Friday, April 28, 2006

Draft Day tomorrow

The NFL Draft is upon us tomorrow. A day to sit back and watch pseudo football. And I can't wait.

Screw trying to pick who is going to what team at what position. That is not my thing. If you enjoy it, power to you. Just not my thing. To me, the draft is like a getting a day of football in spring. A nice addition to baseball.

Plus it is a time to go sit my butt down at Hooters and stuff myself with beer and wings and shoot the shit with friends. We have been doing this for the last 4 or 5 years. I guess it is basically an excuse to drink a Saturday away while oggling boobies, eating wings and drinking beer.

My flavor of choice is the 911. Gotta be hot . Order them wet for an even hotter wing. We will also get some of the BBQ/911 combo that they will mix for us on request. This year, we may ask for the cooks to try and make the hottest wings they can once again.

A couple of years ago we did. The 911 just wasn't hot enough. So we asked the Hooter girl if the cooks can do anything to make them hotter. She gave us some lame story about how the night before a bachelor party was in and how they had asked for the same thing. The wings were way too hot for them to eat, so we should be careful for what we ask for. Ok, honey. Tell those hairnet wearing freaks to bring it on.

Oh, they tried. A plate of 25 wings was plopped down on the table, steaming hot. One guy took a whiff and had his eyes watering. The wings were a deep, brick red, encrusted with jalapeno peppers. You could see the pepper flakes on the wings and smell garlic. At first we were taken a bit back. They smelled hot. The Hooter girl looked on to see what would happen next. We each took and wing and dove in. They were hotter, but not blazing hot. Hooter girl asks how they are and we tell her they are good. We continue to dive in. She stands there amazed. After we have eaten about 10 of these, the waitress comes back and asks how we can eat them. The cooks are now looking at our table in amazement as well. They couldn't believe we were eating them either. Yeah, they were hotter, but pretty damn tasty. We polished them off and got more beer.

That is the other task for Draft Day. To get the beer cost higher than the food cost. We will eat a good number of wings. So we must drink a good amount of beer as well.

From the "Yes, the French still have no interest in a thriving economy" file, check out this story about how Chirac wants France to be bigger than Google. Apparently country pride is important to him as he once walked out on his own countryman's speech in front of the EU because he spoke English. So he wants to put France back on the map. How? He wants to put money into developing a bigger, better search engine all in the name of French pride. My favorite is the name. Quero. Latin for search. If French pride was so important, should the name of the project be in French?

So now that we have brought up the subject of hairy women...what a segue, eh? Can women go commando? I was thinking about this yesterday after reading Gambino give some timely tips for the ladies. Is going commando a gender specific term? It sounds like it is. If not, I think we need something for the women. Something dainty. For women to go commando, I propose we say they have gone Private Benjamin. Goldie must have kept herself properly groomed so it seems fitting.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Songs bouncing in my head

I think I have basically robbed the company I work for over the last two days. I haven't done much work. Part of that is the fact that I need to get these reports from people so that is my main focus. Not my fault that it is a reactionary process- if I cannot get in touch with these people, I have nothing to do.

So as I sat around doing little yesterday, various songs bounced through my head. The worst had to be "Don't worry, be happy". Don't ask. I have no idea how that crept in there. I did realize that throughout the day, various tunes do float around my melon. So let's list them here, if not to amuse you, at the very least to amuse me.

Bon Jovi- It's My Life.
Jetboy- Snakebit. Anyone remember this band?
Ozzy Osbourne- Suicide Solution.
Bruce Springsteen- Cadillac Ranch. I blame Al for this one. And I haven't even clicked through.
Kiss- Reason to Live. The video had all those question marks on the wall. What was up with that?
Y'all Want a Single- Korn. Fuck that!

Blood Sport

I, being the giving person that I am, gave blood yesterday. Still amazed they take it after all these years. The hop and malt content must be pretty high. Maybe they use if for blood transfusions where they can cut back on pain meds. Get the drunk with my blood.

I think I may have talked about this before so bear with me. The questions you need to answer just to give blood are highly entertaining to me. Beside asking if you have any of 3568 know diseases, they get to the sex question. My favorite is the "gay sex" question. It is for men only and it asks and I can quote it because I tried so hard to memorize it because it cracks me up.

"Have your ever had sex with a man, even once?".
I bet that question originally did not include the "even once" part. I picture guys being asked the question and then wavering a bit before they answer NO. Then the vampire blood center worker looks them straight in the eye and says "Even once?". Then they break down and confess, thinking that if they did it once- just once- that it didn't count. Well, one time in college, my roommate's high school friend was over and we were drunk and I woke up next to him with a sore ass but that was in college and doesn't count.

Why don't they just add the Seinfeld line to the question as well. Have you ever had sex with a man, even once? Not that there is anything wrong with that."

They also state you cannot drink alcohol until you have had a nutritious meal, and no strenuous exercise for 24 hours. Ok, let me clarify, I can get drunk tonight, as long as I eat a salad for lunch? I am so in! So that is what I did. Ate a salad for lunch and Maker's Mark and ginger for dinner. No exercise to get in the way. I can see living like that.

Otherwise I am healthy according to them. Blood pressure is low. Well, what do you expect from someone as mellow as me? You cannot rock on with your bad self with high blood pressure.

It is a good thing I have low blood pressure too. Every quarter I go through a process at work where I need to collect report from each employee. I tell you, my tolerance for dealing with idiots is stretched even thinner. It can be frustrating. No matter how easy you make the process, someone will not understand it. I have reached the point of diminishing returns here. I need to find a way for these dipshits to just grunt into a microphone and call the report complete.

The Milwaukee tire slashers are going to jail, as they should. The sad and pathetic part is that some are comparing this sentence to what happend in the Jude case. Hmm...guys admitting to take punishment compared to a jury verdict. Not the same thing. Two of the slashers are sons of Milwaukee politicians too. Thankfully, one of them failed in the effort to be mayor. Hopefully these black leaders don't spin this the wrong way. They will only prevent Milwaukee from getting on better racial terms.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Thoughts from a baseball game

I finally got out to Miller Park to watch the Brewers last night. Between giving up the sauce, road games, and drunken weekends, it was the first real opportunity to catch a game. Here are some of the things rambling through my mind as the Brewers won, 4-2.
  • There is always something special to me about walking into a stadium for the first game. Seeing the field, the scoreboard, the beer vendors. Yeah, I can be sentimental.
  • The new graphic scoreboard as the left field wall is pretty damn cool. I find it hard to believe that no one has done this before. It cannot be a first. The graphic ring around the Club level is just ok. Been done before. But it does brighten up the park.
  • The picnic area in the right field looks good too. Too bad it is sold out for the year already. It would be a good place to watch a game from field view.
  • Next time I bring my camera to a game to get some shots. The park has changed a bit over the last couple of years.
  • One reason to bring the camera is one promo they have. The Cingular test message thingy. You test them at some time and your message shows up on the scoreboard. Hell, I can think of a couple of things to say. Don't know if they would put them on the board but you don't know unless you try.
  • Tomo Ohka is an ok pitcher. Yesterday he pitched well which meant he gave up only 2 runs, no walks in 7 innings. Unfortunately his pattern is to get shelled in the next game.
  • Carlos Lee stole a base. Yes, the left fielder Carlos Lee. All 240 pounds of him too off for second and made it in easily. Visions of Ted "Chug Chug" Simmons flashed through my mind. I swear he was halfway to second before the pitcher released to the plate. One hell of a jump. I think the catcher was stunned to see a big, slow guy stealing.
  • That was after Lee's clutch hit to tie the game. Clutch hitting and Brewers. Two words that don't go together enough.
  • How many parking attendants to they need at the stadium? Must be nice to have a job where you stand around for a couple of hours, waving your hands.
  • Kids today are getting stupider. Have they ever heard of a weather report? The high yesterday was maybe 44-45. Cold. It would be about 39 when the game was over. Yet, there were a number of people wearing shorts and a t-shirt, freezing their asses off as they left the game. Doesn't take much time to listen to John Malan. Oh wait, maybe they did.
  • A decent amount of drunks at the game last night. No, I was not among them. I was just drinking. But do these assclowns really need to show their assclownedness (like that new word Gambino?) to everyone? Yelling the Braves suck after the game to Braves fans. Very intelligent. A great organization that towers over the Brewers and they suck because of one loss. Moron.
  • Or the dickweed who got mad as we left the game. He was yelling and screaming about the Brewers victory, begging for a response. No one cared. Of course, everyone else was the "lame fucks", not him.
  • I thought about this one long and hard yesterday. It seems that Jo and Randy have a hard time staying on their bikes. No wonder they wear helmets. They are the exception to the rule on bike helmets. They keep falling. I think they need to trade in the bikes for tricycles. Much safer for you and us people that have balance.
  • It is nice have connections. The free tickets we had for the nose bleed turned into a nice Section 111 just beyond first base and 20 rows up.
  • Late additions- Game took only 2 hours, 14 minutes to complete. That is one fast game.
  • The Italian won the sausage race. I also now have inside information on how to handicap the race. Beware the next time I offer a bet.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

No apologies

So I didn't post anything yesterday. You won't see me apologizing either. I don't understand why people apologize for not posting something. So what? Do you feel you owe people something to read? Take some time off and put some thought into it. No one wants to read a recap of your boring life, of what you watched on TV, or how you went to a swizzle stick store, or how you have nothing to say but feel you should tell everyone you have nothing to say.

That paragraph also is not about anyone in particular. If you are vain enough to think I am talking about you, then you have problems. Just ranting. Don't get your undies in a bunch.

Maybe I am grumpy because I didn't get much sleep after staying up playing poker. Some donkey called a big bet with just overcards and cracked my kings crippling me. I was pretty pissed off. The Maker's helped take off the edge but I guess it has carried over to this morning.

Got my notice from the city's accessor's office telling me my house is worth about 20% more than it was a year ago. Now the city can charge me more in taxes to keep crooked cops on the force and unethical people in charge of the city's ethics department. Yes!

The sad part is that I cannot argue it. Of course what they assess it at is still way below market value. I know what houses are selling/being sold for in my neighborhood. I can't help it as I get a postcard in the mail every week from someone who wants to sell my house. Jo Blow just sold the property at 123 Milwaukee and she can sell yours for you too!

I find it amusing the unsolicited mail I receive from the people that like to prey on the completely stupid and inept (hey, why am I getting this?). I will get mail about once a month offering to pay me cash for my house. Up to $25,000! Uh, yeah. I will take a price way below market just because I need cash fast. Who takes them up on this? Does someone decide they are better off homeless and out of debt is the better lifestyle?

Maybe I should sell my house and move westward, away from the city. I could get a great price for it. Of course I would need to find a place that had a liquor store within walking distance and a good bar nearby.

See, you made it through a crappy post. Still not apologizing for any of this. Could be worse. I could tell you that I went to work, got caught in traffic, had leftover chili, and played poker while watching tv and the cat. Exciting huh? Well, if I did that, then I would have to apologize for boring you to death.

Yet that is what some people do.

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Candy store

I found myself on the East Side of Milwaukee yesterday sitting inside the Nomad tavern. Nothing too weird about that except I don't like the East Side. Too many people thinking they are more important than they really are. I find them to be annoying.

Yet I was enjoying the company of friends in this bar. They had spent some time at the Lakefront Brewery before going to the Nomad. I passed on those festivities- no I was not feeling ill- and met up with them at this bar. The Nomad has a nice selection of beers on tap as well as a cooler stocked up with bottles from around the world. I had the kid in a candystore feeling inside me. This felt like the makings of a good day.

I started with the Lakefront Riverwest. Not bad. But I had my eye on some else. Seeing that they had a couple of more hours invested already, I had to play catch up. So I went for the long ball. I saw the Spaten Optimator tap and drooled a little. High alcohol with great taste. A hard combo to match. Spaten describes the Optimator as:
Spaten Optimator The classic German dark beer, bottom fermented 'Doppel Bock'. Flavor profile: Full bodied with a deep dark color and rich roasted malt flavor. Original gravity: 18, 2 % Alcohol content: 7,2 % Available as 12 oz. 12-pack, 12 oz. 6-pack, 16.9 oz. single bottle and 30 liter keg.


Try it. You'll like it. I sure did. But I had to check out the other beers they had. I couldn't settle for just one. My eyes told me tongue I needed to try the Trocadero White Bier, another Lakefront product. It was a drop from the dark beer I had enjoyed. I needed to get back in the zone.

So I turned to look at what was in the cooler. There I saw it. I had to try it. Skull Splitter Ale. A nice full bodied ale that had a smooth flavor and went down good. Plus, it has a fun name to say. Skull Splitter.

As tempted as I was to get another Skull Splitter, someone bought me a Paulener Weiss instead. Tasty in its own right. Somehow I feel like I was being forced to drink a rainbow of beers. I had amber, white, orange, and back. Thus when I got a Smithwicks, I wasn't too sure how that would fit into the rainbow. Didn't matter too much. I was busy focusing on the drink.

I could go in to how I went to get another round and everybody left while I was at the bar but that would be a sob story you don't want to hear. Screw them anyways. I had to go to C's house for some cards. Along the way I stopped at the liquor store to get more beer. I had an idea of what I wanted. The Leinenkugel Summer Wheat was out and I had heard some good things about it. Some not so good as well. So as I stood in front of the cooler, I was about to grab a six pack of the Leinie's but saw the Capital Brewery had a wheat as well. A smaller batch should mean a better bear. But the Island Wheat would turn to be a disappointment. Not as full bodied as I expected it to be. It didn't have much flavor to it.

I also grabbed a 4 pack of the New Glarus Cherry Stoudt. I had high hopes for this brew but was not happy with it. The cherry flavor was excellent but I don't think it went well with the stoudt. This been was pretty complicated. Part of me liked it, part of me didn't. It reminded me of another cherry beer, the Sam Adams Cherry Wheat. Sam Adams wasn't that good as it lacked the cherriness it needed.

So I tried mixing the cherry stoudt with the wheat beer to see if their was a happy middle. Not a good idea. Taking too beers that sounded good together didn't work at all. But I drank it anyways. The wheat beer didn't change the stoudt at all. Actually, I have no idea what the hell I was thinking when I mixed these.

So Saturday ended up being a nice beer day. Tried many different brews from around the globe. Maybe I will try it again today.

Friday, April 21, 2006

So, what are you drinking this weekend?

I could realy use a beer right now.

It is a typical Friday. Quiet. Looks like a lot of people are working half days. The first half of the day passed with nothing exciting happening. The odds of anything interesting happening at work today is very low.

Man, am I bored!

How bored? I am so bored I am trying to figure out what exactly is in the cole slaw from the cafeteria. The taste is different. Kinda mayo-ee. But there is more. Besides cabbage, there are black olives, carrots, onions, and I believe cilantro. I think they dumped some pico into the slaw. It doesn't taste bad. Just different. Hard to put my finger on it. I don't think I am going to finish it either. At least the pizza was good.

So what are your drinking this weekend? You know, as you rock on with your bad self.

Leery

I get leery when certain people I haven't talked to in a long time suddenly call me. Don't know why exactly. When some persons that I haven't seen or talk to in a long time suddenly picks up a phone to dial me, it makes me wonder what the hell is going on.

So when an old friend called yesterday, I decided to let the machine take it. I mentioned this guy last October here. And his crazy wife here. I was kinda hoping it was a different person, one I had worked with last year and had sent an email to about heading out for happy hour next Friday.

But it wasn't.

I didn't call him back either. Two reasons. First, I thought my beer was more interesting. Yes, beer outranks this guy right now. Second, was the message he left. A simple "Give me a call. Just seeing what you are up to". I haven't seen or spoke to this guy in well over a year. You can't leave a message that sounds like we have been hanging out for the last couple of months, getting drunk in a bar. Ok, maybe he was getting drunk in bars over the last couple of months. I sure the Hell wouldn't know.

I will call him back sometime today. It isn't right to totally ignore someone like that. Plus, I have nothing against him. Good guy, bad situation. That is all.

Summerfest is shaping up to be very craptacular. While most of the side stages have yet to fully booked, what they have is not too interesting. At least for my tastes. Maybe you like the Go Gos. I don't.

The amphitheater acts are the same old same old. This is where they are going down hill fast. Can they book a show that did not play here last year? Get real. Chesney, Petty, Nickelback(Though I must say I am shocked to see Chevelle opening for Nickelback. They will shock the teeny boppers that think Nickelback is heavy). The same acts playing the same songs. My guess is they get another retread in Mellencamp. Plus another country act. No wonder I am going to Vegas during Summerfest again.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

White trash Wednesday?

I have come to the conclusion that Wednesday is White Trash Wednesday at the local grocery store. I really felt out of place yesterday at the store. I think it was because I was not wearing sweat pants.

I swear that 75% of the people walking through the store were wearing sweatpants. I have a simple rule in life. Sweatpants are worn 1) around the house, 2) while running outside, 3) when waking up at camping but only for the time it takes to have your morning beer or coffee if you prefer and get cleaned up, and 4) any time while driving when you know you are not going to be entering any public facility (e.g. you drive from your house to parents house to drop off kid or to hit a drive thru).

Do not wear sweat pants in public. It is disgusting. Mostly because the people that wear sps (knew word Gambino?) in public look like they have given up on life. They look shoddy, hair disheveled, can't even afford a hat. It is a sloppy look. Kinda like their teeth usually but I ain't going there.

Perfect example yesterday was SPS Couple. Looked to be the perfect White Trash Sweat Pants Wearing Straight From The Trailer Park Couple. I had bumped into WTSPWSFTTPC yesterday in two aisles. They were oblivious to anyone around them, taking up the whole aisle between them and their cart. The only thing they may have been missing was a snot nosed kid running around trying to put candy in the cart. But both were wearing dirty looking sweatpants with the guy wearing a yellow shirt. Problem was the shirt was white at one time. Needless to say the dude did have a mullet to boot! I told you it was the perfect example.

What may have cracked me up the most about this WTSPWSFTTPC was when I ran into them in by the freezers. They were buying ice cream. Both of them had their faces inside the freezers searching for the perfect flavor. They were searching deep into the back, thinking that maybe they would make a discovery like Indiana Jones. I watched as mullet man dug through the expensive ice cream (yeah right buddy) while mrs. moved over to the cheap stuff and proudly exclaimed she was buying the chocolate because she can get two of them for the price of just the one he was looking at.

Ah, the simple things in life that WTSPWSFTTPC like. I bet they had a better time at the store than I did. I couldn't find anything interesting to eat. I am having eaters block. I seem to be in a rut when making meals lately. Thankfully grilling season is starting but even the cuts of meat were boring to me yesterday. Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

I may head out for some big mouths tonight. Who is up?

I have another rant I need to get out of my system. All about riding a bicycle and why people feel the need to wear helmets. I just don't get it. I see these people on the bike trails and all these doofuses (or is that doofi?) are wearing helmets. I can maybe understand why kids are wearing them (mom makes them) but when I see a grown man wearing one and is puttering along, it cracks me up. Ok, if you are riding on the road next to gravel and cars, then a helmet does make sense. But not on a bike path.

Do they expect to suddenly lose control and head right into a tree? Maybe a head on collision with another biker? I haven't fallen off a bike in years. A statement that is true since I did fall about 3 or 4 years ago. A nasty spill that split open my elbow, a nasty looking gash that bruised the bone pretty good that I probably should have gotten stitches for but didn't. Skun the knee pretty good too when I hit a mossy area on the trail on a curve. A helmet would have done me no good.

No way would my kids wear a helmet either. I didn't wear a helmet growing up while riding a bike. Didn't need one. The only helmets that we wore while riding bikes were football helmets and that was when we were jousting with baseball bats.

See I turned out normal. All without a helmet.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Chicken McNugget Stir Fry?

I think that is what I had for lunch yesterday. Chicken McNugget Stir Fry. It was quite disappointing. Usually the stir fry they serve is pretty good. The chicken is moist and tender, having been marinated. The veggies are not over-cooked. The jasmine rice is great.

But yesterday the chicken was breaded. It was like they changed their mind and were trying a General Tso's chicken concept. But it failed. It was rather bad.

While enjoying the Wisconsin Cheese soup, I couldn't help but wonder if they make California Cheese soup in Cal.

I have noticed my transition from mean sober person to nice drinking guy. The transformation was complete yesterday when I let some jagoff cross two lanes to make his exit. Though he just about hit the guy on the Harley before the exit, I decided not to punish him for doing so and did not force him to go over a long bridge.

Later I would let two cars exit the parking lot. Man, am I a great person or what?

Speaking of the long bridge- the Hoan Bridge by the lakefront- I have been entertained by the lost people crossing it. Currently there is a massive construction project (map here) in what in Milwaukee is called the Marquette Interchange. Because of the demolition going on, normal highway routes to Chicago are temporarily gone. You cannot go east on 94 to catch 43 south to Chicago. The detour send you over the Hoan Bridge.

Most cars seem to miss the detour signs because the drivers generally have a desperate look on their faces as they go over the bridge. They are not hard to spot because they either have FIB (read Illinois) plates or the go 20 mph over the speed limit after going 20 below. I like to look at these people to see if they are clueless as to where they are going (yeah, one of the few times I look at other drivers when driving). I see the panic and smile.

What usually happens is that they drive about 7 miles out of their way and then turn back to try and go back to catch the correct route. If they are going to Chicago, the only needed to go roughly 2-3 more miles down, exit and then head west to catch 43 south to Chicago. See, follow the marked detour route and you will get home. Instead, by turning back, they will drive back into construction where they cannot get onto 43 south without trying to find their way through the city. Or go all the way to 45 and catch it around. Estimated drive time for that is roughly 30-40 minutes. Yes, 40 minutes to drive back and around for taking another 15 and following directions.

But they make me laugh. That makes me the happy drinking person again. Buy me a drink and I become happier drinking guy. But when I don't have any ice in the house, I am not so happy. I went to get ice and had none. Then I noticed I had only one ice tray. WTF? I know I had two. Someone stole one of my ice trays?

Of course that did not stop me from grabbing the bottle of Maker's. I opened the bottle and took a deep breath. Sweet aroma flowed through my nostrils. I just about got wood before grabbing a glass and pouring.

Ahh, tasty. Lack of ice won't stop me.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

The suckhole that is Milwaukee radio manages to get worse

There are times where I wonder what the hell commercial people were thinking when you see an ad on TV or the hear it on the radio. There are commercials that are so stupid, it boggles the mind that someone got paid to create it. And that someone else who should know better thought it was good.

In other instances, they find the need to rehash old items and make it new again. The suckhole that is Milwaukee radio has managed to do just that. The Brew decided that a fat guy dancing in their commercial was a good idea again. Same kind of commercial Lazer 103 (now the Hog) used about 15 years ago. Except this time, the fat guy is not wearing a shirt and has the bottlecap logo on his big belly. You can see it at their site.

There is absolutely nothing funny about a fat guy dancing. Especially with his shirt off. Even years ago when this stunt was done, it wasn't good. What kind of lunatic thinks fat people dancing is entertainment? Is that the statement they want to make about Milwaukee? A bunch of dunderheads that find fat people jiggling about is prime fun. Sad. And by the way, all you ReRun fans, don't waste your time sending me hate mail.

What truly scares me about this commercial, besides the scar in my memory of this fat ass moving around, is that I truly expect the Hog to copy them. Hell, they have copied everything else the Brew has done. Format, drunk listener commercials, sucky on air personalities. It only makes sense they will rip off the commercial as well. The Hog does not have an original idea. They have taken all of the music heard on every other station in town and decided to play it all on one station. Boring!

The Hog says they play "Everything that rocks"?? My ass! (Now don't read that as Everything that rocks my ass. It is two separate sentences). They don't play anything heavy. They think thrash is Metallica or Megadeath. I don't think they have ever heard of Anthrax. They get their rocks off if someone thinks they are cool requesting an old Deep Purple song. The level of suckage is quite high at the Hog.

In fact, the best station in the city is one that I only listen to occasionally. 102.1, Milwaukee's Alternative Station. They play a bigger variety of music than the others. Punk to ska to reggae to jam bands to grunge. Unfortunately they don't play any metal. But if I want to hear something fresh, without the bickering, I go there.

Poison is coming by town. Playing a county fair to the north of the city. I find this a bit shocking. They cannot get arena gigs? They could always pull people in to the Amphitheater. It would make a good Summerfest show as well. Thankfully, there is still time.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Last Monday good, this Monday bad

I really didn't feel like waking up this morning. I was enjoying the life of drinking and sleeping in. That all came to a halt when the alarm went off this morning. The real world beckons.

So did the pile of papers on my desk. It took some time to review everything, delete emails, print out reports and other miscellaneous crap to get caught up. Of course as I type this I am not caught up but felt like doing something different before I jump back into the pile.

I think I am being distracted too much by the people at work who are masters in wasting time. I watched one person come in, fire up their pc, and then proceed to spend the next 30 minutes walking around visiting everyone. She then ignored their own work for another 15 minutes to help someone else with a pc problem. I know that when two other women show up, she will go talk to them as well.

Now granted, I am not the model employee. Hell, I am doing this instead of working. But I will be here for 9 hours and get done what needs to get done. This other person will whine for help later today. I know that will happen. I will have to bite my tongue and tell her that if she hadn't fucked around so much this morning, that she wouldn't have all the papers to file.

The weekend was spent drinking. Felt fantastic to be on the horse again, to be socializing at Big Momma's with the gang. To wake up slowly and drag my ass out of bed just to feed the cat. To lay around on a Sunday with nothing to do but watch crappy movies (The Forgotten is a movie that needs to be forgotten) and baseball.

And to think now that it is only Monday. Damn, I need another weekend.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Beer, baseball and bar advice

Having a mild hangover wasn't bad. I wondered if I could repeat the performance last night. I may have been drunker than I thought on Thursday as there were things mentioned that I do not remember. Like Gambino saying something to the effect of "don't even bring it to mama". Not quite sure what that was about.

One thing I had avoided over the last two weeks was baseball. Mainly going to a game at Miller Park. I cannot watch a game without drinking a couple of beers. Can't be done. So I stayed away from the stadium waiting until I could sit back and watch while drinking a cold brew.

Friday the day came and I headed up to Big Momma's for the Brewers/Mets game. Not a live game but watching it on TV with a beer would do. It was good until the game was delayed because of rain. Damnit! Well, my beer drinking was going to suffer from a rain delay. Later I would head over to C's to catch the game when it started back up.

But not until I realized I could hand out a little advice. One day I will organize my bar advice into handy section on the side. Should take only about 15 minutes to do so but I am lazy. Plus, it may prevent me from duping items. It took 20 minutes but I did it. Check the upper right. Now I have to review posts to make sure I have the best stuff. I do feel it is my need to help out the fellow drinker by giving bad crucial wisdom gained over the years.

Today's advice is simple. Many of you probably practice this.
Question: It is a warm day outside. The bar is warm. A lovely wench is tending bar. Where do you sit?

Answer: By the ice chest. You get the stool that will be opposite of the ice chest (usually found right under the bar in front of you). This works well for getting a nice free view of the lovely wench's jubblees and also puts her in place for conversation. Of course, if a guy is tending bar, you need to go to a different bar.

So after drinking some beer and watching some baseball, I came home and avoided drunken poker. I watched Doctor Who before crashing. This morning I turned the TV on to see a message that read "Your service has been disconnected. Please call you cable provider at 1.800-833.7976. After cussing the cable provider who charges way too much as it is, I went online to check my account to make sure I didn't ignore a payment. I was good. I picked up the phone and called. A message on the other end started "Thank you for calling. I know you boys will not be disappointed. In a second, you will have a tough choice to make. You can talk to hot and horny women locally or have a pro-". Oops. Wrong number. I had dialed 1.800.833.7676 in error.

That may be useful for later though.

Thanks everyone for the welcoming me back. It feels good. Go have a drink on me. Except you frederick. I don't know why you are getting me back, but can't wait to see you again.

Friday, April 14, 2006

I'm back in the saddle again

I woke up later than usual this morning. Had a small headache, grogginess and the lack of motivation to move much. I also had a smile on my face.

It feel good to be back to my old self.

I waited until sundown before heading out. My timing was pretty good as I walked into the bar at 7:32. In my drive to the bar, I passed 4 churches that looked pretty busy. I wondered if the "church" I was going to would be busy.

My peeps were in the bar drinking already. I walked in the door and realized that not much had changed in my absence. Not like I expected it to be very different. Still the same dive bar I left just about 2 months ago.

Before I could sit my butt down on a bar stool, H was presenting me with a Maker's and ginger. Bless her soul. It was so fuckin good. It was gone in 7 minutes (I was talking with Gambino). Before I knew it, I had more coming my way. 5 down in the first hour. All bought by friends. Maybe next year I "give up drinking" again just to get free booze.

The Maker's gave way to beer later when the buzz began to take effect. More people showed up and the booze flowed well. I wasn't going to make a night of it. The karoake people showed up and the people singing were horrendous. My ears still hurt. Nothing worse that bad singers who love to get up there and embarrass themselves without knowing it.

In the end, I was just happy to enjoy the company of friends over cold beverages again. The social aspect of not drinking is brutal. That was the hardest thing to deal with.

Man, am I glad that is over.

I even came home and played some drunken poker. This morning I log in to realize I blew some money- ok, all of it- at one site. I don't recall exactly how. I know some fuckknuckle sucked out on my for a flush but I have no clue what happened to the rest of it. It was free money so it doesn't matter much. I made up for it at another site apparently.

So now that I have the religious nonsense behind me, I plan to eat steak today as well. I worship as I choose. I don't believe there are "rules" to be followed to be faithful. Keep the holier than thou shit to yourself.

I am back in the saddle baby. This cowboy rides again. Can't wait to have a couple today. Who is up for happy hour?

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Reunion


Man, has it gotten dusty in here. The time is coming to reopen this joint. Me and my red headed friend have little talk coming.