high school buddy Digger’s bachelor party. It was a ton of fun. I got to hang out with a ton of my old high school friends and practice my old hobby of shot gunning beers. The tailgate was fun but the things really got jumping when we headed into the park. Everyone was just starting to feel the warmth of the brew come over them but some really felt it. The one person that really felt it was the two fisted slobberer Todd. The great thing about Todd is he really doesn’t have a clue how the game of baseball is played. It was his first game and my buddy Brad’s first game at Miller Park. So we were standing by the right field bleachers like we always do when the roving scoreboard chick comes over to us and asks reTodd if he wants to be on the jumbo-tron. I’ve been to about a thousand games and have never been on the scoreboard. reTodd is there about 20 seconds and he gets on the scoreboard spilling his two beers (he couldn’t decide between Sprecher and Capitol Amber so he got both) all over and looking blasted. Todd just got worse from there. He got jealous of my Corona beads and ripped them off of my neck. This craziness kept on the entire game with various people being the center of the melee. The game had tons of craziness caused by other people too. One person chucked an inflatable doll on the field. I happened to be in concourse for that and heard Uecker say, “I’ve seen a lot of things in my days of doing the games, but that is something new.” The game was topped off in the right field bleachers. Some guy had a little too much fun and with one out left, the fans on their feet, and the Brewers about to seal the victory, this guy cleared out a ten yard radius around him by puking his guts out. I have to say he has a keeper girlfriend because she stayed there holding him in her loving arms. I ran down and snapped a couple pictures of him on my phone to put in my picture section when I get one. Finally the little golf cart ambulance was going to come and take him away but the guy rallied and avoided a trip to detox. When the game was over I headed back to the bus, and after an unsuccessful kidnapping to me back to Sheboredom I headed back downtown. A shout out to all the boys from back home. Todd, Brad, Pat and everyone else. A special thanks and congrats to the bachelor Digger. That night, well, forget it. I’m sick of typing, talk to you later.

Old Friends… New Times

Before the weekend comes I thought I better get a report of last weekend in. Friday was a great time. We had a revival of the 501 club at BBC on North Ave. The 501 club for those of you who are not aware is a fancy name for happy hour. Jocelyn picked me up after work and I clocked in for my second shift of the day at the local saloons. J and I were the only ones at this “Happy Hour” until about 6:30 when others finally started showing up. At this point my lack of food and a couple pitchers of Sprecher Amber had really gotten my weekend off to a rough start. I tried to play some pool and sucked. Tried to play some Golden Tee, sucked. So I really needed to get some food in me so we ate at BBC. I had a fish sandwich and I do have to say they have very good food there. From there we had a splitting of the group and half went to Patty’s to get some Old Fashions (Southern Comfort Sour, the only way to have them). There we wasted the night away (some more wasted than others, you know who you are) and called it a night at about 12.

Saturday was going to be a stay in and relax night but I got a call from my good friend Craig Evraets and he said he and his girlfriend had gotten a babysitter and were free to frolic the night away. J and I had reservations to eat a Joey Buona’s (some of the best Italian around) that night. After I got done eating enough chicken parmesan for all of Africa we headed back to my place to wait for Craig and his girlie. Then we got a call saying that Craig’s babysitter flaked out on him and he was coming solo. Craig said it was cool because Jackie got to go out the night before, not that Craig just ditched her. Once Craig got to our place I gave him the grand tour of our apartment. Ten seconds later we cracked a couple brews and started the reminiscing and stories that would last all night. We started at Mo’s to meet everyone. We stayed there for a beer and then headed off to the good old standby, the Metro. We started out pretty late so we were there maybe two hours and headed home. I made my special bar time spaghetti and called it a weekend at 4ish. So much for relaxing. This coming weekend Jocelyn will be in Miami for a bachelorette weekend so I’m solo again. I’m going to try and take it easy and save some dough and brain, we’ll see.

Brewers 2004 Opening Weekend – II

Saturday’s game didn’t have quite the craziness as opening day but that was expected. Since I was well rested I felt like a million bucks. I woke up around 7:30 and got ready for the game. We weren’t meeting until ten so I had a lot of crappy Saturday morning TV to watch (what happened to the good cartoons?). Once ten came I headed over to Adam’s apt. I was feeling good but everyone else in our group looked like a coyote ate them and crapped them off a cliff. It took a little time to get everyone going but that was expected for a group of 20. The tailgating at the park was pretty low key. I was the grill man and I have to give my props to Wians for setting everything up. He set up a bang up tailgate and he’s officially been elected the planner of all events from here on out. I did my fair share of beverage consuming and shot taking but in the end there was still half a half, yes a quarter, left over that went to waste, so much for hair of the dog. Once in the game we had a good time. We all sat together and there were these cool little kids and one of the dads next to us. The little tikes were all swapping cards that they were giving out at the gate. Scavenging the ground and people around me I managed to collect a set of 40. I was having fun with the kids trading them cards and I bought their best ones off of each of them for a buck, reminded me of my old card trading days. Well when the fun was over I knew the last thing I need was more crap like baseball cards so I divided them up amongst the little guys. Their pa was grateful and gave me some sunflower seeds in return. The game was a great one. Counsell got a hit and the Brewers won so the game ended up being a good game with great friends.

After chilling at my place for a bit and watching COPS, the Bone and I met Lueds and the crew at BBC. They were definitely a rag tag bunch that were unable to keep their eyes open. Most of the soldiers took off around 10 due to their inability to function. After that the lone survivors were Lueds, Bone and I. We were all in great not drunk shape so we headed to Patty’s to finish the night. Luedke’s woman met up with us and we just sat around telling college stories and making Luedke’s woman second guess what kind of guy she got mixed up with. It was a good time. We headed home around midnight and ended the weekend.

The Gypsy Ripped My Pants

I have a good amount to chat about in this entry. I missed last week so I have to talk about the NCAA tourney and the Badgers. After work J and I headed to the Hilton to meet up with the gang. We had about 15 people in our Badger crew. The game looked pretty bleak in the first half with Red down and struggling. They ended up coming back in the second half and kicking some butt. From there we headed to the Metro and kept the part going. Entertainment was provided by the ever entertaining big Schwenk-daddy. Schwenk you are one original man. I barely got over the hangover of the 10 hours of drinking when it was time to watch the Badgers again. This time the outcome wasn’t so good and Bucky got knocked out by Pitt. On to the baseball season.

This last weekend of the 27th we headed up to Sheboygan to fix a couple computers and J’s car. Friday night was spent doing the previously mentioned. The computer repairs went quick but replacing a heater core on a car is harder than replacing an engine. I swear this piece is the first piece bolted on the car. If this piece ever breaks on your car you’re better off throwing out your car and getting a new one rather than fixing it. My brother and I spent a good 6 hours taking off the entire dashboard and some of the cars other vital pieces. Whoever engineered this piece of crap must’ve missed as many college lectures as me. With the work done for the weekend it’s time to celebrate our accomplishment!

Saturday we went to Sheboygan’s world famous Ice Bowling festival. I have to admit I was pretty disappointed with the band and the festivals fun factor. Usually cheap beer and mullets to stare at in wonder equal a great time. We didn’t spend much time there but after that we headed to the Sheboygan Brewery. No sooner was I in the door than I was attacked by a swarm of green polyester. Low and behold it was Kondo, Weir and Richards completely wasted and in their ice bowling uniforms. The rest of the night became more blurry and blurry due to the crappy shots but I do remember Kondo sipping some sort of Tequila shot, who knows. At about 2:30 we hopped into one of Sheboygan’s gypsy cabs and headed home. Damn gypsy cab! I got out and into the house when Jocelyn noticed my pants ripped from my lower buttock to the upper buttock. The only explanation for my ripped trousers was the springs on the seats of the gypsy cab. A word to the wise. A cheap $5 gypsy cab ride is nice but if it’s going to rip a pair of $20 pants in the process, splurge the extra $5 and save your pants. It was fun but I have now had enough Sheboygan atmosphere to last me well into the summer.

A little side note. If you watch movies join Netflix. I joined this month and it is yet another tool for the lazy. I’m one step closer to the ideal life of not having to venture further than 5 yards of my couch. I’m watching more movies now because I’ve given up on the crap that’s on TV (sans The Sopranos). So I’m back to my movie reviews, check ’em out.

Hey Patty!

Not much happening lately. I didn’t go up north last weekend like I was supposed to because Jocelyn’s dad came into town. We had a good time. We watched the Big Ten tourney at the Milwaukee Ale House and wasted a good 6 hours there drinking and watching basketball.

I got another new cell phone so I’m going to have to plug all you people in again. I have to say that it is worth it getting the Sprint insurance if you have them as a carrier. My old Samsung wasn’t charging properly so I sent it in. Sprint upgraded my phone a top of the line Sanyo SCP-5500. It’s a video phone, not that I really need a video camera on my phone, but the thing is $350. Not a bad upgrade.

Happy St. Patty’s day to all. I had a great day. I celebrated the 25% of the Irish in me with 125% of partying. Jocelyn and I started off at County Claire. We got there around 6 and the joint was packed. They had a bar set up in the coat room and the lobby of the hotel was packed elbow to elbow. I had my corned beef sandwich and some beers to start things out. While we were there they had a father and daughter combo singing traditional Irish tunes. While we were sitting there a bus of bag pipe players came in and played some tunes but we couldn’t stay because there was other bars to be visited. We were supposed to meet Luedke at the Harp but of course he didn’t show up. So J and I had a pitcher of Smithwick’s and talked to some of my old Evan’s Scholars chums that I ran into. From there we went to O’Danny’s, had a beer and left. From there we went to McGillicuddy’s and low and behold we found the missing Luedke upstairs with his new woman. I always think the more the merrier so we stayed there drinking Guinness until eleven. To round out the evening J and hit Flannery’s on the way home for one last taste of the Irish fun before we called it a night. Another fun St. Paddy’s with friends. Erin-Go-Bragh!