Life Size Jenga

Last year at Dave Matthews, I came across a tailgate party that had a pretty cool game. They made a life size Jenga game. I of course copied it. Here is mine this past weekend at my parent's house with my nieces and nephews playing with it. I also got this shot last night. It is about as high as it can go, 6 foot 8 inches.

I am sure this will now be a staple at any tailgate party.

Sweet Dreams

Tuesday I went grocery shopping. And I right after work. I was starving so everything looked good. I have been eating the cheese stuffed hotdogs ever since. In fact I have a craving for a dog right now. That reminds me of a challenge that someone put forth for a Brewer game. To eat a hot dog and drink a beer every inning for 9 innings. It would be interesting to see if it could be done. It would also be interesting to see how much it would cost. I don't recall the prices, but I would guess $2.25 for a hotdog, and $5.00 for a beer. So that is a $65 investment.
Last night I had nothing going on, and I was behind on my sleep from the weekend. I decided to just go to bed early at 8:00 p.m. I didn't get out of bed until 7 this morning. It is amazing what 11 hours of sleep will do for you. I am feeling much better, and I might try it again tonight.

Points and Observations From Memorial Day Weekend

The Brewers aren't that bad and the Twin aren't that good.

I am still incredibly immature. Saturday afternoon I met with The General at the Picnic Basket for lunch. While waiting for our food, we started playing Ms. Pacman. Our food came, we ate, and then went right back to playing Ms. Pacman. Another 10 minutes after the waitress, who was still in high school, had cleared our dishes and dropped off our bill, we were still playing. That is when she said to us "Do you guys need more quarters?" So sad.

A plan is finally in place for trying to fix my back. Sunday morning I met with Tree and his wife, Dr. Heather Havlik. I didn't know this before, but apparently Heather's speciality is with the spine and back. I brought my MRI images and she looked them over and said that I really did a number on my back. But Heather gave me a course of action to try and get myself fixed. She prescribed some some steroids to try and also called in for a refill on the drugs I had been using that had me feeling fairly decent. If the the steroids don't help, then I will be looking to get cortisone injections sometime near the end of June. If the problems still persists, then this coming winter when I am back on my company's insurance I will have surgery to fix the problem. And the main problem is that the disk between to of my vertebrate in my lower back, has become somewhat crushed and is pushing out back onto my sciatic nerve which is causing me my pain. After I got done talking to Heather I went into another room, and while I was gone, Tree and Heather's daughter, Kaitlyn, asked Heather if I was going to die, as she had over heard our conversation. I was also told that these steroids won't make me any bigger or stronger, but I am doing extra pushups in the morning just in case.

Sunday afternoon I stopped by my brother's to fix a hole in my truck tire for a screw that I drove over. But it wasn't as bad as I thought and there wasn't much to fix. But on my way to my brother's, I called up JFK who lives in the area. JFK is Krum's dad. He recently built a new garage and has an area set aside for ping pong. I always love a good game of ping pong. But when I called up JFK on Sunday he said he was busy. As I was running errands Monday morning, JFK called me back and told me to stop by on my way to my parent's house. I did and we got in a very competitive game. We played best of 7. JFK took me down in the first 3 games, and I had to perform an Miracle on Ice like rally to take the last 4 games. Hard to believe that it took me 7 games to take care of JFK, who is in his 60's. By the end of our match I was dripping with sweat, it was quite the workout.

Monday morning, I made a trip to Home Depot and build my own set of life size Jenga. Sure to be a hit at any tailgate party.

Monday afternoon the whole family got together at my parent's house for dinner. I ate too much but everything was so good. Steak sandwiches and pizza brats. We got in something of a baseball game with all of the nieces and nephews. And I was able to finish the day with a trip to the ATM, I.E. playing sheepshead.

I also did my Memorial Day tradition of watching Saving Private Ryan. I watched it Sunday night, and I had the 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound just blasting. I am sure my neighbor really thought there was a war going on in my house because I had it pretty loud to try and get the effect of the movie. Every time I watch the beginning scene with the storming of the beaches at Omaha, I marvel at the courage and intestinal fortitude that our soldiers had, to not only perform, but accomplish such an impossible task. However, in the Art of War, by Sun Tzu it states if you "Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve. Officers and men alike will put forth their uttermost strength". In the movie they show Captain Jon Miller emerging from the water which has now changed to red from all of the blood. After a mortar goes off, Captain Miller grabs his helmet which he has lost and places it a top of his head with the bloody salt water running down his face. I can't imagine how bad that would not only sting the eyes, but taste as it runs across your lips. I doubt that is an experience anyone could forget.

I just want to thank a few people for the great weekend. First and foremost, Heather, for the free medical advice and for prescribing me with a new set of drugs. Frabel for hosting cards Saturday night. Jon for buying dinner Sunday night. JFK for a great ping pong match. And my parents for a great meal Monday night.

Memorial Day Weekend

Just a quick post to all my loyal blog readers. It is Friday afternoon and I am crawling the walls to get out of the office. Enjoy your long weekend, but while you are grilling out, or watching the kids play soccer, or whatever your weekend plans are, take a moment to remember why you are celebrating Memorial Day, and what this day means. Think about the sacrifice of life many have laid down for you to enjoy your freedom. And think about those who are currently defending our freedom.

On a quick side note, I don't recall if I told this story or not. When I got my first internship when I was in college, I was informed that I would get paid for all holidays. I had only been on the job for a week or two when Memorial Day rolled around. It was the first time I got a paid holiday and what did I do? I got completely drunk. All day I was telling my friends, I am getting paid to drink. I thought it was the greatest thing in the world. When the 4th of July came around, I did the same thing. Of course that was the year of my rollerblading accident. As my summer internship drew to a close at the end of summer, I recall begging my boss to keep me on through Labor Day. But he didn't go for it.

Tree is in town this weekend, so I would imagine that I will be with Tree a good share of the weekend. But I will find time this weekend for my annual ritual of watching "Saving Private Ryan", or at least the opening 40 minutes of the movie when the US forces storm the beaches of France. Have a great extended 3 day weekend.

Wisconsin Roads

I was doing some research for a report I was doing at work that required some safety statistics. While I was going through them I made note of the ones I found interesting. All these statistics are from the year 2007.
Fatality Crashes.
There were a total of 737 deaths on Wisconsin highways in 2007.
The deadliest month: July, 84 fatalities.
The least deadliest month: February, 42 fatalities.
The deadliest day: Saturday, 153 fatalities.
The least deadliest day: Monday and Wednesday, 42 fatalities.
The deadliest time of day: 2-3 AM, 54 fatalities.
The least deadliest time of day: 4-5AM, 10 fatalities.
At the following days and times, no deaths occurred: Tuesdays between 3-5 AM, Wednesdays between 4-5 AM and 8-9 AM, Fridays between 9-10 AM, and Saturdays between 6-7 AM.
The most deadly times to be on the road, Sundays between 2-3 AM, 19 fatalities. Saturdays between 2-3 AM, 16 fatalities.
The age groups that had the most fatalities: 25-34 117 fatalities, 45-54 110 fatalities and 35-44 92 fatalities.

What do all of these numbers mean? From looking at the data as a whole, obviously crashes are more likely to occur during morning and evening rush hours. However, fatal crashes are most likely to happen at bar time. I think it is pretty save to assume the majority of those bar time crashes were alcohol related.

It is kind of ironic that I was looking these numbers up today, since on the way to work I heard a radio commercial that mentioned the goal of zero deaths on Wisconsin roadways.

In closing, please be careful out there.

Prognosis Negative

Hold on to your horses. I do have some exciting news. I am not saying that this is good news. But it is exciting. I just got off the phone with my doctor. The radiologist has taken a look at my MRI. The diagnosis is that I have a disc herniation on my L5 S1. As you can see from the below illustration, at least I think this is correct, the herniation is putting pressure on the nerve and that is why I am in the pain that I am in. Treatment? Well he said I can get a cortisone shot, which I am already scheduled to have done in June. But that will not necessarily fix the problem. And it may take 2 or 3 shots to become effective. Or they can do surgery. Obviously, due to my current insurance status, I am going to wait until I get real insurance after this year to possibly go under the knife. I do know that I have a number of people affiliated with the medical profession, so if have any suggestions of other alternatives, I am all ears.

Way Too Nice To Be Stuck Inside

It is another beautiful day outside. As I strolled out to my vehicle to go home for lunch, I thought to myself, this is the weather we have been waiting for. All of those cold winter days when we had to shovel snow, or our cars wouldn't start, or our tongues got stuck to flag poles. Those days are all worth enduring to have a day like today. Last I checked a couple of minutes ago is 83 and sunny. 83!!! But can I enjoy it? Nope. I am in the office probably like most of you. The outlook for the weekend is good, but not great.

For me it is just another day in the week to get through. I did try to spice things in my life up a bit this afternoon. When I was home for lunch, I again had a tuna fish sandwich. But instead of just adding American cheese, I tried throwing taco cheese on my sandwich. Not a good idea. nasty breath as well.

A simple suggestion to any blog readers, don't come back until Tuesday. I am sure this is more painful to read than it is to write.

Blah Blah Blah

I have nothing to talk about. At least I say that now, then I will type on and on about useless blather. I just got back from lunch. I nearly always drive home during the week for lunch because I only work a mile from my house. I had a tuna fish sandwich for lunch. But aside from a so-so meal, the weather outside is absolutely incredible. I really hated to walk back into the building.

Would you be interested to know what I am doing at work today? Probably not. But you are going to hear about it anyways. I am working on some roadway plans. Mostly calculating quantities. We use a program called MicroStation to design the plans. Of course I didn't do the designing, another person in the office did that. I am going through the plans on the computer and calculating how many inlets are on the 10 miles of road. And how many tons of asphalt will be milled of the existing roadway, then calculating how many tons of asphalt will be placed back down. Some pretty boring stuff.

What else can I tell you about my day? I am wearing a green shirt today. For some reason there is a microwave in my cubicle that doesn't belong to me. It is exactly 37 paces from my cubicle to the nearest printer. My job would be significantly easier if I had a second monitor. I guess I had better get back to work. Any other odd bits of information that I could provide you would not enhance your day. Why again is it that people read this blog?

Office Cleaning

I cleaned my office at home. Basically going through all of my old papers that I have in my filing cabinet. This is the stack of papers from my files that I threw out.Here are some gems that I ran across. How about a Gas Bill from June 1998? I can probably toss that.Here is a credit card statement from 1994. Applebee's, nice work. I think that was back when I worked there. Did you know that I was a bus boy and a bar back?Here is a paycheck from my days at The Village of Shorewood, one of my college internships. I was making a whopping $8.00 an hour. I also found a bunch of credit cards that were sent to me that I never even activated. This one is actually pretty good. It was 1996. Kaker and I went to Summerfest and we were at the Miller Oasis to see WAR, as you can tell from the stage lineup sheet below. Somehow after the show we got ourselves back stage and hung out with the band. I really wasn't that big of a deal, because the only remaining member from the original band was the guitarist. We hung out with them for about an hour or so, and then they were hitting the road to head down to Chicago because they were playing the Taste of Chicago the next night. As they were heading out, I asked if I could get their autographs. They said sure, do you have anything to write on. I didn't, so I took the lineup sheet off the wall.The funny thing about getting their autographs, and I remember this clearly. I didn't have a pen, but I saw that the drummed did as he was getting a phone number for a girl. I ran over to him and grabbed the pen out of his hand. At this point, the entire band was starting to get onto their bus. I was running around on the bus getting these autographs. As I getting back off the bus I passed the drummer as he was getting on. He stopped me and said, "Hey man. Can I have my pen back?" I remember thinking, you are in a rock and roll band. Why do you care about a pen? I gave it back to him, but made him give me his autograph. Here are their signatures.Here is the topper of all of my finds in my cleaning. An autographed picture from the Dousman Index of Krum from his high school days. Do you think it is worth anything?

Summer Itinerary

I am going to consider that summer is here as of next weekend. That is Memorial Day weekend. So as a courtesy to all of my fabulous blog readers, I thought I would give you a glimpse into what will be the Summer of Rickie.
Saturday May 23rd (Memorial Day weekend) - Tree is back in town. (Everyone hide)
Saturday May 30th - Nothing planned as of yet
Saturday June 6th - Antonio Freeman Party
Saturday June 13th - Tom Brady's Bachelor Party
Saturday June 20th - Tom Brady and Pocahontas' Wedding
Saturday June 27th - Summerfest
Monday June 29th - Brewer Game with K.O. and Trooper
Saturday July 4th - My grandfather's birthday and 4th of July celebration at the Shermans
Thursday July 9th - Bastille Days Run (I hope to be healthy enough to run this one)
Friday July 10th - Tom Jones at the Riverside ( I would like to scalp tickets)
Saturday July 18th - Dave Matthews at Alpine
Sunday July 19th - Dave Matthews at Alpine
Saturday July 25th - Coldplay at Alpine (I am not sure about this concert yet. I would like to go and scalp tickets)
Saturday August 1st - Pookie's Wedding
Saturday August 8th - That weekend is wide open. But I am thinking about going up to Minnesota.
Saturday August 15th - Diane's Wedding
Sunday August 16th - Brewer Game with Tree
Thursday August 20th - Three Dog Night in Oshkosh with Mark and Suzanne
Sunday August 23rd - Pearl Jam at the United Center (Although I don't have tickets yet)
Saturday August 29th - Jimmy Buffett, but I am not sure that I going to go.
Saturday September 5th - Lake Country Half Marathon (this is most likely a pipe dream)
Saturday September 12th - U2 in Chicago with Liquid and Company
Saturday September 19th - Hopefully this is the date that the Mississippi Camping Trip gets moved to.
Saturday September 26th - Dave Matthews at Tinley Park in Chicago

So that is my summer so far. All events and dates are subject to change. Looks pretty busy.

The Results Are In.....Sort Of

Wednesday afternoon I had an appointment with my doctor. Before I get to what he told me, I have a question about doctors. Everyone says how smart and brilliant doctors are. I think that is a bunch of crap. If they are so incredibly smart, how come they are unable to schedule their appointments? I am serious. Don't they teach time management in Medical School? Why is it if I show up for a 4:00 appointment, the doctor doesn't get to me until 4:35? Why is his time so much more important than mine? I just pray that one day I am working on a bridge and on the other side of the river is a medical convention, I am going to raise that bridge for a day and a half. And doctors are so smart. When I used to work on hospitals, all I ever saw were doctors smoking. Don't they know that smoking is bad for you? Alright I better stop ragging on doctors before Tree shows this to Heather and then she won't give me an "unofficial" exam or look at my MRI images.
I saw my doctor and he told me that the X-rays came back and I have one disk in my back that is a little more crushed than the rest of them. Probably not a good sign. So he ordered an MRI, which actually I was able to get in and see right after I was done at my doctor's office. I walked in filled out three pages of paper work, jumped on the scanner, laid there for 20 minutes, jumped off the scanner, they gave me a CD with all my images on it and I was out the door. That is how you treat a patient. So the radiologist is going to take a look at the MRI and give that information back to my doctor.
My doctor had me schedule and appointment with their pain management department. He told me that if nothing shows up on the MRI that looks like surgery would be necessary, then we would go with a cortisone shot. I asked him "Isn't that just a temporary solution?" He agreed with me. I told him that over the weekend, I cut the grass on Friday and trimmed some bushes in the yard on Saturday. Each activity took between 1 and 2 hours. Both days when I finished I was lying on the floor for 15 minutes fighting off the pain which eventually subsided. He said I might need to reflect on how much pain I can live with. And maybe reevaluate my activities. He thinks I should scale back things a little and only do things that don't cause me pain. If I take his advice that would rule out sitting, standing and walking. Thanks doc.
I will be honest, I don't have an incredible amount of faith in this guy. That is why I am happy to know that Dr. Havlik is going to give me a once over when she is in town.
The drugs I was prescribed are helping, but just a little bit. Instead of my pain being an 8 or 9, they are down to 5 or 6. But I have heavily restricted my activities. I wonder how much pain I would be in if I tried to run a couple miles.
Add this all up and I would say that the outlook doesn't appear to be too bright.

Hump Day Update

Some quick random thoughts on this rainy Wednesday morning.

I am happy about the rain. I just put down grass seed and fertilizer on Sunday. Now I don't have to water the lawn. My goal is to get the yard looking decent by the Freeman party, so that it can get trashed and trampled and I can start all over again. Speaking of the Freeman party. I still have a number of people that haven't responded, but most of them are people that I send invites to, that usually don't make it to the party anyhow. I am predicting a turnout of around 100 people again. Monday night I cleaned the garage, so the Rave Party will be good to go. Again this is my disclaimer, I am not responsible for any seizures that your children experience upon entering the garage. I will probably get the trophies made up sometime this week.

NBA playoffs, is anyone watching them? I'm not, but I can tell you what I have been tuning in to, the NHL playoffs. Playoff hockey is great, especially in High Definition. Regular TV not so much, it is hard to follow the puck, but in HD it is great. I can actually ice skate fairly well. I am not going to make the claim that I am better than M.K.A., but I just marvel at watching these hockey players skate. They are so fluid in transitions between going backwards, to forward, and then back to backwards again. Tonight, Game 7, Ovechkin vs. Crosby. Must see TV. Or actually must see HDTV.

Last night I went grocery shopping. I actually like grocery shopping. I take my MP3 player and I am in my own little world. And with the self checkout, I don't have to talk to anyone, accept when I get that warning that there is an improper item in the bagging area, and I have to wait for the person with that card to come over, scan the card, enter a code and then everything is back to normal. Even though I have groceries, it doesn't make me a good cook. I think I have said this before, if it has more than 5 ingredients, I can't make it. Or at least make it taste good. While shopping I saw that fake lobster was buy one, get one free. I like fake lobster probably because I like cocktail sauce and the fake lobster makes a great vehicle for the cocktail sauce. I am a big ingredients reader while shopping. For the most part I try to stay away from anything that has high fructose corn syrup in it. The fake lobster stated on the front of the packaging that it "contains real lobster", but on the back under ingredients it also stated "contains less than 2% of the following: lobster, etc.". I still bought it. And had it for dinner.

My health, well I have another doctor appointment this afternoon. I should get the results of my X-rays. I am hoping they find something, otherwise I will most likely be headed for an MRI. At my last visit, the doctor gave me a prescription for an anti-inflammatory and a muscle relaxer. yes, the drugs are helping but I am a long way from being back to normal. And isn't that everyone wants to see, me back to being normal? Maybe then I would have something to write about on this blog. Ideally I would like to see them find something on the MRI and then go in and rip out whatever is causing me so much pain. And then I would be back to my normal " idiot active" self by the end of June.

I don't want to jinx them, but the Brewers are only one game out of first place. They have a big series with St. Louis this weekend. After 33 games and 21 at bats, I still have as many major league base hits as Brad Nelson. Although he almost had a home run in Cincinnati. And I almost won the lottery last night. But neither of us did.

Is there anything else........Yes, I should have my truck sold by this weekend. 3 large for the Toyota. You probably know that I fear change. I miss my old truck. I liked the body style of my old truck. I think the new one looks too much like a Dodge. But here are some things that I don't miss about my old truck:

The seat belt light wouldn't turn off, even if I was buckled.

The check engine light wouldn't turn off.

The emergency brake wouldn't turn off. I had electrical tape over all of these lights.

The portable DVD Player on the dashboard.

The emergency brake didn't work.

Every summer freon had to be added to get the air conditioning working.

Both side view mirrors were cracked.

The body was rusting out.

The drain holes in the bed clogged up and the rain water would collect in the bed.

The front bumper was dented from trying to push Stegall or Tree into the intersection at a red light.

The tailgate didn't work. It was stuck in the up position.

It fit into my garage much easier. I think the new truck is a bit wider. I have about 2 inches of clearance on either side as I pull in.

The one thing that I miss about my old truck: It was paid for. But from what I have heard from others is that no one feels sorry for me, because I haven't had a vehicle payment for 7 years.

Trimming The Bush

So here are my bushes. Ideally they should be green.But as you can tell from these photos, there is a lot of brown showing.In the old days, when I had numerous roommates and we were all quite a bit ruckus. It was rare for a weekend to go by without someone falling into these bushes. You wouldn't believe the number of beer cans, bottles and cups I found in here. I even found a watch. But it was broken. As you can most certainly tell from the photos, I really did a number on these things. I say they will start to turn back to green by the Freeman Party. But others think I killed them all. And that isn't really a bad thing. I am planning on pulling them out and putting in small retaining walls to make them into flower beds. So here is today's poll.

Will my bushes grow back?
	No, you are a moron. And did you said you used a Sawzall? Idiot.
	Yes, I have a green thumb and I know.
	That looks like a Brazilian wax.
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Weekend Recap

Not much of a weekend for me. Mostly I just got in some yard work. I raked the yard, cut the grass, trimmed the bushes, seeded and fertilized the lawn. The most interesting of that work was the trimming of the bushes. They haven't been trimmed in 2 or 3 years. They were pretty bad, to the point where when I snow blew the sidewalk around the side of the house, my snow blower was actually trimming the bushes. So Saturday I got some serious bush trimming in. Normally you shouldn't be trimming bushes with a Sawzall. But I did. Now you could probably just call them clumps of sticks rather than bushes. I will get pictures up later. I wish I had taken before pictures.
Sunday I stopped by my parents. Here is a picture of my old and new truck. I miss my old truck. I think my new truck looks too much like a Dodge. But the interior is much much nicer.Here are Abby and Josh playing on the tire swing. Later my Dad stopped up by the tire swing. Here is Dan and my Dad talking.

Not much else for the weekend.

Happy Mothers Day

I have heard that being a mother is the hardest job in the world. I am not so sure about that. From my experience this engineering gig isn't all ice cream sandwiches and church picnics. But while I petition for an Engineers Day, I would like to make this posting a tribute to my mom. Happy Mother's Day mom, I love you.By the way, since I made this posting just for you, do I still have to buy you are present?

New Favorite Show

I move around a lot on my favorite TV shows. I always tape NBC's Thursday line up of "My Name Is Earl", "The Office", "Parks and Recreation" and "30 Rock". Did I just say tape? I meant DVR. Anyhow as far as cable network shows, well I am always tuned in to FSN for Brewer Games. And even though I hate ESPN, I have that on quite a bit. Sportscenter every morning as I get ready to face the daunting task of starting my day. There was a time when I got hooked on Ghost Hunters. But after watching about 30 episodes without them seeing a ghost I gave up on the show. Plus it seemed to be more a soap opera between the people on the show. But now I have a new show that I am hooked on. "Locked Up Abroad" on the National Geographic Channel. I have only caught a couple of episodes, but from the ones I have seen, for the most part, a naive American decides to go to a foreign,usually, third world country, to try and smuggle drugs out of the country and they get caught. They are then incarcerated and have to deal with being an American who doesn't speak the language and yet try to survive in these extremely hostile environments. One episode I watch, this guy got caught with drugs, and he was sentenced to 7 years in prison. He spent 2 years in a Brazilian prison, then was released to US custody where he served another 6 months in a US prison. He only spent 6 months in a US prison because they figured 2 years in a Brazilian Prison is equal to 6.5 years in a US prison.

It is just amazing to me how different, uncivilized and underdeveloped, especially socially, so many other countries are compared to where we live. I also think within the first week of being locked up in a foreign country's prison, I would make a smart ass remark that would most likely result me getting shived. I would probably walk into the prison like Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder in "Stir Crazy". Strutting as I walked saying "That's right we bad!!" I am sure I would be dead before I could even get to my "Cool Hand Luke" lines. I would tell everyone my name was Andy Dufrane and I would get a big poster of Rachel Welch.

When A Horse Has A Bad Leg They Shoot It

I am sure you are all concerned about my physical well being. Actually I would think you would want me to get healthy so I can start doing something, anything in my free time to liven up my blog. Anyhow, after complaining about my leg for....well....months, I finally got into see a doctor yesterday. I was actually pretty happy about all of it. I was worried that he was going to tell me to just go and do some physical therapy. I have been doing a lot of stretching to try and loosen up that nerve in my leg, but I haven't seen it help much. The doctor prescribed me a muscle relaxer and some pain killers. They also took some x-rays to see if this pain was coming from a bulged disk in my back. I have an appointment to go back next week. If nothing comes up on the x-rays, then they plan on taking an MRI. Worse case scenario for me would be to get to that point where they take an MRI and they can't find anything wrong with me. At that point you will see me get really bummed out. Trust me there is something wrong with me, and I just hope it is something that can be fixed.

Cinco de Mayo

How did I spent my Cinco de Mayo? I ate a pizza and watched the Brewer game. But more importantly to me, is how did you spend your Cinco de Mayo.

How did you spend your Cinco de Mayo?
	Lo cineto mucho senior. But I did nothing.
	I ate the worm.
	I can't remember.
	I got engaged.
	I got the swine flu.
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Pirates

Last night I didn't much more than get home from work and watch the Brewers. It was an exciting come from behind win. That makes 16 straight games over the Pirates. Which reminds me of a joke. What is a Pirates favorite letter of the alphabet?"Rrrrrrrrr"

And Buenos Dias. It is of course Cinco de Mayo. May 5th for those who do not speak spanish. The holiday commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin. Big deal, you are celebrating a victory over a French Army. Didn't the French lose a war to a boy scout troop a couple years ago?

The outnumbered Mexicans defeated a much better-equipped French army that had known no defeat for almost 50 years. However, Cinco de Mayo is not "an obligatory federal holiday" in Mexico, but rather a holiday that can be observed voluntarily.
While Cinco de Mayo has limited significance nationwide in Mexico, the date is observed in the United States and other locations around the world as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride. However, a common misconception in the United States is that Cinco de Mayo is Mexico's Independence Day, which actually is September 16, the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico.

Drink It In

Today is the day I have been waiting for. It is the first day this year that I went to work without a jacket. Checking the forecast for the next 10 days, it looks like we should be hitting highs in the 60s for the foreseeable future. I am not going to say that Summer is here, but winter is over. Although I have seen snow in May before. So get out there and enjoy the weather.

Close Call and Random Stuff

At the end of this month I will have lived in my house for 11 years. That sure is a long time. I recall when I bought the house, I said I will move on to another house within 5 years. But obviously that hasn't happened. In the 11 years, I have never really had much of a problem with crime. Quite a few years ago someone stole my grill. But I wasn't too broken up about it since that grill was a hand me down. That was the worst thing that has happened to me. A couple of years ago, someone broke into one of my neighbor's garage and spray painted their car. I know that both Jota and Bubs had someone go into their cars and take change out of their ashtrays. Yesterday as I went out to my garage, as I opened my garage door I was met by my neighbor, Dan. He asked me, "Did they get you too?" I said "No. What are you talking about?" I then followed him into his garage, where the night before someone broke into his locked garage and proceeded to smash the both windows on the driver's side, and the rear window of his 2006 Mercedes that he just bought two months ago. They tried to rip the rear speakers out. And the baseball bat that they used to smash the windows was still sticking out of the rear window. I was also informed that another neighbor who parks in the alley had the passenger window of his truck smashed in. My heart skipped a beat as I walked back into my garage to double check that nothing happened in my garage and thankfully nothing did. And I never lock my garage door. That is until now. In fact it was probably the first 5 or 6 years that I lived at my house that I never even locked my house, well the front door was locked, but the side door was always open. So that all sucks.

Here are a couple quick random thoughts.

So far this year, I have as many major league hits as Brewers utility player Brad Nelson.

Is Tyler Perry funny? I know that he has a TV show and a couple of movies. And I have never really watched them, the jsut look stupid. Am I missing something?

I looked in my refrigerator this morning. I have hit this topic before, but it is pathetic. The door as always is full of condiments, but the only thing on the shelves are Tupperware containers of left over rice/vegetables, left over spaghetti, and a can of beer. I might post a picture, it is so sad.

I just checked the 10 day forecast. Despite some rain in the middle of next week, we should have great weather, with temperatures in the 60s. It is so nice to have normal weather. So start enjoying it we only have 4 maybe 5 months and it will be gone.

I have done next to nothing with my yard so far this spring. No fertilizer, no grass seed. I need to get it together, it is just over a month until the Freeman party. Speaking of the Freeman party, I have told people that I am mailing it in this year on the games. I have no creativity. Plus after the last party, I have no patience for the amount of crap dished out to me during the games, especially while trying to explain the relay games. So here is the list of games that I will be having, and there are no relays. This list is subject to change, but I doubt it.

The kids 3 legged race. The kids are allowed to pick their partners. If they can't find a partner I will assign one.
The adult 3 legged race. This is a co-ed event. You must be partners with whomever you are married to, or for that matter whomever you brought to the party. If you come to the party solo, I will assign a reasonable partner. I think the General is coming alone. It should be interesting trying to a girl that will stand next to him, let alone one who will allow herself to be tied to him.
Next are the aquatic events.
Kids, adult and senior division water balloon toss. I believe we set the age limit of the senior division at one year older than my sister, Deb. And you will have the same partners as in the 3-legged race.
Last year I really wanted to get the Rock Paper Scissors Tournament in, but I just ran out of time, in fact I did have a trophy made up for it. This year, it is happening for sure.
And finally the main event, the musical chairs contest. According to my records, the winners from the last party were: Lindsey, Liquid and Justin. As far as I know, Justin is the only one who might not be there to defend his title.
If someone has any other good ideas, please let me know.

As far as this weekend goes. Shockingly, I don't have much planned. Not because I don't want to do anything, it is just that my body can't handle much more than laying on the couch. The Breast Cancer walk is tomorrow. I have always done this walk in support of my friend, Linda, who has breast cancer. And I would do it, but to be honest, I don't think I could finish it.
Sunday is my niece, Sarah's first communion/birthday party. I won't be at the church service, one because I doubt I could handle sitting on a wooden pew, and two because the building might start shaking once I entered. But I will make an appearance at the party.

I am calling it that this will be the first great weather weekend of the year, so get out there and enjoy it.