I value the opinion of my loyal blog readers. Even though in the past I think we have not always seen things the exact same way. But on this particular issue, I would really like to hear your input.
About a month or so a go, this guy I know, we will call him, Bob. Bob was having some issues with his car and needed to take it in to get fixed. Bob took his bike and packed it into his car, drove to Brookfield, dropped off his car and then biked back home. A couple days later, his car was fixed, and Bob asked me if I would give him a ride to pick up his car. At the time he asked me, I was entertaining some company at my house, namely my old college roommates, Kevin, Mark and Suzanne. I would say that we get together maybe once a year, so it was a fairly rare occasion. I asked Bob "Why don't you just ride you bike back to pick your car up?" Bob replied "Well my bike just barely fits into my car and I don't want to ride on Bluemound road all the way to Brookfield, because it is unsafe." I was reluctant to leave my friends, but being the good guy that I am, gave Bob a ride to pick up his car.
A week or so ago, Bob broke his bike and it needed to be taken into the bike shop. Bob again somehow managed to get his bike barely into his car and drove to the bike shop to drop it off. A couple days ago, Bob asked me if I would give him a ride to go and pick up his bike. I asked him why he doesn't just pick it up with his car, because as history shows, he has twice gotten his bike into his car. He explained to me that his bike doesn't fit or rather just barely fits into his car. I told Bob that I would give him a ride to get his bike. But then the more I thought about it, I realized that on general principle I can't. Now if he had told me that he needed a ride because he was too lazy to take the front wheel off, or he was worried about getting greasy/oil in his car (which can be remedied with a towel) then I could see giving him a ride. But his reasoning is that his bike doesn't fit in his car. When if you look at the past history, he has twice been able to get his bike into his car. The only way I can accept his reasoning that he needs a ride to pick up his bike because it doesn't fit in his car, is if when he took it into the bike shop, they made his bike bigger. Right? This isn't about being a good guy, this is about principle.
My parents raised me to believe in right and wrong. I went to college and studied engineering, where answers are black and white there are no grays. The bike either fits in the car or it doesn't. The bike has fit in the car twice before, it doesn't matter that it just barely fits or not. If a=b once, and then a=b a second time, don't tell me that "a" doesn't equal "b" a third time.
Let me use this analogy, suppose there is a hole in a fence and your friend sticks his head through this hole. He gets his head stuck and yells for you to come and help him get his head out of the hole. You walk over and help him get his head out. Then your friend turns around and sticks his head right back into the hole and gets it stuck again. I am not going to help him get his head out. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
So please vote in the poll, I am really interested in how people vote.
I have never played organized football so maybe I don't know what I am talking about, but I seriously doubt it. Jared is without a doubt one of the bigger kids out on the field. He plays on the offensive line and sometimes nose tackle on the defensive line. At first I yelled to Jared to knock someone to the ground, then I pleaded with him to please knock someone down. Take a look at this picture below. Does it really look like Jared is trying to push this kid down? You should never be standing straight up and down while blocking. Pictures don't lie. I did not see Jared do anything more than play Paddy Cake Paddy Cake with the person across the line from him. Without a doubt Jerad hits his sisters harder than he does his opponent. There isn't much passing at this level of football, so on 95% of the plays, Jared just needs to run block. Come out of your stance, get your hands on his numbers and drive him as far backwards as you can. I saw none of that. If I am wrong please tell me.+of+PA020104.JPG)
I am going to have to call out my brother-in-law Tim. Before Jared's game he was unhappy to hear other parents tell the kids on Waukesha North that played before Jared's game, that the kids had a good game when they got handily defeated by Waukesha West. He thinks that that attitude of accepting a loss breeds a losing mentality. But then when Jared's Waukesha North team was able to make it through the 1st quarter still tied with Waukesha West, Tim called just remaining tied as a victory for Waukesha North. Please someone else agree with me that Tim is contracting himself.
This is a pretty cool picture, the teams lined up just before the snap, with the scoreboard and flag in the background. Oh and also in the background is Zack's coach who doesn't give equal playing time to all of the players. Stay classy.
I was not only watching games all day but also around parents all day. I am so glad that I do not have to get involved with all of the politics that go along with kids playing sports today. Things are much different then in my day. My parents had always told me and my brothers that if we wanted to play sports, not to expect them to be at every game. And we were at times not to expect rides to games and practices. As a kid I can recall walking to many practices and games from my parent's house to the high school. My parents didn't have time for all of that, they were too busy working to put a roof over our heads and food on the table. While it sucked at the time, it helped to define who I have grown up to become and appreciate all that I now have.
I didn't notice this until the concert was half over, but all of Jackson Browne's songs sound the same. Some notable omissions from the concert, that I not only wanted to hear, but expected to hear: "Lawyers in Love", "Somebody's Baby" and most notably missing, "Loud Out / Stay". I thought for sure he would close with that. 
However, the last two songs of the show were, "Take It Easy" (you would think that was an Eagles cover, but I learned at the concert that Jackson Browne co-wrote that song) and then "I Am A Patriot" which is a cover of a Little Steven song. I am a big fan of that song and it was a pleasant surprise.
Axel's was dead. But of the patrons that were there, I noticed nearly all had a pitcher of beer. I figured I had an hour to kill before I needed to get to Bob's, I should be able to finish off a pitcher. I was feeling a bit nostalgic so I went with the same thing that I always ordered when I was in college, Busch Light (or beer flavored water). "$3 please." $3!!!! For a pitcher of beer!!!! I don't care how crappy the beer is, I dare anyone to find another bar that has the same deal. Show it to me and I will meet you there. Sure, Axel's is a dive bar, but it is my dive bar. It has been about 15 years since I first set foot in Axel's, give or take a year or two. And in that time, the beer has changed from Olympia to Busch Light and the price for a pitcher has gone from $2.75 to $3. $0.25, so much for inflation.
As you know from posts earlier this week, I was in Chicago last weekend. What a big difference the two cities are. I love visiting Chicago, but it is so expensive and a major pain to get to and get around in. Milwaukee on the other hand is quite the opposite. Seriously, I can make it from my house on the far west side of the city to the lake in less than 10 minutes. I know at times I give Milwaukee a bad rap, but it really is a pretty cool city.
I was reasonably close the second night. I took a couple of pictures. Then I saw a guy next to me with a much better camera who was getting better pictures. I gave him my business card and asked him to send me some pictures. I haven't received them yet. But I also didn't see my business card on the ground after the show.
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Bob, Steve and Tim the Hults brothers.
One of the barges headed up stream. There weren't nearly as many as barges as there has been in the past. Maybe 7 or 8 all weekend.
A barge headed down stream in the middle of the night.
Tim came up with the great idea of making a slip and slide. I think next year we will head to a different island for the slip and slide that has a steeper hill. We are also planning on bringing a pump.
Here I am headed down the slip and slide.
This is the last song, "Rock and Roll All Nite, Party Everyday". I remember looking at the stage as members were levitating up into the air and thinking, "Big deal, they are standing on a scissors lift, you can rent those for $50 a day."
Of course I had to get the Heisman pose in. 
A view of the island. A little slice of paradise on earth.
Bob went out fishing on Saturday. I don't know, what is this a musky, northern, walleye? One of those.
We enjoyed a team shotgun of beer. This is as 
We made some homemade 1/4 sticks of 
As Ed and I settled into our seats we listened to the first song, after which I looked over to my left and I saw these four guys dressed up like the band. Everytime I looked over at them I started laughing. But who is laughing now. By the end of the show, I couldn't contain myself, I had to walk over and get a picture with them. 
Friday night we had some rain and put a picnic table into a tent and played some cards.
It wasn't the warmest trip to the island. And the river water was as cold as I can remember. In fact I didn't do my annual swim across the river. I spent a total of about 10 minutes in the water for the 2 showers I took. Here is Nate #2 getting ready to take the jet ski out while wearing a hoodie. But that is better than on Saturday when all he wore was a towel and just a towel all day. We all hoped he would fall but he didn't.
The trebuchet cocked and loaded. One issue was that the bottom of the counterweight started to rip out. I never even got the bucket half full of sand. Meaning more weight could be added which would result in the projectile going further. The counterweight has already been mentally redesigned. I plan on getting a launch in at my parents house this winter when I can use snow to fill the counterweight.
Here is Nate with his new camping toilet. He didn't use it right there, but went further to the woods.
Here is Paul Stanley out on the high wire. He was out on a stage in the middle of the crowd. They Played "I Was Made For Lovign You" while he was out there and you could hear piped in crowd noise coming from the stage.
I have been working on my trebuchet for a while now. And it is not perfect. The current version we are on, is version 2.0. Going into the trip the furthest I was able to launch anything was maybe 50 feet. I knew going into the trip that the most important aspect of the trebuchet was the sling and getting that to work correctly. The one brainstorm I had was to cut an old basketball into quarters and use that as the sling. It worked great. My goal going into the weekend was to hit a barge with a golf ball. That didn't happen but the trebuchet was a success. My prediction, in 2 years we will be launching people. Not smart, but it will probably happen. 
After the first couple of launches, a crack appeared at the pivot point. It was bandaged with duct tape and held the remainder of the weekend. I foresaw this crack possibly happening, and made 3 of these wooden plates, but I left the 2 spares in my garage.
Here is Borky doing a beer bong.
Nate in his $25 swing he bought on Amazon.com. A very comfortable chair. I may get one.
Here is a launch. It is hard to see, but as I said, projectiles were making it to halfway across the river.
