The Future Is A Scary Place

This Saturday we got a taste of football. The draft was held this weekend and we went over to Adam’s house for a draft day party. We decided to grill out and I volunteered to do the grilling which ended up being a huge mistake. I have been to Packer games in December that were warmer than this day. It was sunny but the wind was constantly whipping off the lake and it was flat out cold. Once I got all the grilling done I went inside to warm up and see the Pack’s first pick. We ended up drafting Aaron Rodgers, a QB from Cal. This pick actually jarred something and I realized that one day the Packers will be on the field without Brett “the man” Favre. I guess this is the beginning of the much talked about end and we will one day see another number other than 4 under center. I need to start preparing for a Favreless Packers but I hope I still have a couple of years of Favre as I am not quite ready for the transition. This new guy also needs a couple years apprenticeship to learn to be half the man of Favre. Half a Favre is better than a whole quarterback on any other team. The rest of the day we watched the draft and debated players, teams and the Packers. The conversation was never dull and because we had Graham there to stir the pot with his barrage of counterpoints and opinions. I went home about six to eat a pizza and meet Schwenker at my apt. We ate the za and I was able to get revenge in mini-shot checkers. My head was clear this time around and I beat Schwenker 2-0. Jocelyn came home about 8 and I got dressed and we went to Cans on North Ave. This was the first time I visited this establishment and I really liked it. It was a little pricey but I liked the atmosphere. The rest of the crew was there and it was a coincidence that Evraets and Billy were across the street at a different bar. They came over to Cans for a bit and we headed to 3. 3 was completely dead so J and I had a drink there and ditched the rest to go to the Metro. We wound down the night there and headed home.

My Sausage Dreams Shattered

This weekend the Brewers were back in full swing and that means fun at the park. Friday we hit up the first Beer Pen of the year. J’s sister’s boyfriend was in town from the VI. He works for Miller in St. Thomas and was in Milwaukee for the yearly meeting. We stopped at the Milwaukee Metro market on the way to the game to pick up some brats. These brats really put a damper on my great plan for the Brewers season. I was planning on getting a sausage maker and making my own brats and sausage for the games this year. I was going to make good funky sausage like Cajun jerk and turkey. But the MM had all these sausages already and they were awesome. We grilled out before the game and I had a bell pepper and mozzarella brat as well as a spicy Hungarian brat. There are tons more to try and I plan on eating at least one of each before the all-star break. I would like to say that Chad saw a good game and the Brewers kicked butt but it was a very boring game. The Crew only got a couple hits and got their butts kicked by the Cardinals. After the game we headed home.

Saturday was Wians’ tailgate. I’ll start by saying Adam did a bang up job. He organized a tailgate for 50 people and setup the tickets, food and drink, and bus. We all met at A’s around 10 and boarded the bus. We set up everything once at the park and that is when the craziness ensued. I manned the grill and had a good number of Bloody Marys. I talked with a bunch of people about every topic under the sun. I got so caught up in the conversation that I forgot to eat any of the ten plus pounds of meat that I grilled. We then headed into the stadium. We got lucky because the weather was gorgeous and the ever unknowing weatherman said it was supposed to rain. A couple of us sat in the lower level and enjoyed the game and the radiation of the sun. The game flew by and the next thing I knew it was the seventh inning. Needing another beer I went with Ham to TGIFs to get a brew. This is where the tragic event of the day occurred. It may have fallen out of my pocket but I believe that someone stole my camera out of my pocket. I had just taken a picture with the things and I put it back in my pocket. I think when I was getting a beer the cord was probably hanging out of my pocket and someone just yanked it. Once I realized that it was gone I went into an immediate funk. I didn’t have much fun the rest of the day but it was time to go back to the bus anyway. We got back to the bus and headed back downtown. One small bit of fun I did have was I played some Metallica through the bus speakers using my iPod FM transmitter. The Metallica was a hit with the patrons of the bus and everyone got a rockin’. Once we got home I surveyed the scene and there were a bunch of messed up people. I don’t know how they did it but Adam said many of them went out that night. I wasn’t about to do this so we walked back to my place. Ham, Jessica, Todd and Steph were all staying with us. I was still in my funk and everyone wanted to go eat at Bucca’s. I didn’t feel up to it so I stayed at home, watched COPS and ate a couple ham sandwiches. I was sober as a judge at this point when I got a call from Schwenker. He was on his way downtown and wanted to go out. I told him he could chill by my place until everyone got back from Bucca’s. The big man came over and I played him in mini-shot checkers that I got from my brother. I somehow lost but my heart wasn’t in it to begin with 🙂 . Everyone finally got back from dinner and they were unbelievably drunk and everyone, but J, ended up passing out almost immediately. So Schwenker with no one to party with headed home and we watched some TV and stayed put for the night.

Super Nothing Special Bowl Sunday

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

Bachelor Party! Most Of It At Least

Friday J went to Peoria for the weekend so I had the whole city and the ability to rip it up bachelor style. So I ripped it up Friday by staying on the couch and watching TV.

Saturday I did actually do something. It was my good buddy Craig Evraet’s bachelor party. The party started out in West Bend and I was stranded in MKE because J had the ride. Luckily my other bud Feyer was working in MKE Saturday morning and he was able to give me a lift to WB. The party started out a bar/arcade that also had an indoor go-kart track inside. I wasn’t able to race due to my hand but the other race junkies tore it up. We watched the football games, ate some grub and had fun. I did kick a little butt in darts and air hockey. If you only need one hand I can still dominate. At 8ish we all loaded up on a bus for the trip to the bars in Milwaukee. The next two hours I am not able to talk about due to the man’s code of bachelor parties. I can tell you I did see Grady Jackson of the Packers. We made it to Yester Years in West Allis about eleven. The crowd there was a little sketchy but everyone had fun. From there we went to Have a Nice Day downtown. I paid my cover charge went to the bar and decided I had had enough of partying. I discretely left and walked to get a gyro in the freezing cold. Another one bites the dust.

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!