PLAYOFFS!!!

An awful WI sports weekend avoided. Yesterday I watched the Badgers and Brewers both lose with Luedke at Rock Bottom. The Badgers dominated the first half and managed to lose when they failed do anything in the second half. They had a chance to tie and the two point conversion failed. At the exact same time the Mets won and Brewers staged a failed comeback to  be tied for the Wild Card on the final day of the season.

Sunday the Packers looked like garbage and lost to Tampa Bay. Rodgers was hurt in game four of the season. We’ll see how his durability is. A crappy weekend but then… TOTALLY REDEEMED by the Brewers.  The Crew beat the Cubs 3-1 on a Braun homer and Sabathia gem and the Mets lost 2-4 to the Marlins.  That makes us the wild card winner! I, like all of WI, am pumped! There is a rally tomorrow at the Summerfest grounds and then we take on the Phillies starting Wednesday. I’m hoping to get some tickets to see some Milwaukee history.

Football and Fall

We went to the Brewers game on Friday. We skipped happy hour this week. The game stunk, the Brewers were down five after the first inning. Sheets is a bum. After the game we went to The Pub for a couple burgers. We hadn’t been there in a while and they scratched an itch I’ve had for a while.

Saturday was a gorgeous day. You can tell Fall is right around the corner. I’ve missed the last two Badgers games since I was in Canada so I wasn’t about to miss this one. I headed out to Luedke’s parents’ house to watch the game in their media room. A bunch of the guys went out there. We had a couple beers and watched the Badgers struggle to beat Citadel. I haven’t been overly impressed with their play so far this year. At least we’re not Notre Dame. After the football game we headed to Adam’s for Chappy’s bachelor party. There were about twenty guys there. Everyone played cards but I wasn’t overly interested in playing so I watched football and drank beer. We played some drinking games, at some pizza and smoked some cigars. It was a good time. Chappy’s single life is quickly melting away.

Buy Me Some Peanuts …and Diamond Earrings

It was Good Friday this week and there is no better way to honor the day than a Brewers game. I met Luedke and Hand at Dukes to have some happy hour brew before heading to the game. We bussed it to the stadium. It was a dreaded Brewers v. Cubs game. Luedke had the tickets and they were awesome seats but we were losing the whole game and dealing with Chub fans in that environment is a form of torture. L still had a ticket left and we called J to come meet us which she did. We stayed at the game for about five innings and then went to My Office for a few.

Saturday Jocelyn and I went out to celebrate our one year anniversary. It was a perfect one year celebration with my perfect woman. We went to Devon Seafood in the new Bayshore Town Centre. It was a crisp night but only being a couple blocks away we didn’t have be outside long. The food at the Devon was outstanding! I got an amazing cioppino which is a like a thick, spicy bouillabaisse. After dinner was over I gave J a pair of diamond earrings for our anniversary. I may have shot myself in the foot and overachieved for a first anniversary present but J is worth every penny. I got the earrings at a going out of business sale and have been holding on to them for four months which is impossible for me to do, especially with something like this. I was able to wait though. She loved them and the night was perfect. We headed home, had some champagne and called it a night.

Sunday was our actual one year anniversary but since we had celebrated it the night before it was low key. Sunday was also Easter. The only thing we really did was eat our cake top that Becky had air locked and froze for us. It actually wasn’t that bad. Nothing much else happened. I made a ham so we had some sandwiches and took it easy.

The Grand Prix Fix of Milwaukee

I had a very pleasant spring weekend. Friday night J and I went to the Brewers game. It was so nice after work and I was really looking forward to sitting in the lot and soaking up some rays. Of course Mother Nature knows that the weekend has started so she decided to bring in a huge bank of clouds as we were driving to the game. It still wasn’t too bad but the sun would’ve made it that much better. It was first day of the spring madness games. We bought Beer Pen tickets so I received my first free t-shirt of the year. We watched the crew lose a fairly boring game. We were out of it so we left in the top of the eight so we took off early. Canal Street just opened up so now its super easy to get home and the traffic is literally zero. I called Adam on the way downtown to see if he wanted to hit My Office for a bit. He did. So I picked him up on the way and dropped him and J off and went to park the car. Luedke showed up a little later with Anna and the five of us shot darts and had a good time. A late night stop at Myk completed the evening.

We had already planned to go to the game on Saturday and the weather cooperated a bit more than the night before. It was a nice sunny day and we headed for the lot at eleven. The same crew from the night before hung out in the parking lot. I got some good sun and we enjoyed a couple beers. We went into the game and got to witness a little history. The Brewers hit five home runs in one inning. That history doesn’t compete with my back-to-back foul ball catches, yea I’m still sore. A guy in front of us had gotten one of the balls. We learned later that the Brewers were attempting to collect all five balls so they traded the guy a game used bat and a ball signed by everyone, lucky dog. We enjoyed the rest of the game and headed out after the Brewers stomped the Reds. I didn’t get to eat as many hot dogs as last year. There was no real competition so I only ended up with a paltry seven. After the game we headed back downtown to Luedke’s and spent the afternoon playing dominos and watching the basketball playoffs. I was getting super tired but they motley crew wouldn’t allow me the privilege of going home to sleep. After dominos we headed to the Nomad which is a short walk from Luedke’s. We had some more beers there and got a couple of their Prix Fixes. It’s a special that really doesn’t appeal to me but I’m a sucker for a deal so I got a couple. You get a Pabst, a shot of Jamison and a cigarette for $5. It’s a steal and also a pretty hilarious combination. After a couple of those I was so tired I had to go home. Another stop at Myk to conclude a long day. The next entry will be coming from Hawaii! Mai tais for all!

What’s That Bright Thing? The Sun?

The weather is finally starting to get a little better and instead of feeling like collapsing on the couch after work I called up the wife and Luedke to see if they wanted to meet at the Ale House for some pints. I met them both after work on Friday and we sat at the bar and had some drinks. We got there early and the patio bar wasn’t opened yet so we stayed inside, at least we could see the sun. What was supposed to be a couple of pints turning into an all night affair because a bunch of our friends showed up. It was one of those “one more and then I’m out” moments where people keep on showing up so you can’t leave because you have to have a beer with them. So we ended up leaving the Ale House at about nine and going to the outdoor beer garden at McGillicuddy’s. J and I had one beer there and headed home about eleven or so. We stopped at the Myk on the way home to wrap up the night.

It was another nice day on Saturday and I just bought a new road bike and wanted to take it for a spin. J and I went for a short bike ride. It started to get a little cool so we didn’t get to go as far as we had hoped. It was nice to see the sun for a change though. After the bike ride we went to Kondo’s place for a cookout. There were a bunch of people at Kondo’s. We grilled out and had some beers and were home a little after ten. A fun day and not overly crazy which was nice.

Sunday was Easter. No families for either of us this year. We celebrated our one week anniversary by going to brunch at a new crab house called Rip Tide. I had a build your own Bloody Mary and the brunch. I also made the traditional Easter ham at home. We spent the day together, just the two of us. No holiday traveling was a nice change. Counting down the hours to Hawaii. Can’t wait.