You Take The Good You Take The Bad

These past couple weeks haven’t had that much going on. Last weekend I didn’t go out all weekend and just lounged, rested, and worked on my new Media Center PC (which kicks butt by the way).

Saturday Jocelyn’s mom came up for a visit. She took us out to a late lunch at the Ale House. I had a couple of my favs, Sheepshead Stout, and delicious mushroom burger. The burger really hit the spot because I don’t get my weekly Friday lunch burger fix anymore due to lent. The Ale House trip is pretty much the only thing that happened last weekend.

This weekend didn’t start out so hot. The week in general was pretty crappy. My aunt Joanie died. The funeral was Friday morning so that is a downer way to start out a weekend. I was close with my aunt Joanie. My mom and I did a lot with her on the weekends when I was growing up. So Friday morning we headed to Sheboygan. The funeral was obviously sad and after the funeral we had lunch with the family and headed back to Milwaukee. I wasn’t planning on doing much that night but it was Matzek’s birthday so I headed out to Mo’s to meet up with the clan. J had stuff to do on Saturday so she stayed home. I went out at ten which seemed like two days later in this long day. I stayed at Mo’s and then went to My Office with the newly engaged Adam and Stacey. We closed that place down and I went to Mykano’s for a gyro and headed home.

Saturday Jocelyn’s dad came into town and we went to Joey Buona’s to over eat. If you plan on doing anything Saturday night, do not eat here. Whenever I eat here it puts me into satisfied, deep sleep mode and I just lay. So I laid the rest of the night and did nothing but watch a movie. Sunday J’s dad came over to watch his beloved Illini lose to the Buckeyes to ruin their undefeated season. After that we went to brunch with Jocelyn’s dad at the Pfister. After we finished eating J went to show her dad her office so I went home. It was a beautiful day so I decided to go for a run. The lakefront was packed with people enjoying the rare 50 degree weather. It turns out Mother Nature was just teasing us because this week has been cold and snowy.

A very big positive event is going to happen this Friday. After years of struggling to get my credit cards paid off this week will be the week. This week’s check will officially put me credit card debt free. I will have paid off Spring Break ’98, ’00, and ’01 as well as countless other frivolous items I purchased when I was given the financial power of plastic. What a joy this is and a word to the kiddies getting credit cards now. Don’t get them! And if you do make sure the limit is somewhere around $300. I’m also off to AZ this weekend so I should have some good stories for you next week.

When Guinness Calls, I Must Answer

On Friday I played it cool most of the night but I actually did leave the apartment for the first Friday in a long time. It was the great Guinness toast and since I live three blocks from two great Irish pubs I called Luedke and met him at County Claire. Jocelyn had to wake up early so I went solo. I met Luedke and his girlfriend Anna at about ten thirty. We had a couple pints of the dark beverage and participated in the worldwide toast. I headed home about twelve and called it a night.

Saturday I played the role of bum and lounged around all day. I had to get rested up because I knew that that night I was going to need lots of energy for cutting rug. We were going to go to a party but we decided to skip it and hooked up with Craig, Jackie and Feyer for a night of Three action. We did the usual route to Three via Taylor’s. It was really getting nasty and cold outside but it was on fire inside, WHOOPTY WOO! We stayed there all night and grooved to the jams of Milwaukee’s premiere DJ Jonn Hawley. At about 1:30 we left and went to out other new weekend routine Real Chili. We inhaled a couple bowls of the good stuff and headed home. It was really nasty outside and J and I saw a car rear end another car at a stoplight because of the icy roads. I’m sure there was booze involved but it was too cold to stick around and see the outcome so we hoofed it home and hit the hay.

How Can A Brewery Be Tapped?

As typical weekends have been going I stayed in on Friday and did nothing. Saturday we had quite the full day though. Adam came over at noon to watch the Badgers fall again to Illinois. Luedke had made his way over at halftime to add another voice yelling at the TV. After the game was over we went to the Lakefront Brewery to take advantage of the four beers for five bucks deal. It’s actually called the brewery tour but we usually skip that part. This is usually a great time but we were actually disappointed this time. They had to setup the upstairs for a wedding so they shuffled everyone to the downstairs taps. When we got down there everyone got one beer and the barrels kicked and they wouldn’t tap anymore. It’s a brewery for crying out loud, tap another one of the hundred kegs lying around you lazy ass. Anyway there were about fifty very upset people, us included because we had two more tokens left. So we gathered the troops and headed to Wolski’s for a couple more brews. At Wolski’s we shot some darts on the real horse hair boards with the classic metal tipped darts. J and I didn’t do so hot but it was fun anyway. After Wolski’s we went to the Hi-Hat and we were going to get some grub but we sat down and put in a drink order. Fifteen minutes later with no drinks and a waiter spilling water on Luedke’s sister we decided to leave. The group all went to some place that I didn’t want to eat at so I hit up Subway for some eats. I finished my sub way before the other group so I went to the Nomad and waited for them there. Finally the group arrived and we stayed there for a good amount of time and drank some specialty brews. Soldiers started falling left and right at about eleven but Feyer called at that time as well and said he was in town. So J and I took a cab home and changed. We met Feyer at the Metro with one of his other buddies. Feyer had to go to Have A Nice Day to meet someone else so J and I stayed at the Metro until about one and called it a night.

I for one hate Valentine’s Day but I do like going out to eat so I took J to a cozy little Italian place called Zarletti’s here in downtown. We had a great meal and our waiter was very “friendly” and really allowed us to stretch out our meal. We were there for over an hour and had a very nice sit down meal which I haven’t had in a while. I had the shrimp scampi and it was delicious. If you want a nice reasonably prices place to take a special someone I give this place a thumbs up. Next holiday up, a real holiday, St. Patrick’s Day.

Appendage Progress

I am actually typing this with two hands, although very slowly. I got my splint off today but I still have to be very cautious and also have a lot more work to get motion and strength back. But farewell to that stupid splint.

Super Nothing Special Bowl Sunday

I was sick almost all week so I slept Friday night away. Saturday I was going to do more of the same but Marti called me and asked if I wanted to go to the Marquette game. Not being one to turn down a free ticket I decided to go. I don’t know where our tickets actually were but second half we snuck down and got pretty close to the action. Marquette won so my decision to go was a good one. After the game Chad came over for a bit but after he left it was back to sleep for me. This Sunday was the Super Bowl and I held another Super Bowl party. I got up pretty early to start all the dips and other food. We had chili, BBQ pork, chicken wings, guac, French onion dip, taco dip and pizza rolls. That morning I was starting the taco dip while I waited for the shower to open up. While I was doing this I heard the door open and some guy walk in. The guy looked at me in confusion and I looked at him in surprise and he yelled out “Oh shit, sorry” and took off. It was the guy that lives above us and he must’ve gotten off on the wrong floor and wasn’t paying attention, very funny. After that I finished getting myself and all the food ready. Luedke, Adam, Stacy, Todd, Steph, Chappy and Katie all arrived pretty close to kick off. We all pitched in $10 for a 50/50 pool and I was lucky enough to win the first half and J won the second so we won almost enough to cover the party cost. It appeared everyone liked the food, especially the pizza rolls, and everyone had a good time. The game was just another game, nothing too spectacular but another reason to get together with friends.