Know What I Mean?

I Want To .. .....

2009-07-27T03:22:00.003-05:00

I want to start playing the piano again.

I want to go back to school.

I want to be able to install a double tight double wideout package.

I want to cook a gigantic steak on the grill tomorrow.

I want to teach.

I want to go swimming more often.

I want to skydive.

I want to be a firefighter.

I want to read more.

I want to write a book.

I want to travel.

I want to get a tattoo.

I want to learn Flash.

I want to be happy.

The Dartboard

2009-04-25T01:23:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite days of the year is upon us. The NFL Draft. A day when every team thinks they find the puzzle pieces that will put them over the top.

If you don't follow football, you would be shocked to learn how the process works. Teams spend millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours scouting players. And in the end, they usually get it right only half the time. Especially in the first few rounds of the draft, the 'experts' get it wrong more than they get it right.

So it's fun to join in on the arm-chair GM game. So as a gigantic fan of college football, here's my take on a few of the guys that should go very early in the draft.

Matthew Stafford ( QB Georgia ) - Stafford already signed a deal with the Lions a few hours ago to be the number one overall pick. This year is not regarded as a 'deep' draft class, meaning there aren't alot of superstars to pick from. But in any year, Stafford is a superstar. He can make all the throws, and has one of the best arms to come out of college in a long time. His only downside at this point... is that he's the best player available. He's going to the Lions.... poor Matthew. I think he'll be a serviceable QB in the league, it's just going to take a while... or him moving to another team before that happens. But he'll stay in the league, and be a starter for most of his career.

Mark Sanchez ( QB - USC ) - Sanchez is the biggest boom/bust prospect in the draft. Someone is going to draft him WAAAAY higher than his resume warrants. He's got physical tools, but is still pretty green under the gills. He too will be hurt by going to a crappy team, and he'll take a lot of lumps in the NFL. I don't think he'll have half the career that Stafford will have. He is the 'buzz' player right now before the draft, but nobody has played a game in 3 months. How someones stock can rise so much when you're not playing is beyond me. Halfway through the college season, he wasn't mentioned as a top ten pick.... I think he's still the same player he was in November, and isn't worth the risk. Serviceable backup for most of his career I think.

Aaron Curry ( OLB - Wake Forest ) - The safest defensive pick in the draft. Curry can come in and start and be productive right away - even if he goes to a crappy team. Defensive players don't get hurt by going to poor teams as much as offensive players do. Especially at LB. Curry should be a mainstay for most of his career. He reminds me of AJ Hawk coming out of college. Sorry Nort, Hawk isn't living up to being the 5th overall pick, but he was still a good pick. Curry won't be the next Ray Lewis, but he'll make whoever picks him up happy with the pick for a long time.

Andre Smith ( OL - Alabama ) - Gulp. This one boggles my mind. He is the second rated OL in the draft... DESPITE flaking out at the NFL Combine ( he just up and LEFT. Like walked out. That's never happened before in the history of the combine. I'll say it again. He just left. ) He also showed up having put on over 20 pounds since the season ended, and his body looked like he swallowed a bag of nickles. He was a beast in college... but I think he got by on his size alone in college. A defensive end in the NFL will run circles around him. I'm spooked cuz a TON of mock drafts have the Packers picking him at the nine spot. GULP. I hope we don't take him. I don't see him staying very long in the league.

I think the receiver that will be the best out of this draft class will be Hakeem Nicks out of North Carolina. He's big and has great hands. He's projected by the experts as the fifth best WR... but I think he's going to make more of an impact right away, and in the long run will be the best wideout available this year.

The RB, the DL, and the DBs are all so muddled, I'm just guessing as much as the experts are when it comes to them, so I'm not going to prognosicate when it comes to them.

But it will sure be fun to watch this weekend.

Hey Bear.

2009-04-25T01:20:00.003-05:00

WTF?

2009-04-25T01:16:00.001-05:00

Monkey Talk From the Zoo

2009-04-24T23:05:00.000-05:00

A text exchange from this afternoon while we were at the zoo:

Flax: "Mason just waived at a monkey."

Will: "Don't talk about people from Cudahy like that Flax, it's not nice."

For the six of you that have internet access in Cudahy, send your hate mail to Will.

Child Labor

2009-04-20T21:04:00.002-05:00

Didn't even teach him that. Now, if I could just get him to handle the lawnmower.

Did You Grab Your Ankles Yesterday?

2009-04-16T21:05:00.005-05:00

Monopoly money. How can the numbers that the government plays with when it comes to budgets/ bailouts/ entitlements/ handouts/ subsidies/ pensions/ infrastructure be real?

Here in Wisconsin, they're gonna pass a gigantic budget. I stopped paying attention when the INCREASE in spending exceeded the 2 BILLION dollar mark. They're gonna increase the gas tax, the cigarette tax, they already increased the 'bed tax' for hospitals. Property taxes are going up. The estate tax went up. They raised the corporate tax level. They increased the cost of vehicle registration. They even added a twenty dollar 'wheel tax' on vehicle registrations in the city of Milwaukee.

They took AWAY a tax credit for companies investing in making medical records digital. They are SOOOO looking for extra money to spend, that they took away money promised to companies for doing something the state ENCOURAGED them to do.

They're gonna tax companies that need to get Air Carrier status. As someone who used to work in the transportation industry, this one is pretty stupid. Air Carrier status means you've taken the steps necessary with the Department of Homeland Security to expedite and streamline the process of transporting things via the air. If you need something to go quickly, you can use any one of a host of airlines to ship your cargo. But it's a absolute nightmare of paperwork and logistics to get it approved, and actually on the plane. But if it's something you need to do business alot, you can get certified as an Air Carrier, and avoid some of the bureaucracy. So it's a good thing if you do it... but Wisconsin, and only Wisconsin wants to tax a company for taking that step.

They're going to REDUCE the capital gains exclusion to 40%

They're going to significantly increase the tax level for the top level earners in Wisconsin.

They want to tax digital ( music and video ) purchases in accordance with the state sales tax here.

But hey, at least we're not Oregon. Oregon wants to raise the beer tax by 1900%.

Eugene Kane

2009-04-04T23:55:00.002-05:00

So I stopped reading him for a long long time. But the other day, I made the mistake of picking up the paper, and his article was sitting there waiting for me. I should have known better than to read it. The article was about Rev. Wright ( of Obama's former pastor fame ).

I had to post this, because I wanted to make sure that I read it right. Mr. Kane is comparing Rev. Wright to Martin Luther King Jr??????? How is that even possible?

And then he ends the article by saying that people might be disappointed by Rev. Wright not saying here in Milwaukee "God Damn America"... 'but that we know he really didn't say it the first time'........ What. The. Fuck?

He did say it the first time!! How can you say with a straight face that this guy is just like Dr. King??? And then say that he didn't say things that were CAUGHT ON CAMERA???

I remember why I don't read Mr. Kane anymore.

Mambo Number Eighty Five

2009-04-04T22:43:00.002-05:00

Had the chance to go to the Admirals game last night. ( that's hockey for you outta-towners )

Turned out to be a decent game - even though the Admrials didn't start to really take the game serious until the second period was almost over.

It would have been a great game... because there was alot of opportunities for fights.

BUUUUUUTTTT... there is a ref in the AHL that wears number 85... and he is a gigantic prick. He came flying in outta nowhere to break up almost every fight that was about to happen. I thought the refs were supposed to let it go until one of the guys fell down... but noooooooooo. This asshat had to jump in like he was taking a bullet for the president or something.

There's always one guy that has to ruin the fun for everyone else. Yesterday, I found THAT guy.

Good Bye Capitalism

2009-03-30T00:13:00.001-05:00

Geithner on "Meet the Press" just said:

"I think the adjustment to a period of excess is necessary. We never want to have a crisis to remind people of the importance of living within their means, of not borrowing too much. Or why regulation is important. You never wanna have a crisis that is damaging to make that point. But we're gonna emerge stronger from this. When we get through this, people are gonna care less about what they make, more about what they do. What they achieve and what they do, and that will make the country stronger."

His remarks came from David Gregory asking him to comment on the latest Time magazine cover, depicting a red "reset" button and the words "The End of Excess, why this crisis is good for America".

I don't even know where to begin. The numbers being thrown around from all this stimulus/loans/bailouts are now so absurd, the numbers are just made up at this point. What the money is being spent on is another post worth ranting.

But while I'm not surprised it didn't happen - but I got mad at Gregroy for not taking Geithner to task on his comments. "People are gonna care less about WHAT THEY MAKE".

Lets repeat that. Our Treasury Secretary thinks that people are not going to care as much about how much money they make at their jobs. What fantasy world does he live in? (Maybe the same fantasy world where you don't have to pay taxes)

Obama was right. It's gonna get worse before it gets better. But with attitudes like that in his administration.... it may never get better. The more I learn about what's going on here, the more frightened I become.

This is a little scary. We might not even recognize the country as we know it in a very short time.

Rock the 'Hawk

2009-03-28T00:22:00.000-05:00

Apparently it's been a popular theme lately.

Balls In Hand

2009-03-25T00:13:00.000-05:00

Sometimes you just feel like you have the world by the balls. You know the feeling. Like you've become more acutely aware of your surroundings. You're ready for anything. You can almost sense what's going to happen next, and you know your next move... and that it's going to be successful. You're almost invincible. Your mind is sharp, and almost anxious waiting for the next moment.

It can happen anywhere, and at anytime. You can kick ass at work, and impress the suits that get paid to judge your performance. You can be "in the zone" in sports. It feels like everyone else is playing at three-quarters speed, and you're moving faster than you ever have before in your life.

I think to some extent, it's a conscious decision to grab the world by the balls. Corny as it sounds, I think there's something to be said for the positive affirmations you can give yourself. If you tell yourself you're going to knock that project out of the park at work, you can. Especially if you say it enough. It's a little like 'fake it till you make it' dogma...

But as much as it is a conscious thought to grab the world by the balls, it's funny how sometimes the planets align and show you that no matter how much positive reinforcements you go to battle with....... the universe is a much more powerful force than you EVER imagined. The "God has a sense of humor" initiative takes over, and the fates conspire to throw every freakin possible roadblock in front of you. And it can turn on a dime... and with no logical explanation.

To a point, that's what makes life fun. Like the salmon swimming upstream, we have no control over if the river turns right or left... we just keep spending energy swimming in the water. Today, I had one of those days where it just seemed like no matter how hard I swam, I didn't move upstream any. The day started with me thinking I had the world by the proverbial balls, but the universe did JUST enough to remind me that I wasn't totally in control.

So we battled back and forth all day. And in the end, I think I won. ( Did I really win against the universe? Most would say probably not - but I'm going to tell myself I did ). Why do I think I won? Because I have to get up tomorrow and do it all over again. And for the first time in a long time in my life, I'm looking forward to trying to defeat the universe. I like the feeling of thinking I can take on the world and win. ( Am I really gonna win tomorrow? Again, most would say probably not. ). But you know, if I say it enough... it might just come true.

Baileys and Basketball

2009-03-22T16:37:00.002-05:00

College football is my favorite sport, with the NFL a close second. I can't even lie and say that I'm a fan of the NBA, but I do really like college basketball. But it's still taking a backseat to football - so while I really like college bb, I don't follow it enough to call myself an expert.

But so far through the first round ( and half the second round ), I've watched more NCAA tourney than I ever have through this point already. I'm in two pools at work ( a cheap one, and a not as cheap one ). I don't have any grand illusions that I'll win either one, but it's fun to enter one with a shiat-ton of people for a change.

But some of the beauty of college sports is it's unpredictability. Even if I was a huge college basketball nut, filling out a bracket this year would have made me pull out what's left of my hair. Once the regular season got into January, no team wanted to hold onto the #1 ranking. The Badgers started the season well, getting ranked as high as 12. Then February rolled around and they lost five in a row. Marquette got ranked as high as 8. Then James broke his foot, they lost five of their last six, and limped into the big dance.

I did pick UW as a upset over FSU. I thought FSU was over ranked as a 5 seed, and hoped that the Badgers could at least squeak out one game like it was December again. They did, and then they threw the game away against Xavier. I'm now watching Marquette have their hands COMPLETELY full against Mizzou. The Tigers are starting to put the throttle down on the Eagles, and it's gonna be a long second half if Marquette doesn't stop f*cking up.

Of course it would help if Mizzou would miss ONE GOD DAMN shot. But that hasn't happened.

So I'll sit here drinking my Baileys and enjoying a lazy Sunday. The only thing that would make this day better would be if I was in Vegas.

DALLLLLIIIIBOUUUURRRRRR!

Can't Wait To Say It To Nort...

2009-03-22T16:29:00.000-05:00

Five HUNDY!

2009-03-18T23:39:00.003-05:00

Five hundred posts.

I wish I had something much more appropriate for this post, but given this is only my second post in like a half a year.... we'll just make a bit of a small production here, then get back to the mindless drivel.

Okay, party over. A mini "Safety Tips" before bed tonight.

I'm doing an NCAA pool at work this year. Well, two of them. For those 'Government Types' reading my blog - it's perfectly legal, don't worry. ( For everyone else, no, it's not ) I actually started paying attention to college basketball in January. That time coincides with my starting the new job. One of the things I was really excited about was the idea that I could lose 30 bucks in a gigantic office pool this year. I was even more excited when I started watching college basketball, and every team fell apart like Britney Spears after a weekend without cigarettes. So that made picking the bracket a helluva lotta fun this year. Glad I could make a donation to the pot.
President Obama was on SportsCenter touting his picks for the tournament. He wrote out his picks on a giant dry erase board, that had the teams and the bracket lines all neatly press-screened on to the board - complete with the presidential seal. I'd like to think I don't live in a world with all these bailouts, that my government doesn't spent a couple of hundreds of dollars making that board for him. I also would like to think that he has more important things to do than to give 2 hours to ESPN for his picks. But he is all about change... I just didn't imagine it'd be like this.
In a nice parting piece, the ESPN ombudsman wrote a great article about how mostly what she read from sports fans was that ESPN was way to self-indulgent. And while I like this person, I hope her successor can raise the profile of the position a lot more than she did.
Keeping the sports theme, Friday Night Lights is the best show on television. Hands down. Well, non-animated at least. Family Guy still takes the cake in that genre.
Props to Bob, who this past St Patty's day, had the opportunity to celebrate it in 3 cities, 3 countries, 2 continents - all on the same holiday. Impressive.
Me, well I had 2 beers. Woot.
I still love this laptop.
But I love sleep more, so that means 'goodnight beyotches'.

I'm BAAAAAAAAACK!

2009-03-17T23:09:00.002-05:00

It took me finally getting with the technology revolution, but I finally broke down and got a laptop. It's a monster, but I'm impressed so far. So what does this mean? Well, now I have no excuse for not getting on here more often. I am currently sitting on the couch, watching Sportscenter, and typing on here, while I wait for a friend to play me in Mario Kart over the Internet through the Wii. Ain't technology grand?

There's been SO much that's happened since I last posted. And that was quite some time ago, because without looking at the blog, I couldn't even tell you when that was. Sad, I know. But now that I have this new toy, there will be plenty of time to get everyone up to speed. I got one of the 'dream' jobs I wanted from before - football went really well last year - Lil' Man is walking around causing all kinds of havoc... so it's been quite pretty much a whirlwind around here. I have so many things I want to put on here, but we'll take it one step at a time. This was the first step, just logging back on... and I'll take that small moral victory for the moment.

So hold on world - I know I said it before - but this time I'm SERIOUS! More posts, more often! I'm stoked!

"What??? I Was Just Lookin!"

2008-10-17T22:42:00.002-05:00

Safety Tips - The Extended Version

2008-09-16T23:26:00.002-05:00

Okay. This has been a long post in the making. Over the last few weeks, I've noticed things that prolly deserve their own post, but things have been so hectic here at the offices of "Know What I Mean", so we threw them into a Safety Tips post. Keep in mind that this is a collection of thoughts from an extended period of time. I am not like Will, and my mind doesn't work like this in a short period of time. Not that there's anything wrong with that Will... ;)

All this political bull-shit deserves posts of their own, but well start off with a bang. I wrote a post a while back about how I hate traffic barrels. And that's all I could think of when Hillary wore her pants suit at the DNC for her speech. Senior advisers getting paid six figures, and no one thought to tell her that "traffic-barrel orange" isn't a good look?
Obama had a commercial where he was critical of 'Big Oil'. In this commercial, the voice-over guy says, and I quote, "Everytime you fill your tank, Big Oil fills their pockets." What. The. Fuck. Last time I checked, ANY company puts money in their pocket when you buy their product. It's not like every company sells you a product at NO profit to them, and Big Oil companies are the only ones making a profit. Sure, they're making a large profit, but that's the nature of a free-market. The margin on their product hasn't gone way up in recent years... but the sheer volume of the product their selling is going WAY up. So to see a commercial like that, where they skewer the info just makes me wanna barf. Although, pretty much the entire political culture makes me wanna barf.
College football kicked off a few weekends ago. It's just about my favorite time of year, and this season has NOT disappointed early on. But this had me cracking up: ESPN in their every present wisdom, sold the naming rights to the 'kickoff weekend'. And here's what they came up with..... " The Chick-Fil-A College Football Weekend Presented By Southwest." What. The Fuck. How can a weekend sponsored by Chick-Fil-A be presented by Southwest? So Chick-Fil-A paid ESPN to have the naming rights... and then who did Southwest give their money to? ESPN? Chick-Fil-A? If ESPN got the money, I'd be pissed if I was Chick-Fil-A.
The dude that played Billy-Bob, Ron Lester ( sounds like a porn name ) in Varsity Blues used to weigh 508 pounds. That was his weight when he filmed the movie in 1999. He now weighs 197 pounds. You don't even recognize him, except for his voice which hasn't changed. That movie for me is one of those classically underrated movies. It's not an artistic breakthrough by any means ( well, except maybe Ali Larter in a whipped-cream bikini )... but it was funny and well structured. The football scenes are decent... and Ali Larter is in a whipped cream bikini. So yeah, I said it. I liked the movie. Mostly cuz Ali Larter is in a whipped cream bikini.
Speaking of Hollywood, Bernie Mac died. Will and I shared a moment of silence after he found out. Will mentioned to me that he was drinking on a Saturday afternoon, and I replied via text asking if he was drinking in Mac's memory. All I got back was "MEMORY???" - and I had to break the news to him.
And it's not just Mac... famous people are going to the big silver screen in the sky by the droves this summer. Carlin, Don LaFontaine ( the voice over guy ), Chuck Heston, Heath Ledger ( more on him in a moment ), Issac Hays, Jim McKay, Tim Russert, the saxophonist from the Dave Matthews Band... and most of the really famous one's weren't that old. And it's only September... who's left to go this year? Odds anyone?
Ledger should at the very least get a posthumous nod for Best Actor for his role of the Joker in The Dark Knight. When it was announced that he was getting the role, I thought it was a terrible decision. I was so looking forward to a gritty, dark Batman movie... and after Jack played the Joker so well in the first one, I couldn't believe they were gonna ruin this one. But I couldn't have been more wrong. He nailed it. For the six of you that haven't seen the movie yet, you're gonna love the scene with the pencil. Ouch.
The Dark Knight was also the first movie I've seen in the theater in at least 3 years. And it will prolly be another 3 before I go see another one.
Ted Thompson might be a giant jackass... but so far he looks like he knew what he was doing this summer.
Nort didn't know that the last person to wear number 4 for the Packers before 1992 was Dale Dawson, who wore it in 1988. Shame on him.
Time Warner has a commercial where they are trying to impress you with the number of employees they have at various positions. They state that they have 6300 engineers. Okay, that's impressive. Then they tell you that they have 10,909 customer service representatives. What. The Fuck. Maybe if your company and product didn't' suck donkey ballz, you wouldn't need so many freaking customer service reps!!!! Maybe you you wouldn't have to charge so much for your shit service if you didn't have to pay so many reps!!! Advertising that you have to have that many people hired to solve problems is not something I'd be proud of! And I was all on the AT&T bandwagon, but those bitches still haven't gotten around to putting U-Verse on my block yet. Asshats... all of them.

Okay, there's more to come, but this is long enough for now.

Never Forget

2008-09-11T22:00:00.002-05:00

I know it's been a while since I posted. I've got saved in the drafts folder the longest installment of "Safety Tips"... and you'll get that soon enough.

But it's September 11th today, and anyone that knows me, knows I'm gonna talk about it today. Those that don't know me ( and there's prolly like maybe just one of you reading this now, cuz I haven't posted in forever ) - I can't NOT watch something about that day. But it's not like I have a personal connection... I didn't know anyone living in NY at the time. Heck, I don't even know someone that knows someone that died that day.

But I can't not watch.

And it just so happened that on this seventh anniversary of September 11th, 2001 - I had today off. Just like 2001. So this morning, I sat on the couch, and didn't blink for about three hours as I watched them play the coverage from that day.

Then I watched programs I'd never seen before that were played on the History Channel. And now I'm here to tell you that I did those things... because I have to. I don't know why I do... but I have to watch. So here's a clip you should watch. It's nothing graphic, and you may have seen it already. But it's the clip from the Late Show with David Letterman, which aired on the first day back of shooting the show after it went on hiatus after the attacks. It takes a second to buffer... but watch it. YOU have to watch it too.

End of a Sad, Sad Debacle

2008-08-07T00:14:00.002-05:00

It's real late. So this was just a quick photoshop job. I know the Jets have different sleeves, but the hell with them. And the hell with Brett for wanting to go. This whole thing could have turned out differently. Ted Thompson and Brett Favre both screwed this one up for the fans. Thanks guys.

Three Sides

2008-07-27T20:38:00.003-05:00

There's three sides to every story.

Your side, my side... and the truth.

So who really knows what the hell is going on with the whole Favre thing and the Packers? But Sunday, Brett said in an interview that he talked to Ted Thompson about reporting to camp. Favre says that Thompson asked him to hold off, and avoid the circus that would ensue.

Farve also says that he told Thompson that he's willing to come in and "compete for the job". ( for those of you living under a rock - Thompson has said that Brett would have to understand that Rodgers is the starter, that Favre wouldn't be handed his starting job right away ).

Everyone knows Favre is better than Rodgers. I wrote about that a few posts ago. So what I don't understand is that if Favre REALLY said that to Thompson..... it should be story over. Everyone is happy. Packers save face, Favre earns back his starting job. Rodgers would be pissed, but at least he was given a SHOT at the starting job, but was outplayed.

But it's not story over. Thompson told Brett ( according to Brett ) that his competing for the job was not a possibility. That Rodgers "is the starting quarterback".

SAY WHAAA?

There HAS to be something going on behind the scenes that isn't making the light of day. There is no logical reason why Thompson wouldn't take Brett back, if Brett concedes he'd have to "win" his job back. Again, it's not so much the competing for the job, because Favre is the better QB no matter how you slice it. So what's really going on? Is Brett a pathological liar? Is Thompson as stupid as a monkey doped up on morphine? Right now, those are the only two possible reasons I can think of that has caused this situation to develop the way it has, unless something is staying behind closed doors.

I said it before, and I'll say it again. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters in the NFL is winning. And Brett gives the Packers the best chance to win right now. I'm one of the millions of people that deified him over the last decade and a half... but as of late, I dislike him a little more each day. But the Packers are the team that I have hitched my wagon onto in this lifetime, and even if I don't like the guy - I want the guy that gives us the best chance.

Which leads me to wonder what we DON'T know. I know Thompson's side of the story. I know Brett's side of the story. Neither story meshes with the other. So what's the truth?

How Many Takes Though?

2008-07-24T22:31:00.000-05:00

Christmas In July

2008-07-24T22:14:00.002-05:00

Or close to it...

Tonight, I saw not one, not two... but THREE separate commercials for "Back To School" sales from three different retailers. What the hell? Let the kids enjoy what brief summer they have. It's not even August 1st yet.

The commercials may have been running earlier than now, and I just didn't pay any attention to it. But perhaps I noticed it because I am aware that at least one prominent retailer is having a meeting to discuss the "X-Mas strategy" on August 1st. Yikes. Just how early is TOO early? A mall in the area here starts playing Christmas music the day after Halloween. The day after Thanksgiving might be a 'black' holiday for retailers... but rolling out Jingle Bells a month before Turkey day is bananas.

Things like this will be regulated when I'm in charge. I'll make that campaign pledge to you now.

They're Gonna Do What?????

2008-07-20T23:27:00.002-05:00

Lawmakers are considering RAISING the gas tax by another ten cents per gallon.

I'm SO not kidding. Every day, I wake up and think that politicians couldn't possibly get any dumber. In my time here on earth, I have yet to have a day go by that I'm actually right.

Gas is up over a dollar since March. Gas prices are driving up the cost of EVERYTHING else. So yeah, let's increase the tax. Idiots.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25751775/

Oh, By The Way...

2008-07-20T22:37:00.002-05:00

We got our butts handed to us last night.

Didn't see that one coming.

Finally, A Good Program

2008-07-20T21:56:00.004-05:00

Here's some random thoughts from ESPNs broadcast of the ESPYs tonight. I should have done a "Running the Clock", but I don't have that kinda energy tonight. So here in no particular order are some viewer highlights ( and lowlights ) of the first program in a long time that ESPN didn't fark up.

Justin Timberlake is KILLING as host. It seemed like he was trying a little too hard for the first few min, but then settled into a rhythm. The crowd seemed to be playing a bit of a prevent defense on him, and the extra pressure seemed to rattle him for a bit. But he was perfect for the role. I'm stealing a line here, but I'm secure in my manhood to say that he's great.
One minute into the program, and we have a Favre joke.
Two minutes into the program, and we have a virginal Eli Manning joke.
Timeberlake hugging Aaron Rodgers, "It's gonna be okay man."
The stroking of Favre continues early in the evening with Brett getting the "Best Record Breaking Performance". He even smoothly delivers a canned joke.
Aaron Rodgers is almost getting more face time than Timberlake.
Appalichan State did NOT win for best upset. I know the fans vote this one in... but c'mon. The Giants were the best the NFC had to offer, and the Pats were good. But App state isn't even in the same division as Michigan. The walk-ons at Michigan were better players in high school than the STARTERS of App State. And yet, they walked into the Big House and won. First injustice of the night.
Timberlake keeps a few running jokes through the night. One is that Eli was prolly a virgin till he just got married. The other is his disappointment in the Memphis Tigers losing in the championship game to the Kansas Jayhawks. He even does a great free throw demonstration that killed.
Greg Oden is one funny 47 year old. ( see, that's a joke about how Oden looks. For those of you who don't like sports, Oden is like 19... but looks like he's 64. )
Even my boy, Brady Quinn, is getting some face time. If he doesn't get into a game for the next couple of years, I wonder how long he'll be famous outside of South Bend ( and my household )?
The New York Giants are winning any award that they're up for. If they win "Best Team", I'll assume that the votes weren't counted outside of the Big Apple.
Kate Walsh has some great legs.
And Danica Patrick looked FANNNNNTASTIC on stage.
Will Ferrell makes a couple of appearances. He even hops up on stage to accept an award for an absent Tiger Woods. I sure hope he doesn't overstay his welcome as a leading funnyman. I like Will Ferrell, but he has to be careful not to attention-whore himself out. Not that I ever thought Jim Carrey was as funny, but there was a time when Jim Carrey was everywhere, and on every program possible, and to the point of annoying. Now, Carrey is just wearing Jenny McCarthys swimsuit on the beach. Lets hope the same never happens to Will Ferrell.
All is well with the world. The Giants didn't win "Best Team". The Celtics did.
They are dropping confetti at the end of the show. Is there any thing on TV anymore that doesn't have giant confetti explosions at the end?
Also at the end, there is a little box at the bottom of the screen that says "Special Thanks To:"... and then lists people and companies. You want to know what the first name in the box was? - - - Justin Timberlake. WTF? Why does he need "Special Thanks"??? There's no way he DIDN'T get paid to host the show, shouldn't that be THANKS enough???

Ladykiller

2008-07-18T23:04:00.003-05:00

As the Prolate Sphereoid Turns...

2008-07-08T20:20:00.002-05:00

There's no crying in baseball, and there's no soap opera drama in professional football. At that level, winning is the ONLY thing, and therefore, the best players play.

It doesn't matter if you make 10 million dollars a year, or league minimum. If you're better than the next guy... you'll play. It often happens at every level of the sport ( see exhibit: Kufahl:Spartans)... but at any other level of the game, politics can be involved. At that level though, letting your personal feelings get in the way can cost you your job - and management knows this, and acts accordingly.

So in the saga that is the Favre/Packers situation, it SHOULD be cut and dried. But oh no, leave it up to both sides to muck up the whole process.

Favre should stay retired. But if he really does want to play, it will make him look foolish for ever 'retiring' in the first place. Reports are that he asked for his release so he could continue to play, but that's just silly based off of everything he's said over the past decade. Look, I love the man. But enough is enough. Don't become THAT guy. If you're gonna play, then play. Tell us yesterday. You're 64 years old, enough of the childish games.

And then there's Ted Thompson. Right now, Britney Spears handles relationships better than this guy. Ted has the ultimate "team better perform well, or here comes the pink slip" job. So what's the problem? No matter how ready Aaron Rodgers is, Brett gives the Packers a better chance to win RIGHT NOW. Sorry Aaron. I'm not sure which football god you pissed off, but that's the way it is. If Brett had a sh*tty year last year, I'd be all for giving you a go. But he didn't, and the best player plays. What doesn't Thompson understand about that?

Not only is Ted Thompson's job on the line, but if he lets Brett go, he should fear for his own safety. Green Bay locals killed Dan Devine's dog once... that will look pedestrian compared to what they're capable of if Thompson lets Brett play anywhere else than GB in 2008.

So both of them should play nice, and settle this by 11am on Wednesday. It can be done.

"Let the Alpine Blast...."

2008-07-06T22:48:00.002-05:00

... cuz it's summertime.

My favorite time of year. No god damn snow, prime sports weather, long days, bar-b-ques, and to quote the song again, "the weather is hot, and the girls are dressin' less".

And yet there are places on this green earth that are like this year round. And I still live here. I ought to fix that.

But this summer is going by fast. Training a new employee sure eats up alot of time, and makes for fewer social activities - but work has been stretching things out a bit too. So since I can't decrease the amount of training time with the new employee - work might have to change. I've got an interview tomorrow with a company with a great reputation to work for... and a local sports team has an opening that I'm qualified for... so now I just hope for the chance to interview, and impress the ballcap off them.

Working for the boys of summer would most definitely increase my love of the season.

On another sports note, we're 4-0, thanks to a forfiet this holiday weekend. And while things might not have gone rather swimmingly for me in the game the week prior....well.... we're still 4-0. It's been a long time since I could say that.

So here's hoping everyone else (even you too Nort) is enjoying their summer. It'll snow soon enough Nort, so let me enjoy it while I can ;)

"Five Feet Nuthin'... A Hundred and Nothin'!"

2008-06-26T22:58:00.002-05:00

The end of "Rudy" gets him everytime...

Place Your Bets... The Results Show!

2008-06-24T13:09:00.002-05:00

Holy Jeebus.

I hope you took the over on my previous question about how much sewage that MMSD would dump in the lake as a result of all the rain we had the last two weeks.

Drumroll please......

If you had 2.9 billion gallons as your guess, please step forward.

No one? Anyone??? Bueller???

2.9 billion gallons. OMG. That's alot of shit. Now, it's mixed rainwater and sewage - but that really doesn't make it any better now does it? Diluted human waste is still human waste. But 2.9 BILLION gallons. I can't even picture how much shit that is.

What the hell did they ever do before they spent 2 billion dollars on that Deep Tunnel? And no one gets fired for stuff like this. If I decided not to file my TPS reports for a week at work one time, there'd be hell to pay. But these bureaucrats can piss away taxpayer money, and dump all this raw sewage into the environment, and there's ABSOLUTELY no consequences for them. How have we survived this long as a society, let alone as a city here in Milwaukee???

Godspeed Funnyman...

2008-06-24T02:09:00.001-05:00

maybe a poor wish on my part after seeing your thoughts on this...

Hollywood, Here I Come

2008-06-23T16:54:00.001-05:00

The road to stardom starts now.

Our game from Saturday night will be broadcast on the Time Warner Sports Channel ( 32 here locally ) at 7:00pm Monday night, and 10:00am Tuesday morning. ( check your local listings for the Tues am time, I'm 95% sure I got it right ).

It will be fun to watch if you're a Spartan fan, not so much if you're a Monarch fan. You can see me go 9 for 12, and even run around a little out there.

Sadly, there was no post game interviews, but it will be interesting to see how they handle the broadcast.

I may have to change my cell number now, and go out in public with a bodyguard, but I'll try to remain humble. And I sure won't forget about all of you on my way to the top.

Nice To Be On the Other Side

2008-06-22T23:43:00.000-05:00

50-6.

Foto Friday

2008-06-19T23:43:00.005-05:00

Touchdown 2

2008-06-17T23:28:00.003-05:00

Here's the second touchdown pass of the evening - a 21 yd pass to Guettel.

And yes, I'm wearing number 10, not number 9. But since I couldn't have 9, 10 was my second choice. Looks pretty good on a QB, right Nort? ;)

Touchdown 1

2008-06-17T23:25:00.001-05:00

Here's the first touchdown of the evening - a 21 yd pass to Shay.

So That's How It Works...

2008-06-15T16:27:00.004-05:00

Had the opening game of the 2008 season last night. T-Storms came through the area a couple of hours before the game, and it looked like it might be a repeat of last weekend all over, but we were only being toyed with... and the weather ended up being real nice for the game.

And we took advantage of it too. We ended up winning 38-6, with the Predators getting a score in the last minute of the game. We built up an early 20-0 lead, and I even had a hand in that, starting off the game going 3-3 with 2 touchdowns.

Damn it felt good.

Of course, it's pretty easy when you're surrounded by some spectacular talent, and you're not being clobbered on every dropback ;)

Next week, it's the Monarchs. If I can get my hands on some pics, I'll post em soon.

Place Your Bets!!!

2008-06-07T22:32:00.004-05:00

Any one want to open the bidding on just how much sewage MMSD is going to have to dump into the lake because of this storm???

All bets are just for fun though, because gambling would be illegal. It would be illegal like if a private company dumped raw sewage into the lake. But if we bet for money, it would be unlike MMSD dumping sewage into the lake, which is perfectly legal.

Just Kidding

2008-06-07T17:21:00.002-05:00

I said once before that there's a reason that they call it "Mother" Nature....

Cuz a man would never fark with the opening season kickoff.

Instead, we got cancelled for the night, and my chance to start against a leading contender for the American conference was quelched.

This sucks.

GameDay!

2008-06-07T00:53:00.001-05:00

Woot!

Life Lessons

2008-05-26T22:40:00.002-05:00

Hindsight is always 20/20.

So I guess it should have come as no surprise that I had a bit of a rough day today. I had to work today, and after work, we had an offensive practice. I threw about 150 balls out in the sunny evening.

Which normally wouldn't be so bad. But yesterday, on my birthday, I tipped a few back. Which, again, wouldn't normally be so bad. Except I tipped them back after not really having anything to drink for the last 5 months.

My bad.

I had a bit of a headache today, which sucks, cuz when I was younger, I seemed to avoid the hangover bug. Although the guys thought I threw really well tonight, and one even suggested I drink the night before the games.

Yeah, I don't think that's gonna happen.

MotorMouth

2008-05-20T13:02:00.002-05:00

Doin' Just Fine

2008-05-20T10:41:00.004-05:00

"Doin' just fine... Make me stronger... Doin' just fine....."

Little Did I Know...

2008-05-06T21:07:00.004-05:00

That when I made this picture, that I would be able to use it EVERY year.

Now all I know is that every year, the person piloting the blimp may change, but the image endures.

This year, if you look really really hard at the pic, you'll see Eric Gagne at the helm.

What Did You Do Today?

2008-04-29T22:21:00.003-05:00

So far today I've:

Interviewed for a promotion.
Picked up little man from his grandparents.
Picked up chinese food.
Drove through a police roadblock on a bridge.
Began to get shot at by at least 25 officers with poor aim.
Did get shot by, and sent to the hospital by an officer with superb aim from a helicopter gunship.
Found out that lappers cost $50.
Also found out that if you get seven of them, and don't have enough money, the bouncers will try to kick your ass.
Beyond that, found out that after you kill the bouncers with a knife, the police will have surrounded the titty-bar.
Stole a cop car, which was promptly shot at, and blown up by the f*cker in the helicopter.
Drove a car into a river.
Proceeded to swim ashore, ending up at the airport.
Snuck past security (which wasn't really that hard), and wandered onto the tarmac.
Stole a large vehicle used for towing the really really big planes.
Laughed as the prick in the helicopter couldn't do shiat, cuz the vehicle must have been made of solid steel.
Caused a general ruckus on the tarmac, running over cop cars, officers, and general airport employees.
Stopped laughing when the vehicle tipped over, I was thrown from the vehicle, and was run over by a 747 (which was how I tipped, cuz I tried to destroy the plane, with no luck)
Stunned to learn I survived getting run over by the plane.
Not surprised when the bastard in the helicopter took the opportunity to send me back to the hospital.

All that stuff really happened.

The first three items happened in real life.

The rest happened in my first half hour of playing Grand Theft Auto IV.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to see what awaits my next hour.

Yawn

2008-04-23T06:27:00.001-05:00

Wednesdays teh suck.

Me and My Buddy

2008-04-17T14:36:00.001-05:00

Forcast calls for hot.

This morning a jacket I took.

Cold it was,

But now it's not.

Lions, and Tigers and Bears,

Oh my!

A trip to the zoo awaits?

Sitting at work, the time does not fly.

The weather is turning nice,

New things to do,

That couldn't be done before.

(It's hard to push a stroller on ice!)

So much of the world to see,

There's no time to delay.

And while I might not always be free,

Rest assured that I wish I could always play.

Visual Safety Tips

2008-04-10T22:43:00.012-05:00

We've gone a long time without some Safety Tips, so here's a few, sprinkled with some random pictures from the last few weeks.

Went to the Brewer game on Tuesday night. Brewers won in extra innings, despite Gagne blowing yet another save. That's $10 million well spent this year. I got all excited, because I almost got to post my Hindenburg photoshop again after that game. Now they've lost the next two games to the Reds, so I might get to post it in April just yet.
I still haven't caught a damn foul ball yet in my life. But I got a major leaguer to blow me a kiss after heckling him. At least that's the story I'm sticking with. I was yelling at Ken Griffey Jr., and after a single in the 8th, he jogged into foul territory after reaching first base, looked at our section, and in what I swear was pointed right at me, blew a kiss. No one else in my section was as vocal to him, so that's why I'm sticking with my story. "Hey Griffey!!! You made it from the dugout to homeplate WITHOUT your walker!!! Good job! Way to go!!!" "Griffey!!! You know, 30 years ago, you coulda stretched that into a double!!!" (after the single in the 8th ). Good times. Nort went to the game too, and he even got into the heckling... but his was directed at me ( what's new? ). I don't even remember what we were talking about, but I mentioned that often, I enjoy acting rather juvenile, and that I was really like an 8 year old on the inside. To which Nort said, "Aren't you being a little generous?" He's just lucky it was raining and we couldn't get another picture of him on the dinosaur/horse/camel thingy outside the stadium again.
Here's a pic from the game though. That's me and my cousin Jeremy, he's the one that got the tickets for the game.
A segue into sports. Watched a fair amount of the NCAA tourney this month. Tried to teach the little one the finer points of college sports, but mostly he just bobbled his head around, and spit up alot during the games. But there were a few good moments, like this one, while watching the Badgers fail against Davidson. This was during a non-call of a foul. If only his movement was on purpose.
In the interest of 'equal time', we will now post this pic of him supporting the 'other' team. The VP/President of Operations is an alum, so there's not much I can do about it though. Makes for some priceless pics though!
And then there's the priceless moments. We took the new employee to his first Easter service... where he promptly fell asleep within the first 20 min of the service. I told the father that he was just getting a head start on his life as a Catholic. Sorry God.
With Easter comes spring. With spring comes rain... but I didn't think THIS much rain.
But the warm weather is coming, maybe not soon enough though. As we try to expose the little guy to as much of the world as we can, it would be easier if it were warmer. Even he wasn't impressed with the 51 degree day we had a few days ago.
Soon, buddy. We'll be playing ball soon enough.

Did I Miss Something?

2008-04-10T22:30:00.002-05:00

More ESPN asshattery.

A few days ago, they were doing NFL Draft coverage on ESPN, like they do everyday. The point-man for the draft on ESPN is a guy named Mel Kiper Jr. He's been doing this since they started covering the draft.

Kiper ( who's basically just a weatherman - he's wrong most of the time, but gets to be on TV, and makes alot of money for guessing for a living ) - was talking about a CB from Penn State, named Scott. Kiper said,

"He has really stepped up his play in the last few weeks."

Now if you don't follow college football, that quote prolly doesn't sound all that remarkable. But I'll let you in on a little secret.

THERE'S BEEN NO COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMES IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS. In fact, there hasn't been any games since the first week of January.

So how the hell can someone 'up his play' in the last few weeks??? In March, when there isn't any games? How do these talking heads on TV get to keep their jobs?

Missed It By An Inch

2008-04-04T23:31:00.007-05:00

ESPN, which never fails to disappoint me, posted a list of the 11 greatest football movie scenes.

They left off the pregame pep talk from Pacino in "Any Given Sunday", that took place right before the playoff game. Sure the movie was a bit over the top, but if you ever played football, and don't get chills watching that speech, then get your head checked.

Ready For Spring

2008-04-04T23:05:00.002-05:00

No No No No No No No No.

2008-04-04T22:42:00.003-05:00

From JSOnline...

Federal and state transportation authorities endorsed plans to expand I-94 to eight lanes in the 35-mile stretch from the Mitchell Interchange to the state line, in a revised environmental impact statement issued today.

The report was prepared as part of the approval process for the freeway reconstruction and expansion, which would represent the largest highway project in state history at a cost of $1.9 billion.

Assessing the need for the project and the potential environmental impact, the state Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration determined that an additional lane in each direction is necessary to handle projected traffic on the important corridor.

Additional lanes are expected to reduce projected drive times in various parts of the corridor by 10 minutes in 2035, the final year covered in the study period, according to the report.

The transportation officials also wrote that the project would not violate federal clean air laws. They project that emissions in the area would decrease through 2035, based on expected reductions in traffic congestion and improvements in emission controls on vehicles over the coming decades.

I don't even know where to begin. TWO BILLION DOLLARS??? The entire damn state budget has been around 2 billion dollars the last few years. That stretch of freeway isn't that congested!!! I should know, I spent the better part of last year driving that stretch at various hours of the day. Morning, noon and night, it didn't matter. Once you got south of Ryan Rd, it was smooth sailing all the way to the state line. We can't even fix potholes here in metro Milwaukee, but we're gonna needlessly put more concrete where we DON'T NEED IT. Schools are failing here ( MPS just released graduation figures here in Mke... a whopping 49% graduation rate ), but lets spend the 2 billion on expanding a highway that isn't even congested!!!

And they just repaved 94/894 around town, and that gets congested like a mo-fo. So why didn't they talk about expansion there? Like, where we actually NEED it.

Politics, and government mishandling of money makes me wanna puke. Is the majority of the public that blind to what they're doing with OUR money?

And what's with the bias of the article??? "the important corridor". ALL CORRIDORS are important to somebody. If you build a road, or a freeway, and people use it, they're using it to go somewhere. The road outside my house is important to ME, otherwise, I couldn't get anywhere. To imply this 35 miles of road is more important than other stretches of highway in Wisconsin is wrong.

And again... TWO BILLION DOLLARS!!! I'll personally repave/expand/repaint the stretch for one billion dollars. That's alot of freakin money. Man this stuff really pisses me off.

Fark, YouTube, And Getting Rick Rolled

2008-04-01T18:56:00.001-05:00

Best link on fark today...enjoy.

It's That Easy To Vote In Wisconsin

2008-04-01T14:42:00.002-05:00

Okay, so he really didn't vote. But not needing an ID, it prolly wouldn't have been that hard for him to vote.

Oldie But a Goodie

2008-03-31T23:28:00.002-05:00

I'm trying to convince my new team to use this, but I guess we'll find out later today if they decided to.

A few years back, I ran the website for the team I played for. And I posted the follwoing article on the site. The link on the homepage under "Recent Headlines" said, "Mar*uders sign ex-NFL quarterback"

Clicking on that link took you here.

The retraction was found here.

Al Gore Can Kiss My A**

2008-03-21T15:01:00.001-05:00

This is bullshiat.

Hair Apparent

2008-03-18T21:19:00.005-05:00

The heir apparent to the Packers needs a haircut. And a shave.

It can work for some people ( i.e., Will )... but not for Rodgers. Here's a picture of Aaron Rodgers doing a press conference during the recent Fan Fest.

That's the face that Nort's been waiting for to take over. Yikes.

But it can work on some. Here's a pic of Will.

That works for winter in Wisconsin.

Now.....

Combine the two of them, and this is what you get.
Good thing they wear helmets most of the time they're on TV.

"Sorry Kid, We Already Have a Kicker."

2008-03-05T08:38:00.000-06:00

It had to happen sometime. You can't play forever, even if your name is Favre. But it sure was fun to watch. And I hope that I truly did appreciate watching perhaps the best ever play for my favorite team. I mean, I like watching Tom Brady, but it's different when an icon plays for 'your' team.

The universe seems to line itself up every once in a great while, and things seem like they couldn't have happened any other way... but don't kid yourself. While a generation of Packer fans don't know any other other universe than that with Favre at QB... it could have gone a different direction. But it didn't. And the southern country boy that seemed right at home in the Wisconsin north woods took advantage of a situation that was given to him, and in the end, everyone benefited. How long will it be before the universe lines up just right again, and gives the Packers another Super Bowl winning caliber QB? We don't know, which makes you appreciate what happened over the last 16 years here. (although they had a scary thought on the radio this morning on the Bob-n-Brian show... 'What if the next Super Bowl QB for the Packers isn't even ON the planet yet???' I dunno if Nort could take that reality)

One measure of a person's impact is how people relate to that individual, and here in Wisconsin it seems everyone has their own 'Favre' story... and I'm no different. I had the chance to meet him on a couple of occasions, with the first time being the most humorous. Back in college, I worked for a guy named Ted, who owned a performance development company. Ted specialized in speed training, working mostly with college guys getting ready for the NFL draft. But he did work with several of the Packers, and at the time was working with Travis Jervey, who played RB for the Packers.

One of the perks of that line of work, is that you get to spend time at the NFL facilities, and Ted took me along one time when he did a workout session with Travis. After the speed work, Travis went to go lift weights in the Packers weight room. Ted ( who played a little college football ) was actually lifting with him. My ( at the time ) skinny self, was relegated to spotting them as they lifted. This happened to be in the dead of the off season, so we were the only ones in the weight room, and it seemed, the whole building.

Then, just before they were finished, two guys came walking through the weight room. They didn't need an introduction, but they offered one anyway. It was Brett Favre and Reggie White. They were in the building doing some PR/charity/ad campaign for the Packers that day. They weren't going to work out, but were just passing through the weight room. Reggie was on his cellphone and nodded his head as he walked past, but Travis stopped Brett for a moment. Travis introduced Ted and myself to Brett, and Brett extended his hand and said, "Hi, I'm Brett".

Like he needed to say that. I wanted to say to him that it was silly for him to introduce himself in this city, that everyone knew who he was... but I thought better, and didn't say that to him.

Since Ted was working out with Travis, Brett kinda gave him the 'once over', and asked if he was a free agent in for a workout. We got a little laugh, and Travis explained that his agent hired Ted as a personal trainer. While Travis was explaining that, Brett turned his attention to me. Right about when Travis was about to explain that I was one of Ted's employees, Brett gave me the 'once over' a couple of times. Now, I'm not easily intimidated by anyone, but it was a little intimidating watching Brett Favre size me up... not once, but twice.

Then the gem came out. After looking at me from head to toe, then doing it again, Brett got a smirk on his face and said, "Sorry kid, but we already have a kicker."

And with that, he left. Ted and Travis thought that was the funniest thing ever.

I don't see Ted all that often anymore, but he still never lets me live that one down. And I'm okay with that. All the other stories I hear this week about him and his sense of humor seem to ring a bit more true after getting a personal jab from him.

So let me add to the collective well wishes to not only Brett on his retirement - but to Aaron Rodgers as well. He's got some big shoes to fill, and is gonna need all the encouragement he can get.

Black Ink, and a Naked Newborn...

2008-02-27T22:19:00.004-06:00

... what could possibly go wrong?

Actually went much better than expected. The footprint was pretty easy... the handprint was another story. Babies tend to keep their hands clenched in a fist. So trying to get a flat palm on a piece of paper was kinda fun.

Thankfully, he cleans up real nice. At least until he gets into his next mess.

At Least It's Not the Mumps

2008-02-27T15:58:00.002-06:00

I, like many of my loyal readers, got the flu this week. It was cause for consternation here at the Home Office, as I had already gotten sick once this winter. Now, add in a brand new human being, and you can tell how much fun it's been around here lately.

But we've appeared to have weathered the storm. I should return to work tomorrow, and Lil' Man didn't seem fazed that I got sick. I did stay up with him one night to watch Caddyshack, so I got that goin' for me. He seemed to enjoy it... or at least that's what I'll tell him in 10 years.

The other humorous event came from my trip to the doc's office. Last time I was there was in May, when I messed up my knee. Well, I know I've put on a few pounds since then, so I had them look up what I weighed back then. The nurse was happy to inform me that I was a svelte 194 pounds then. I hopped on the scale, the new number came up... and the nurse tapped the monitor, asked me to step off, and try again.

She thought maybe something was wrong, but there wasn't. The second trip on the scale registered the same number...

224.

But hey, I still ran a 4.8 at the combine a few weeks ago.

Global Warming, My Ass

2008-02-15T22:52:00.002-06:00

We've had over 75 inches of snow so far this year. We got 14 in one day just a week ago.

They're telling us to brace for at least another 8 ( of the good, wet, heavy kind ) inches on this Sunday.

The average winter around here gives us just over 36 inches of snow. Last winter at this time, we had 32 inches.

And it's still only the middle of February. Here in Wisconsin, it'll snow well into March. Good times. If you're a polar bear.

Not only do we live in this suckitude weather, Will would like explain why it's not just the weather that sucks around here.

Even Nort is done with the weather, and his mind is as close to a polar bear's as you can get. Now that's saying something.

God help us.

A Day In The Life

2008-02-12T00:35:00.000-06:00

"Hey, you think if I pee all over myself after just getting out of the bath, you think they'd be mad?"

"Gimme a kiss!!!"

"So I was all like, 'Officer, I didn't know you couldn't do that'...."

"Aww Daddy, I'm sorry I was screeching a little while ago. Forgive me? Okay, good."

"HEY!!! Pipe down over there! I'm tryin' to tell a story over here!!!"

"Dude, if I wasn't wearing these oven mitts, and I could sit up... I'd so kick the shiat outta whatever is hanging from this thing..."

"HA HA! That Jon Stewart is one funny motherf*cker!!!"

Baby Can Haz Cheezburger?

2008-02-12T00:09:00.000-06:00

Making Light Of a Bad Situation

2008-02-07T22:57:00.001-06:00

From Kiki... It's the Snoop Dogg Weather Forecast. I've still been cranky about the bullshait weather we just had here, and with the arctic blast we're about to get this weekend, I needed something to make me laugh.

Only 30, 40, or 50 Years.... Or More?

2008-01-30T23:13:00.000-06:00

January 28, 2008
Account # 2584522

Mason A 'Kuflax'
25** N**th St.
Wauwatosa, WI 53213

Dear Mr. 'Kuflax'

Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding Green Bay Packers season tickets.

Your name has been added to our waiting list for 4 tickets and your priority number is 77503. You will be notified by mail, as tickets become available.

Please contact the ticket office immediately with any corrections to your name and address information, indicated above. To ensure your name remains on the list, please notify our office with any address changes as they occur. Your name may be permanently removed from the waiting list if we are unable to locate you at any given time.

Your interest in the Green Bay Packers is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Carol Edwin
Ticket Office Supervisor

Well, the letter beat anything from the Social Security Administration that he'll ever get in the mail.

And yes, I'll be finding a frame for that letter and putting it up in his office.

One thing I noticed was that in my letter that I got a few years back, after the 'notified as tickets become available' - my letter included the line, "although it may be some time before tickets become available." Guess they didn't want to get anyone's hopes up.

And it's only 77503. He's young, he can wait. I'm looking forward to my postcard to see where I stand. I didn't get on the list till just a few years ago, so I've got a long wait myself. But in a very strange way, I can't wait till he's old enough to understand what waiting on the list means.

Sixty, Thirty, and Brand New

2008-01-30T00:01:00.000-06:00

On Wednesday, B.O.B will turn 60.

That's like, old and stuff.

He's 60, I'm 30, and his grandson is new to the world. There's some symmetry for ya.

He's never been one to celebrate his birthday much, and this go-round, he's more excited about Little Man, than hitting a milestone age ( even if it is a really really really really OLD milestone ). But everyone give a shout out to B.O.B on this day, he deserves it. Lord knows he's been around long enough to earn it. :)

Happy birthday Pops!

Beat Me To It

2008-01-29T23:37:00.000-06:00

Nort beat me to posting the transcript, so go check it out. It was our version of cubbie babble between Greenfield and Brookfield.

Where Does The Day Go?

2008-01-27T23:47:00.001-06:00

Holy jeebus. It's been a week home already. Holy shait that went fast. Speaking of shait... buy stock in diaper companies. Those mo-fo's ain't never going outta business.

One of the humorous moments came the other night, after we finally got little man to sleep. It was around midnight, and all was finally quiet in the house. Logistically, all we had done that day was a trip to the doc's office at 8 am. Other than that, we didn't leave the house, and we didn't have any visitors that day either. But here it was, midnight, and the day was gone. Only thing was, we couldn't think of anything we'd done the whole day ( other than the doctor ). I hadn't gone online... and I didn't even touch the PS3 all day. Neither of us stopped moving long enough to find a free minute.

I looked at Robyn, and all I could ask was... "What the fark did we do all day?"... and we just started laughing. Granted, we were exhausted, so from the outside, it prolly wasn't that funny, but it was to us. Actually, come to think of it, almost every day has been like that. He's been home for a week, and I couldn't hardly tell you what I did all day, but the week is gone.

I'm looking at going back to work this week, and while I thought there would be a part of me that would want to, actually, none of me wants to. Robyn needs to get a few promotions so I can be a stay at home dad. I think that would be pretty kick ass. She actually thinks that would be kick ass too. Let's hope it's sooner than later ;)

Oh Boy...

2008-01-18T23:22:00.000-06:00

We're home.

Joining us, is Mason. He was born on Wednesday, January 16th at 4:28pm. He came in at 7lbs 6oz, and 19inches.

There's alot more pics, but I'm tired, so here's a few I found funny ( okay, and one nice one ) from his first few days around the office.

"Peace out, bitches!"
real caption: Moments before his first bath, and before he noticed it was cold without most of his clothes on.

"F*ck you. I don't want a bath."
real caption: Now noticing he's getting cold, he's starting to get a bit cranky.

"I AM the strongest." ( only my family will get that joke. )
real caption: After bath time, the nurse gave him a mohawk. I kinda liked it, but that was not the general consensus of the visitors.

Daddy tries ( mostly unsuccessfully ) to catch some Z's.

"And he came down from the mountain with 2 ounces, one bottle. And he drank it. And it was good.... Letter from the Kufahl's to the Polypollipians." ( h/t to Will )
real caption: He's just a little jaundice, so we have to give him an ounce of formula after the real stuff. Not having total control of his arms, he likes to move them around without much purpose.

"I can hold up my own face, motherf*cker!!!" ( h/t to Will )
real caption: Along with not much control of his arms, he doesn't have much control of his neck either. Some of the faces he makes during our burping attempts are pretty priceless.

More to come, but it's off to not get anymore sleep. ;)

--------------------------
edit: On the original post, I typed that he was born in March, which is incorrect. He was infact, born on January 16th, not from the future month of March. I have no idea how that happened. I guess I was more tired than I thought I was.
--------------------------

Posting For Three

2008-01-15T20:21:00.000-06:00

Well, kinda. It's not like I post here every day, but I for sure won't post anything for the next couple of days.

We're leaving for the baby factory right now, I'll update as soon as possible!!!

I Couldn't Make This Up

2008-01-14T23:29:00.000-06:00

From the WauwatosaNow.com website...

Because of the heavy snow in December, Wauwatosa has used two-thirds of it's seasonal salt order.

The city plans to take steps to reduce usage and make it through the winter season. According to the Public Works Department, unless there is a large storm, the city salting crews will only salt at intersections on residential streets. The crews will not salt the entire length of the residential streets.

Residential streets will only be fully salted prior to a snowfall that requires city plows to clear the streets.

I don't know if I should laugh or be really pissed off. This is beyond ridiculous. I've bitched about how pathetic the city is at plowing and salting before, but I had no idea. They're worse than I thought. But looking back on it, it doesn't make any sense. They weren't out busting their humps to salt the streets in the first place... so where did all the salt go??? Other municipalities aren't having this crisis.

This is Wisconsin. It does snow here. At least they thought ahead and have a 'seasonal order'. I'm not a politician... but how 'bout ordering some more salt???

What will really crack you up, is that the city will fine me if I choose not to salt the sidewalk in front of my house. Asshats.

Trust Me, I Know What I'm Doing

2008-01-13T00:33:00.000-06:00

I had the great opportunity to be at the first Packers/Seahawks matchup when Hasslebeck said "We want the ball, we're gonna score", and watched this past contest from the comfort of my reclining couch drinking UNGODLY strong brandy & cherry cokes. ( this may have been the first time I got more than a buzz from drinking during a Packer game, and I wasn't at Lambeau )

For the 2003 contest ( which was friggin cold ), we were sitting in the endzone, and I mentioned to my brother during the 4th quarter that Hasslebeck would step out from under center differently when he threw the hitch route. I said that Harris would pick off the ball, and prolly win the game for us. In overtime he did, and after I thawed out, the world went on with itself.

During the game on this Saturday, a Notre Dame alum, Ryan Grant, fumbled his way to giving the Seahawks 14 points in the first five minutes of the game. Most of my family should have been glad they weren't around medical personnel, as their respective blood pressures went through the roof. I calmly tried to explain that it wasn't anything to worry about. This was met with some skepticism, but I remained steadfast.

Fifty five minutes of football later, and two hours and forty five minutes of real life later, all was well, as the Packers trounced the Seahawks 42-20.

Now, either the Packers need to play the Seahawks every week, or I need to find a practical application for my talent.

Youuu Can Dooo It!!!

2008-01-11T00:40:00.000-06:00

Hey, look at that!!! A snow plow just went by!!!

It stopped snowing here 3 hours ago. It started snowing here about 9 hours ago.

You know, after about four more seasons of practice, Tosa just might get this plowing/salting business down.

Ready To Go... I Think

2008-01-09T20:17:00.000-06:00

We're coming down the homestretch, awaiting the arrival of our newest employee here at the offices of Know What I Mean. A bag has been packed ( a second one hasn't been yet... and yes, that would be my bag ), and everything is almost in place.

The next step is to pick up the company car for the new employee. To accommodate the needs of his job, it looks like the company has settled on a Ford Escape. Fingers are crossed that everything goes well with the paperwork this week, and by week's end, I should be able to break in the vehicle in for him. While at the dealership, the CEO of Know What I Mean was really looking at getting the Shelby Cobra, but the VP of Operations/Development really put a nix on that idea.

And while I imagine I haven't even begun to figure out how much paperwork involved in hiring a new person is ( and there has been a shiatload so far ), some of the most important paperwork is already in process. Yesterday, I sent off a letter ( on his behalf, but it appears to have come from him ) to the Green Bay Packers. Why the Packers you ask? Well, let's just say that he's getting a headstart on his place in line for season tickets. We await the confirmation letter from the Packers, and will be quite proud of the fact that his first ever piece of mail will be received from the Green Bay Packers ( and before he every gets anything from the SSA ). For those of you living under a rock - the Packers have been sold out on a season ticket basis since 1960, and there's an estimated 35 year wait for season tickets. More information than you need to know ( and all memorized by Nort ) can be found here.

His office space is all set up and ready to go, with the finishing touches added since the last look.

I know you're never ready... but now it's almost time. Yikes.

All I Was Missing Tonight

2007-12-29T01:01:00.000-06:00

After the fish fry tonight, I returned home and settled in on the recliner with some hot chocolate. Throw in some christmas cookies, a big ol' fleece blanket, a couple of bowl games in hidef, and my night was almost complete.

I gots to get a house with a fireplace someday. For some odd reason, the upstairs tenants don't much like it when I start a fire in my living room. Bitches.

So instead, i finished my idyllic night with some beer and PS3 time. Pretty good night in my book.

Bout Damn Time

2007-12-29T00:53:00.001-06:00

Nort finally got one. He didn't steal mine when I was crippled, but he finally got his PS3.

Now if he would just get some games for it, the world would be a better place.

Safety Tips

2007-12-26T22:55:00.000-06:00

Long over due...

I may joke about getting old, but something has got me spooked. I used to be a night owl. Like, textbook night owl. Up till 2 am, no sweat. Sometimes I'd cheat, and nap from 11ish at night till 1 am, then stay up till 3 am, then go 'back' to sleep. It really didn't help when I was getting called out for work at God only knows what hours. But I'd been like that for as long as I could remember. And it wasn't just the staying up late. I'd sleep FOREVER. And I'd sleep in, no matter what time I'd go to bed. Fall asleep at 4am? I'd sleep till 3pm. If I zonked out at 9pm? I'd still sleep till 3pm the next day. And soundly too. Thunderstorms, alarm clocks, and even Nort sneaking out of the room in Vegas wouldn't wake me up. But something happened three weeks ago that I can't figure out. It all changed. I'm exhausted by 9 or 10 at night. And when I go to bed, I'm pretty much asleep right away. And the worst part... I'm usually up by 7 or 8 am..... without an alarm clock. I don't get it. It was a one day turn around. One Monday night, I went to bed at 8pm, cuz I was exhausted. I woke up at 6 the next morning, made some eggs, and that was it. Mine eyes are tired as I type this. Help me. I don't know what to do about this.
I guess the moral of the story is, 'be careful what you wish for'. I actually used to curse my insomnia, but now, I kinda miss it.
A few TV notes: Drew Carey sometimes looks completely natural as the new host of The Price Is Right, and other times, he looks frightfully terrible. I wonder what Barker acted like his first few weeks. ESPN is losing a great analyst in Parcells, and yet they keep Emmitt Smith on the air. It bothers me that they pay Smith to be on the air. He may be one of the 5 best runningbacks of all time, but he's not comfortable in front of a camera. And he can't speak competent English. "Blowed out" is a good phrase to keep repeating on national television. I can't believe they couldn't find someone better, star-power name be damned. And along the ESPN lines, I also hate that Skip Bayless and Woody Page get to collect checks from them. Bayless is a cartoon when he hosts the "Hot Seat", and Page is worthless on the morning shows. It makes me wanna barf that the people in charge of ESPN don't see how bad some of their 'talent' is. And can they tell Stephen A. Smith to stop yelling at me? I know I'm a NBA newbie when it comes to following the sport, but I haven't done anything wrong yet, so stop yelling.
And as much as I hate ESPN, they are right about one thing. This is the greatest week of the year, as it's Bowl Week. Love me some college football!
If I could skip the part where you have to work 80 hr weeks, often unpaid for a couple of years, then work 80 hour weeks at very terrible pay, and skip the part where I'd have to move 8 times in the next 15 years... I would SO be a college football coach right now.
"We are who we thought they were!!!" I need a lawyer type to solve a riddle for us. Why is it that in the Coors commercials with Parcells and Green, they've 'photoshopped' out the team logos from the shirts and hats? Coors is the official beer sponsor of the NFL. Samsung is the official TV manufacturer of the NFL, and yet they have team logos in their commercials... so why doesn't Coors? I can't figure that one out.

Okay, this has gone on long enough for tonight. Get off my lawn, I have to go to bed.

Holiday Punch

2007-12-26T11:25:00.000-06:00

Here's hoping from the offices of Know What I Mean that everyone had a great holiday. Even you too, Lee.

Things were pretty quiet around the world headquarters, but it was with an air of wonderment, knowing that every holiday from here on out won't be the same. We got to see Issac, and he gave our home office a test run for when our new employee arrives. So while we looked ahead, it was a great to have most of the fam around, like old times. Becky and Joe were in from NY, and Nick and Laura came in from Chicago. On Saturday, we hit the annual x-mas/birthday/any reason really celebration with Sarah.

But the festivus continues, as Nick and Sarah come in from Omaha tonight, and Ashley and Debbie come in from Florida/Texas respectively tomorrow. Throw in a family shower on Saturday, and going to see Jeremy in Holiday Punch after ( which everyone should go see ), and I'm gonna be one tired mo-fo when this week is over.

But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Best On Fark Today

2007-12-19T17:11:00.000-06:00

Every Little Bit Helps, Right Nort?

2007-12-18T09:52:00.000-06:00

Updated, per Nort's request...

Down The Stretch They Come!!!

2007-12-17T14:55:00.000-06:00

Too close to call, but we're all getting a little thirsty.

Not A Repeat

2007-12-15T19:35:00.001-06:00

Here's the radar a good 5 hours after the last one. It won't stop. Every single freakin flake is a slow death.

God help us.

Oh C'Mon!!!!

2007-12-15T14:30:00.000-06:00

I'm gonna have to have a talk with someone about this.

Dear Kids...

2007-12-12T13:06:00.000-06:00

To those of you that thought it would be fun to knock my snowman over last night...

FU.

I realize I wasn't a saint of an adolescent, but c'mon. Knocking a snowman over? Really? You have nothing better to do? With a world full of PS3s, the Internet, WoW, porn, sports, sledding, and skirt chasing... you chose to beat up a man made of snow.

I'm glad you felt all mighty after you kicked his ass. You know, cuz you're badass enough to take on something that doesn't have a heartbeat. Enjoy your time doing gateway crimes. We'll see how much of man you are when you're in PMITA prison in five years.

I must be getting old, because today, I feel like pummeling you little bastards just like you abused my snowman. What if I had made that with my son? He'd be devastated today. I wouldn't be able to explain to a child that the world has little gutless pricks like you. I wouldn't be able to explain that the same person that thinks he's badass for knocking over a snowman, would run like hell if I would have stepped outside during the act.

For you guys, my door is always open. Come back to the offices of Know What I Mean, and introduce yourselves. Let's see how badass you are then. If you can kick my ass, I'll make a snowman for you everyday so you can keep your street cred by sodomizing it in front of your friends.

Jackasses.

And Then There Was One...

2007-12-11T13:26:00.000-06:00

With snow that hasn't stopped, and the flakes are getting bigger, my army has pretty much gone undercover. You can only see the tops of a just a few of the guys poking out of the snowcover.

So I thought maybe it was time to make a snowman that couldn't be covered by the snow. And that's not a way of tempting the snow gods, cuz if this one gets covered... we might all be dead.

And here's one for perspective. I'm 6'3".

Couldn't Help Myself

2007-12-07T22:58:00.000-06:00

B.O.B. wrote a humorous comment response to my snow plowing issues.

Dear Mr. Kuflax ....
Please be advised that you should have quit while you were ahead. We have now put you on our Do Not Plow List. You had better start hoping for an early spring because you won't be seeing any concrete before then.
Sincerely,
Tosa

So if you don't ever check the few comments I get, here's the response I placed:

Dear Fine City of TosaB.O.B...

Please be advised that your idle threats carry no weight. Seeing how you did such a bang up job plowing in the first place, your threat is simply a description of the situation I CURRENTLY face - not one that could be imposed upon me further.

It's like Nort biatching about the Packers not benching Favre last year. Say his bellyaching got so loud the Packers called him to tell him that he'd never be the head coach of the Packers if he kept it up. Well, he's never gonna be the head coach anyway ( cuz he would have a penchant for benching lock-hall-of-famers ), so he might as well biatch about it till he feels better.

So I appreciate your effort, but go back to what you do best, which is NOT plowing streets correctly.

;)

kthxbye.

Sometimes it's just too easy.

Oh, For F*cks Sakes

2007-12-06T20:26:00.001-06:00

Enough already.

I understand it's winter ( well, not really for another few weeks technically ), and there's gonna be snow... but c'mon. A day off maybe??? F*ck.

Mutually Assured Destruction

2007-12-05T07:23:00.000-06:00

The gov't will tell you ( the same gov't that can't correctly plow the streets ) that they have nuclear weapons, "just in case". You know, we don't ever want to use them, but we have them if we ever need to use them.

Well, I finally got my weapon against mother nature. It's a beast, and I hope that I never have to use it, but I have it, 'just in case'. My parent's neighbor moved away to somewhere warm, and I am now the proud owner of a monster 46.5hp snowblower.

Even in first gear, this thing moves. It literally pulls you along. Okay, maybe the nuclear tie-in was a bit much, but here's hoping that this works like the umbrella theory... if it looks like rain and you bring an umbrella, it doesn't rain. So here's hoping after this morning, now that I have a snowblower, it won't snow anymore.

Yeah right. Nort might die if it didn't snow this winter. And I don't want to be responsible for that. Click here for an oldie showing Nort's appreciation for the winter. Someday I'll move somewhere warm.

Along the destruction theme, my snowman army put up a good fight, but they're losing to of all things... the wintery conditions. They're freakin' snowmen, and they're holding up about as well as Napoleon's army did marching into Russia. Here they are before I went to bed last night. I would show you a picture of them this morning, but it just looks like I have the most uneven yard on the block, as the snow has covered most of them up to their heads.

The ultimate camouflage I guess.

An Open Letter To My City

2007-12-04T07:33:00.000-06:00

Dear Tosa,

You have been located in the fine state of Wisconsin for over 170 years, so by now, the weather patterns of this area should not come as a surprise. But while I have become accustomed to the lack of urgency the city places on snow plowing, your behavior after this last snowfall is unacceptable.

I understand that while packed into a major metropolitan area, the city size and budget restraints do have their limits. While it is disheartening to see that neighboring cities ( including the exponentially larger Milwaukee ) seem to get a head start on their plowing activities, I have let that slide, knowing that eventually you will get the job done. I do not know the extent of the budget, but perhaps you have chosen to have a few extra police officers, instead of an extra snowplow, thus slowing down the snow removal process. This I am okay with.

But I'd like an explanation as to what happened this past weekend. While there are many disadvantages to living on the same street as a school ( traffic, parking, running over little kids ), one of the perks is that my street is usually one of the first to be taken care of in a snow storm. This weekend was no exception, which I was happy to see.

Happy to see that is, until I noticed that my fine city has decided to NOT plow the WHOLE street. Why on earth would you only plow a swatch right down the middle of the street? Did we run into budget problems that I don't know about? Was there not enough salt to cover all the streets? ( for those of you reading that aren't from Tosa - I'm not kidding. They've left 8 feet of snow on the streets next to the curbs on both sides of the street ) The plow did come by my house twice, once in each direction. I know this, because I was outside making snowmen at the time.

So I guess my question is two-fold. One, why was this done? And two, what do we do about it now? Since the temperatures have dropped to unacceptable levels, the snow you left on the street has now frozen into a six inch thick, eight foot wide solid ice block on both sides of the street. Thank you for that.

Last time I wrote about you guys, the flickering street light outside my house was fixed the next day. I'd like this taken care of in a timely fashion as well.

Kthxbye.

I Was Sober!!!

2007-12-04T00:31:00.000-06:00

IM exchange between me and Nort this evening. We were discussing how sweet the job of Packers president has to be, and what our career paths would have to look like to get the job in 20 plus years. Then the convo diverted just a bit....

Matt Kuflax: you know what would be fun, on a non-management role?
Matt Kuflax: cutting the grass every other day
Matt Kuflax: imagine in June, how sweet that would be
Nort: yea - but that's a lot of pressure, and I could never keep those lines straight
Matt Kuflax: lol
Nort: my sister wants to know... how drunk were you went you made all the snowmen?

I never got to ask Nort why he wouldn't be able to keep the lines straight... but anyways... Since that wasn't the first time someone inquired as to my level of intoxication on the night of the snowmen army, let me issue an official press release to state that I was in fact, sober. Maybe a little dehydrated, as I had just shoveled all that heavy snow out of the driveway and sidewalk, but I was stone cold sober. Please refer any follow up questions to the snowmen, as I have 49 witnesses that will be happy to testify on my behalf.

Window Seat, Please

2007-12-03T23:32:00.000-06:00

Not mine, and like Nick, I'm prolly gonna catch hell for this.....

but overheard on 670 The Score this morning

"If the if the Redskins lined up with 10 men on D to honor Sean Taylor, shouldn't the Buffalo Bills TE have just stood still to honor Kevin Everitt, the guy who got paralyzed?"

Thanks to Nort for pointing that one out to me ;)

Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons

2007-12-02T01:38:00.000-06:00

Only Calvin and Hobbes could make me enjoy the first snowfall of the year.

As always, click on a pic for a larger image. And if you didn't know that the title is stolen from a C&H book title, shame on you. If you don't know about Calvin and Hobbes... well consider this your third warning. ( only like two of the five readers I have are going to understand that reference, oh well )

And I woulda made more of them, but it got late, and it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be to make almost fifty snowmen that are only a foot high when you're 6'2". Maybe in a few years, we'll get the new employee to do it for me.

Inspiration.

Prepping For Expansion

2007-11-19T00:15:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted much lately, and I wish that I could post more. I had this eloquent post about the asshats in West Bend that tried to get 120 million dollars from the taxpayers for new schools, but never got around to finishing it. Maybe soon, cuz I know how much you all love reading my posts where I bitch about stuff.

But things have been a-happenin' around the offices of Know What I Mean. I'm vying for a new job, one that would be too perfect. But it's an interesting process ( to put it politely ), so I await my fate on that front. My current position is in a complete state of turmoil, so that's no fun.

I had an introspective post a little while ago, and it seems some of those thoughts are amplified. I'm left wondering why somethings in life are as difficult as they are. I've always believed that God has a sense of humor, but sometimes I don't understand the humor. Like when you don't truly love to do what you're innately good at, and just aren't good enough at what you really love ( or circumstances make it impossible ) to make a living out of it. But there will be more time for more deep thoughts later.

Besides the career consternation, I've been busy with operational matters here at Know What I Mean. I've moved the home office as part of the expansion project. With the new employee arriving in just a couple of months, there's been the sound of hammers, miter saws, and the occasional "F" bomb during furniture assembly.

A chair rail, a lighter coat of paint on the top, a crib and a dresser. And I still have all ten fingers after playing with the miter saw.

Add a changing table, a whole bunch of stuff from a shower, and when it's all done, this new employee is gonna have a better setup than the management staff here at Know What I Mean.

There's more to come, and I'll actually try to finish some of the stuff I've got in the draft folder. ( Like the trip down memory lane to Monsterpiece Theater, via Nick. Which is actually kinda fun, given the above pictures. )

And just for fun since I had the camera out, here's PJ and Shelby to wish you all a good night.

Why Hold A Grudge?

2007-11-05T00:23:00.000-06:00

I love Jamal Lewis.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to find some mouthwash, as I've just thrown up a little in my mouth.

Timing Is Everything

2007-10-19T00:20:00.000-05:00

I was going to write a very elegant post about the wonderful Erin Andrews of ESPN. She's very quickly becoming my new Number One... she's hot, and she likes sports.

So in preparation for my prose to her wonderness, I went to catch a shot of her as she worked the FSU/WF game.

I waited for her pregame introduction, grabbed my camera phone... and well...timing is everything.

Told you she was pretty awesome.

Billlllions and Billlllions

2007-10-12T00:14:00.000-05:00

There's not much in this world I hate. A LOT of stuff I dislike, but hate is a bit of a strong word.

It's a word reserved for the Chicago Bears. And the New York Yankees. I also hate water chestnuts.

And then there's one thing that rises up and beyond those things. Road construction. I used to just dislike it, but now after dealing with it as part of my job, I hate it.... more than that. I loathe it.

And the object of my disdain has become those goddamn-mothafarkin-piecesofshait orange barrels.

Oh, how I hate these things. But here's what I can't get over. Just how many of these goddamn-mothafarkin-piecesofshiat are there in this world? I mean, seriously?? Where ever on this green earf you live, think about how much construction is going on in your area. If it's anything like Milwaukee... it's a lot. Even if it's just half of what's going on here, you've got enough construction to choke a city. Not only are we reconstructing half of our city streets here, but we're totally rebuilding our main freeway interchange system. Which is only going to take another four years or so... after having been going on for the last six, but I digress. Now, imagine how much construction is going on EVERYWHERE.

The world is a big place, and yet, where ever I turn, there's another fucking barrel. And that's just my little corner of the world. This past weekend when I went Up North with Nort, we actually discussed this. There was a good 10 mile stretch of highway they were working on Hwy 41. Well, working was a generous term, as there was NO ONE working. But the orange barrels were there, standing at attention, stopping traffic from using one lane.

Ten miles of barrels, spaced out at what? Every 75-100 feet? And that might be too far to say is between the barrels, but at 100 feet, that's 528 barrels.... JUST on one side of the highway. You need another 528 for the other side.

And those are some large barrels. So how do they all get there? How do they get spaced out so evenly? How many freakin trips does it take to move all those goddamn-mothafarkin-piecesofshiat? Just for that one stretch on 41, it had to take a whole day just to set them up. And that was just a ten mile stretch! Think of what this adds to the construction budget! I had to go to Portage for work a few weeks back. Portage is northwest of Madison, which is due west of Milwaukee. It's an hour drive to Madison... and the WHOLE drive to Madison had barrels along the side. I was on the phone with Will for a large portion of the drive, and I felt bad, because I had to interrupt him with my disbelief of the sheer number of barrels.

And where do they go when the construction is over? I'm talking in the wintertime here in Wisconsin, when there's no other construction sites for them to go to. How big is this warehouse? You can only stack 'em up so high... and they're pretty wide.... so really, where do they go? Do the construction companies own them? Do the wrecked ones get repaired, or just replaced? Why aren't the landscapes dotted with giant orange barrel housing facilities? Who makes these bastions evilness? With that many out there, shouldn't some of the richest tycoons be barrel makers? How much competition is in the industry? Can you buy stock in a company that makes them?

So many questions.... even more goddamn-mothafarking-piecesofshait orange barrels out there.

"Hey BEAR!"

2007-10-09T01:28:00.000-05:00

I know I've been slacking on here for a while, but for good reason. As usual, I've been working. But I did take the weekend to go camping, and have come back with some recharged batteries.

Thursday afternoon, Nort, his pops (Corby), and myself packed into Corby's Explorer and headed to the great Up North. My pops (Bob) went up on Wednesday to meet Brian at a campsite in the Nicolet National Forest that they've been going to for years. I went up a few times as a kid, but hadn't been back up to the Elvoy for at least 15 years. I was like a kid waiting for Christmas for this past weekend to get here. I do love camping, and having not gone for so long just wasn't right. Plus, I was gonna get to go with my dad - and my brother even ended up coming up with a friend of his - so with Nort and Corby too, it was a good male bonding weekend.

My bro Chris, my Pops Bob, and me.

Basically, I didn't do shiat. We got up there around 11:30pm on Thursday, had a couple beers, and went to bed. Friday it rained most of the morning. We did almost get hit by lightning that morning. Nort's lightning detection system decided to take that morning off I guess. A nap, and a late brunch kicked off the rest of the day.

Saturday we headed over to the local bar, the Elvoy Tavern. Dennis, the proprietor, knows Bob and Brian pretty well, and we watched the Badgers lose to upstart Illinois. Another nap while Bob and Brian took Corby and Nort on a tour of a few other campsites preceded a fantastic dinner... which was followed by some beer drinking by Nort and myself.

So yeah, like I said, I didn't do shiat. And it was AWESOME.

I got some good pictures which I'll get up here eventually, or on Flickr. But for now, it's back to the rat race. I'm workin on a couple of posts, so hopefully I didn't lose the six of you that actually check in. It is good to be home... but it'd be nice to still be up in the woods.

You can click any image on here for a larger version.

Nort and Corby

The fog at 6:30am the day we knocked down camp

"All I Need Is Some Killer Waves..."

2007-09-25T14:52:00.001-05:00

I'm thinking of this for a Halloween costume. All I need is a blond wig, and a bagel. I've already got the nose.

Must Be Laundry Day

2007-09-18T17:13:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been working even more because the principle owner had his knee replaced almost a month ago. It's been really tough, both mentally and physically. It's not very fun for the home life either.

I am looking for something else, not because I don't enjoy what I'm doing... I'd just like to be doing ALOT less of it.

But despite not sleeping Saturday night, I did get a chance to head over to Nort's on Sunday night to catch some of the game. And while I didn't get to go golfing with them on both Monday and Tuesday, I did get back out with them on Monday night.

Thanks fellas, I needed that. I was pretty exhausted this morning... but it was good to get out again and re-live the old times.