Pack It Up… It’s Over

This past weekend I can describe quite quickly. Friday I stayed in and did nothing. Saturday Schwenker came over and we watched the playoff games. We went out later that night to Flannery’s and My Office. We got some gyros on the way home. We ate them then called it a night. Sunday Schwenker was still hanging around. Todd and Steph came over. We got some pizza and we all watched the Packers tear our hearts out once again. It wasn’t so unexpected this year though. That’s it.

The Nightmare After Christmas

My Christmas could have been better. Thursday after work J and I drove to Peoria. We got into town just in time to eat at a Chinese restaurant with her family. After the buffet we went to her uncle’s house and had some dessert. The whole family was there in preparation for Christmas. After we were done we went to J’s house for the night. The afternoon of Christmas Eve we had lunch with Jocelyn’s grandparents from her dad’s side. After that was over we went back to her house to get ready for the big Christmas dinner at her other grandparents house. We went to dinner and I must say the food was excellent. J’s uncle had made some unbelievably good, perfectly cooked, tenderloins. With that we had some twice baked potatoes and countless other goodies. After dinner we relaxed, the family exchanged a couple gifts, and we drank a little wine and enjoyed the night and the holidays. After we finished at her grandparent’s we made a stop at her dad’s house so the family could exchange gifts while Marissa was still around (she had to fly back to St. Thomas in the morning). Mr. P got me a cool mountable bottle opener and some ZipZap mini remote control cars to race, awesome. When we finished we headed home and waited for Santa.

Christmas day we woke up and J, her sister Arianne and her mom exchanged gifts. Marissa had left for her tropical home and I guess had quite the adventure in the process but still made it back. Arianne bought me a Lambeau Field glass and some “Ryan’s Bar” items. J bought me a Swiss Army card and a moosh pillow. J’s mom bought J and I a Miracle Blade knife set, more on this later. After we finished opening our gifts we headed to her grandparent’s/mom house to exchange some more gifts. J’s grandparents bought me some very cool salt and pepper mills and I got a travel kit from her aunt and uncle. After we were done exchanging gifts we took our booty and went to J’s dad’s house for Christmas dinner. We had the best store bought shrimp I’ve ever had and some dips as apps. For the main course we had the usual ham with some tater salad. When we finished eating we enjoyed the Christmas spirit with some spirits. Every beer I drank had something to do with the holidays. One was had noel in the name, one had a picture of Santa on the label and one had holiday in the name. The rest of the night we watched movies and I played with my ZipZaps.

The day after Christmas, a day that will live in infamy. We gathered up all our stuff, said our goodbyes and headed back to Milwaukee. We ended up getting back about seven at night. We unloaded the car and unpacked our suitcases. Then we started to put all our presents away. I started to unpack the knives and I got through unpacking one of the knife boxes but the second box had a knife, actually a cleaver, that wouldn’t come out of its cardboard sheath. I really don’t know what happened next but I think the cardboard gave and the knife sliced through the cardboard and into my hand. I knew it was bad so I went to the sink to run it under water but when I to there and rinsed it off I saw the gashes spurting blood and the bone of my middle finger, that’s when I started to panic. I couldn’t move or feel my fingers so I told J to call 911 because I had to go to the hospital. Then I saw all the blood and thought about my fingers I started to get light headed and go into shock. J called 911 and got a towel to wrap my hand in. Finally I started to calm down and heard the first responders so I told J to get my insurance card and we’d meet them in the lobby. We met them in the lobby and I told them I couldn’t look at it. So I turned my head and showed them and proceeded to spurt blood on the steps of our lobby. The responders told me to quickly put it back in the towel. They got my info and bandaged my hand up in a club-like state. They told me to go to Froedtert due to their good trauma unit. They asked if I needed an ambulance and I said no that J could drive me there. So the next three hours were spent bleeding and poking and prodding, ouch. They then decided that I would have surgery in the morning so I got bandaged back up and told to come back at 5:30 the next morning.

I was very nervous about my first surgery. It was supposed to take an hour but I went in at 7:30 and J didn’t see me until noon. I cut three tendons, two nerves, an artery and a partridge in a pear tree. After surgery I was groggy but they don’t let you leave until you use the bathroom. So I struggled to my feet and walked to the bathroom while trying to stay upright. I was very dizzy but hospitals suck so I sucked it up and we got out of there. The rest up the day was spent drugged up.

Tuesday I got to go to therapy and have a splint made, lucky me. Merry Christmas. The therapist was moving my fingers and she told me to quit resisting. I said, “Listen lady, I can’t feel from my elbow on. I don’t know what my hand is doing or what I’m telling it to do.” So she taught me some wonderfully painful exercises and sent me home. The rest of my week of vacation was spent on the couch. So much for practicing my guitar and other fun plans.

New Year’s Eve was fun for as crappy of a situation I was in. J and I bought a couple pounds of shrimp and we cooked them up. We ate those and had a couple dips and spent most of the night at home. We did leave for an hour to go to the New Year party where all my friends were. We brought in the New Year and then we left. It would have been fun to stay and enjoy the night but I didn’t feel so hot so home we went. Happy 2005 to everyone! May you last the year with all fingers intact!

I Give Thanks For This Alternator

This Thanksgiving wasn’t that wild and crazy Thanksgiving weekend that I’m used to. J and I drove up to Falls after work to take part in the biggest bar night of the year. I could really care less how big of a bar night that it is I just like hanging out with all my old cronies. We hit up the Osthelder and the normal crowd was there. The thing is I’m used to seeing the “normal” crowd. Usually on Thanksgiving there are a couple people that you run in to that you haven’t seen in a while. This Thanksgiving that didn’t happen. So we did the “normal” circuit instead. Went to the Other Place and hit up Big Jimmy’s. I did a little karaoke action at the OP and that was probably the highlight of what turned out to be a below average Thanksgiving-eve night.

Thanksgiving we did the normal Thanksgiving thing. We went over by my brother Randy and had dinner. We ate late this year which was a little different than our normal mid-afternoon time. We drank a couple bottles of wine and I played with my nephew. Once the food was ready we dug in and it was delicious, how could it not be. After dinner we laid around and got tired. We headed home and gave in to the tryptophan.

The day after Thanksgiving I had some things that I had to buy. I know the stores are crazy packed but I really didn’t have any other time to do my errands. I headed to TJ Maxx to look for some dress pants. They didn’t have any pants but I did find a great deal on an acoustic guitar. I have wanted one for so long so I finally bought one and am going to learn how to play the axe. If you aren’t on my good side right now you might want to start sucking up because I might just forget you when I’m a rock star in a couple years. We went to a couple other stores but I rushed through them so I could get back to my brothers and start jamming on my guitar. Once we got back to my brothers house my jam session was further delayed by a quick burger from On the House bar down the street. Finally, I was able to start living my dream. I quickly noticed that my dream would take a long time because it was extremely hard to play the guitar without a tuner or a pick. I figured I would get a tuner on eBay but I could buy some picks now. So I hopped in the hoopty and drove to the music store to buy some picks. On my way to the store I noticed instantly there was something wrong with the car. Whenever I stopped at a stoplight the radio would turn off and the lights would dim. I knew I had some power problems but I would not let this sidetrack my rock star dreams. Hoping that I could complete my trip I parked at the music store and got my picks. When I got back to the car the thing was dead as a doornail. I had to call Jocelyn and Billie to come jump me so I could at least get the car back to my brothers. Risking electrocution in the rain I jumped the car and drove back to my brothers. It ended up being the alternator. This situation was mixed. If this would have happened in MKE it would have cost us at least double. On the other hand we had really had enough of ‘boygan and wanted to get back. So we called AutoZone and luckily they had an alternator for us. So we told them to hold it and we would pick it up the next morning. Now that we knew where we stood we continued with our actual plans. J and I were going to take my brother and his wife to Schwarz’s for some steak to pay him back for all the work he has done on J’s cars (oh the irony). Since our car was dead we took their ride. My porterhouse at dinner was delicious as usual, still the best steak in the world. From there my bro dropped us off at the microbrewery in Sheboygan and Jocelyn and I sat there and wasted the night away. We went to a couple other bars after that and then took a cab home.

Saturday we woke up and headed to our most frequented store in Sheboygan, AutoZone. We went there and asked for our alternator and to our surprise the delinquent that was working the phones last night didn’t have the part. It turns out they couldn’t find the part. So we proceeded to call every mechanic in the area to track down the part. We ended up finding one in Fond Du Lac. Once again we got extremely lucky because Billie was shopping in Fond Du Lac and she was able to pick the part up for us. We got the part around five and had it in within an hour. Another thanks to the bro and now we have another reason to go to Schwarz’s for another steak. I got washed up and we headed back to MKE. That night Chappy was having a party to I cruised over there solo because J was shot. I hung out with the boys and grooved until about midnight and then went home. The end to an exhausting weekend.

Whoa is Me, Badgers!

On Friday J and I went to eat at Zyang Asian Grill here in downtown Milwaukee. The food was very good and I recommend it to all. The prices were very reasonable and the sake was very good. Not much more to discuss on Friday. We went home after that and vegged out on the couch.

Saturday I was going to watch the Badger game at my place but I called Luedke and found out that a bunch of my peeps were going to be watching the game at the Miller Time Pub. During the walk to the pub I was feeling really good. There was a nice football crisp in the air and Ohio State had just beat Michigan so a win by Bucky and we were heading to the Rose Bowl. Well the optimism faded as soon as the ball was kicked. For the second week in a row the Badgers got it handed to them. They looked like a high school team and ruined what could have been one of the best years in Wisconsin football history. The not having had a bite to eat all night really turned me into a mess. We left Miller Time and headed to a friends house where I met up with Jocelyn. From there we went to a bar called Lava. I would elaborate on the night but to tell you they truth I don’t really know what happened after we left Miller Time Pub. It’s been a long time since I have been in a state like this. I guess we all had a good time because my wallet was empty and I had mysterious charges on my bank card from that night. Badgers disappoint!

Sunday we didn’t do much. I usually just skip the Sunday entry because it involves sitting around watching football. But this Sunday I took a little time from watching football and went to see Jocelyn’s new place of work. For those of you that don’t know, Jocelyn started a new job this week with Stark Investment. It’s kind of the same thing she was doing in NY but she’s on the other side of the business, I don’t know, have her explain. Her building is in St. Francis and is very modern and fancy. They get their own gourmet chef who cooks for them every day. Their lunch is paid pretax for get this, $2 a fancy gourmet lunch. Cheaper than my damn microwaved Smart Ones. The whole place was super nice. On the lake, has a full gym, and that chef in Le Cafe. So props to my woman, wish her luck at her new job.

The Packers won another barn burner Sunday night with a yet another Favre comeback and another Longwell field goal. The Pack is back! Happy Turkey Day!

Sponge Bob Again?

This Halloween was a pretty tame one. On Friday Jocelyn and I hit up Turner Hall for a fish fry and then went to go see a movie at a massive cinemaplex in New Berlin. There were twenty some movie theaters but the theater we were in was ironically the smallest movie theater I’ve probably ever been in. I’ve seen some home movie systems that rival the size of this theater. The reason the theater was so small is because we saw a movie that nobody probably ever heard of. We went to see a movie called “What the Bleep Do We Know!?”. It was a Discovery Channel type movie that discussed quantum physics and theory and asked questions about why we perceive things the way we do and what makes us us and is there an us. It has a bit of theology mixed in as well. It was a great movie and really makes you think about life and the universe. If you are a thinker, questioner, and ponder go see this movie tonight. If you aren’t, go see it tomorrow, it’s really good. After the movie was over my brain hurt too much and I didn’t know if I actually existed or thought I existed so I took my non-existent ass to bed.

Saturday we really didn’t do that much either. There was a party going on but I didn’t feel like going so Todd and Steph came over and hung out. We all sat around and drank some sangria and watched “The Lady in White” which is a movie that scared the crap out of me as a kid. It is a hard movie to find and is currently out of print. I tried to get the DVD on eBay last year but it was going for $100+. I managed to get a copy this year for $25. It was obviously a bootleg and I was going to send it back but it would be more trouble doing that than it’s worth. Anyway, the movie wasn’t scary at all and was cheesier that I expected. It would have been good back in the day but the awful special effects and bad acting took all the horror out of the movie. When that was over Todd and Steph went home. Jocelyn and I felt like going out so I slapped on my Sponge Bob costume and we went to Flannery’s for a couple drinks. We headed home about midnight and hit the hay. I haven’t had this calm of a Halloween weekend since I was bobbing for apple at my aunt’s house. Oh well, there’s always next year.

Sunday was an unexpected crazy day for me. I went with Jocelyn to her bar, the Sports Dock in Pewaukee, to watch the Packer game. I had a couple Bloody Marys and some beers and talked with the locals while the game was going on. The Packers rolled to another victory and I was feeling pretty good. Jocelyn got done after the game and we were planning on going home right after the game but the next thing we knew it was the end of the second game. Then the next thing we knew it was bar time. J and I hung out with J’s boss and her husband and I guess we were having so much fun we lost track of a whole day, must’ve been a time warp thing we saw in Friday’s movie. It was tons of fun but I paid the price the next day. I guess my Halloween did end up being crazy after all. Get out and vote this week!