Regular ‘ol Weekend

I am posting this entry from the comfort of my couch because this past week it got a new laptop. I got a Dell 700m and I absolutely love it. I’ve had a pretty low key month with the exception of Wertz coming in from NY. Friday we went to Mequon to pick up Jocelyn’s dress for Todd’s wedding. While we were out there we went to Milli’s Spaghetti Factory. This place used to be a regular stop for my mom, aunt Joanie and me when we made our trips to Northridge Mall (which is no longer open). The food was good and I got what I always got as a kid, linguine in red clam sauce, yum. After that we headed back downtown and went by Luedke’s for a bit. We had a beer there and after that Jocelyn went home because she was doing the Urban Frog race the next day. I on the other hand was able to have a couple more beers. So I joined the L, Adam and Stacy for a couple beers across the street at Halliday’s. I had a couple beers and headed home before midnight. On my walk home I got buzzed by a couple on a crotch rocket. They were being followed by four others also on bikes. The second group passed two cars using the white divider line as a lane so they weren’t the safest of riders. At that moment I had one of those, “Those people are going to kill themselves,” or “Someday something bad is going to happen to them moments.” I kept on walking and got about 100 yards from the upcoming intersection when I heard the screeching and crashing. The guy and girl got hit broadside and thrown a good 20+ yards into the little park that was by the intersection. There was a white Celica with four hysterical girls in it that had the front end smashed in and the bumper half off. I was one of the first people on the scene but could already hear sirens coming so I didn’t need to call 911. I stood and watched the melee for about 20 minutes and the guy didn’t move once. The bike had a v contour to it so I’d imagine they both had at least one crushed leg. Shows you what unsafe riding can do I guess.

Saturday I had a little list of things to do. Jocelyn was doing her adventure race so I was going solo. I took her car to the mechanic to get the air conditioning checked. I dropped the car off and took my bike out of the back of the Montero and biked around downtown for a bit. There were people running around doing the race but I didn’t see J anywhere. One of my errands was exchanging my bike seat. It had a hole in it when I bought it and they said I could just take it in to Wheel & Sprocket for an exchange. It was a good fifteen miles roundtrip so it took me a little over an hour. I got the seat exchanged, biked to the mechanic to pick up the Montero and headed home. Jocelyn got home about four or five and took a nap. Around seven we went to Elsa’s with Adam and Stacy to get some grub. The food there is very good. Their menu is mostly gourmet hamburgers and pork chops. When you walk into the place it seems like a swanky joint but they serve mostly burgers. The place is owned by the same people who own the Kopp’s hamburger places so you know the burger is going to be good, and it was. I had an APV II which had some blue cheese and onions fried in Cabernet sauvignon, delicious. The meal was very good but the drinks added a lot of money to the bill and we spent more than expected. My suggestion is just get the burgers there. They’re about $8 and well worth it. Save the drinks for My Office. So after dinner we went to of all places, My Office. We had a couple drinks there and chatted it up with the bartender. After that we went and met Adam’s friends at County Claire for one last beer and then headed home, again before the stroke of midnight.

Sunday I woke up and did what will be my normal Sunday morning routine for the next 18 weeks. I started training for the Chicago marathon so I do my long runs on Sundays, 11 miles this week. After that Jocelyn and I went to the mall in Brookfield. We shopped around and then went and ate at a place called the Char House. I had to get a suit coat for an event this coming weekend so we went to Men’s Warehouse after that and low and behold Todd and Steph were there. Todd was getting his tux fitted for the big day. It was a quite the coincidence because I will probably die in this suit coat and don’t venture to Brookfield very much. After that run in I got my coat, a steal by the way, and we headed home to sit on the couch and watch the end of the U.S. Open.

The Summer of the Hamburger

  • Post author:
  • Post category:Food
  • Post comments:0 Comments

To think that people actually get paid to sample and write columns on their favorite hamburgers. Man did my guidance counselor screw that up. It is the first day of summer and I have decided to make summer of ’05 the year of the hamburger. I vow to sample every burger in this JS Online article. I will also be grilling many burgers in search of my own recipe. If anyone wants to join me on the Tour of Burgers where we will sample all the burgers below this summer, feel free to contact me. FoodTV.com just had a great hamburger show too. Here is their link as well.

FoodTV: Challenge: Build a Better Burger
JS Online: Building a bigger, better burger

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.

My Virus From The South

This weekend we went to Orland Park just outside of Chicago to spend Jocelyn’s birthday at her mother’s place. Saturday afternoon we made our way down south. We left Milwaukee just before noon and the weather was 45 and cloudy. By the time we got to the ‘burbs of Chicago the temp was in the high 60s and sunny. It was a beautiful spring day and what better way to spend the day than removing viruses and repairing computers. It seems Jocelyn’s mother’s boyfriend’s (sister’s, cousin’s, acquaintance’s) computer had some nasty viruses that needed eradicating. Never fear, Rautech (which has been redesigned) to the rescue. I thought this was going to be your everyday run of the mill removal but this was the worst virus I have ever come across. Many of the discussion boards suggested nuking the hard drive and starting from scratch. I didn’t want to take the easy way out so I spent hours plugging away at the darn thing. I really tried everything. At about three I took a break and we went over to see the new house a couple miles away that they’re moving into June. It’s very nice and has a Frank Lloyd Wright feel to it. After that we went back to the other house and I continued to plug away at the virus. I took another hour break for some spaghetti bake and vino but when that was done back to the dungeon I went. I spent the rest of the night working away and at midnight, almost twelve hours later I finally fixed the problem! I could’ve have done the reformat but this was definitely a personal/pride thing and I kicked that virus’ butt!

Sunday was another beautiful day and I had no viruses to remove, only a wireless network card to install. So I worked on that a bit and then went to the park with the Picl girls and enjoyed the 80 degree weather. The park had these rickety busted up concrete stairs that are used to climb the hill of a toboggan run. I did these stairs about five times and I had enough. I shouldn’t have run them but that is no excuse, I’m just plain weak. I had enough and went and sat on the picnic table and waited for the others to finish up. J and her sister stopped and we played aerobie/Frisbee. I found out how a dog feels when he’s playing fetch with his owner because the aerobie never really flew at me but more above and to the left of me. The problem was my legs didn’t work from those steps so getting the stupid thing was a chore. After J’s mom finish doing the steps 20 times we headed back and showered up for dinner. Before we went to dinner we stopped at a really nice restaurant/bar called The Canoe Club. We stopped there for a beer and to see the very large and very cool shark tank that they had as the bar back. After that we went to a Japanese steak house. It was one of those places where they chopped the food up in front of you and toss it around. Our chef was great and all the food was superb. From the time the chef arrived we were eating something. It started with soup, then salad, fried rice, vegetables, shrimp app, my steak and scallops, mushrooms, and then finally green tea ice cream and it was all great. I worked my chopsticks flawlessly and looked like Ryan Chopstickhands throughout dinner. When dinner was over we had Jocelyn’s birthday cake and some rum drinks back at the house. We spent the night listening to music and enjoying some warm weather. We took off about 8 and got home safe and sound. A happy mother’s day to all the mothers out there!

Spring Is Here… I Smell The Hot Dogs

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!