New Years Weekend Continued

Sunday morning I took a flight from Green Bay to Minneapolis. I am pretty much done with the 5.5 hour drive. I just can't handle it anymore. And I have only done it a couple of times. With the cost of gas and the savings in time, if I can find a $200 flight, it is absolutely worth flying rather than driving. Anyhow I got into Minnesota and went to Krum's place. I watched football all day on his 91 inch high definition television in his home theater. Easily the greatest TV I have ever seen. Krum's brother, Diceman, also came over to watch the Packer game. While the three of us were watching the game, I mentioned to both of them that their father, JFK, called me the day before. In that conversation JFK offered me a ticket to the Packers first playoff game. Diceman told me that his dad had called him to offer him the ticket first, but Krum said that his dad never called him. I think JFK just figured that Krum wouldn't make the trip. So I am headed to the Packer game. Sunday night, Krum and I met Flo and K.O. downtown for a couple of drinks. Monday, I watched football all day at Krum's, then Borky picked me up and I had New Years Eve Dinner with the Borky's. I was "helping" Liz when we misread the package for the frozen Prime Rib that she had bought for dinner. It said cooks in 20 -24 minutes. After 45 minutes of continually inserting the meat thermometer and seeing the needle go the wrong way, we both reread the package and notice that it was 20 -24 minutes per pound. Oops. So we ate everything else that was ready, had another drink, Borky ran to the gas station and then we ate the prime rib. Monday night I rang in the New Year at Heidi and Schoen's place. It was fun, but since we didn't show up until 9:30 - 10:00 the night went very fast. I really didn't drink all that much and that helped contribute to not being hung over in the morning. Tuesday morning a group of us went to Champs for lunch. I spent the afternoon back at Krum's. Tuesday night, K.O. came over to Krum's and we made dinner and watched "The Shining". I was back to Appleton Wednesday morning. Here are your pictures:

Sunday night out at the bar me and Krum.Krum the ladies man with Flo and K.O.Not to be upstaged by Krum, I had to get in there and cop a feel.
New Years Eve. Here is Heidi on the right and her sister, who's name I can't remember. I do know that her boyfriend was a total clown. Apparently over the course of the evening I told Heidi that I would do the Grandma's marathon in Minneapolis with her. That is the same one that Krum passed out at this past summer. Looks like I have a goal for this summer.Me, Lynn, Flo, Liquid Lisa and Doug.Liquid Lisa and Doug.At the end of the night, I was feeding Heidi and Schoen's dog, Zoey, nachos. I thought this was kind of a funny picutre.

New Years Weekend

It was quite the New Years Weekend for me. On Saturday I met up with Nate and Michel in Appleton. Then we went up to Norway, Michigan to meet Andy and Julie for some skiing. We got there around noon and had a couple of drinks. Then we went out to get in a couple of runs. Much like predicted, Michel and Julie bought lift tickets and then made only 3 runs all day. The over/under was set at 5, everyone picked the under. $30 a lift ticket, that makes $10 a run. A little expensive but then again it wasn't my money. After skiing we all drove back down to Green Bay and had dinner drinks and stayed over at Andy's parents house. Here are the pictures:

Michel, Julie and Andy in the the bar. Toasty's Bar.Here are Nate and Michel, just as much in love as the day they met.
Here is Brady, Julie and Andy's son.Here is Julie performing her parenting duties. I was on the floor playing with Brady during the evening and Julie would yell at me, "Be careful you are going to hit his head on the coffee table." Seriously, I have quite the track record of dealing with kids. It isn't like this was the first time I have been around a child. I didn't hear Brady complaining. As I recall he was actually laughing. Browny showed up later in the evening. He was in town for the Packer game. It is kind of funny how we all tie together as friends. Julie and Michel are best friends from high school. Andy went to high school with Brown, and Nate went to college with Brown. The first time Julie, Andy, Michel and Nate all went out together on a double date, Nate and Andy started talking and they quickly came across comparing Brown stories and they have been great friends ever since. A small world.

It is a trip getting together with Julie and Michel. When those two get together it is tough to handle. They talk to each other and ask each other questions and not even wait for the answer before they ask the next question. Slow down girls, I realize that you haven't seen each other in a while, but take a breath. On the drive from Michigan back down to Green Bay, Julie and Michel were in the back seat while Nate and I were in the front. Most the drive home they were showing each other pictures of their sons on their digital cameras. Every two seconds "Ooooooooohhhhhhh he is so cute." "Oooooohhh I can't wait to see him." "Ooooooooooohhhhhh look how cute he looks." I was very close to throwing those digital cameras out the window. Then every 5 minutes they would ask how much further. Here is a little tip, if you ask at 5:00 how much further it is until we get home and we say 45 minutes. When you ask 5 minutes later, if you do a little math you can figure out that it is another 40 minutes.

Christmas Cards Take Two

Here are more of the Christmas cards that I received this year. This one is from Tyler, he is one of the creeps from Hartland. Here are Rob and Melissa. I met Rob through my old roommate, Joe. Rob played kickball with us for a while, and he is also part of the group that I go with to out of town Badger games. We went to the West Virgina and Bowling Green games.
Here are the Eggeners, Brian, Nancy, Jake, Lauren and Angel. Nancy is my Godwife.

I got this one from my friend "Pretzel". Pretzel and I have done triathlons together in past. Pretzel and Errin normally do the Blarney and Bastille Days run with me.
I got this card from the Kakers. Matt and I go back a long way. I met Matt through Krum and we all played soccer together back when we were much younger and better looking.
Here is Linda and her three sons. I met Linda through Michel. All four of them went down to Florida last June for Andy's son's birthday.

I think that this is my favorite Christmas Card that I got this year. I got this from my friend, Amy. It was taken out in Colorado. And that is me on her card with her.

New Years Resolutions

I have been doing rather well with my last couple of resolutions. I thought I would again post my resolution here. This in a way helps me to be more accountable as more people know about it. Before I get to this years resolutions, let me update you with the status on my past resolutions. Two years ago, was deleting fast food from my menu. I have done very well with this one. It has been two years, and I have not touched Taco Bell, Burger King or McDonalds. Check that I think I had an ice cream cone at McDonalds once in the last two years. Otherwise the closest I have been is Subway, Quiznos or Culvers. And even any stops there have been few and far between. I was accused this past weekend that Buffalo Chicken Tenders at Champs is fast food, but the waitress backed me on my claim that Champs is not fast food. I have done well on last years resolutions of no, soda, candy, chips or french fries. I broke down a couple of times on the french fries. My other resolution from last year was to be better at introducing myself. I still haven't done very well on that one. But I will still work on that one.

Alright on this year. I think I am done with all of the food resolutions. I have made some pretty big strides in making myself healthy. I think if I go any further with the health thing, I will just become more annoying. I have two resolutions for this year.

#1. Stop swearing. I think that swearing makes you seem less intelligent and less classy. And I could always use a little more class and intelligence. I am willing to go one further, if you hear me swear, the first person to call me on it, I will give them a dollar. Sort of like a swear jar. I also believe that if a person rarely swears, that when the time comes that they do swear, what they are saying has much more meaning. For instance, if my mom said to me "What the "F" are you doing?" I would really stand at attention and take notice.

#2. I sort of consider juggling to be a bit of a hobby/talent. I have really been slacking on that. My other resolution is to practice my juggling more often. I would really like to be able to incorporate being able to juggle behind my back and graduate from just juggling balls to pins.

Krum

Here is a picture of Krum that he took when he was figuring out how the camera on his laptop worked. Pretty scary.
This is the type of picture that shows up on the news after a guy goes crazy and shoots everyone in a shopping mall. A picture that the shooter would take while writing his psychotic manifesto.

Christmas Weekend

I was happy to be home for the holidays. Here is a quick recap of all of what I did. Friday night I went skiing with my brother, Jon and nephews, Nick and Ethan, at Alpine Valley. After skiing I stopped at the Eagle Springs Pub where my friend, Angela, "works". Although I didn't see her working much at all. But I did get to meet her soon to be boyfriend, Jon, who is one of the cooks.

Saturday I actually got to play some sheepshead. This was very exciting to me. Preston got a game together with Mick, Roman and Bob. While it didn't start out too well, I was down $50, I made a formidable comeback and ended up winning $30. Saturday night, I hung out at the Krumrich household.

Sunday morning I went to Jared, Lindsey and Erin's Christmas concert. I had never been invited to one of their concerts before. Apparently making this public knowledge on my blog helped to change that situation. I guess you could say that some good actually comes out of my blog. I wasted the next 3 hours of my day watching the Packer game at my sister's. The only saving grace of that experience is that we had breakfast first. Normally this wouldn't be all that big of a deal, but my parents were also at my sister's and my mom brought her homemade Spanish nut rolls. It has to be all of 20 years since she last made them. Honestly, they were worth the wait. Absolutely delicious. I had recently told the story of the infamous spanish nut rolls to my nephews and made them bother my mom until she finally made them. Sunday night I went with Chris and Rebecca to the Bahr family Christmas party. I love hanging out with the Bahrs. Rebecca had about 10 aunts and uncles and they all rip on each other. It is truly a great party to just be a fly on the wall at, just to listen in on the conversations.

Monday, Christmas eve, I met up with the Krumichs again. Somehow I got talked into going down to Best Buy in Delafield in the middle of the afternoon. What a joke. The highlights of that trip were Mr. Krumrich bypassing the only parking spot we saw for two minutes, in search of finding some "rockstar parking". What was he thinking. We also got flipped off by an old guy who drove by us for no real apparent reason. Merry Christmas. Afterwards, we got in the annual Krumrich ping pong tourney. Krum and I handily disposed of JFK and Diceman. I would like to say it was close but it wasn't. Christmas Eve dinner was at my brother, Jon's. His in-laws were over. We played some cards, opened gifts and had a great meal. Christmas Eve night, I made an appearance over at Rebecca's mom's (Rita's) house for a drink or two.

Christmas day was spent at my parents. The entire family was together. It is quite the house full. As happens every year, the only real Christmas present I want is to get through all of the family pictures without catching any grief from my brothers. Well that didn't happen. One day they will appreciate me for insisting that we take pictures. As was true for the entire weekend, the food was great and I ate way too much.

I would like to thank everyone this past weekend for the hospitality and great food. Including, the Bahrs, Krumrichs, Preston, Rick and Rita Garcia, Annie and Gordy, the Coonens, the Eggeners, Chris and Rebecca, Angela, my parents especially my mom for the dounuts, ,and a special thank you to my brother, Jon, and sister in law, Julie, for allowing me to stay at their house and come as go as I pleased.

I would also like to thank the following for the wonderful gifts I received this year, Chris and Rebecca, Grandma Bahr, Nancy, Nick and Ethan, Rita and Rick, Erin, Lindsey and Jared.

Here are the pictures from Christmas weekend. I stopped by Chris and Rebecca and I took their family Christmas picture. Here they are with Mona, Butters, Butch and Kim.Angela and Harper at the Bahr family Christmas party. Angela didn't bring her boyfriend, Jon.Grandma Bahr and her favorite grandson in law, Chris. Rebecca says that Chris is just a big brown noser.Here I am at Best Buy, Krum is playing Guitar Hero, and I am keeping tempo with Drum Hero, although Drum Hero wasn't working. But I was still making my presence felt. More Cowbell.Christmas Eve at my brother, Jon's, seen in the background surprisingly with a drink. This is Jake, Lauren, Ethan and Nick.The Eggener Family, Nancy (my godwife), Brian, Jake and Lauren.Me with Gordy and Annie.Here I am picking on my older little brother, Jon.Christmas Day at my parents. I was quizzed to see if I could remember all of the grandkids middle names. I passed with flying colors. Nicholas Evan.Zachary Richard.Lindsey Rose.Ethan August.Jared James.Sarah Elizabeth.Abbigail Diane.Erin Emma.Joshua William.Joey Jeffery.Here are all of the grandkids.The Grandkids with their grandparents.

This is the entire Davies clan. 21 of us all together. Grandma is going to get passed in height by a couple of the grandkids pretty soon. Here is Josh crying because his mom said he couldn't open a present. I always take pictures of Josh when he cries.My parents with what is probably their last grandchild, Joey.

My Christmas Card

By now everyone who is going to get one of my Christmas cards has most likely received it. As I have stated this is not my best effort. I have heard some rumblings about how people felt the same. They thought it was a bad picture and the letter wasn't funny at all. I had a poll a while back asking my readers if they wanted some input as to which picture I was going to use for my card. I narrowed it down to three candidates. So in hindsight, I thought I would post the pictures here and see which picture you liked best and if I picked the right one. This is the picture that was used as my card. I like the picture alot. I took it with a timer. It was taken when I was down in Mexico last February. It was a beautiful sunrise, the waves were just rolling.This picture was also taken in Mexico. I shared a room with Vanessa. When we found out that there was an outdoor shower, Vanessa and I decided that we would take a shower picture. We did about 7 or 8 different poses. As shocking as this might sound, this photo shoot was actually a lot of fun. This was the final candidate for the Christmas card. This was taken down in Clearwater, Florida, when I was down there for Truz's son's baptism. Just a swan dive into the pool. Eric took this picture.

Which would have been the best picture for my Christmas Card?
	The Flexing Sunrise
	The Shower Picture
	The Swan Dive
Free polls from Pollhost.com

MKA

Regular readers know all about M.K.A. (Mike Kicking Ass) I would like to extend my personal congratulations to my cousin, Mike. Mike is the starting left tackle for the Division III National Champion University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Fighting Warhawks Football Team. Not only was Mike a valuable member of the team, but in the championship game actually scored a touchdown. So Mike not only kicks ass, but gives the scoreboard a workout. Here is the play where Mike scored his touchdown after the running back fumbled the ball into the endzone. As you can sort of see from the picture two defenders from Mount Union were already on the ground with the ball before Mike (73), came in to steal the ball away from them.
I watched the game at A-Basin after I was done skiing. Here I am in the bar after the game posing with the TV.Here is the final score.

Christmas Cards

I have recieved a number of Christmas cards. And I would like to share a couple of the pictures that I have recieved along with the cards. Here is my cousin Heidi with her husband Craig, and daughters, Anna and Abby along with her son, Alex at Craig's Navy Retirement. For those that are regular readers, it was Craig and Heidi's house that I toilet papered earlier this fall. Remember, do not mess with me.

These are Clark and Linda Beier's grandkids, Layla, Laura, Josh and Odin. Clark was my soccer coach growing up. And I played soccer and knew his son, Matt, throughout my childhood.Here are Nathan and Lindsey. They are Don and Julie Melnikoff's kids. Julie and I worked together at Merge. One of my favorite stories from working with Julie happened early on in my employment there. Our manager, Anton, worked out of our European office and would come to Milwaukee 3 or 4 times a year. Anton had a habit of coming into your cubicle and would ramble on and on and on. Most of what Anton said wasn't all that relevent. Anyhow Julie and I had this little trick that we would do, whenever Anton walked into either of our cubicles we would call each other as we shared a cubicle wall. And we would tell Anton we couldn't talk and had to take the call. While this was a little funny in reality it was very helpful and only helped us to being more productive.

Here is Brady, Andy (Truz) and Julie's son. Truz used to be my roommate. I once offered him $500 not to get married and he turned it down. I wonder how he feels about that offer now. They now live down in Clearwater, Florida.

Here is Ryan, Jen and Kaia. I used to play kickball with Ryan and Jen. Ryan also likes to jump into the bushes in front of my house when he drinks too much.Here are Mark, Suzanne and Elise. Mark was my roommate in college back at UWM. There was a time when Mark and Suzanne were dating when Suzanne didn't like me too much. I used to give her a bit of a hard time whenever she came over to our place. In fact on a number of occasions she would call Mark to see if I was at the house, and if I was, she wouldn't come over. But since then I have won Suzanne over with my charm. Mark and Suzanne live in Appleton now, so I get together with them at least once every week or two. On a side, note I do like this picture a lot. Black and white really captures the moment.Here is Kaitlyn, Tree and Heather's daughter. What can I really say about Tree? Actually nothing positive, other than he has an adorable daughter. How that is possible is beyond me.

Here are Matt and Seth. Tony and Cammy's sons. Tony is my sister in law Julie's brother. A funny story about Tony. In high school Tony and I were on the same club soccer team. I joined the team late and as it turned out Tony and I had the same jersey number. We were both somewhat tall and blonde. From the sidelines it was a little difficult to tell us apart. Tony was a better player than I was. Over the course of the game, if one of us had a good play, no matter which one it was, you could hear "Nice job Tony." And if one of us screwed up, even if it was Tony, you could hear "Rickie, What are you doing?!?"

Here is Browny and his wife, Doreen. Friends of mine from Minneapolis.