Two Saturdays!

Ahhh, my fist day of actual vacation from ASQ came this week and I took advantage of the long weekend. On Friday it started with a Brewers game. Babcock hooked up Todd, Steph, Luedke and I with some tickets to one of the luxury boxes at Miller Park. Not only were the seats great but the thing was stacked to the hilt with free booze and food for everyone. The group took full advantage of the amenities and I have to admit I didn't watch much of the game because I was in deep conversation with those around me. In the end the Crew lost but who goes to watch the games anyway. Once the game was over we all went to Mo's for a couple pints of Guinness. There was a two person band there that had a drum machine do all the backing music but they did some awesome covers. After that we headed to the Metro and finished up the night with some martinis. On Saturday Jocelyn and I had our traditional Memorial Day weekend grill out. We invited Todd and Steph over and we relaxed the day away. We had marinated kabobs, German potato salad, chopped salad, and most important of all, fresh fruit daiquiris. The weather was cool and rainy but the men braved the cold and grilled the manly food to perfection. The next couple hours were spent relaxing and sucking on daiquiris. At about nine Tasha and her new/old boyfriend came over and joined the fiesta. After the Chappelle show and Insomniac marathons we headed to the High Hat on Brady to meet Luedke. The way to the High Hat was quite the adventure. Tasha's male friend's Mustang got stuck in reverse and we couldn't parallel park the thing. After some torque on the shifter we cracked the thing out of reverse and into first. After destroying is transmission and driving around in first looking for a parking space (he couldn't shift out of it) we managed to find a spot. One problem still existed though, we had to parallel park the car. So we pulled up to the spot and I got out and pushed the car backwards into the spot. Once that thing was parked it was no longer my worry and it was time to have some fun. All the craziness caught up with me the second I stepped foot inside the High Hat. As soon as I entered the bar I hit the proverbial wall. I had one beer, talked to some college buddies, and headed home. Sunday, or Saturday #2 as I like to call it, consisted of a second Brewers game. The weather was absolutely horrible. Torrential rain and thunder were the weather of the day. After confirming with Todd that we were going to go to the Crew game, bad weather or not, we headed off. I thought for sure it would be us and the players at this game but I couldn't have been more…

Holy Toledo!, Ohio

The weekend started out calm enough. I had a wedding in Ohio this weekend. One of Jocelyn's friends was getting married and she was one of the maids of honor. I took Friday off and we spent the day driving to Ohio. We woke up at eight to lovely severe thunderstorms. Not only were we lucky enough to have these thunderstorms but we ended up driving with them for five hours to Ohio. The drive was pretty easy minus the crappy weather parts. We saw three blown over semis on the way. Luckily every single one of these was going west. So while traffic on the other side of the highway was shut down we were zipping right along. We got into Ohio around four with the time change. I relaxed in the whirlpool for a bit and took a load off until the rehearsal dinner. While J was at rehearsal I stayed at the hotel. Once the rehearsal was over it was time for my first of two delicious dinners of the weekend. We ate at some mob looking Italian joint. We got to sit with the one of bride's brother and the other maids. It was a fun time. The bride's brother had a funny story that involved a grape HI-C juice box and getting air lifted out of the grand canyon by rangers. The dinner was lobster bisque, salad and then your choice of fish or steak. I being a man went with the steak. After that we called it a night and went to the hotel. Saturday we were up early. I took J and another bridesmaid to the beauty parlor to get there hair done. While they did that I cruised to TJ Maxx of Toledo to pick up a better outfit to wear. After TJ, Kmart, Taco Bell and Kroeger, I headed back to the hotel. I was going to sit in my room and have a couple solo beers and iron my new clothes but I had a message from some of Jocelyn's other friends to come to their room for some cocktails. So instead of being a boozed up Martha Stewart in my room I cruised down to their room and had a couple beers and shot the breeze. From there we went to the wedding. It was a very nice wedding. The church was nice, the priest was nice and service was nice. It was a full service which made the ceremony a little long and hot. But once that was over it was time to GET IT ON! I loaded up J's friends into the Montero and we went to the reception which was being held at her parent's home. This was no regular home though (I guess the bride's dad is a real estate mogul), the back yard was huge. The yard was about as big as football field and a half, there was a huge pool/fountain in it (picture a small Billie Madison pool), and on one end…

Birthday Wheels

This was fun weekend. On Friday we went out for a nice dinner for Jocelyn's birthday since we were up in Sheboygan last weekend. I reserved a dinner cruise on the Edelweiss. The dinner was a lot nicer than I expected. For $60 a person we got a 2 hour cruise and a nice dinner. We started off at the Third Street Pier. From there we went down the Milwaukee River and then circled the harbor a couple times. Dinner was delicious and consisted of a fillet with a whitefish. The whole thing was excellent and Jocelyn and I both had a great time. Yet another thing I have to recommend to others. On Saturday we had to get up early and go to Chicago to get Jocelyn's new/used car. She bought a Mitsubishi Montero from a dealer in the Chicago area. We left MKE at about eight and got back at three just in time for our next event of the day. Twelve of us decided to go on the Lakefront Brewery tour. I met the whole clan at the brewery. Since the tour was packed and since most of us had already gone on the tour we just drank our free beers at the bar. After relaxing on the banks of the lovely Milwaukee River we went to Wolski's by UWM to get our free that we get with our tour ticket. After a couple beers there the clan broke up. Todd, Steph, J and I went to the Milwaukee Ale House for a burger. KB from WKLH was playing there and the place was packed so we had a good time there. From there we cruised to the ol' Metro. We met up with some of the wounded soldiers from the other clan there and spent the rest of the night there. Thanks to Todd and Steph for dinner.

Wedding Season

This weekend wasn't too crazy. Friday night we stayed in because we had a wedding in Sheboygan to go to. It was couple beers and a movie night. Saturday was the best woman on the face of the earth's birthday, Jocelyn! There is no better way to spend a birthday than to spend it in Sheboredom at a relatives wedding. We went to my cousin Dirk's wedding and it was actually a nice, small wedding. We left Milwaukee early and headed to Sheboygan around 8. We had some errands to do and that took us until around noon. The wedding was at one so we went to that and then headed to Dave's Who's Inn for a couple good Sheboygan hamburgers and some beers. The reception started at seven and was a fun time. We had some cocktails with my relatives and listened to their fish stories, you gotta love my uncle Tommy the man who things he Frank Sinatra. The wedding got so crazy EVEN MY MOM was taking shots, a definite rarity. When the wedding wound down we headed to Falls to finish the night in style. We started at the "O" and spent a good amount of our night there. Then in one of those "split second sounds good at the moment" ideas we got wrangled into going to Plymouth and seeing a band.  With no birthday being complete without going to Big Jimmy's and getting a root beer shot we went down the block and pounded two root beer shots with Jimmy himself. He was disappointed to see us go but we were off to Plymouth. Cruising in style in the '88 Towncar we made it to P-town with about an hour until bar time. The band was a jam band and they were pretty good. We hung out with my buddies Popper and Richie and grooved the night away. Nothing is ever dull in Plymouth and bar closing is no exception. On our way out we got to see a huge fight and some chick sprawled out in the middle of the road with her dress over her head after getting pushed down. Don't know what that was all about but I chalk it up to Plymouth. That's enough Plymouth for at least two years. Happy birthday to J. Sorry for the boring week, I'll make up for it.

Hot Dog!

Last weekend was pretty tame. I FINALLY got some of the much needed rest that I needed. Friday J and I went to the Brewers game after work. We were going to tailgate but of course Mother Nature had her way and it was cold and rainy so we just had a couple beers in the car and listened to the tunes. The game was fun mostly in part to us sitting in the Beer Pen area. If anyone wants a good deal hit up the Beer Pen on Brewers Friday night home games. It's $10 for a ticket and sweet throwback Brewers t-shirt. You have to request the Beer Pen when you buy the tickets. They rope off the right field loge level and make it into a private bar area, it's pretty sweet. There was the roaming inflatable Miller bottle that J got her picture with. Besides that the only other thing that is worth mentioning was that I ate 6 hot dogs because they were only a $1 for spring madness. The Crew won and we headed home. I was beat so I called it a Friday night. Saturday was equally uneventful. J and I met up with Todd and Stephanie and we hit Joey Buona's. We got the family style sit down dinner and we ate until we were comatose. I did run in to an old acquaintance from my Primate Center days. If you're reading this, hi Monique. Since I could barely walk after dinner, going out was out of the question. We headed home and I got a good 10 hours of sleep. Sunday we decided to hit the Crew game again. Since it was spring madness tickets were only $2.50 so why not hit up the game. This one we met Erica, Ostrenga, Delahunt, Stephanie, and Stephanie's cousin in the parking lot for a little tailgate action. Erica had some leftover wop from her Mifflin St. party so we had a warm Sunday morning (Erica was a little warmer than the rest.) The game was a lot of fun. We snuck behind home plate about 25 rows back. Todd and I had a hot dog eating contest. I was only able to down 10 (disappointing by personal standards) but Todd only ate 8 so I was the victor. I actually ran into my Aunt and Uncle who were up from Florida watching Craig so I talked to them a bit. The Crew ended up losing but we were really there for the dogs and cheap tickets. It was the most fun I've had on Sunday for a while. Overall a very satisfying weekend. I managed to intertwine sobriety, fun and 20+ hours of sleep.