Jota's House

Here are some pictures that I took while I was helping Jay this past weekend. This is the front of the house.

They are still in the process of moving in, some of the stuff got moved this past weekend, which made it a lot of fun to work around everything, especially when you wanted to put quarter round along all of the baseboards with boxes stacked up against the walls. This is the dining-room.

Jay gutted the entire bathroom. Well almost. When I first got there on Thursday Jay told me he was debating about what to do with the existing bathtub. It is an old cast iron tub and it is in serious need of some cleaning, although I don’t think it will ever get truly clean. I told Jay, “If you are going to screw the pooch, screw it good. That tub has to go. Otherwise if you put new bright white tub surround walls in, it is going to make that tub look that much dirtier.” I almost had Jay convinced to get rid of the tub when Shelly stopped by. Her reaction to getting rid of the tub, “Absolutely not, I hate all of the new plastic showers. What I really want is a claw foot tub.” As I mentioned before, on Friday night just before Jay and I past the point of no return on the new tub surround walls, Jay called an audible and stopped. Just like I had said, next to the new surround walls the old cast iron tub looked absolutely filthy. But the new ceramic floor is staying and here is Jay putting in the new ceramic tile floor at 9:00 Thursday night.

Lyric of the Day: Suddenly I turned around and she was standing there. With silver bracelets on her wrists and flowers in her hair. She walked up to me so gracefully and took my crown of thorns. "Come in" she said "I'll give you shelter from the storm."

This Past Weekend

First let me apologize. I have been having some internet /computer issues. But Eric stopped by tonight and I think / hope everything is fixed. And maybe I can get back to posting the fine quality reading material that you are used to. Or not.

This past weekend I got in some work around the house. As I said in an earlier post, I helped Jay with some remodeling with his duplex this past Thursday and Friday. And a couple of weeks ago, I helped my brother, Dan, put up some drywall at my sister’s house. I guess all of that work on other people’s houses got me motivated to actually work on my own house. On Saturday and Sunday I did some work around my own house. My cousin, MKA, moved out of my house last week, so I started with cleaning his old room. In case you missed it, MKA moved in with me at the end of last February. In that time, MKA had quite the shrine to himself set up in his room and he managed to liter the room with well over 50 holes in the plaster. He also somehow managed to get stains on the wall. My best guess is that it is blood, and that is about as far as I am going to expand on that.

I moved on to cleaning the kitchen. When I started cleaning out the cabinets I ran across my collection of Clingwrap and Aluminum Foil. To the best of my recollection, I have never bought either of them. I found that I have over 900 square feet of Clingwrap and 200 square feet of Aluminum Foil. I have no idea where they all came from. Here is my collection.

While in the kitchen I also cleaned my refrigerator. With MKA gone, my refrigerator is back to looking about as pathetic as possible. Here is a picture of it for you. Mind you this is after grocery shopping.

I also mounted not one but 2 paper towel holders on the cabinet doors under the sink. Why two? Because I can.

I don’t know why, but sometimes there are little things that bother me. Very often I go a little overboard on correcting these bothersome things. For example, a couple of years ago in my utility room I built a work bench. I try to keep this area as clean as possible. The best way to clean this area is with my shop vac. But for some unknown reason I find it irritatingly troubling to have to plug the shop vac in every time I use it, even though the outlets are attached right to the work bench. I took it upon myself to place a new outlet where I store my shop vac so that it is plugged in at all times. Now when I make a mess, I just need to flip the switch on the shop vac and away I go. This also allows me to sleep better at night.

Lyric of the Day:

Again the morning's come

Again he's on the run

Sunbeams shinin' through his hair

Appearing not to have a care

Well pick up your gear and gypsy roll on ... roll on

New Years

Well 2011 is here. And with it comes the worst stretch of the year. Nothing but 5 day work weeks as far as the eye can see. Not to mention frosty weather for the same length of time. But on to my New Years celebration. I was in Madison helping Jay. He and Shelly just purchased a duplex and I owed Jay a favor or two for all of the help he gave me when he lived across the street. We put down laminate flooring in the kitchen and tile in the bathroom. We also put new quarter round on all of the baseboards. And finally we installed or almost installed the new shower. Right before gluing in the shower walls, Jay called a time out to discuss it with Shelly. I was out by Jay Thursday and Friday. Friday evening I didn't leave until 9:45. I got home around 11 and went to bed. So I think I slept through the turning over of the New Year. And it didn't bother me in the least.

Christmas Part 2

Here are all of the family pictures.
Jeff, Sue, Zack, Sarah and JoeyJon, Julie, Nick and EthanDan, Jody, Abbigail and JoshDeb, Tim, Lindsey, Jared and ErinMe with all of the kids.Mom and DadGrandma and Grandpa with the grandkidsThe whole Davies Family

Christmas Part 1

Christmas Eve I was at my brother's. Here I am with Lauren (or Laren depending upon who you ask), "E", Jake and Pickle.Christmas Day was at my parent's house. I was shocked that when I showed up at 2 in the afternoon I was the last one there. Normally that title belongs to Jeff and Sue. Although I think my parents may need to add on to the house, because 21 people in the living room is getting pretty tight. Here are all of the nieces and nephews.
JoeyBoomer"E"ZackPickleSarahPrincessFussCrusherAnd Hollywood

Late Weekend Review

I know, I know, I have been slacking on my postings. But in my defense, I don’t have a lot going on. Here is my weekend recap: Friday night, I finished putting together my Christmas card and stuffing and labeling all of the envelopes. And while I am on the topic of Christmas cards, allow me to go off on a tangent. I got a voicemail from Roman on Saturday, December 18th. “He was wondering if I sent out my Christmas card and he was surprised that he hadn’t received one yet. The reason he was thinking about my card was because he was sending out his cards that very same day.” Roman, I have to admit you have me a little confused. According to my time table, I have up until the 25th to get my cards to their respective homes. And if you didn’t have your cards out yet, why should I have mine out?
Anyhow, Roman, you will be happy to know that the cards went out Monday morning. So you will probably get them today or tomorrow. But I wouldn’t be too excited to get it, since I think the card this year was another pretty weak effort. I guess I will let everyone decide for themselves. I also made a major mistake on my letter that I didn’t notice until I had the letters all printed out and didn’t feel like redoing them again.
Back to my weekend. I finished off Friday evening with some soccer. I play with my old indoor team at a church gymnasium that we reserve for every Friday night. My skills are severely eroding, but if nothing else it is exercise. And if you saw me with my shirt off, you would agree, I need all of the exercise I can get.
On to Saturday, the highlight of my Saturday was getting my hair cut. My good friend, Rebecca, always cuts my hair and does a fantastic job. This time when she asked me what we were going to do with it, I replied with “I don’t care, do whatever you would like. At this point in my life, I am just lucky to have any hair.”
Sunday I watched some football then in the afternoon I went to watch my niece, Lindsey (Boomer), play basketball. Lindsey is pretty good, but she is on a really bad team. She routinely scores the majority of the points. But then again they don’t normally score too many points. I was told that I need to be as hard on Boomer as I am on Jared. She is #5.That being said, Boomer, needs a lot of work on dribbling without looking at the ball. She also needs to learn that when she is in the low post with the ball, to go up with it to take a shot right away. She often stops her dribble, looks around, and then decides to take a shot, by which point the other defenders have converged on her and she has no hope of getting off a clean shot. When the weather gets better, I will have to show Boomer some low post moves that border on being legal.
I finished off Sunday night with the Packer game. I was surprised that they played as well as they did. If not for two plays they would have won the game. I said right after Woodson dropped that sure interception, that it would come back to haunt them. And more importantly the inability to tackle a 300 pound lineman as he returned the kickoff really hurt them. I was embarrassed for the team as I watched that run back. However, looking at the silver lining, the Packers still hold their playoff destiny in their own hands.
Prediction: There is no doubt in my mind that Brett Favre will debate all of this upcoming summer if he is going to come back for yet another year of football. And while the Vikings are a rather poorly run organization, even they won’t touch him. But some other team will take a flying leap of faith on this attention whore.
Well chances are, that I won’t get another post in before the Christmas holidays. So with that, I wish all of my loyal readers a Merry Christmas.

A Bad Start to the Day

Last Wednesday morning I was going through my normal routine. I woke up, showered, packed my lunch, jumped into my truck and headed out for another day of work. I was on the interstate driving to look at a project. I grabbed my 32 ounce smoothie that I had made and that I drink every morning. But since I premade the smoothie, it had segregated itself in the days that it sat in my refrigerator. I violently shook the bottle and as I did so, the cap came partially off. This lead to smoothie going everywhere. I had smoothie on the passenger window, the dashboard, the radio, in the CD player, in the heat vents, on my dress pants, my leather jacket, across my face, in my hair and on to the driver’s side window. I sat there dumbfounded at what I had just done. Not really the best start to the day. Since nothing is more funny that someone else's pain, I thought I would share it with you. But I guess it wasn’t as bad as the time I locked myself out of my closet.

Pink Floyd

Last Saturday I went to see the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra play Pink Floyd. It was at The Riverside. I intended to scalp a ticket to get in the show. But when I got down to The Riverside at 8:01 p.m. there were only two people standing outside and they were both smokers. So I had to buy a ticket to the show. But I still saved all of the service fees.

As for the show itself. It was just OK. The first half of the show was Dark Side of the Moon front to back, or I guess it would be beginning to end. The second half of the show was pretty much a Pink Floyd greatest hits. I really didn't think that the orchestra added that much. To me it just seemed like a really good Pink Floyd cover band with an orchestra playing with them. Nothing all that special. And the lead singer didn't really fit as far as I was concerned. He was from New Orleans and had a southern accent. I didn't take any pictures and I didn't feel like taking too much video. So here is the only worthwhile video I shot.

Why Do You Think I Am Such A Bad Driver?

I had a discussion at work the other day about bad drivers. I think it is too easy for people to their license. On one of the projects that I am currently working on, some safety measures were taken to protect motorist, but since these measures were installed there have been two accidents. Real quick background. Utility gas lines are being moved. To do so a major excavcation was made where the new gas lines meet with the existing gas lines. This excavation is in close proximity to the roadway. As a safety measure, concrete barriers were brought in to separate motorists from this excavation. However people are claiming that they are unable to see over the barriers at the intersection just south of the barriers. I have driven through this area a number of times, and yes, while your view is blocked if stopped behind the stop sign, you can not see traffic as well. But if you perform a "double stop", and stop once at the stop sign and then again a second time at the edge of the cross traffic lane, there is no problem with the view of oncoming traffic. Bad drivers. Then later that day as I was pulling up to the ATM I saw this clown. This should be part of the driver's test. If you have pull up to any drive in and you have to open the door, you should lose your license on the spot and have to walk home. Lyric of the Day:
If I could through myself.
Set your sprit free.
I'd lead your heart away.
See you break, break away.
Into the light.
And to the day

Halftime

Here a couple video clips from the halftime show of the Wave Game where my niece, Sarah, danced. I guess you would call these guys acrobats.

Big Balls

Saturday I was at my sister's house to help out with putting up some drywall. I found this somewhat amusing because I actually have some drywall that I should be working on at my house. But as I stated it is always more fun doing work at someone else's house. While I was working I told my nieces and nephew a number of times that they should be outside playing in the snow. I finally convinced Erin to get outside. I told her if she started rolling a snow ball, I would help her roll it up the hill in the back yard and then down the hill two times. Once she finally got it started I helped her get the ball up to the top of the hill. We then rolled it down the hill and by that time it was so heavy there was no way I was pushing it up the hill again. Here is Erin's snowball with Boomer on top.Erin and her snow ball.The Coonen girls and the big ball of snow. I promoised Erin that if it is good packing snow on Christmas, that we would make another big snowball at my parent's house.
Lyric of the day:
I have been planning out,... all that I'd say to you.
Since you slipped away,... know that I still remain true.
I've been wishing out the days,...Please say, that if you hadn't of gone now.
I wouldn't have lost you another way.
From wherever you are,... come back.

Happy Birthday Haus

Sunday was my brother, Jon's (Haus'), birthday. I think he turned 44.I thought this picture would help in wishing for warmer weather. Did it work? I didn't think so.

Lyric of the day:

Oh don't worry, you'll find yourself.

Follow your heart and nothing else.

And you can do this oh baby, if you try.

All that I want for you my son.

Is to be satisfied.

The Lizard King is Free

I think most people know that I am a Doors fan. This past spring I went to see two of the remaining 3 members play in concert. And back in 1999 when I went to Paris the first place I went to was Jim Morrison's grave. I learned today that Jim Morrison was posthumously pardoned Thursday for a 1969 indecent exposure conviction in Florida. It is a little late, but is good to know that Mr. Mo Jo Risin is a free man.

Lyric of the Day (Actually some of Jim's Poetry):
Gently they stir, gently rise
The dead are newborn awakening
With ravaged limbs and wet souls
Gently they sigh in rapt funeral amazement
Who called these dead to dance?
Was it the young woman learning to play the ghost song on her baby grand?
Was it the wilderness children?
Was it the ghost god himself, stuttering, cheering, chatting blindly?
I called you up to anoint the earth
I called you to announce sadness falling like burned skin
I called you to wish you well
To glory in self like a new monster
And now I call you to pray

Top Events of 2010

7. Because this topic of list was from Roman. Roman’s wedding comes in at number 7.
6. Having my surgery. Maybe it wasn’t that much fun. But in looking back (no pun intended) I feel much better than 2 years ago.
5. Running the Pewaukee Triathlon
4. The Freeman Party.
3. The fireworks after the Milwaukee Brewer Fan Appreciation game.
2.Of all of my concerts this year, the best overall concert had to be the first Dave Matthews show at Wrigley Field.
1. Camping on the Mississippi.

Lyric of the Day:
I don't know why nobody told you
How to unfold your love
I don't know how someone controlled you
They bought and sold you
I look at the world
And I notice it's turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps

Best Things About This Time of Year

I actually had a hard time coming up with 7 nice things to say about winter. But here is what I came up with.
The 7 best things about this time of year.
7. I actually like clearing the sidewalks now that I have a snow blower
6. Sledding behind the truck on the streets of Milwaukee
5. The chance that school / work may get cancelled for the day
4. Donuts in parking lots
3. Christmas cards mixed in with your bills and junk mail
2. 12 days of Christmas by the Muppets
1. Eggnog

Lyric of the day:
I know I was born
And I know that I'll die
The in between is mine
I am mine

Have A Holly Jolly Christmas....

....It's the best time of the year. I have sent out a number of emails. But in case I missed you want to get one of my Christmas cards. Leave a post on my blog and I will make sure one ends up in your mail box.

Top 7 List

I have decided to steal a bit from David Letterman. Dave does the top ten list. I don’t think that I have enough creativity to come up with 10 so I have decided to cut it down to 7. I encourage you to throw out any ideas that I missed or ideas for a list.

The 7 worst things about this time of year.
7. Showering with only one shower head
6. The sun goes down at 3:30 in the afternoon
5. Sitting in a freezing car and waiting for it to warm up
4. College football means nothing anymore
3. Two Words: Frozen Boogers
2. Paying your Heating Bill
1. Salvation Army Bell Ringers

And it has been a long time since I posted a lyric of the day:
Turning back the pages to the times I love best.
I wonder if she'll ever do the same.
Now the thing that I call living is just being satisfied.
With knowing I got no one left to blame.

Where to Eat

I have decided to go through my favorite eateries and drinking establishments in the area.

Best Restaurant: Crawdaddy’s (6414 West Greenfield Avenue)
I think everyone knows my favorite restaurant is Crawdaddy’s. If anyone comes to town and wants to go out for dinner that is the first place I mention. I don’t know what happened, but it is not nearly as crowded on a weekend night as it used to be, which is fine with me.
My Order: Dine in Alaskan Skatewing with Scallops and Lobster Mashed Potatoes
Takeout: Crawtails, Carrots and the House Rice (I mix it all together when I get home. I call it the Crawdaddy’s casserole.
http://www.crawdaddysrestaurant.com/index.php

Best Breakfast Food: Original Pancake House (16460 West Bluemound Ave)
Try the crepes, even though I always order the same thing for breakfast wherever I go.
My Order: Ham and Cheese Omelet and 2 Hot Chocolates.
http://www.originalpancakehouse.com/

Best Burger: Sobelman’s (1900 West Saint Paul Avenue)
It is located down in the valley in an area that looks like it would be next to the Paper Street Soap Company from Fight Club.
My Order: Mushroom and Swiss burger. And if you can squeeze some bacon on there, you won’t hear me complain.
http://www.milwaukeesbestburgers.com/

Best Cheap Food: Conejito’s Place (539 W. Virginia Street)
Food served on a paper plate. I remember going there in college when I only had $5 on me, but that was enough for a meal. The food is cheap and the margaritas are strong.
My Order: Enchiladas
http://www.conejitosplace.net/

Best Fish Fry: Painted Parrot (8028 West National Avenue)
They serve up an “All You Can Slam” fish fry on a garbage can lid. How can you go wrong?
My Order: Haddock with Potato Pancakes.
http://www.foodspot.com/Clients/WI/Milwaukee/PaintedParrot/default.aspx?accid=14697

Best Chinese: Panda Hut (7136 West Greenfield Avenue)
I’m not much for dining in at Panda Hut, in fact I never have. But it is a short 10 minutes round trip from my house for takeout.
My Order: The General’s Chicken
http://www.pandahutchinese.com/

Best Mexican: La Fuentes (625 South 5th Street)
It has been years since I have been here, but for a while I was there on a bi-monthly basis. The margaritas are great, but if you have to wait too long, the margaritas will make you forget how good the food is. And now they have a second place which opened up just down the road from me at 9155 West Bluemound Road.
My Order: Enchiladas Regulares: One Beef, One Pork and One Pollo.
http://www.ilovelafuente.com/lafuente-home.php

Best Wings: Rock Bottom Brewery (740 North Plankinton Avenue)
The biggest wings I have come across at any eating establishment. At one time they had all you can eat wings special in the basement on Thursdays, but the beer was over $10 a pitcher.
My Order: The Buffalo Wings, but they make me sweat.
http://www.rockbottom.com/Milwaukee

Best Custard: Gillies (7515 West Bluemound Road)
It is close by, walking distance from my house. The burgers aren’t too shabby either.
My Order: Raspberry Shake. I have from time to time diverted to the caramel apple sundae. It is so good you can add 3 pounds just by smelling it.
http://www.gillesfrozencustard.com/

Best Bar Food: Leff’s Luckytown (7208 West State Street)
I am a huge fan of their relatively new patio. Plus they have the biggest urinal in the city.
My Order: Cheese Curds and Chicken Tenders
http://www.leffs.com/


Best Bar Time Food: Oakland Gyros (2867 North Oakland Avenue)
Not a big shock that this is my favorite bar time food. I think it is great sober. And if you go there sober before bar time, you can take the secret hallway over to Axel’s (See favorite Dive Bar) for a beer.
My Order: Plain Gyro Sandwich, Extra Pita and Large Root beer.

Best Bar to be Seen at: Iron Horse (500 West Florida Street)
I have always found this to be a cool bar, but then again to be cool unfortunately you have to be expensive. Fortunately it is across the roundabout from Conejito’s, so you can call it a wash if you eat there.
http://www.theironhorsehotel.com/

Best Dive Bar: Axel’s (2895 North Oakland Avenue)
Right when you walk in, there is no question about it, this is a dive bar. The Thursday night special is $3 pitchers of Busch Light. $3 for a pitcher of beer!!!!

Best Downtown Bar: Buck Bradley’s (1019 Old World 3rd Street)
This bar is rumored to have the longest bar east of the Mississippi. It stretches the length of the building.
http://www.buckbradleys.com/

Best Beer Garden: The Harp (113 East Juneau)
I know the deck is getting a little old, and the river sometimes smells and is always brown. But it is still my favorite. It is a great place to meet for lunch during the business day and then never return to work.
http://www.theharpirishpub.com/

Dance The Night Away

Here is Sarah and her dance group at the Wave game.

Winner Winner Gyro Dinner

Julie wins the Oakland Gyro for being closest to the actual date of the first snow fall. It happened December 1st. And here is proof.

Happy Birthday Princess

According to my records, my niece, Abbigail a.k.a. Princess turns 10 years old today. Where has the time gone? Your birthday present has been deposited into a bank account which you will not be able to access until you are much older. Here are some pictures of Princess.

I think Abby looks a little like Predator in this last picture, don't you?

New Years Resolutions?

It really isn’t that time of year yet, but I thought I would get a head start. Every year I post my New Year’s Resolution, and with that I once again reinforce my past years’ resolutions. But since some of my past resolutions have been food and alcohol related, I thought I would start a month early. This will keep me from eating poorly and drinking too much the entire month of December. So starting December 1st, I am starting my New Year’s Resolutions. But let’s review what resolutions I have had in the past and what I will be missing out on:
No Buffalo Wings (They make me sweat anyhow.)
No Fast Food (It has been years since I ate at McDonalds.)
No Candy (But I really love eating runts while at the movies.)
No Chips (Even Sun Chips? Yes, even Sun Chips.)
No Soda (So the large rootbeer at Oakland Gyros is out, but they still have milk shakes.)
No Cheese (That means no pizza, one of the main staples in my diet. How insane is this?)
No French Fries (What about American Fries?)
No Alcohol (I am going to try and make it until the end of March. So I guess I will be boring until mid spring.)
No Swearing (Damn it. Alright starting now.)
No Eating after 7:00 p.m. (But when can I start eating?)
Juggle 10 minute a day. (Even if it hurts my shoulder? Especially if it hurts.)
And my new addition to my list of better living, this year’s resolution: I will no longer drive while talking on the phone. If it is a call that might be “important” I will just pull over to answer the call. Published studies show that motorists who talk on handheld or hands-free cellular phones are as impaired as drunken drivers. I have nothing to say anyway. I have had my current phone for a couple years and my plan only gives me 450 minutes a month. I have yet to go over 450 minutes. That means I spent less than 15 minutes a day on the phone.