Closure

I have been doing a lot of thinking about this. But yes, I am done blogging for the time being. It has been about 7 years of me bragging about myself. I think that is more than enough. Last count, I have just over 1700 postings. I really don't have much more to say. I will "unofficially" name Ethan the Favorite reader of the year for 2012, otherwise I will never hear the end of it from him. But it is just unofficial (just one more example that life is not fair). I would like to thank each and everyone of my loyal and un-loyal blog readers. It is very humbling to know that you would take time out of your day to check in to see what I am up to. Appreciate all of the comments you have made, both on the blog, and to me in person. I would like to also like to thank the writers, producers, directors and the entire crew who have made this blog possible, although all of those people are me, so I guess I am just thanking myself. Say Goodnight Gracie.

Houston, We Have A Problem

I sat down this morning to get a post in for all of my loyal blog readers. I was going to go back and upload some pictures from the Badger Game I went to vs the Gophers. But there was an error when I tried to upload the pictures. Apparently I have used up all of storage space on my account and if I want more space I will have to pay for it.

One To Think About

I am back to working out, and in doing so, I am back to reading. I try to get in 25 minutes on the exercise bike. The best way to pass that time is to read. Here is a fairly deep quote from a book that I am reading: "What you want your life to be and what it becomes are never the same. It is only about what you end up with or what you settle for. And by the time that happens, it is too late for you to do anything else."

Diet, Skiing and Voting

First, sorry about there being no posting yesterday, there would have been one, but the internet was down at my house. Since last week when I visited my doctor and he told me I was fat, I have decided to make an adjustment to what I am eating. Here is the list of things I had to eat yesterday. Carrots, Ham and Cheese Sandwich with extra pickles and an apple. All of this is in a hope I can drop some pounds before my trip to Colorado at the end of the month. Oh if I haven't mentioned that, I meant to. The end of the month I am going to Colorado for some skiing. I haven't skied in 2 years. I am pretty excited about it. But I am slightly worried as I have had some knee issues recently. We shall see what happens. Finally as I blab about nothing. I am planning on voting today. My best friend from high school, Krum, his dad called me yesterday asking me if I could find out if he could put a Romney sign in my parent's yard because my parents live right STH 83 where there is a lot of traffic. In my conversation with Mr. Krumrich, he made a fairly passionate plea for me to vote, and I told him I would. Normally I don't vote, but for JFK I will.

HD Antenna

I took the advice that someone gave me last week. And yesterday I bought an HD antenna from Target for $25. It worked great. I am very happy. It helped to allow me to settle into the recliner in front of my 2 TVs and enjoy a good 10 hours of college football. Speaking of college football. Pittsburgh and LSU both blew golden opportunities to upset the Irish and Alabama, respectively. I sincerely hope that Oregon is able to jump past Kansas St and Notre Dame. I think Alabama and Oregon in the National Championship Exhibition game would be a wonderful match-up. Better than Wisconsin getting their doors blown off by Oregon again.

Socks

If I had an obscene amount of money, I would never wear a pair of socks more than once. I went shopping today and picked up a couple pair of socks. I love the feel of a brand new pair. I like to call it "stealing the sock's virginity". With incredible insight and edgy topics like this, do you still think I should keep on blogging?

Friday Night

Keeping with my vow to blog everyday, here I am writing. This is going to be a short one. Not because I have a lot going on, but because I don't have a lot going on. It is 6:30 Friday night. My plans include watching college football, and if I get motivated enough, I might go work out. Seems doubtful. But I will in the morning. Just to tie up the loose ends of a past posting. I did make it until Halloween without turning my heat on. Halloween night, when I got home after trick or treating with my nieces and nephews, I turned on the heat. The coldest my house got during my boycott of heat, 54 degrees. Reminded me of college.

Doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor and doctor

Nothing like a trip to the doctor to make you feel good about yourself. A quick partial medical recap, February 2010 I had back surgery for a herniated disc. I think the surgery was a success, but I pushed things too fast in recovering and I still have lingering pain. I have been on a muscle relaxer and an anti-inflammatory ever since. I see my doctor about every 6 months to renew my prescriptions and they usually take some blood to make sure the drugs aren't destroying my kidneys. On my visit today my doctor informed me that my blood pressure is starting to get a little higher than he would like. The first thing he said was that I need to loose some weight. I am about 6' 3" and shrinking. And I tipped the scales today at 233 pounds with my jacket on. My goal is to get down to 220 before I go skiing at then end of the month. And I would really like to get down to 205 by my birthday. This is my heads up to all who give me a hard time about my New Years Resolutions, they are coming back again, and probably starting sooner than December 1st. I will officially post my resolutions December 1st, but this year I have decided on 2 things to add to the list. The first is to learn to ride a unicycle. My brother calls me a one trick pony because all I can do is juggle. I also have a goal of juggling 4 clubs at the Freeman party this year. My second resolution is to band myself from ice cream and custard. Gillies is going to lose some revenue. Tonight I am head to my college roommate, Bob's, house to play some ping pong. So that is today.

I'm Back

My loyal blog readers have spoken. Who am I to let them down? You want more, well now you will get more. I will make an effort to make a daily posting. No matter how boring or unappealing the topic is. I had a really bad day at work today, so coming home to see that my loyal blog readers have voted for me to continue picked up my spirits. Here is topic number one. Who knows something about over the air digital television signals? I recently (within the last 6 months) bought an HD TV for my kitchen, it is a small 24 inch or something like that. I get 7 digital HD channels, but of the ones I get are CBS and ABC. Two stations that tend to have a number of college football games on Saturdays. I like to pull the kitchen TV out and place it next to my big screen so I can watch 2 games at once. If you have any ideas on how I can get these 2 channels, please let me know.

Is This The End? You Decide

I am way over due for a blog posting.  But in a way, this is probably the most important posting I have made.  I am thinking about not blogging anymore.  I mean, really, haven't I given you all that I have to offer.  There is nothing really left to discuss.  Or is there.  Because I hold the opinion of my loyal blog readers very high, I will let you decide if I should continue.  Just vote on the poll.  Or as they said in "Braveheart", "Just say  'mercy' and it will be all over."

Should I Stop Blogging?
	Yes, My God Enough is Enough
	No way. You have some much more to teach your loyal blog readers.
	You had a blog?
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Break Out the Ben Gay

After one of Pickle's volleyball games, there was some talk about jumping and touching the rim.  Al said he could hit the rim.  Al is a product of a high profile private high school in the Wausau area.  He went on to an illustrious career at Marion College where he was known for using each and every one of the five fouls afforded him at the beginning of each game.  He would be classified as a "bruiser".  And could dunk on a regular basis.  I will give Al the benefit of the doubt and say that he got rim with this leap.

 Then Jon gave it a shot.  Al must have at least 6 inches on Jon and I didn't think Jon had a chance of touching the rim.  But just like Bob Beamon, a leap came out of no where.  If I didn't see it with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed it.  I think he could have touched the top of the backboard if he wanted to.  Thankfully I had my camera with me and was able to get a picture of this leap for the ages.

I know what you are going to say, "Why didn't you show off your leaping skills?"  Well it isn't the leaping that I am afraid of, it is coming back down to earth.  I need to get myself healthy before I try an crazy endeavors which could lead to injury.  See I am a maturing very slowly.  Plus, how do you follow Jon after he nearly got his elbow caught in the rim.

Post Holes

It isn't terribly sexy, but the high light of my weekend was helping Bob pour some post holes for his deck.  Here Preston and Bob are placing the bolts in the concrete.  For the record I am on the other end of the tape, so I am helping in some small way.

More Hall of Fame

But my favorite stroll down memory lane was when I was in Waukesha South.  My brother, Jon's, neighbor across the street, Rob,  has a highly decorated high school athletic past.  I have done some research online, but have yet to come up with any solid evidence, but Rob has told me that he holds the Waukesha South High School Football Single Game Yardage Record.  And if you ever get a chance to talk to Rob ask him about wrestling his senior year.  2nd place at State.  Back to the pictures.  I found the wrestling trophy case and this team picture and was able to pick out Rob.  

I talked to Rob after I sent him these pictures.  He told me, his son asked him why he is the only one smiling in the picture.  Rob didn't have a good answer.  I give Rob a hard time, but seriously, Rob is a pretty good athlete, I mean, my picture isn't hanging up on any walls.  And this November he will be the returning captain of the Turkey Bowl Championship Team.  Although this year, I will make sure he doesn't have 3 adults on this team.

Hall of Fame

And then when I was at Kettle Moraine High School, I noticed this plaque on the wall.  Paul Krumrich, KM Hall of Famer.  

Not to be out done, I did find a picture of Kaker in the Arrowhead Wall of Fame.

To think that I know both of these guys.  Chilling.

Pickle's Volleyball Game

I went to Pickle's volleyball game last week and shot some action photos.  Here they are.

 At an earlier game this year, when Pickle did a jump serve and didn't get it over the net, I "Boo-ed" him.  I got a chance to "Boo" him in this game as well when I set when right through his hands.  Other than that, Pickle played pretty well.  My new favorite chant while Pickle is playing is to say "Number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9.." just like The Beatles Revolution 9, because Pickle is number 9.

 I got a couple of pictures of Nick Malak as well.  He has great form right up until he hits the ball.  I can't wait until he starts snapping his wrist as he spikes because they are going to go straight down.

 Nick's proud mom showing up late.

 Here is one of Luke Krenz who can really get up in the air as evidenced in this photo.

Football

Last weekend I went to my nephew, Jared's football game.  I got invited to the game and this is America, so I get an opinion.My first question to Jared after the game was, "Are you afraid to, don't want to, or just can knock the kick across from you down?"  He said that he knocked him over twice.  I didn't see it.  Jared is a big kid and plays offensive line.  I have him circled below with the kid that he was lined up across from.  Yes, that would be the kid who is half his size and a full helmet shorter than him.  Watching number 77 in action was incredibly frustrating.  

 I have offered number 77, $20 if he get a personal foul penalty.  He needs to get some aggression.  I heard the ref yell at two kids to knock if off after the play, but he didn't yell at Jared.  I know that he hits his sisters harder than he hits the kids on the field who are wearing pads.

I will be at the next game on the 6th and I will bring my video camera.  And I will put together a montage of Jared's "pancakes" and post it here.

Thermostat

Here is a new money saving idea, that I came up with.  I am going to try to make it until Halloween without turning my heat on.  Originally I wanted to make it to Thanksgiving, but that might be hard to do.  But if I do make it to Halloween, then I will push for Thanksgiving.

Free TV

I am throwing out my old big screen TV.  It doesn't really work any more.  But if you want it, you can have it.  It will need some repair work.  When you turn it on, it turns off right away.  Other than that, it is a fine TV that takes up a ton of space.

Elvis

Friday night I went to see the 3 Faces of Elvis show at the Pabst Theater with my friend, Kristin.  It was pretty good.  I scored 3rd row seats dead center.  Pretty much the best seats in the house.  The early Elvis was pretty good.  The middle Elvis was the worst of the 3, probably because he wasn't that good looking of a guy.  He also couldn't pull off the black leather suit.  And it didn't even look like it was leather, more like fake leather.  There was something about his pants that just didn't look right.  But obviously my favorite is the 70's fat Elvis.  I was a bit disappointed by the white jump suit.  I really wanted the Aloha Concert white cape with the eagle on the back.  I mean can't you just badazzle a cape.  Show me some effort.  I am glad I went and it was a lot of fun.  Here is some video from the show.  Young Elvis and Jailhouse Rock

 

Here is "Comeback" Elvis, check out the pants, they just don't look right.

Fat Elvis getting into it.

I wore my Elvis glasses to the concert.  I decided that I was going to throw them up on stage for 70s fat Elvis.  Here he is wearing my glasses.  Although he never did play "You Gave Me A Mountain".

Happy 75th Birthday

Saturday was my dad’s 75^th birthday.  And while he has had some pretty good birthday parties, this surely was one of the most memorable.  I had purchased a fairly large amount of fireworks for the 4^th of July which I had not been able to light off.  What better occasion to light them off, than my father’s birthday.  And both of my parents had given me permission to do so.  Around 8:30 – 9:00 I started lighting them off, and I have to admit it was a pretty impressive display.  Right afterwards I walked to the house and through the garage to see my father in the driveway talking to one of Waukesha County’s finest Sheriffs.  I felt it was duty to intervene.  I explained to the officer that my father was very hard of hearing and that I the one was responsible for the fireworks.  He informed me that he was going to give me a citation and asked me and my father to follow him down the driveway to his squad car at the end.  As we were walking, the officer informed me that it was a pretty impressive display and that he purposely waited until it was over before he started asking questions. I stopped at my truck to grab my ID.  Of course the first ID I gave him was my fake Gene Simmons ID.  

The Gene Simmons ID didn’t go over quite as well as I had hoped.  The officer ran my ID and my father’s and nothing came up.  I got something of a lecture about fireworks.  He asked if I had a permit, and I said that I did to purchase them, even though I didn’t.  Then he asked if I had a permit to light them off.  I told him that I didn’t and that I had done some research, but to get a permit you need a written letter from both the village president and the fire chief, neither of which would happen.   He mentioned that he had not received any complaints but that the village president lived in a nearby subdivision and wasn’t a fan of fireworks.  He decided to let me off with a warning, which between me, you and the lamppost will not deter me from lighting of fireworks in the future in any way.  But the best part of the party was yet to come.  The officer left, and my dad and I started our triumphant walk back up to the party.  I stopped off to put my ID back in my truck while my dad continued up to the house, where everyone in attendance greeted him by singing “Happy Birthday”.

Camping on the Mississippi

It was a pretty action packed weekend for me this past weekend.  And it started early.  It was my annual camping trip to an island in the middle of the Mississippi River.  As always it was a great time, but there are always bumps along the way.  The first bump came as soon as we got to the launch.  I met Eric and Nate there at around 4:00.  Eric’s parents had just given him their boat which had been in storage for 8 years.  I will give Eric some credit, and he did his due diligence with some maintenance prior to the trip.  The first trip to the island consisted for just Nate and Eric with the majority of Nate and Eric’s stuff with the exception of their coolers.  I stayed at the launch to help Eric with the next load.  When Eric returned to the launch, he mentioned that he heard an odd noise and upon investigation to the engine compartment we found more water than should have been normal.  We pulled the boat out and determined that the radiator petcock was broken.  It was at this time that Mike and Tim showed up.  Knowing that Eric’s boat was out of commission, Mike and Tim drove 30 minutes to Mike’s dad’s house to get his boat.  I drove to the nearest town (Galesville) to see if I could find a radiator petcock.  When I got there the store was closed.  Dejected, I went to the nearest dive bar and had a beer.  I think I finally got out onto the island by 8:30 that night, 4.5 hours after I arrived at the launch.  But this also left Nate on the island by himself without any firewood or his cooler which included all of his beverages.  A late start onto the island meant a late start on dinner.  We didn't eat until well after midnight.  

   

This was kind of funny.  Friday night while a group went to the launch to get firewood, Mike and I grabbed a 20 foot long fuse and rigged up packages of blackcats every foot and buried it under everyone's chairs around the fire.  Unfortunately I lit the fuse too early and as it burned the smoke came up from the sand and we were found out.  I should have waited until around midnight to light it.

Friday morning it rained, but that was alright with me, that just meant that I could sleep a bit longer.  The skies cleared by late morning.  There wasn’t much done with the day.  I had purchased some model rocket engines and made some sky worthy rockets out of the remains of the fireworks that were used the night before.   I also came up with the bright idea to also make some rockets out of roman candles that had yet to be launched.  But the rocket of the day was one fashioned out of a roman candle tube that was about 3 inches in diameter and 3 feet long with a “G” engine in it.  

 Here is video of the launch.

I also launched an old model rocket that I had, which went floating back down to earth managed to get blown off course and into a tree on the island. 

Saturday I was scheduled to leave to attend my father’s 75^th birthday party.  More to come on that party.  On Saturday morning, Bob had decided that he was going to go climb the tree to retrieve my rocket.  He was gone for about 15 or 20 minutes when we heard some yelling.  We couldn’t really hear what he was yelling and didn’t pay much attention to it.  Another 10 minutes later Bob came back to the camp all bruised up.  Turns out he fell out of the tree.  His arm was pretty scraped up as well as his back. Bob estimated his fall to be about 20 – 25 feet.  About 30 minutes later, pain was really starting to set in and Bob decided that maybe it was time to go to the hospital.  He needed help getting out of his chair and couldn’t sit down once he got in the boat.  Turns out it was quite the fall, 3 broken vertebrae and 2 broken ribs.  To be honest, this group had been playing with house money for a while now, and we were overdue for a trip to the hospital or morgue.  But Bob was a trooper and he came back to the island Saturday night.  And from this incident came the nickname Brokeback Bob.

Chuck Norris

Labor Day Football

Sunday of Labor Day weekend I went to my sister's house for dinner.  We got some backyard football in.  I had some rather eye popping stats from the afternoon.  21 touchdown, no interceptions.  

Here is Boomer relaxing on the field.

 And what good field General doesn't do so without a beer in his hand?

 Hollywood with a Usain Bolt pose.

 I don't know what Crusher is doing in this one.

 Not the greatest form, but pretty good with a beer in your hand.

 Boomer how big was the fish that you caught?

 This is a Boomer touchdown catch.

 Princess cutting across the middle.

 Hollywood celebrating a 4 and out.

 I must have instructed the kids 5 or 6 times on where the side lines were, marked by cones, but they all seemed to run straight out of bounds whenever they caught the ball.

 Here is a picture demonstrating that I am telling Princess not to run out of bounds.

Fly pattern on two.

And there is Hollywood who seems to think that every game is the Super Bowl.  If he loses, he cries.  I hope for his sake that he grows out that soon.

 After football, Crusher, our Eagle scout in training, was given the task of getting the fire going.  He could only have one match.  Crusher didn't disappoint, he got that fire going without a problem.  Crusher will be in charge of the fire at my parent's house this coming Saturday, but I told him that he had to get it started by rubbing sticks together. By the way, any loyal blog readers that are interested, my father turns 75 on Saturday.  There is a party at my parent's house, leave a comment and I will put you on the guest list.

 I asked Crusher if there was a fire badge in the boy scouts.  He said no, that there was only a fire safety badge.  I was never a boy scout, but I would think the first badge you should get would be the fire badge.

Funeral

Here is the eulogy from whiffle ball.

Green Bay Packer Prediction

It is that time of year again.  Time for your Packer predictions.  Whomever guesses closest to the actual record for the Packers will get an Oakland Gyro, extra pita and a large rootbeer.  Leave your predictions as a comment.

Oh and my prediction.  Well that is pretty easy.  I think they are going to be better than last year.  16-0.  Book it.

Wiffle Ball

This past weekend I played wiffleball at my high school buddy, Mike Braun's parent's house.  We have been playing this wiffleball tournament for 6 or 7 years now.  Here are some photos from the day.  Back when Mike and his brother's were kids and Thruman Munson died, they buried that baseball card in the woods behind the house.  And now ever year we bury another card of a professional athlete that has died over that past year.  This year it was Harmon Killebrew.  Here is Joe, digging the grave.

 Other tombstones in the woods.

 The first pitch thrown by Bob, my old college roommate.  We even had the national anthem played.

 Bob at the plate.

 Mike at the plate.

 Paul

 Joe, playing with a cigar in his mouth.

 Bill, who was the home run derby champion with 10 dingers.

 Brad.

 Mike throwing the every bat that we had.