July 5th

The party just kept on going. After helping with some clean up at my aunt’s, I cleaned myself up and headed into Milwaukee. We met up at Nate’s and grilled out on the deck. I was so tired, and I really should have went down into their basement and got in a quick power nap. But I didn’t, I just struggled trying to stay awake and had a couple drinks. At 4:00 we headed to Eric’s to drop off the cars and grab the free shuttle from a bar down the street. While waiting for the shuttle, I struggled to get a drink down at the bar. Once I got on the shuttle I started to feel pretty awful. I was sweating (more than usual), my head was pounding from a headache, and my stomach wasn't really all that settled. Being on this school bus shuttle didn’t help at all. We were getting bounced around pretty good. We had to stop at 2 more bars on the way to Summerfest. By the time we got to the festival ground we had been on the bus for at least a half an hour. I was in bad shape. I let everyone from our group get off the bus before me and as we were walking to the gate, I was behind everyone. Then I threw up. I took two more steps and threw up again. They of course were all in front of me and had no idea. I was then able to hold things in until I got the port-potties and really let things go inside of there. I am not even inside of the festival grounds yet and I am struggling hard. My mind is racing trying to figure out how I can get out of this. With Borky in town from Minneapolis, Nate having a get out jail free card to use on this evening, and Eric just being there, it wasn’t going to be an option to go home. There is no way any of them would have excepted any excuse for me to leave. We go into the festival grounds and headed up to the deck at the Water Street Brewery. I was able to sneak my flask of Captain Morgan’s in, but I didn't have any need or want to use it at this point. We stayed at Water Street Brewery for an hour maybe an hour and a half. The entire time I was leaning against the railing just hating life. Every time I burped I was scared it was going to catch a hitch hiker and I would puke over the railing on to the people down below. Again my mind was racing trying to figure out how to get out of here. I thought about going and laying down in the grass under an RV that was parked across the way from where we were standing. Everyone kept telling me that I looked horrible, and that they had never seen me be so quite before. I really don’t think I said more than 20 words for the entire time we were up on the deck. I was freezing and finally Doug and I went for a walk looking to buy some sweatshirts. As we were walking to the Summerfest shop I nearly gave Doug my flask to drink, because I was thinking that I wasn’t going to use it, someone should. But after walking around a bit, and after getting a sweatshirt on I started feeling a little better. Then we met back up with the group at Jo Jo’s Martini Bar. My headache was no gone and my stomach was settling. I looked at someone’s watch and it was almost 8:00. It was 6:00 when we got off the shuttle. I told everyone by 8:20 I will be fine. I lost a bet to Borky so I had to buy him 3 rounds that night. He just finished his drink and wanted me to pay up. I gave him a $20 and told him to get 2. By 8:20 I had two chocolate martinis down and I was well on my way to a good evening. We stayed at the martini bar until around 10 when we broke up in to two groups, I stayed with Nate, Doug and Liquid and we went over to watch Cheap Trick. I managed to polish off that flask with out any problems. We closed down Summerfest, took the shuttle back to Eric’s and then cabbed it back to Nate’s. We arrived at the Hardwick residence just after 2 in the morning. The night at Summerfest which looked like it was just going to be a horrible ordeal, ended up being a very good night.

Borky, his annual pilgrimage to Summerfest. It may suck getting here, but once you are here you are happy.Borky, Nate, Me, Doug and Eric. I was back to normal by this point.Liquid, Andrea, Liz and Amy.As I was walking back from the bathroom, I saw this guy not having a very good time. I just had to take a picture. His girlfriend was a little mad at me, then I explained to her that I was taking a picture of the water fountain. I also mentioned that I was in that very same condition only 2 hours earlier. This did little to comfort them.Doug, Nate and Liquid.Here I am with a new friend that I met at the Cheap Trick concert.Amy is half Japaneese, half Irish. That is some combination.Nate and I tried working our way up to some good seats at the end of the concert. This is as close as we got before the show was over.Doug and Lisa, making out hard.

July 4th

The 4th started pretty early for me. I met up with Tree around 7 in the morning and we headed out to my aunt's house to get in a practice session for our Paddle Portage July 19th. We paddled out and around one of the islands on the lake, then ran a quarter of a mile down the road and back. We did that twice. It was quite the scene, two tall idiots running down the road with a canoe over their shoulders making jokes and yelling at each other. While we were running, we ran into this couple who was out for a walk. We yelled to them “Hey do you know where the lake is?” After practice I headed back to my brothers to get my fireworks display for that night ready. I got in a little soccer practice with my nephews then got ready for the party. I had a posting a year ago talking about my favorite day of the year. I think this year solidified it. The 4th of July is the best day of the year. My grandfather’s birthday was on July 4th. All 35 years of my existence I have been going out to Lake Waterville for the 4th of July to celebrate. Shortly after my aunt and uncle built their house next to my grandfather’s farm, the party moved to their house. I think it is safe to say that every year this party gets bigger and better. And I can’t thank my aunt and uncle enough for putting on such a great party. I showed up promptly at noon for the party. I got in a quick couple laps across the bay as my exercise before I started in on the refreshments for the day. The thing I dislike the most about this day is that is so much fun and the day goes by do fast and at the end as you look back it is just one big blur. I got in a little bit of cards and after dinner there was a boat ride around the lake. When I got off the boat it was getting pretty dark and the kids were all asking me when the fireworks were going to start. This meant it was time for me to go to work and set things up. All evening, the people who stay for the fireworks every year were telling those that normally don’t, to stick around and that it will be worth it. Plus the fact that it was a Friday and most people did not have to work the next day, gave most people no excuse for leaving early. It was a good 20 minute firework display with a grand finale that I actually impressed myself with. I really didn’t get a chance to catch any of the display itself until I had lit off the last cake and got 50 feet or so away to watch the sky just light up with fire in the air during the finale. I took out one of my ear plugs and couldn’t believe how loud it was. As I said, I even amazed myself. I launched the fireworks down the hill and across the street from everyone up on the driveway. The euphoric feeling I got after it all of nearly my entire extended family (at least 70 people) standing and cheering for me as I walked up the hill was more than worth every penny I spent on the show. I had everyone from my youngest niece and nephew to my oldest uncle patting me on the back, shaking my hand and giving me a hug. Pretty cool. The night had been going well with no problems until around 12:30 when the cops showed up. My uncle had hired a DJ for the party and as my uncle was talking to the cops down on the street, you could hear the DJ playing "Bad boys bad boys, what ya gonna do, what ya gonna do when they come for you..." And they were playing it pretty loud. No tickets were issued. The remainder of the evening was spent around the fire pit having drinks. Tom Brady and I closed the party down at around 4:00 in the morning. I set up my tent and slept in the front yard. But as all campers know, you can never get enough sleep in a tent once that sun starts to rise. This made for an early morning and not enough sleep.

Here are my brothers, Dan, Jeff and Jon. I have no idea what was so funny. But then again they were looking at me, so maybe I just answered my own question.
Pocahontas flexing. Who does she learn this stuff from?My dad and my aunt Ellen dancing. Right after the fireworks my uncle insisted that I do a tequila popper with him. I didn't argue. But at this same time a number of people were heading home. They would come up to Dave to thank him, and with Justin and I standing there, we all started pressuring each person that came up to do a shot. We easily handed out 20 shots in about 5 minutes. Which gets me back to my aunt Ellen. We actually got aunt Ellen, shown here, to do one. Here is my cousin, Katie, or as I now call her, Poe, and my uncle Dave.I have to apologize that I didn't get more pictures on the 4th. I misplaced my camera around 9:00 and just didn't feel like looking for it.

July 3rd

Before I get into discussing this past weekend, let me talk about this up coming weekend. Friday night I am headed to the Brewer Game with Tree. We plan on tailgating and if you would like to join us, consider this your invitation. It promises to be entertaining as Tree's nephew who just turned 21 and thinks he knows everything will be in attendance.

As for this past weekend, it was a wild one. As I am sure it was with most everyone, Thursday no one wanted to work. On my job site, they started a rumor that OSHA was on site at the project adjacent to my project. They did this in hopes that the foreman would call it an early day, but that didn’t work. My site finished up for the day at 2:00 and I was headed back home. I stopped at my sister’s house and put my nephew, Jared, through his training, as he is getting in shape for his first year of tackle football which starts up in August. Then later in the evening I was headed to Skateland for the big race against M.K.A. Just before I was headed to Skateland, I got a call from M.K.A. His car had been broken into at the Park-n-Ride where he parks for work. This apparently meant that he couldn’t go skating. So for those keeping track out there, there is a revised definition for the word “anytime” which according to M.K.A. means “regardless of day or hour unless you are having dinner with your parents, or planning on moving, or it is while football practices are on going, or if your car has just been broken into.” I already have a call into Websters to update their next edition.
With no race going on, I went with my sister’s family to Oconomowoc to watch the fireworks out there. It worked out great. We showed up about a half an hour before the show began and ended up sitting right at the lake with a great view. When I say at the lake, I literally mean at the lake. My feet were 1 foot and half from the water. After the show, my sister asked her kids what they thought. They said “They were pretty good, but Uncle Rick’s fireworks on the 4th are better.” That sort of puts a lot of pressure on me.

Here is the sunset over the lake. I am a sucker for sunsets and love taking pictures of them.

Just one of the many fireworks pictures I took.

Weekend Plans

I am incredibly excited for this coming weekend. What could be the best part of my weekend is the big race with M.K.A. tonight. I just checked my poll. I find it disappointing that I am running in last place. But I invest nothing into the opinion of my readers. You have a history of making poor choices in my polls. Friday morning, Tree and I are going to get our first practice in for the Paddle / Portage. Friday afternoon is the party at my aunt's place on the lake. I am in charge of fireworks (kid burners). Currently the front seat of my truck is loaded up with kid burners. Saturday is going to be my only trip to Summerfest. It should be a great weekend. I will update you all next week. Happy Birthday America.

Blisters

Please read this as not an excuse for my horrible time in the run of my triathlon. Nor is this an excuse like the train in the 1/2 marathon, which by the way, I did not use an excuse for not breaking 2 hours. I simply mentioned that a train disrupted the race for many runners.

I previously bought a pair of running shoes. And while they look good, they don't really feel all that great. I had been getting blisters on the side of my foot. All was well last week, until I picked off the dead skin on the side of my foot one night. The next day I went running and a blister formed on the fresh soft skin that was under what was left behind. The truth be told, my foot didn't bother me at all in the race. But I wanted to show the picture anyhow. I popped this monster last Thursday night, I would guess at least an ounce of "juice" came spewing out.

M.K.A. Challenge

Last night I learned that "anytime" is actually going to be Thursday. It looks like it is going to happen. If you are interested in seeing M.K.A. "handily" beat me in the races at Skateland, you are not only welcome to come attend, but encouraged. According to the website, there is a skating session from 6:30 until 9:00. I was already looking forward to this weekend because I do have some much going on, but the fact that this race is actually going to happen makes me even more excited.

Who will win the race at Skateland?
	M.K.A. "handily" wins.
	Rickie by a nose.
	That 9 year old beats both of you.
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Triathlon Results

How did the triathlon go? It went alright. I didn’t reach any of my goals so that is highly disappointing. The swim went OK and I actually enjoyed the swim. The water was 73 degrees. I would say that pretty much an ideal temperature. This triathlon they had a different start than any other one I have done. Instead of setting people off in waves of 50 people, it was 2 people every 5 seconds. That is nice because you don’t have just arms and legs everywhere as you start. But they also didn’t have people sorted out either, so the person next to you could be a male or female and could be from any age group. I sort of rate how the triathlon went by how many people I pass or how many people pass me. The swimming is not my best event. I am a way better swimmer than the average person, but I am a below average swimmer for being a triathlete. But I don’t consider myself a triathlete. I am a soccer player who competes in triathlons. I passed a couple people in the swim, but also got passed probably just as much.
The bike course was only 12 miles. I was hoping to average 20 miles per hour, I came up a bit short. I considered it a pretty hilly course, not that there were any huge hills just a lot of hills in general. There were only one or two hills where I had to stand to get over them. This is not an excuse because even though you have to pedal up the hill you do get the opportunity to make up the time on the downside of the hill. I thought I did amazingly well on the bike despite the hilly course. I think I got passed 3 times, and I would estimate that I easily passed over 100 people. The funny thing is that people at these events take it so seriously. Get over yourselves. Earlier in the week I headed to the mall to buy a bike helmet as I had always been borrowing one in the past. As I was picking out a helmet, I noticed that they had the old fashioned bells for kid’s bikes right there. I couldn’t resist and had to buy it. Here is an image that happened a number of times during the race. I would come up behind someone with a bike that was well over $2,000, all tricked out with the profile bars, new style frame, aerodynamic bike helmet, I would go cruising by them on my bike which Tree gave me a couple years ago and is around 15 years old, and ring my bell. Of course I have a big smile on my face. And normally when I passed someone I would read there bib number which was marked on their leg and encourage them. Something like “Come on 1078 we got this hill. Let’s go.” Then I would ring my bell and take off. These people would just look at me with a facial expression of “Who the hell is this guy?”. Well I thought it was funny anyhow.
One of my goals was to win one of the events. Who am I kidding, I am not going to win the swim, the bike or the run. So what is left….the transition times. The transition between the swim and the bike is a hard one to do well in just because of the switching to shoes and getting everything on. I set my sights on the second transition between the bike and run. You throw your bike on the rack, toss the helmet and you are on your way. I did some planning on this one. At the end of the bike course you have to dismount your bike and then run about 200 feet to the start of the transition area. They have mats placed down that you run across which registers your timing chip around your ankle. I ran up to the mat and stopped and just stood there for about 20 seconds catching my breath. They had a race official standing right there. He said to me, “What are you doing?” I said, “Catching my breath so I can win the transition time.” He just shook his head. If you look in the results, it almost worked, I believe I had the third fastest transition time (1 minute 12 seconds. The best was 1 minute 5 seconds).
Looking back at my strategy of trying to get the best transition time, I don’t think that helped my overall time. I ran at around a 70 or 80 percent sprint through the transition area. This took a lot of energy out of me, and as I started out on the running course I was just dead. I had nothing in the tank for the run. Going all out in the bike probably didn’t help me much in conserving energy. This is were I was very disappointed with my performance. I finished with a 5K time or 27 minutes 58 seconds. 6 minutes off the pace I had set for myself. It wasn’t the worst run I have been on. It was a gradual uphill course for the first mile, then there was a pretty steep hill to the halfway point. The rest was fairly all down hill. My first mile was probably over 10 minutes.
Here are my official times, 8:50 for the swim, 40:23 for the bike, 17.83 miles per hour pace, 27:58 for the 5K run, 9:20 minute mile pace.
Overall I did pretty well. Out of 302 competitors, I finished 43. Out of 140 males I was 36. If you check all of the times, I did have the 3rd fastest transition time. In my age group I was 8th out of 26. That was one goal I did have for myself was to finish in the top 10 of my age group.
This triathlon has me at a bit of a cross roads. I told myself this was going to be my last triathlon for the summer. But I am so disappointed in myself over that run time that I want to do another one. Not to mention that a more respectable run time would get me very close to actually placing in one of these races. If I shave off 1 minute in the water and hit my target 5K time, I finish in the top 3. I doubt that I will ever get too serious about doing these things to not joke around while doing them. Then again, my high placement might just be a product of a poor field.

As I emerged from the water there are other racers around me, they had two race officials in the water that sort of directed you out of the water. I asked them as I was getting out, “Am I winning? How far behind me is the person in second place?” They just laughed and said “Yep, you are in the lead and you have plenty of time, they are way behind you.” As you can see from the picture there are people ahead of me.
Here I am coming into the finish.The feeling of finishing. Tree by the way didn't run the race. He had been having back problems and is saving himself for the Stu on Stu tourney and the Paddle / Portage. But as we were walking to breakfast afterwards, he mentioned to me that his back really wasn't feeling too bad that morning.

Triathlon

Tomorrow is my triathlon in Elkhart Lake. I am doing this with Tree. It is a fore gone conclusion that I will beat Tree. The race is a 1/4 mile swim, 12 mile bike and 3.1 mile run. What will my time be?

What will my time be?
	1 hour
	1 hour 5 minutes
	1 hour 10 minutes
	1 hour 15 minutes
	1 hour 20 minutes
	You will never beat Tree
Free polls from Pollhost.com

By the way, I am highly disappointed in my friends and blog readers. Or maybe this is just a reflection on myself, but no one has taken me up on my offer to go to Summerfest. My weekend plans now consist of an early night to bed tonight to rest up for my race. Running my triathlon Saturday morning, getting a massage Saturday afternoon and that is all that I have planned.

My New Bridge

Some people have been wondering where I am headed in life. At least short term, not long term. I have no idea where I am headed long term. It has been a while since I have discussed work. Then again does anyone really care about work? Not really. My work here in Appleton is nearly complete. My bridge is open to the public and has been for over a month. There are a couple small details that need to be fixed, none of which is really visable to the public. Where do I go now? I am off to Oshkosh. My company has been overseeing the contruction of another bridge there. The plan is for me to help out there until the bridge is completed, which is scheduled for sometime in October. From there it is anyone's guess as to where I will be headed next. My current hope is that our company will get the construction contract on a bridge in Little Chute which would happen in May. That would have me back in Milwaukee in November and then back in Appleton come May 2009.
Here are some photos of my bridge. This was taken my first day on the job May 2007. This one was taken earlier this month. Yes it opens and closes without problem at all.Proof that boats have gone through my bridge.

The Incredible Hulk

Thursday I went to see the Incredible Hulk. I went for a couple of reasons. 1. The Brewers played that afternoon and there wasn’t anything else on TV. 2. It was on the UltraScreen. I have been living in Appleton for over a year, and just realized that they have an UltraScreen. Yes, I am an idiot. Before I get to the movie review, let me touch on how stupid people are. As I am in line to purchase my ticket, which I got for a $1 off by showing my college ID, the guy in front of me asks what time Indian Jones starts. Who goes to the movies and doesn’t know what time the movie you want to see starts? With all of the available outlets to get movie times (newspapers, call the theater, internet) how can you not know what time your movie starts. Then this guy asks the cashier to see what time Indiana Jones is playing at the other theater across town. What a clown. But he was topped by another idiot in the movie theater. About 45 minutes into my movie, this guy answers his phone. He must have had it on vibrate, good for him, but he went into a 3 or 4 minute conversation and was talking pretty loud. He was in the row right behind me. After a minute or two, people started yelling at him to shut up. He retorted back with, “Hey this is important, my house is on fire.” Now if my house was on fire, I would probably leave the theater right away, instead of sitting through the rest of the movie to see if the Hulk beats the bad guy.
Alright let me get to the review of The Incredible Hulk. It was just alright. Any movie that ends leaving you hanging and indicating a sequel loses points right away. But I will give them credit for a story line that worked and some how created a villain. Not to be a spoiler here, but if you see the movie you will have to get back to me on this because I was confused as to if the villain died in the end or not. I don’t think he did. Here is another spoiler question I have for anyone who sees the movie, If they were going to New York to see this guy who could create the antidote, why send him and email that can be tracked. Why not just go to see him? Which leads me to another fault in the story line, they got from Virginia to New York City on $40. Please. Somehow on $40, they were able to buy an old truck, get a boat ride from New Jersey or Staten Island, I am not sure which one, across the Harbor to New York City and get a cab in the city. Here is a better story line, show me how they did all of that on $40. I know, it is only a movie, but then why make the point that they only have $40. The special effects are great. Here is a trivia question for you move goers out there, can you name me a movie that has Liv Tyler in it, where she doesn’t cry? One big positive for the movie was that the movie makers cast Lou Ferrigno in a cameo roll. Because the movie lends itself to a sequel, I can give it no more than a rating of a 5.

Soccer Girls

While I was looking on line for good soccer pictures for the previous posting, the site I was at, ESPN.com, had pictures of the crowd in the galleries. Check out these girls who were present for Euro 2008. I wish I was a better soccer player so I could get girls like this showing up for my games.
Poor Sweden, only won one game and were bumped in the group competition.Holland dominated their group but gave up two goals in extra time in the quarterfinals.Croatia also dominated their group but in the quarterfinals lost a heart breaker giving up the equalizer during injury time of the second extra period, then went on to lose in Penalty Kicks. You can cry on my shoulder.Russia, still alive and set to take on Spain.My money is on Germany to win it all. They face a Turkey team with too many injuries and suspensions. Then they will walk all over the winner of Russia and Spain. You know I am part German.I have been watching quite a bit of the Euro Cup. One of my favorite parts of the game is listening to the announcers call the game. Way better than listening to John Madden. They way they speak is so entertaining. I.E. "He has a firecracker of a right foot. Anytime he puts his boot to the ball he strikes it with much venom."

Soccer

Last summer I joined a soccer team up in the Appleton area. I really didn’t know what kind of league it was until I got to the first game. Turned out it was a Co-Ed Recreational League. But I committed to playing with them and it wasn’t too bad. Since I am going to be up in Appleton again this summer, I decided to play with them again. The team is worse. It isn’t that the players are that bad, they are just not soccer smart. Nearly the entire team has no composure, I.E. the ball comes to them and they just kick it anywhere. And they play with no sense of urgency, just waiting for the ball to come to them. The players that are decent want to dribble all over. We won Sunday night, yet it was a highly unfulfilling night on the pitch. It really makes me long for the days of my past teams. My high school soccer team was above average, winning conference both years I was on varsity. Oddly enough my high school soccer career came to a close at the hands of Hartland Arrowhead, with none other than one, Dave “The General” Stegall minding the goal. My first year that I played club soccer with Spring City we had a great team. I would say that team was even better than my high school team. Moving on into my college years, I played with Reinders U23s. Easily the most fun I had on the soccer field. We had a very good team, we were just highly unorganized and rarely fielded a full team. We played one game in Racine, we started with only 10 players, then Mark Thome got a red card and thrown out of the game. Joe Reinders had to leave a half time to get back to Madison. Finally Eric Case got hurt and could barely walk. The ref wouldn’t let him sit out because we had to have 8 players on the field, so Eric just stood by the sideline and walked back and forth over the midfield line so he wouldn’t screw up our offsides traps. We ended up winning that game 4-3. Justus, Kaker and I would literally be telling jokes and stories while the game was going on. And this was while we were in a competitive league. Then I had a spell were I sort of lost touch with soccer. I would say something like 8 or 9 years. My friend, Phil, called me up one night and asked me if I wanted to play indoor with him and some of his college buddies. I said sure. It is funny because after all of those years off, I got back on the field and just kicked the ball around for a little bit, and the love that I have for the game came rushing back. When you are on a team that has everyone on the team knowing how to play the game the right way, it makes you love the game even more. It was a great team, everyone passed the ball around, everyone got tons of touches. People would make runs and create space and switch around on defense and cover for you when you made a run. No one took shifts that were 5 minutes long. It was rare for someone to stay out on the field for more than 3 minutes. I can recall having a 40 second shift one time. We routinely won 10-2 or something like that. I think we won the league 3 or 4 times. Stegall ended up playing a couple seasons with us, and we would talk about how Tuesday night was the highlight of our entire week because we got to play soccer. I really enjoyed that team and savored playing at that time. When I was in Minnesota I played with Krum and a bunch of his buddies. They were just pick up games in this tiny gymnasium. They were all very good players, nearly everyone was better than me. But the hard floor and walls really beat you up. I would have loved to play in an indoor or outdoor league with that group. In fact they did as me to play outdoor with them, but I moved to Appleton. Anyhow, the past is the past, but I just needed to write this all out and vent, because I was so incredibly frustrated playing Sunday night. It is hard to express home much I miss those teams, and I miss them even more now, because I am on a team that really sucks.

Weekend Update

I don't have much of a update for you on this past weekend. I just didn't want to drive down to Milwaukee and from what I heard there wasn't much going on, so I stayed in Appleton. Friday night I fell asleep around 9:30.

My friend, Mark, is training for a 2 day, 150 mile bike ride which is in 3 weeks. I had told him that if I stayed in Appleton, I would go on a training ride with him. Saturday morning we headed out on a 45 mile bike ride. We kept up a good pace. We finished in 2 hours and 13 minutes, averaging just over 20 miles per hour. But my lower back was killing me by the time we finished and my butt we also pretty sore. I was thinking about doing a 90 mile ride around Lake Winnebago, but this little adventure cemented the fact that I will not being doing that. I came out of it feeling OK, but I couldn't imagine going twice as far.

The biking was good for my training for my next triathlon, which is this coming Saturday. I am doing this one with Tree. I have set my goals for this next triathlon. It is 1/4 mile swim, 12 mile bike and 3 mile run. I would like to get out of the water in less than 10 minutes. I would like to average over 20 miles per hour on the bike, and average 7:30 minute miles on the run. Add in transitions and I am shooting for around 1 hour and 10 minutes. Another goal I have is to finish first in one of the timed events. Now I am not in good enough shape to win the swim, bike or run, so what does that leave. The transition times. In my last triathlon I noticed that my transition time from the bike to the run was only 39 seconds. The best time that I saw was 32 seconds. My plan is to stop at the end of the bike where I have to dismount. But then take 30 seconds to compose myself and the sprint to the rack to drop off my bike and get out on the run course. I think I can do that. My last goal is to beat Tree, but since I took him behind the wood shed on the last one, I am not too worried about beating him.

Finishing up my weekend, I had a soccer game Sunday night, but I have another posting expanding on my feelings for soccer that I will get out later this week.

Lastly, I am thinking about going down to Summerfest this coming Saturday night after my triathlon. If anyone is interested in going, let me know. I am looking for recruits to head down there. If you want to be on the blog, this is a great opportunity.

More Weekend Videos

This is another video of me jumping over Ethan. Jon was giving me hard time because on the first dive, I spread my legs to get over Ethan. This time I kept them together and actually just grazed Ethan's head.

This video goes back to the Brewer Game. Tree's nephew, T.J., was talking pretty tough. He wanted to know what the record was for the most beers in my beer bong. I told him 6 beers in 23 seconds. I realize that that is an nearly unimaginable feat, but it did happen. I did it in Cleveland at the Badger Game two years ago. From what I recall, Joe was there and saw it. I also have a number of other witnesses, Ertmann, Gibby, Shooter, etc. Anyhow T.J. wanted a shot at the title. I told him that he wasn't ready, and I advised him to start off slow with maybe just 3 beers. But no, why would you listen to me. As we were filling up the beer bong, I was in control of the music with my MP3 player. And as a joke I put on a Brittney Spears song, as Tree and I used to play that when we went skiing together and were getting ready in the parking lot. It was just funny to see the looks that we got from people as they passed by. T.J. told me to turn the Brittney off, but then a group of 5 or 6 girls that were passing by stopped and came over by us and started dancing. Then it was O.K. for me to leave Brittney on the radio. So here is T.J.'s attempt at 6 beers. I told him I can't give him more than 2.5 beers. A lot of beer ended up on the ground. Listen to the disappointment coming from the girls when T.J. finally gives up.

Weekend Recap

It was a great weekend for me. I came back home Friday. I met with Nate for lunch at Crawdaddy's. A great meal. Friday night I stayed at my brother's house. And took it pretty easy. I was able to get in a run and then kick around the soccer ball. I also jumped in the pool, but that water was a little on the cold side. Saturday I had a haircut. Thanks again Rebecca. I have been waiting to renew my drivers license until I had my haircut. I then loaded up on tailgating supplies and headed into Milwaukee to meet Borky at Nate's house. We had lunch at Nate's and were then in the Brewer parking lot by 3:30. We had a great time in the parking lot. The only down side was the weather. But we didn't let that get our spirits down and we didn't get into the game until the top of the 8th inning. The fact that the game ended up going 12 innings was all the better. After the game we headed down to Leff's Luckytown. Around 1 in the morning, I got hungry again and we headed to the East side for Oakland Gyros. There isn't anything much better than a Gyro at bar time. Sunday my family grilled out at my sister's house. The entire family got together. It was a very relaxing Father's Day. I hope everyone wished their father's a Happy Father's Day. I realized Sunday night what a great job not only my father, but also my mom did in raising us as kids. Especially as I looked around and saw all of the nieces and nephews running around. It is pretty amazing how well all of my parent's kids turned out. I finished up Sunday night stopping at the fireworks store to get ready for the 4th of July. It got me to thinking, if I was an arsonist, the first building I would set on fire would be a fireworks store. How cool would it be to see one of those on fire.
Here is a video of me jumping over Ethan. I think Nick is a little too tall to jump over.


Here is Borky soaking up the sun in the parking. Is there any place you would rather be than tailgating at a Brewer Game on a beautiful sunny day?
Unfortunately, the sun turned to rain, but it did eventually get nice again. Borky, Tree, TJ and Eric proud to pose with a rainbow in the background. You will note that you did not see my brother, Jon, or his neighbor, Rob. They both said they were going to show up, but pulled up short. Surprised? Not really.This was the swing that Prince Fielder had on his triple in the 11th inning.Sunday, the Coonen kids playing hillbilly horseshoes.Crusher in the back yard.Erin up in a tree.Dan got jealous of Erin, so he decided to climb a tree too.Here are all of my nieces and nephews, Ethan, Jared, Zack, Lindsey, Sarah, Erin, Josh, Joey, Nick and Abby.

Weekend Recap

It took a couple days to get my weekend recap up. But with Preston's baby announcement, things got pushed back. Last Friday I was planning on watching the Brewer Game with my brother, Dan. But he had to work, so I stayed and watched Josh and Abby for a while. Here are Josh and I riding bikes. I was on Abby's bike.This is me and Abby.Josh and I were having races around the driveway.Saturday morning was the kids against the adults game for Ethan's soccer team. It ended up being a 7-7 tie. I wasn't in the game at the end otherwise I would have made sure it didn't end in a tie. Here is Haus back on the pitch. Does the touch ever leave? He appears to be in control.
And look here, Julie can still get it done.
And is that a soccer player or a bird out there?

Good news on the Brewer front for this weekend. It appears that Borky is going to make the trip from Minnesota Saturday morning just to make it to the game. Tailgating will be out of control.

Indiana Jones

A movie review has been long over due. Thursday rather than watch the NBA finals, I went to catch a movie. Who is playing in the Finals? Do you think ESPN is making too big of a deal about this? Back to the movie. I went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I was a little disappointed because I went to the theater here in Appleton with the UltraScreen and they weren't showing Indy on that screen. It is a long movie but actually pretty good. I thought they did a pretty good job of tying everything together in the end. The kid from Transformers is in this movie, but plays something of a tough guy role. It was a little hard to believe his character. I do think that if they were going to take someone from Transformers, it should have been Megan Fox. Harrison Ford is just too old. He just doesn't seem like Indiana. And it is hard to believe someone at his age could pull off all that he does. I realize that much of this movie series is far fetched. But jungle car chase, the vine swinging and the waterfall scenes are all highly unrealistic. Yes, I know it is a movie, but they were all a bit over the top. I did like the movie and it was better than I was expecting. I had heard some poor reviews. On a scale of 1 - 10, despite the unrealistic scenes, it is a 7.

Here Is Your Answer

Alright here is the answer. The soon to be father is........ Preston. And no he isn't having a baby with Vanessa. At least I am pretty sure he isn't. As far as I know, he is only having a child with Jessica. I just photoshopped the original ultrasound to try and create a buzz. It appears that I am quickly losing credibility here on my blog. Between my fake tattoos, pretend marriage proposals and imaginary pregnancies, no one is buying what I am selling.

I am still waiting for the anonymous person to give me an explanation as to why I should not have a child. I think I would actually be a good father, probably a bit to strict, but still a good father. On the other hand, I am sure I would be a horrible husband, you won't hear me refute that claim. I fully expected that person to back down. Gutless turd.

Speaking of people backing down. I haven't heard a word from M.K.A. I am not shocked. I am starting to believe that at Whitewater they teach you in English class that anytime = never.

Congratulations Bubs on the bun in the oven. I am looking forward to the day when I can yell at Bubs Jr. to run and get me a beer.

The invitation is still open for tailgating on Saturday. I have yet to hear of any newcomers. But all are welcome. The parking lots open 3 hours before game time, which is 6:05 p.m.

And The Father Is.......

I am going to let this big question simmer for another day or two before the big reveal. I would like to take exception to the Anonymous person who wrote "Please let this be a joke. No one on this list should be allowed to reproduce." Listen pal, I am on the list. Whomever you are, I am highly offended that you feel I should not be allowed to reproduce. I would love to hear you expand on your opinion and explain how I am unqualified to be a father. Please leave another comment and sign your name so I can really rip you a new one. Coward.

Let me get to my weekend plans. Saturday I am going to the Brewer game. I plan on getting to the parking lot early for some serious tailgating. I am cordially inviting all of my blog readers, except the person who feels that I am unqualified to procreate (that person can stay at home and pound sand), to come and join me. Last year, we didn't even make it into the game because we were having so much fun in the parking lot. Currently I am going with Doug, Liquid and Eric. And I have Tree, Preston, my brother, and his neighbor, Rob (all who do not have a ticket to the game) coming down to join us. So even if you don't have a ticket come on down for a drink. Here is a little preview for the tailgating. This past Friday night, I invited my brother and neighbor Rob to the game. This quickly snowballed into a beer slamming contest. Here is the first beer. Listen to Rob at the end, "Beer everywhere."

And here is the second beer. Despite what neighbor Rob says, I am pretty sure I won both. But I am sure there will be a rematch Saturday.

BIG BIG NEWS

This is huge. Enormous news. Life altering news. It is something I just learned about yesterday before I went to play cards with the boys yesterday afternoon. It appears that their is someone who is very close to this blog who is going to be joining the parenthood club. I guess it is good timing with Fathers Day coming up. But I am going to make my readers wait a bit and guess at who the new father is. Here is the ultrasound picture.If you are like me, I am sure you are finding this hard to get your head around. But yes one of these "men" in the poll is actually going to become a father. Seriously, this is not a joke, one person on this list is soon to be a father.

Who is the new Father to be?
	Eric
	Justus
	Me
	Preston
	Roman
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Perfect Health Follow Up

Just to follow up and close the book on any health concerns about me. I had blood work done yesterday, the result "everything looks great". Basically what I am saying is that I am great physical shape despite what others may think. The only health risks I am currently battling are my liver exploding and getting hit by a car while training for triathlons.

On the M.K.A. Challenge front. I thought I would put together a little poll.

What will M.K.A. do about the M.K.A. Challenge?
	He will set a time and place in the next couple days.
	He will continue to back pedal and never race you.
	He will show up and beat you "handily".
Free polls from Pollhost.com

That is all that I really have to report. Enjoy your weekend.

Happy Birthday

Yes, yesterday was my birthday. I am 35 years old. I would like to thank everyone that either called or emailed me to wish me a happy birthday. Their were a lot of you and I appreciate you taking the time to wish me a happy birthday. To be honest, I really don't feel like I am 35 years old. I actually don't really feel that I am out of my 20's yet. Oh well. It was a highly uneventful birthday. I woke up, went to work, came home, worked out and went to bed. I was thinking about how if I was my father, when he was 35 he had 5 kids. I could not imagine having 5 kids right now. I have trouble taking care of myself.

When Is Anytime M.K.A.?

Alright M.K.A., I am not sure that you tune in to the blog as often now that you are done with school, but I am sure that Pocahontas and your old man check it out from time to time. Last we spoke, you finished school for the year, moved, and had dinner with your parents. Let's get this little skating challenge over with. I want to have this done before the 4th so that you can pay up on your end of the wager. Again here is the schedule for Skateland. Obviously weekends are the only times that work for me. I would like to get word out, because I think I might be able to get some other blog readers to show up and watch. I will be down in the Milwaukee area every weekend until the 4th. Time to put up or shut up.

O.K. Not Really

Let me start with my weekend recap before I get to the real results from the triathlon.

Friday night I went to the Brewer Game with Tree. We got in some tailgating and made some friends while out in the parking lot. There was one group across from us, who had claimed to us that they were "experienced" tailgaters. First their grill didn't work. We offered up ours for them to use once we were done. Then we notice that they are flipping their burgers and brats with plastic forks. We gave them our tongs. Our next give away that they weren't well versed in tailgating was the Styrofoam cooler. That was followed by the fact that they were drinking Bud Light, which was warm because they were stored in a Styrofoam cooler. On to the game, I think we got in around the 2nd inning. The game was fun as the Brewers won without much problem and we had great seats. Thank you Nate. I owe you yet again. I won't even go into the fact that my brother, Jon, and sister in law, Julie, had suite seats and preferred parking and called me to tell me about it. And then they were too good to come and meet up with Tree and I for a beer. After the game, Tree and I met up with Nate at Shepard's. I told Tree before hand that we need to make sure Nate doesn't pay for anything since he set us up with great seats, especially on such short notice. Tree didn't let me down. We got the bar and Tree orders up a pitcher of beer, then asks Nate what kind of shot he wanted. Nate saidJagermister. Tree ordered up 4 shots, one for him and I, and two for Nate so he can catch up. Nate gave up a 5 second fight before doing both shots. I expected nothing less. Of the 648 competitors in the triathlon, I would venture a guess than none of them other than Tree and I were out until 3 in the morning Friday night.

Saturday was a very low key day for me. I wanted to rest up for the race. I went to Ethan's soccer game, then Nick's soccer game. I got in a 2 hour nap in the middle of the day. And went back to bed right after the Brewer game.

Sunday I was up early and met Tree in Delafield at 5:30. We drove together to Lake Mills for the triathlon. Tree and I have done a couple of these triathlons and we both knew we weren't going to win. That being said, we pretty much joked around the entire time leading up to the race. This was met with much resistance as most people participating in the race had their "game" faces on. At the start of our wave Tree and I were again splashing each other and pushing each other around. When the starter announced it was 30 seconds until we started, I yelled out "No wait. 2 more minutes." Again, not amusing to most of the athletes. I am a better swimmer than the average person, however, as far as triathletes go, I am below average. The swim course was out, a left hand turn, across, another left hand turn, and then back to the beach. The water was cold. Very cold. As I joked at the registration, I entered the water a male racer, but left as a female racer. Also not funny to those in ear shot. All the way to the first turn, I couldn't believe how cold the water was. After the first turn someone behind me grabbed my foot three times, I thought it was Tree. It wasn't, and I don't know what the person was doing, but it helped keep my mind off of the water temp. I hit the last turn and the beach was easily in site and I was fine once I was out of the water. My transition time sucked, almost 4 minutes. I borrowed my brother's barefooting wet suit which was at least one size too small for me and was difficult to get out of. This transition was also the spot of my one big error. I didn't do that great of a job of wiping off my feet, as a result I put on my socks with some sand and small pebbles still sticking to the bottom of my feet. This resulted in a number of small cuts on the bottom of my feet once the race was done. Lesson learned. But once I was on the bike I was fine. It was a pretty easy course out in the country without many hills and none that were too steep. I got back to the transition area and jumped out on to the run course. The run was along the glacial drumland trail. It would be hard to find a flatter run. This was fantastic. Before the race, I set out a goal of 1 hour 35 minutes and to also beat Tree. I finished the 1/4 mile swim in 10:03. I need to work on my swim this summer. My transition was 3:39. My bike was 46:45 over 15 miles. That is nearly averaging 20 miles per hour. I would like to reach a bit above the mark on the next race. The bike to run transition was 39 seconds. Then on to the run. As I said, it was a fast course and I was averaging 7:42 minute miles. Not too bad. But I was hoping for something closer to 7:20. I finished the 5K in 23:53. That is a final time of 1 hour 24 minutes and 58 seconds. That was nearly 9 minutes faster than Tree who beat me last time by 5 seconds. However, the true winner finished in 58 minutes and 49 seconds. That is ridiculously fast. I entered the Clydesdale division, which is the fat guy division for those that are over 200 lbs. Of the 31 in the division, I finished 11th. 648 entered the race and I took 294th place. Overall I am pretty happy with my performance, but I would like to do a little better with the next race.

Sunday evening, I had my first soccer game with a team that I played with last summer. We ended up losing 3-2, but I didn't play all that bad. In fact I had the assist on the first goal from my position as sweeper. And that about wraps up my weekend.

This is the most training that Tree did for the triathlon.

Me tailgating and acting very serious. If you have ever tailgated with me on a weekend game, you know I take my tailgating seriously. Shermans, please take note of the Boones Farm well in hand. It is going to be a long summer.

Here I am showing Tree how it is done. Listen to Tree commentary. Still makes me laugh. 1/4 of a beer.


As I said Nate hooked us up with great seats. I want to say that this was Prince Fielder's home run swing, but I know that I didn't get a picture of that one. Shepard's after the game. Nate and Tree. I think Tree is pretending that he doesn't have a beer, but he had plenty. He can use that as an excuse for his Sunday performance.Here is Ethan getting yelled at by Coach Steve for his inability to pass the ball. This was going on while the rest of the players were still playing at the other end. Steve is nearly as entertaining as the game itself.Here is Pickle in his game. Pickle managed to score two goals, one for each team.
Here is Tree in the final stretch of his run. The girl behind him nearly caught him at the finish. I was cheering very hard to her to catch him.

And The Winner Is.......

Me. That is right. I won the triathlon. That might surprise some of you, but it didn't come as a shock to me. Here is a picture with me with my trophy for being the overall male winner of the Lake Mills Triathlon.