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

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

The weekend has arrived that Jocelyn and I have been furiously planning for what seems like years, our wedding. Leading up to the wedding I wasn’t nervous at all. I unfortunately was sick and spent the entire week trying to get over my cold. Friday after work ended the running around and craziness started. I was able to relax for an hour at home before I had to run to get the DJ lighting from a couple establishments. There was a mix up on the lighting that I had originally ordered and I spent Thursday frantically calling around trying to find some lights. I think I found the last two sets in Milwaukee, a huge disaster narrowly averted. Rich and I hopped in the Montero and drove around Milwaukee picking the stuff up. A spring snow and rush hour traffic made for crappy driving. After we got the lights I took Rich to pick up his tux. Once we got back downtown I stopped by Luedke and DeBruin who were having a couple beers at Mo’s pub. Rich and I had one and headed back to my apartment. Once back at the apartment I got ready for the rehearsal. Jocelyn and I didn’t feel like driving so we got a ride with her mom. We were a little late but being the bride and groom we had the right. The rehearsal was actually pretty long. The pastor took his time in explaining everything very thoroughly. After the rehearsal we headed to Turner Hall for dinner and drinks. Many had the classic Friday fish fry and the food was great. Once dinner was over we stayed at the Hall and had a couple more beers. Jocelyn went home early to get her beauty rest but my job as the groom was to go out and enjoy my last night as a single man. So I went out with a couple of the Marti boys, DeBruin and Luedke. We went to the German beer hall that is right by Turner Hall. We had a couple more beers there and a five person shot on a snow ski. I was home about one and to bed at about two after I did some wedding day chores.

The day of reckoning. I woke up about eight and got my stuff together, checking and double checking. At nine I headed to Kenosha to pick up the rest of the DJ equipment. On the way I stopped at McDonald’s for a wedding day sausage egg McMuffin and a breakfast burrito. I got back to Milwaukee just after eleven. As soon as I got back to the apartment everyone started showing up. Todd and Greg showed up followed by Marti and my two brothers. Everyone just sat around, drank a few beers, got ready and waited for 1:30 to roll around. We got to the church on time and accounted for. The groom and his men hung out in the basement and watched the Brewer game on my laptop. The only thing that caused a hint of stress was my mom and dad showing up late and my dad wasn’t dressed because he left his tux with my brother in Milwaukee. When he finally got his stuff together we snapped a couple pre-wedding pictures and it was almost time to get it on. Three rolled around and it was go time. I still wasn’t too nervous but when the door opened and I took my spot in front of the church the emotions started to build up. Everyone marched out and I must’ve looked like a deer in the headlights as they came down the aisle. Then Jocelyn’s music started and as soon as I saw the white of her dress I got extreme nervousness and experienced an emotional flood. She looked absolutely beautiful, stunning. As she came down the aisle I have to admit I didn’t soak it up as much as I should’ve because I was concentrating on keeping my composure and not breaking down. The handoff between Jocelyn’s dad and I was the toughest part of the wedding. She was on the verge of breaking down, he was on the verge of breaking down and I had just spent the last two minutes trying not to break down. So I had a couple facial twitches and contortions but I was able to receive my bride without blubbering like a baby. The rest of the wedding went by smoothly considering I could feel my legs chattering and smacking the insides of my pants. My voice did crack a bit for the vows and I had another facial twitch but I was able to recite my lines without messing up. Jocelyn did her line flawlessly as well and before we knew it we were husband and wife and the wedding was over. I was officially married to Mrs. Jocelyn Rau. The wedding went great considering the worries I had over the music on the iPod and my emotions getting the best of me. After the wedding we had the receiving line. I got a little emotional with some people but that was to be expected. So after a hundred hugs and kisses it was picture time. A snap here, a snap there and we were done with that. Jocelyn and I had gotten a carriage to take us to the art museum. It was a nice sunny day but it was cold. A carriage ride is extremely slow and we were getting passed by people walking to the Badger hockey game. The carriage ride was very nice, as was the champagne, but by the time we got to the art museum we had had enough. We let the carriage go. There was an event going on at the art museum and the security guards were being assholes to everyone so we only got a couple pictures there. It was windy and cold so we did the snap snap and off we went. J and I got a ride with our photographer and thawed out on the way to Lakefront. Once at Lakefront it was time to get this party started! I had some beers and apps and did the rounds. Roman from work was manning the playlist that I created so I had to give him a brief on the night and make sure everything was ok. We had our grand march and sat down for dinner. After a speech by me, Rich, and a prayer by father Mike it was time to eat. I dug into the delicious food and we drank some champagne and reveled in the moment. It was a great dinner. After dinner Sr. Marcia had to leave and she said some very nice words to me which actually made me shed some tears. Almost tear a free day but leave it to a tiny nun to bring the water works. We then did the tosses and parent dances as well as our first dance. We had a schedule made up and we were about an hour behind which was great party planning on our part. The rest of the night was spent dancing away. I was a mad man on the dance floor and then playlist was the best, since it was my own. Some chugged beers and shots of Jager kept the night going. Everyone was having a great time and I didn’t want the night to end. But at midnight we had to shut things down. A couple slow songs and Varsity to honor the Badgers’ Men’s Hockey National Championship and the party was over. It was an amazing time. After we cleaned up the DJ gear and got it packed up we hopped in a car and went to hotel Metro. We had some more shots and appletinis and laughed with friends. Once the lights came on the night was officially over. We said goodbye to everyone and check into the Pfister next door. J was starving so she ordered a pizza which she ate while still wearing her wedding dress. Some more champagne with the pizza and it was time to call it a night. Another watershed moment in life is over. I couldn’t have asked for a better day. Everything went off without a hitch and it was so much fun. I had a perfect day and now I have a perfect bride, my lovely, beautiful, Jocelyn.

The party didn’t stop on Saturday night though. The Brewers were in town and a bunch of friends and family came to the game to tailgate. My cousin Craig really hooked me up with sixteen free tickets. I was a little leery about asking for that many because I thought that some of the people that said yes to coming to the game the night before would actually be “partied out” and not show up on Sunday. But everyone and more showed up. We had a group of about 25. We grilled out and enjoyed the spring weather. Craig also did another cool thing and got J and I’s name on the scoreboard congratulating us on our nuptials. Jocelyn actually missed it because she was on her way to talk to her dad and sisters but I saw it. I stood up for my accolades and totally forgot to take a picture of it, the only regret of the weekend. I got see it though and it was very nice. I went up to one of the luxury boxes to meet with my East coast buddy Wertz before he flew back to New York. After that I headed down to watch the rest of the game. The crew lost but oh well, it was my weekend not theirs. After the game we headed back downtown. Adam and Stacey joined J and I for a dinnertime grill out in Juneau Park. We ate some brats and drank a couple more beers before wrapping up the weekend.

WHAT A WEEKEND! It was perfect and I know it will always be one of the best times in my life. I thank Jocelyn’s family, my family and all my friends for helping me make these wonderful memories. Also thanks to my love Jocelyn for making me the luckiest man alive! I love you!

This entry should be much longer but once again there are just too many details that should be included that there is no way I can remember them all. That combined with a booze haze makes what should be a long story short. I had my Chicago bachelor party on Saturday. I drove down with my brother, Evraets and Billy. We drove to Chitown and checked into the Hyatt Regency in downtown. I got a steal on Priceline.com at $100 a room. After we checked in we took a cab to the Cubbie Bear in Wrigleyville where I met up with a bunch of my friends from Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago. Once there we started our game of bar golf. Bar golf is scored like regular gold with one drink at a bar being par and each drink after that being one under. We had a scorecard and itinerary all made up so we were well prepared. We all started on our way wandering from bar to bar. Some of the bar events that occurred during our wandering were cigar smoking, wooden Indian posing, other party food raiding, batting cage swinging and Fat Tire Ale (imported from Colorado) drinking. We were doing really good until about hole number nine. We stayed there a little too long because one of our friends from Madison worked there. So we camped out there and since there was a Qdoba across the street some people went get something to eat. After that, the group got pretty split up and it was everyone for themselves after that point. I tried to plod on with my cousin Steve. About a half hour behind was my brother, Evraets and a couple other friends but as far as the golf game was concerned it was over. I was -11 after nine so I’m pretty sure I was winning. We continued drinking at various establishments throughout the night and we ended up at an after hours bar someplace in the Chicago with a skeleton crew of about six of us. Everyone was a mess, including me. I was super tired and drunk so my brother and I left a couple diehards and cabbed it back to the hotel. We got back around four so I was pretty mad when Billy started thrashing around the hotel room at seven. I was pissed but I knew he wanted to get home so we woke up and drove back. I was home by noon which was nice because I could rest the rest of the day. It was a good time.

On Saturday I had the first of my two bachelor parties. This party was for my uncles and Falls friends because I knew that most of them wouldn’t want to make the trip to Chicago for my main one. I pretty much repeated the beginning part of my previous weekend. I went to Rich’s, helped my mom make some of the bachelor party food, packed it up, drove it to the VFW, and set it and the music up and waited for the people to show up. A majority of my uncles showed up, some cousins, and some Falls friends. A bunch of Rich’s friends also showed up, I guess it was his bachelor party too. We sat around, drank some beer, shot some dice, and ate some food. It was pretty close to the tamest bachelor party I’ve ever been to; sad part is it was mine. A bunch of people took off back to Falls but I stayed in Sheboygan. My buddy Fudge stuck around so at least I had one person to hang around with. Rich, some of his buddies, Fudge and I went to Hops Haven. We stayed there the rest of the night and had a couple beers and smoked some cigars. It was the world’s tamest bachelor party ever. I’ve been to sweet sixteen birthday parties that were more exciting. Oh well, I have one more shot and I really wasn’t expecting too much craziness from the Fallsenites.

This weekend was pretty low key and it was much needed. After a couple crazy encounters with the Marti clan I was able to sit back and relax with my own clan. My cousin Lisa and her husband Jeff were having their 25th anniversary party in Sheboygan on Saturday. Lisa had asked me if I would supply the music and I was happy to oblige. I headed up to Sheboygan Saturday afternoon by myself because Jocelyn was having her bachelorette party in Madison. I went to see my new nephew and run a couple errands. The party started around sevenish at the Sheboygan VFW. I set up the tunes and let them play while we had some classic Sheboygan buffet. The rest of the night I sat around with my aunts and uncles and talked. I didn’t feel like staying over so at eleven I packed up my equipment and headed back to Milwaukee. I called Luedke and a bunch of other guys to see what they were doing but by the time I hit the lights of Milwaukee I was ready to hit the hay. I sat on the couch and fell asleep almost instantaneously. I knew I would need the rest while I could get it with the upcoming weeks.

Not much doing this weekend. Friday low key and Saturday we ran up to Sheboygan to get Jocelyn’s car fixed at my brother’s. We didn’t stay overnight though and after a stop at the Golden Chopsticks buffet and Piggly Wiggly we were back in MKE by seven. Sunday was action packed with my third annual Super Bowl party. Chappy, Katie, Adam, Stacy, Todd and Steph were the party goers at Apt 54′s XL party. I spent Saturday night doing some of the food prep work. Sunday morning I woke up early to get all the food made. This year’s menu included BBQ Pork on Sheboygan hard rolls, chicken wings, potato skins, cole slaw, taco dip, French onion dip, and black bean dip. As is tradition I made way too much food. Everyone rolled in right before kickoff and I immediately started shoving food down their throats. The game was probably the most boring Super Bowl that I have ever seen in my life. The Steelers beat the Seahawks by a final score of something to something. Even though the game stunk we had a lot of fun. Everyone enjoyed the food and it’s always fun to get together with friends for some revelry. Steph made a Steelers football cake that looked very professional. I wouldn’t allow anyone to stop eating after the cake though, I had wings to get rid of. Even after the force feeding of my guests I still had a ton left overs. After the game everyone headed home and we cleaned up. It was another good time to add to the book of good times.

I skipped last week’s entry because I did absolutely nothing. Nada, zip, zero. The only thing I did is watch a lot of football.

This weekend was a little more exciting but not much. Friday I went out after work for a going away party at the Ale House. I stayed there for a couple hours and then headed home. Once at home I ate and watched some movies.

Saturday I had to wake up early to go work on L’s network. I should have stayed home because I messed up some of the network permissions. I got a little accomplished but not nearly as much as I wanted to get done. I got home about one, at a burrito and watch the next playoff game. After that game was over it was time to get ready for the ASQ holiday party. I probably wouldn’t have gone but it was two blocks away from here at the Astor hotel. I figured why stay home and have frozen pizza when I can go a block and get a real meal for free. J and I headed over there a little before seven for the cocktail hour. We had our free drink and mingled with some of my colleagues. At 7:30 it was time for dinner. For dinner we both had the sun dried tomato chicken. The food was pretty good, nothing overly special. I was probably the first one done and the first one out of the ballroom and to the bar. The second football game was on and there was no way I was going to miss it for a work related function. After a couple minutes some other people started to trickle out to the bar. I sat and watched the game with J and some work folk. After the game was over the place started to clear out. A couple of the friendlier people from work were going to County Claire for a couple more drinks. So we went the block to the CC. J was pretty tired so she headed home after about ten minutes. I was having a good time so I stayed out a bit longer. I had another Guinness and headed home about midnight. Pretty low key year up to this point. No drama thus far though so that a bonus. Next weekend probably won’t be too special either but next week I head off to St. Thomas! Oh yea!

Happy New Year all! This was a wild New Year. This past week I had that nasty cold/flu bug that has been going around. I tried my hardest to get rid of it in time for the New Year weekend. Friday I took it easy and started to get things ready for the New Year dinner that I was throwing. I was feeling significantly better so that was a good thing. A couple people asked if I wanted to go out but I didn’t want to have a relapse. So Friday night I took it easy and got ready for the last day of the year.

Saturday I woke up feeling about 85% to 90%. That was enough healing to get excited to have a good time. Jocelyn and I didn’t feel like standing around at a party so we decided to have Todd and Steph over for a nice dinner and then go out after that if we felt like it. I spent almost all day Saturday cooking. The menu was bruschetta, salt and horseradish encrusted prime rib with horseradish sauce, quintessential roasted vegetables, roasted potatoes, creamed spinach, champagne Jell-O, and tapioca pudding. Todd and Steph arrived at about five. We had some drinks and the bruschetta and waited for the prime rib to finish up. We dug into the good stuff at about seven. Everything turned out great. The prime rib ended up being a little salty due to the salt paste that was rubbed on it but it meat inside was wonderful. After dinner we had our champagne Jell-O which ended up having a little more kick too it then we expected. Due to that little kick things started picking up and getting fun. Luedke and Anna came over to join us in our celebration. We turned on the tunes and played Cranium. It was the first time I played the game but it was very fun. It’s a cross between Pictionary, charades and Trivial Pursuit. Jocelyn and I ended up having beginner’s luck and pulling out the victory. After that we watched a bit of the New Year’s celebrations on TV and waited for our countdown. The New Year came in with some picture on the Canon and some more champagne. After that we got a call from a motley crew coming downtown from the other party. They stopped in by us and we managed to find room for ten more people in our little place. The tunes were pumping and we were having a great time. The party started to thin out as people headed home. There was a pretty good size core group left though that wanted to head out. So some time after two we headed to the bars. We went to My Office and spent a good amount of time there. At about four thirty we decided that we had had enough and headed home. On the way home were needlessly sidetracked and ended up going to another bar. We went to a place called Brio Trattoria. The group had thinned down significantly but J and I were still kicking. We ended up getting home about six thirty which was very late/very early and a little ridiculous. It was very fun but I ended up paying the price.

I woke up at noon on Sunday for the Packers’ last game of the year. I was able to watch the first half through one eye but I was not in the best of shape. I watched the second half in the bedroom and struggled through the game. The Packers beat half a Seahawks team to finish a dismal 4-12. I really hope Favre comes back. I don’t want him to go out like this. Todd and Steph had stayed at are place to watch the game and they headed home after the game. I drifted in and out of consciousness the whole day and wasted the very first day of the year. Not a good start.

I had off Monday as well but didn’t do much. J and I watched TV and wasted the second day of the year. I’m two for two. Happy New Year everyone! May it be more productive than mine is thus far.

I’m actually doing something out of the ordinary and staying up-to-date with my blog. It’s Sunday night and all of the weekend’s craziness is fresh in my head so no detail will be left out.

This may be up to the minute but there isn’t much craziness to document this weekend. Friday I had a half day so I had a little time to get some things taken care of. I went to an optometrist to try to find some prescription Oakleys. No luck though. I need some new specs but I can’t seem to find the ones that I want anywhere. After that I headed to the Ale House for some lunch. Post cheese steak and stout beer I headed home in the blistering cold. It was so cold that my iPod literally froze and stopped working and now I can’t get the piece of junk working. Please click on the link on the left side of the page to help me get my iPod back. They’ve roped me in and now I won’t be able to live without the thing. After the Ale House and the frozen iPod I got home and took an afternoon nap. J and I went grocery shopping, she took a “sick day” as well, so we picked up some stuff for dinner. We stayed in on Friday and I cooked a nice meal. I made some homemade pasta and some delicious sauce to go with it. We stayed in and had a bottle of wine and enjoyed the radiation of our radiators, pretending it was a fireplace.

I had to wake up early again this Saturday to help out Luedke. Up at six and off to Germantown. I worked on the network and did riveting group policy setup. At noon we had had enough and we had a couple beers and watched the UW-Whitewater championship game. For the second half we went to a nice bar in G-town called Barley Pop. I had probably the closed thing to heaven on a bun that you can get. It was a steak sandwich with mozzarella cheese, bacon and ranch dressing, oh man. We watched the second half of the game, played some Golden Tee, some pool and headed back downtown after seeing Whitewater lose a close one. I took an hour nap after I got home to refresh the batteries. When I woke up I tried something new. The hair is getting a little shaggy and in need of a haircut but I thought that before I trimmed it I would try something different. I got a hair highlighting kit and put some streaks in my hair. It looks ok actually. I doubt it will be something that I do on a regular basis but for the time being I like it. After that we got ready for a holiday party that our friend Tasha was having. We headed out there with Luedke and Anna. The party was a good time. Laid back with good hors d’oeuvres and friends, very holiday. After the party we were going to go out but this dang winter freeze prevented us going out again and we all just decided to go home. This week, the week for Christmas, ho ho ho!

We had a very festive weekend. On Friday we headed out to Jocelyn’s swim team Christmas party. The party was at Thunder Bay Grill out towards Brookfield. The setup was nice. There was a small menu of four different entrees that we could choose from. I had the steak and J had the pork chops which I ate one of so I can vouch for their deliciousness. There were tons of raffle prizes given out during dinner. The prizes include such wonderful prizes as salsa, small novelty gift sets and some nice swimming gear for the swimmers. After dinner a lot of the team stuck around but J and I ducked out quick to go see the Christmas train which was about ten minutes away. The train was supposed to arrive at 9:30 but it was over an hour late. Luckily there was a shelter we could stand in to keep warm. While we waited around the kids sang carols with some teacher type lady. Finally the train arrived. It was so cold and windy I didn’t get to look at the train as much as I would’ve liked to. The train was the Canadian Pacific and it had every car decorated with Christmas lights. It also had one boxcar that opened up and acted as a stage for a band. I got to hear one song but it was so cold we had to get back to the car and someplace warm. After that we headed back to the swimming party but everyone was leaving and going to play poker at a team member’s house. That really wasn’t our cup of tea so we headed home for the night.

Still in holiday mode I got a majority of my Christmas presents wrapped during the day on Saturday. At night we went to go see the Christmas Carol at the Pabst Theater. I hadn’t been to the Pabst since grade school so I was looking forward to it. If you want to get in the holiday mood or like the Christmas Carol I highly recommend seeing the play. The actors were great and did an outstanding job. It is one of those events where you walk down the street and are singing Christmas carols on the way home. After the play we headed to Nick Richard’s party, singing Christmas carols of course. He and his girlfriend had rented out their condo’s party room for her birthday. The whole crew was there. We stayed there for an hour and then headed to Flannery’s to keep the party going. After the bars closed a couple people came over to our apartment for some Rau Braus and some late night movie watching. The movie watching was briefly interrupted by a pull-up contest. I bought this new bar that mounts on the door frame and you can do pull-ups on it. I have never claimed to be strong but my pull-up ability is nonexistent. Due to the weight that I gained back after my leg injury I have some extra pounds again and trying to pull that up is impossible. Right now I can do two. Jocelyn ended up beating everyone in the contest, even the guys, with five. Nothing beat after bar fitness. We finally closed it down pretty late which made for a rough Sunday but the fun was worth it.