Axel's, The More Things Change....

....the more they stay the same. Thursday night I headed up to Whitefish Bay. My old college roommate, Bob, lives up there. Obviously Bob and Angie are doing very well for themselves. He has made it a point to get a monthly night of ping pong together in his garage. When I got the email invite earlier this week, I responded back in less than 5 minutes. I love good pong. The last time he had ping pong night, I was kicking myself for not stopping at Oakland Gyros. Thursday night I wasn't going to make that same mistake. And I planned it out just right. I showed up in just enough time to order up some food, then walk through the "secret" hallway over to Axel's and eat my gyro, have a beer and watch Thursday night football just as the game kicked off. I was a pig in mud.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.

Back to the ping pong. Bob put together a pretty good group of guys to play ping pong. They are all good guys and decent pong players. It was doubles all night, and the last game finished up with a final score of 29-27. So thanks Bob for setting it up and I am down every time for some pong.

Final note of the evening, I have been going to Oakland Gyros since my sophomore year of college. (Freshman year I was too lazy to walk that far from the dorms.) Well if you have been there, you know that a gyro, while delicious gives off a rather strong aroma. And they give you so much that you can't possibly eat the whole thing if you plan on doing anything more active than falling into a food coma for the hours following the meal. So last night I actually brought tupperware with me to put my leftovers in, so it wouldn't smell up my car. I am officially old. Another must after Oakland Gyros, is gum. I know I have warned the Jendes about the dragon breath you can suffer from during the morning make out sessions after a late night at Oakland Gyros.