The sheepshead tournament.
Justus and Mark Thome at Derby Days.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Weekend Update
Friday night, I did much of nothing. Jay and Nate stopped by and we grilled out in the backyard and watched the Brewers lose. Saturday I went down to Germanfest to play in the sheepshead tournament with The General, Justus, Roman and Preston. Yes all three Klink boys were together. And I guess I really have no problem saying that out of the 5 of us, I am the best sheepshead player. Then again, I am sure that doesn't surprise anyone. Saturday night, I went to Dousman Derby Days. It is pretty much a high school reunion for the Kettle Moraine area. Justus stopped down and we ran into Mark Thome. This leads me to one of my lost and forgotten stories. I have been making an effort to make mental notes of the stories that I tell so that I can put them down in writting to share with all of you. This one goes back to the summer after my freshman year in college. I was playing U-23 soccer with Reinders. We had a great team, but we were a bit unorganized. That being the case we often played short handed. On this one particular evening we were playing and only had 9 players. Normally you would have 4 defenders in a game. We only had 3, Matt Kaker, Justus and myself. This being the case we employed a tactic called an offsides trap. This might be over the head of some non soccer playing readers, but it is somewhat in material. Anyhow, in the first half, our goalie, Dan Green, his father was helping out the referee by working the sidelines on our half of the field. So when the ball went out of bounds he would put up his flag, or if the other team was offsides he would also raise his flag to help out the referee. As I said we were pulling a number of offside traps and they were working rather well. The game was tied 1-1 at half time. Then we switched sides of the field. We continued with the offside traps in the second half, but the person working the flag on the other side of the field was the younger brother of one of the guys on the other team. This kid refused to put his flag up when the other team was offsides. The 3rd of 4th time this happened, it was on my side of the defensive field and the ball was played to the corner. I was pretty mad, so I slide tackled the guy with the ball and got it from him, then proceeded to dribble up the side line. Now this is the part of the story to pay attention to. I am dribbling up the sidelines probably no more than 3 or 4 feet from the line. And there is no one within 15 yards of me. As I am dribbling, I see the kid with the flag standing near mid field next to the other teams coach. I am still mad at this kid for doing such a horrible job with the flag, so when I get right next to them. I stop, turn and fire the ball as hard as I can at the kid. Mind you the kid is probably 15 or 16. Well to be honest my marksmanship with a soccer ball isn't the greatest in the world, and even though the kid was maybe 8 feet away at the most. I missed and hit the coach for the other team. After this I just jog back into my defensive position. Every player on the field and everyone watching was utterly shocked by this display. I acted like it was no big deal. After the game, which I think ended up 1-1, my team was sitting together changing our shoes and Tom Kopatich says to me "Hey, what was with that shot you took at the other coach?" And the rest of the team looked at me as well and were all waiting for an answer. I said "That kid was pissing me off. I had to do something." To which Tom replied, "But I was making a run." As I mentioned we were down 2 players, and just before I kicked the ball out of bounds, we had what you might call a 4 on 7 break going. So I said to Tom, "Tom, we weren't going to score." Maybe it isn't a funny story, or you had to be there, but the imagery of someone stopping in the middle of a game and kicking the ball at the flag man, I think is highly comical.
The sheepshead tournament.
Justus and Mark Thome at Derby Days.
The sheepshead tournament.
Justus and Mark Thome at Derby Days.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Half Day at Work
It is nice to have a half day at work every once in a while. With the Brewers having a day game I decided to go. I went with my friend, Chris, who I unfortunately don't get to hang out with much anymore since he lives so far away. Well the Brewers lost, which sort of sucked. But a bad day watching the Brewers is better than a good day at work. My mom had called me just as we were walking into the game to tell me that we were having dinner at my sister's since my great aunt Harriet was going to be in town for the evening. Well, it was a hot day at the baseball game. And the first beer actually tasted pretty good. Then the Mike's Hard Lemonade after that tasted even better. The game finished and Chris didn't want to deal with the traffic so we went down to Leff's Luckytown. I have haven't been down there in a long long time. Your first Miller Product is free with a ticket stub. Chris and I grabbed a couple more beers and some food. By the time I left the bar I was ready to either keep going or go right to sleep. Well I had to be to my sister's by 6:00 for dinner. I made it by 6:30. I wasn't too hungry, so I ended up spending most of the evening with my nieces and nephews. I taught them how to play Ghost in the Graveyard. As you might know, it was fairly hot out tonight. Running around with those kids is quite a work out. I ran a mile and a half on the treadmill last night, and I think I was sweating just as much tonight chasing those kids around. Here are some pictures from tonight. Jodi, I didn't call you because I assumed that my mom did. This wasn't my program, so if you are mad that their aren't any pictures of you kids here, it is not my fault.
Is this the kids counting for ghost in the graveyard or a scene from the Blair Witch Project? You decide.
Pickle, Crusher and Auggi.
Is this the kids counting for ghost in the graveyard or a scene from the Blair Witch Project? You decide.
Pickle, Crusher and Auggi.Me and Crusher. Can you tell how tired I am?
Auggi's Dragon Face.
Lindsey's Dragon Face.
Pickle's Dragon Face.
Crusher's Dragon Face.
Erin's Dragon Face.
More Nicknames
I would like to thank the 13 people who voted for the male nicknames. I am hoping to get a couple more people to vote on the female nicknames, but I am doubting it. I know how difficult it can be to click on which name is your favorite. By popular demand, I have been asked to add a poll for my female friends and who has the best nickname. So here goes. I appologize in advance if I missed someone. Fogel sorry I left you off the last poll.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Why Do You Guys Think I am Such a Bad Driver?
This is a really old story. But it is just one of many great Justus stories. I believe it was the 
summer after my high school graduation, that would make it 1991. It was when I first started hanging out with Kaker and Justus. Justus and Kaker came and picked up Krum and I. We were headed out to a “field party” that Justus had heard about. Justus was a little unclear on the directions to this “field party”, therefore we made a number of U-turns as we patrolled the back roads of the great Kettle Moraine area. Krum and I were in the back seat, and as the quest for the destination for this party continued, our critiquing of Justus and his driving skills continued to escalate and become more critical with each passing minute. I would imagine such phrases as “Nice blinker.” or “You know you are actually suppose to honk your horn when you pass someone?” or “These must be some pretty good friends that gave you such exact directions.” were coming from Krum and I. We had been in the car for at least a good 30 or 40 minutes and it was rather apparent to Krum and I that we were never going to find this party or that this party never existed in the first place. To be fair to Justus, Krum and I were laying into him pretty hard, and as sick of being stuck in the back seat as Krum and I were, Justus was equally if not more sick of
the verbal abuse we were laying on him. Finally, while being frustrated with being unable to find this party and also with Krum and I, Justus went to make a U-turn in the middle of a back country county highway. In the process of this maneuver Justus blurts out “I don’t know why you guys think I am such a bad driver.” As the words are leaving Justus’ mouth we get stuck in the ditch. Krum and I look at each other and we are trying to decide which one of us should go first in ripping on Justus. It is at this point that Justus turns around and says “If you two A-holes say one F-ing word you are both walking back.” To this day I still regret not saying something. It would have absolutely worth saying the first thing that came to my mind, then get out of the car, say “Thank you very much for the ride and the good time.”, and start walking home.
summer after my high school graduation, that would make it 1991. It was when I first started hanging out with Kaker and Justus. Justus and Kaker came and picked up Krum and I. We were headed out to a “field party” that Justus had heard about. Justus was a little unclear on the directions to this “field party”, therefore we made a number of U-turns as we patrolled the back roads of the great Kettle Moraine area. Krum and I were in the back seat, and as the quest for the destination for this party continued, our critiquing of Justus and his driving skills continued to escalate and become more critical with each passing minute. I would imagine such phrases as “Nice blinker.” or “You know you are actually suppose to honk your horn when you pass someone?” or “These must be some pretty good friends that gave you such exact directions.” were coming from Krum and I. We had been in the car for at least a good 30 or 40 minutes and it was rather apparent to Krum and I that we were never going to find this party or that this party never existed in the first place. To be fair to Justus, Krum and I were laying into him pretty hard, and as sick of being stuck in the back seat as Krum and I were, Justus was equally if not more sick of
the verbal abuse we were laying on him. Finally, while being frustrated with being unable to find this party and also with Krum and I, Justus went to make a U-turn in the middle of a back country county highway. In the process of this maneuver Justus blurts out “I don’t know why you guys think I am such a bad driver.” As the words are leaving Justus’ mouth we get stuck in the ditch. Krum and I look at each other and we are trying to decide which one of us should go first in ripping on Justus. It is at this point that Justus turns around and says “If you two A-holes say one F-ing word you are both walking back.” To this day I still regret not saying something. It would have absolutely worth saying the first thing that came to my mind, then get out of the car, say “Thank you very much for the ride and the good time.”, and start walking home.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Weekend Update
Well it was a pretty good weekend for me. Thursday after work I headed to Madison. I had dinner with Joe, the Dish, Diane, The General and Topher at the Great Dane. Everything was going great until Topher spit up about 3 ounces of formula down Diane's shirt. But to Diane's credit she handled it like a champ, way better than I would have. In fact she just laughed it off. Diane you are going to make a wonderful mother. The General, I am still not convinced of your parenting skills. I stayed at the Stegall residence Thursday night. First thing Friday morning, I headed up to Minnesota. I signed my lease on a town house in Woodbury, Minnesota. Then I had lunch with one Paul Krumrich. Krum had to leave after lunch so I pretty much just hung out at Krum's place the remainder of the day. Saturday morning, Russ and I got in a run around Lake Nakomis. Then we went to breakfast with Eric. The three of us then headed out to the Church for Todd and Margaret's wedding. After the wedding we went to a BBQ for Mick. That was mellow but fun. It was great to see Josh and his family. Josh has 4 girls and a boy. All absolutely adorable. Then Russ, Eric and I headed to the reception. That is pretty much the run down of the weekend. Here are the pictures that go with.
Me with Topher.
1 of the literally 40 pictures of the fireworks that I took.
Me with Topher.
Doug and Lisa.
Me, Brian and Borky's Thumb.
Lisa, Andrea, Borky, Doug and I.
1 of the literally 40 pictures of the fireworks that I took.
Borky with the "Why do you have to take a picture of me?" look.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Fantasy Football
This probably won't mean much to most of you. But for those of you in my Fantasy Football League. I finally got the other trophy in. So this is what you will be playing for this year. Stegall, dream on, not much of a chance of you winning this year. Or any year for that matter.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Nicknames
I was watching ESPN Classic tonight and they had a countdown of the top 25 nicknames of all time. That got me to thinking about me and all of my friends. I was going to rank my friends and their nicknames, but it is sort of like saying which one of your children you love the most. They all have their own unique qualities. So I thought I would put together a poll and let you decide which is the best nickname. Now this is nickname, it has nothing to do with the person, otherwise Justus would have never made the list. I know alot of people don't vote, but come on this is an easy one.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Picture of the Day
This picture was taken May 1st, 1999 in Killeen, Texas. It was while I was visiting the General. We were headed up to Dallas and stopped at this drive thru liqour store. That is me in the orange shirt next to one of the girls that worked there. Open intoxicants are legal in Texas.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Rest of the Update
Here is the remainder of my weekend. I had a family reunion Sunday for my mom's side of the family. It used to be a reunion that would bring in over 100 relatives. This year we were under 25. It is unfortunate. I always enjoy going because it is on a nice small lake with a great beach. Here are some photos.
It was my god son, Josh's birthday. Here he is before blowing out the candles.
And here he is crying because I smeared frosting from his cake all over him. I thought it was funny. But there were many in attendance who did not. Come on, look at the kid, he is covered in frosting. It is funny. 
And because I have been getting so many requests for me to post more pictures with my shirt off, here goes. Down at the lake I had a couple poses jumping into the lake.
Then I had the great idea to jump over my nephews. Here I am going over Ethan. No children were injuried in the photographing of these images. Even though my sister in law, Julie was worried.
And in this one Nick aborted at the last second, but as you can see by the altitude I attained that I would have easily cleared him. I must be 6 feet up in the air.
Today I had lunch with Roman, Nate, Julie, Andy and Brady. Here is the Heisman picture I have been promising. I am headed up to Minnesota this weekend, I am plan on stopping by Stegall, so look for another Heisman picture with Topher.
It was my god son, Josh's birthday. Here he is before blowing out the candles.
And here he is crying because I smeared frosting from his cake all over him. I thought it was funny. But there were many in attendance who did not. Come on, look at the kid, he is covered in frosting. It is funny. And because I have been getting so many requests for me to post more pictures with my shirt off, here goes. Down at the lake I had a couple poses jumping into the lake.
Then I had the great idea to jump over my nephews. Here I am going over Ethan. No children were injuried in the photographing of these images. Even though my sister in law, Julie was worried.
And in this one Nick aborted at the last second, but as you can see by the altitude I attained that I would have easily cleared him. I must be 6 feet up in the air.
Today I had lunch with Roman, Nate, Julie, Andy and Brady. Here is the Heisman picture I have been promising. I am headed up to Minnesota this weekend, I am plan on stopping by Stegall, so look for another Heisman picture with Topher.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Baby News
I can't believe I forgot to post this in my mid weekend update. Yesterday at my parent's house my brother, Jeff, and his wife, Sue, announced that they are pregnant with their 3rd child. I didn't see this coming. As of March 2007 I will be an uncle for the 10th time. With 5 boys and 4 girls in the family already, this could balance out the power in the family. I know that Jeff and Sue peak in on my blog every once in a while, so congratulations. Christmas is going to continue to be an expensive event.
Mid Weekend Update
It has been a busy fun fun weekend for me so far. Friday night, my old roommate, Andy was back in town, well back in the state. Andy, his wife Julie, and their new baby boy, the Devil Child, Brady, were back in Wisconsin. Andy's parents through a party up in Green Bay. I went up their with Michel. Nate would have gone, but he just had knee surgery so, Nate was couch bound. Andy's family is alot of fun to be around. Saturday, my great Aunt Harriet was back in town and my parent through a little picnic. So the family got together for that. It was incredibly hot, so I am still perplexed why my brother, Dan, was so upset when he went after me after I popped a water balloon on him. I am still trying to understand why it is that when I bring water balloons to a party and I give the balloons to the kids, they only throw them at me. But again that was the case. After my parent's house we all went over to my sister-in-law, Julie's, house. They have a nice pool, so the family was all over there for the remainder of the day/evening enjoying the pool. A rather relaxing day. Today I have a family reunion for my mom's side of the family. And then later this evening, Andy is going to be down in Milwaukee. We are going to meet up over by Nate and I am going to give Andy a lesson in ping pong. The wagger is loser buys Oakland Gyros. I am pretty excited. I think I will also be ordering a breaded mushrooms. Oh and I almost forgot. The Bastille days run went pretty well for me. I finished in 27:57. My goal was 29 minutes so I am happy about that. But I think I could have done better. It is just that the last 1/2 mile I felt like I was dragging a dead body behind me. Next year I will shave a minute off of that time. I would like to that the 10 people who voted in my pole, even the person who didn't think I finish. Here are some pictures for the weekend so far.
Nate on the couch. Never seen that before.
Michel with Brady.
Putt with Brady. Can you believe they let Putt hold Brady but not me? That is alright, I am getting my Heisman picture with Brady today.
Mom and Brady.
Tami, Michel and Julie.
Me and Julie. Sign of the Devil. As you may have read from previous blog entries, Brady was born 12:01 on 6-6-06. Keep a close eye on this kid. Villa, I hope you like the shirt, it is yours.
And because this hasn't been enough pictures, here are more from Saturday. Abbigail on the tire swing.
Sarah on the tire swing. At one point in the day, the kids were lined up 5 deep waiting for tire swing rides. I got a full workout of under duckys, atomic drops, twisters, and super brakes.
Here are the kids screaming in the sprinkler.
The Nirvana Nevermind cover or Ethan?
Haus with a flip.
Zack catching some air.
Ethan doing a flip. He gets some nice tight rotation.
And because my female readers just can seem to get enough of me. Here I am showing a preview of what your tickets to the gun show will get you.
Nate on the couch. Never seen that before.
The proud father, Andy, and Brady.
Here was my favorite part of the night, Andy retelling the story of him getting so drunk that his dad had to carry him out of the cab and into the house. Mind you Andy was 32 years old when this story took place. An absolute classic story. If you ever run into Andy make him tell you the story. 
Michel with Brady.
Putt with Brady. Can you believe they let Putt hold Brady but not me? That is alright, I am getting my Heisman picture with Brady today.Mom and Brady.
Tami, Michel and Julie.
Me and Julie. Sign of the Devil. As you may have read from previous blog entries, Brady was born 12:01 on 6-6-06. Keep a close eye on this kid. Villa, I hope you like the shirt, it is yours.
And because this hasn't been enough pictures, here are more from Saturday. Abbigail on the tire swing.
Sarah on the tire swing. At one point in the day, the kids were lined up 5 deep waiting for tire swing rides. I got a full workout of under duckys, atomic drops, twisters, and super brakes.
Here are the kids screaming in the sprinkler.
The Nirvana Nevermind cover or Ethan?
Haus with a flip.Zack catching some air.
Ethan doing a flip. He gets some nice tight rotation.
And because my female readers just can seem to get enough of me. Here I am showing a preview of what your tickets to the gun show will get you.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Storm the Bastille
Tonight is the annual Storm the Bastille 5K run. I think tonight will be at least 5th year in a row. This is by far the best 5K run I have ever done. Start time is 9:00 p.m. So if anyone is going down there and would like to meet me, I should be crossing the finish line around 9:19 p.m. Actually I am looking to finish in under 29 minutes but we will see. The start gets real congested, so I think my time will suffer a little. What do you think my time will be?
Monday, July 10, 2006
Random Notes
I have a confession to make. If I rewind a little over 6 months, I made two New Years Resolutions. Well I broke one of them last week, when I needed to get a hold of The General. I had a resolution not to call him on his cell phone. But going into the second Dave Matthews concert he was still up in the air. I didn't want to get stiffed on the ticket so I had to call him. Not surprisingly he ended up being a no show for the concert and when I called, he didn’t answer, and actually never did return my call until 2 days later. I can’t say that I was shocked. But I think that is still pretty good to have any resolution for 6 months. However, my other resolution, I am still holding true to. I have been fast food clean for 6 months and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Just the thought of eating at McDonalds makes me feel sick. The closest I have been to eating fast food has been Quiznos or Oakland Gyros. And there is no way I could ever give up Oakland Gyros.
Here is a random note that I am bit tentative to bring up. If you have been a reader of my blog for a while, you may have remembered my two favorite readers: Fort Wayne, Indiana and Columbia, Missouri. For those who might not know, I have a site meter on my blog. It can be found on the bottom of the blog. If you click on it, it sends you to another web page where it will give you all of the data on the number of hits my blog gets and where they are coming from, or at least what city. For a good two or three month stretch I had two faithful readers from Fort Wayne, Indiana and Columbia, Missouri, who checked in just about everyday. I do not know anyone who lives in either of those cities, so I am guessing that they are just two random people who came across my blog. Then one day they both suddenly stopped coming to my web site. Maybe they felt sorry for Nura and Sue, who knows. But recently I have another person from a far off place, that I have no clue who they are. And yet they are checking out the blog on a regular basis. All that I can guess is that it is a hot bikini super model who is attracted to my stunning good looks and is amused by my rapist wit.(Dumb and Dumber reference) So I would like to welcome aboard to the “Life of Rickie” readership, Herndon, Virgina.
Here is a random note that I am bit tentative to bring up. If you have been a reader of my blog for a while, you may have remembered my two favorite readers: Fort Wayne, Indiana and Columbia, Missouri. For those who might not know, I have a site meter on my blog. It can be found on the bottom of the blog. If you click on it, it sends you to another web page where it will give you all of the data on the number of hits my blog gets and where they are coming from, or at least what city. For a good two or three month stretch I had two faithful readers from Fort Wayne, Indiana and Columbia, Missouri, who checked in just about everyday. I do not know anyone who lives in either of those cities, so I am guessing that they are just two random people who came across my blog. Then one day they both suddenly stopped coming to my web site. Maybe they felt sorry for Nura and Sue, who knows. But recently I have another person from a far off place, that I have no clue who they are. And yet they are checking out the blog on a regular basis. All that I can guess is that it is a hot bikini super model who is attracted to my stunning good looks and is amused by my rapist wit.(Dumb and Dumber reference) So I would like to welcome aboard to the “Life of Rickie” readership, Herndon, Virgina.
Email Addresses
To my brother, Dan, and my brother in law, Tim. I think you both check out my blog. Post your email addresses on the blog so I have them.
Weekend Update
This past weekend I went to a bachelor party for my friend, Todd Planting. I met Todd through Borky. We went rafting down the Apple River. All I really want to comment on the bachelor party with, is that it was a lot of fun and I saw some really cool stuff. Apple River is about 5 hours away. And a half an hour north of Hudson. I knew I didn't want to spend all day Sunday driving. I ended up waking up early 5:00 a.m. Sunday morning and started driving home. This worked out great since I was finally back home by 10 in the morning. I had the whole day ahead of me. My brother had a World Cup party. So it was nice to get together with all of my brothers, my sister and their respective families. Pictures to follow.
Ethan underwater
Like father like son, Haus in mid air. Look at that tight tuck on the cannonball.
Jared with a cannonball.
Check out the stud with the sunglass, the patching sun burn on the shoulder juggling in the water.
Josh in a one piece. He has his father's spare tire around the middle.
9 punks ready to go swimming.
Lindsey airborne.
Zack airborne.
Ethan underwater
Nick in mid air.
Like father like son, Haus in mid air. Look at that tight tuck on the cannonball.
Jared with a cannonball.
Check out the stud with the sunglass, the patching sun burn on the shoulder juggling in the water.
Josh in a one piece. He has his father's spare tire around the middle.
9 punks ready to go swimming.
Lindsey airborne.
Zack airborne.
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