But what gets me the most excited is that this is the one posting that I do each year that yeilds the most comments. And why is that? Because you are all cheap and want a free meal. Last year I didn't have to pay up because no one won. The Packers played way above everyone's expectations and finished 13-3, the closest prediction was 11-5. Here we go, leave a comment and your name with what you predict to be the Packers final regular season record. Whom ever has the correct prediction (not the closest, but correct prediction) gets to join me for lunch or dinner or if we go early / late enough you could call it breakfast. But I will buy you an Oakland Gyro sandwich with an extra peta bread (that is how the experienced patrons order) and a larger rootbeer. If you behave yourself, I will make it a platter, but you won't be able to eat it all. I was at Oakland Gyros last week before the Eddie Vedder concert and it was out of this world.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Packer Oakland Gyro Contest
Well kids it is that time of year again. Packer season is upon us. Sure I will say that I am excited. 
But what gets me the most excited is that this is the one posting that I do each year that yeilds the most comments. And why is that? Because you are all cheap and want a free meal. Last year I didn't have to pay up because no one won. The Packers played way above everyone's expectations and finished 13-3, the closest prediction was 11-5. Here we go, leave a comment and your name with what you predict to be the Packers final regular season record. Whom ever has the correct prediction (not the closest, but correct prediction) gets to join me for lunch or dinner or if we go early / late enough you could call it breakfast. But I will buy you an Oakland Gyro sandwich with an extra peta bread (that is how the experienced patrons order) and a larger rootbeer. If you behave yourself, I will make it a platter, but you won't be able to eat it all. I was at Oakland Gyros last week before the Eddie Vedder concert and it was out of this world.
But what gets me the most excited is that this is the one posting that I do each year that yeilds the most comments. And why is that? Because you are all cheap and want a free meal. Last year I didn't have to pay up because no one won. The Packers played way above everyone's expectations and finished 13-3, the closest prediction was 11-5. Here we go, leave a comment and your name with what you predict to be the Packers final regular season record. Whom ever has the correct prediction (not the closest, but correct prediction) gets to join me for lunch or dinner or if we go early / late enough you could call it breakfast. But I will buy you an Oakland Gyro sandwich with an extra peta bread (that is how the experienced patrons order) and a larger rootbeer. If you behave yourself, I will make it a platter, but you won't be able to eat it all. I was at Oakland Gyros last week before the Eddie Vedder concert and it was out of this world.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Wiffle Ball Tournament
Here is my weekend recap from last weekend. It took me a little time to get to it, but I have been busy, plus I have had a couple of postings saved up. Friday night I came home and had dinner at my brother, Dan's. We watched the Brewer game and played the cup game with his kids, Josh and Abby. I also go in a little Fitness Wii. I am addicted to the ski jump game. Although I will tell you it makes a huge difference to have the board facing the right direction and also calibrated for your weight. One very disappointing thing about the Wii was that when it did the fitness test on me, it said that based on the tests I took, I have the body of a 54 year old. While my body often feels like it is 54, I would like to think it doesn't look like it. But I have been wrong before. Saturday morning was the 2nd Annual Legends Wiffleball Tournament. My high school friend, Mike Braun, hosts a wiffleball tournament at his parents place. Last year was a blast and there wasn't a chance that I was going to miss it this year. The rain held off and it ended up being a beautiful day. We played best of 3 and then switched up teams. I was on the losing end of the first best of 3. I think the games were 12-13, 39-15 and 20-37. Or somewhere in that range. We then switched up teams to be the Gehreds vs. the Brauns/Klosendorfs. I was on the Gehred team. We won both games. And in the first game I pitched a complete game and only gave up 7 runs. Which was the lowest number of runs given up in any game. We played 5 games in 7 hours. It was just like being a little kid all over again. Although it was disappointing to me that I did not have the home run power that everyone else seemed to have. I think I only hit 3 out all day. After the games we grilled out by the pool. Unfortunately I had to leave when the Home Run Derby started. But as the day light was being lost to the night, and the beer was starting to run out, it appeared that the level of play was running out as well. Saturday night was TT's wedding. I made an appearance. I am still in shock that TT is now married. It was the first time I had seen TT in about 2 years. When I did get a chance to talk to him, I told him that he needs to make himself available for sheepshead more often. He informed me that it is hard to do that as he is working 6 days a week. I said "Big deal. I am working 5 days a week." He called me an idiot and said that it isn't the same. Good to see that TT hasn't changed. Sunday I was extremely sore. It was spent on the couch falling asleep while watching the Brewer game. Here are the pictures.
Part of the history behind the wiffleball tournament is that Mike's older brothers used to play all of the time. Every year before the tournament they have a ceramony that they perform. When they were kids, and Thurman Munson died, they took his baseball card, put it in a shoe box and buried it out in the woods behind their house. So now we go out to that spot before the tournament and place a flower on the shoe box grave. Here is Joe giving the speech and note the flower in his hand.
Braun brothers, Paul and Bill were captains for the first best of 3 series. Oh and here is a little side note, I was picked dead last when we picked teams. I was the uncoordinated fat kid.
Here is Paul going yard.
Here is Jon bringing the heat to Joe. It was 97 feet down the left field line, 100 feet to dead center, and a short 88 foot poke down the right field line due to the flower beds just beyond the fence.
Here is Bob (my old roommate from college) about to give Mr. Spalding a ride.
Bob finishing up his trip around the bases after yet another home run. I think it was either Bob or his brother in law, Brad, who finished first in the number of home runs. Mike and Paul weren't far behind.
Joe with a mighty swing and a miss. There were two strike outs on the day and the kid who was picked last didn't have either of them.
I learned in the one game that I pitched that if you made a mistake and got the middle of the plate with any pitch it was instantly over the fence. I think I grooved 6 pitched by accident over the plate, 4 of them ended up in the trees. The key is tight inside on the right handed hitters and way outside to the lefties. It is just like they say when you watch the Brewers and they say "The pitcher made a mistake and left it out over the plate, and the batter made him pay." Those words ring true for wiffleball as well. On a final note about the wiffleball tournament, yes Borky, I know we play with the fat bats and we aren't real men like those that are in your wiffleball league. We suck compared to you, so I will save you the time of actually typing it out.
I didn't have my camera out too much at the wedding. In fact this is the only picture I took. TT and Papa Preston.
Part of the history behind the wiffleball tournament is that Mike's older brothers used to play all of the time. Every year before the tournament they have a ceramony that they perform. When they were kids, and Thurman Munson died, they took his baseball card, put it in a shoe box and buried it out in the woods behind their house. So now we go out to that spot before the tournament and place a flower on the shoe box grave. Here is Joe giving the speech and note the flower in his hand.
Braun brothers, Paul and Bill were captains for the first best of 3 series. Oh and here is a little side note, I was picked dead last when we picked teams. I was the uncoordinated fat kid.Here is Paul going yard.
Here is Jon bringing the heat to Joe. It was 97 feet down the left field line, 100 feet to dead center, and a short 88 foot poke down the right field line due to the flower beds just beyond the fence.
Here is Bob (my old roommate from college) about to give Mr. Spalding a ride.Bob finishing up his trip around the bases after yet another home run. I think it was either Bob or his brother in law, Brad, who finished first in the number of home runs. Mike and Paul weren't far behind.
Joe with a mighty swing and a miss. There were two strike outs on the day and the kid who was picked last didn't have either of them.
I learned in the one game that I pitched that if you made a mistake and got the middle of the plate with any pitch it was instantly over the fence. I think I grooved 6 pitched by accident over the plate, 4 of them ended up in the trees. The key is tight inside on the right handed hitters and way outside to the lefties. It is just like they say when you watch the Brewers and they say "The pitcher made a mistake and left it out over the plate, and the batter made him pay." Those words ring true for wiffleball as well. On a final note about the wiffleball tournament, yes Borky, I know we play with the fat bats and we aren't real men like those that are in your wiffleball league. We suck compared to you, so I will save you the time of actually typing it out.
I didn't have my camera out too much at the wedding. In fact this is the only picture I took. TT and Papa Preston.
Eric's Engagement Party
At times I like to be confrontational. Often I do this to prove my own intellectual superiority. You may recall the instance where I called Borky a hypocrite and he finally agreed with me. If you check out the posting on the "Worst Movie of All Time", Eric made a comment that the party that we attended, was in fact Anna's birthday party and not their engagement party. I would like to refute this statement. Here are the facts. While it was promoted as a party to celebrate Anna's birthday. It was the first time that Eric and Anna publicly announced their engagement. There wasn't a cake with candles that Anna blew out. But there was champagne and a toast welcoming Anna to the family, during which Eric's mom cried. I have to call it an engagement party. But as so often the case, in circumstances where I do not care what the outcome is, I call on my loyal readers to decide. Here a poll. But first here are some pictures from the day helping to prove my point that this was an engagement party.
Anna with Champagne, not birthday cake, during the welcome to the family speech. We didn't even sing "Happy Birthday". Also no spanking machine, check that, I left around 2 in the morning, there might have been a spanking machine later on. Eric, do you care to field that one?
Note Eric's mom, second from the right, crying. Also see Michel in the back, wearing black, laughing.
Eric, two fisting it. 
And here is what seals the deal, it isn't an engagement party until there is a dog crapping in the yard.
Anna with Champagne, not birthday cake, during the welcome to the family speech. We didn't even sing "Happy Birthday". Also no spanking machine, check that, I left around 2 in the morning, there might have been a spanking machine later on. Eric, do you care to field that one?
Note Eric's mom, second from the right, crying. Also see Michel in the back, wearing black, laughing.Eric, two fisting it. And here is what seals the deal, it isn't an engagement party until there is a dog crapping in the yard.Sunday, August 24, 2008
1/2 Marathon
The days are ticking away, and I need to get moving along on my training. Many of you probably know that I am going to be attempting to run the Twin Cities Marathon on October 5th. I have said it before and I will say it again. This is very close to the dumbest thing I have ever done. The training is such a waste of time and I really don't think it is all that good for your body. How has my training been going? Just O.K. in my opinion. Last weekend I ran 17.4 miles. I have a 5.8 mile loop that I do. My pace for the first two loops was right on if I want to finish in under 4 hours, right around 52 minutes. But the last loop was around 57 minutes. But I would like to stress that in my training, I do take walk breaks. Something that is highly stressed to do in the book I have read on marathon running. For the entire run last weekend, I was running 6 minutes then I would walk 1. Training this way is suppose to help with recovery time and reduce the chance of injuries. Obviously when it is the real race, I won't be doing quite as many walking breaks, but I do plan on doing a couple of them. One of the milestones I set for myself in the marathon training was to run another 1/2 marathon. This is the purpose of this post. I am going to be running the Lake Country 1/2 Marathon this coming Saturday.
If you would like to come and cheer me on, you can see by the above map that the race is basically around Lac La Belle. The race starts at 7:00. My goal is to be crossing the finish line somewhere between 8:45 and definitely before 9:00. As far as I know there aren't any train crossing on this race course, so I shouldn't have any excuses. I hope to see some of you there.
If you would like to come and cheer me on, you can see by the above map that the race is basically around Lac La Belle. The race starts at 7:00. My goal is to be crossing the finish line somewhere between 8:45 and definitely before 9:00. As far as I know there aren't any train crossing on this race course, so I shouldn't have any excuses. I hope to see some of you there.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Worst Movie Ever
This past weekend, while at Eric's engagement party, conversation turned to movies. The question was, what was the worst movie you ever paid to see in the theater. Off of the top of my head, I came up with Sphere, Robin Hood: Men in Tights and the second Lord of the Rings. Please leave a comment telling me your worst movie. Did you walk out of the movie? Why was it so bad?
Thursday, August 21, 2008
The Olympics
I hate the Olympics. I hate them because I get addicted to watching them and 
all of the good stuff is on at such a late hour. All last week I was up until 12:30 a.m. That doesn't make it really easy to wake up at 5:30 a.m. The swimming has been great. I was talking to my brother, and he mentioned to me that in the 50 meter freestyle, he noticed that they don't take a breath. I am certain I could not swim that far without taking at least 5 or 6 breaths.
That is one thing I would like to do, is go over and compete in the finals off all these different events. I will be honest, I am actually in pretty good physical condition, and these athletes would blow me away in every sport. I caught some badminton this weekend. I thought that was cool. I am pretty sure I wouldn't score a point. I think the ping pong finals are one of the next couple nights. Again, I doubt I would get a point. I saw some of the biking. They were going 42 miles per hour, on a bike. Just crazy. I was running this past weekend, training for my marathon. I ran 17 miles in 2 hours and 42 minutes. Now mind you that is just training, but the first place finisher in the marathon won in 2 hours and 25 minutes. That is 20 minutes faster and 9 miles further. I watched some of the gymnastics. How those guys can do that hand stand with their arms way apart is just crazy. I can't even do a regular hand stand. Or how do you do a back flip on a balance beam? It is only 4 inches wide. Let me talk about the men's 100 meter dash. The winner came across the line in 9.69 seconds. That translates to running 23 miles per hour. Or let me put that in to perspective for you this way. If I am lucky, I might be able to run a 40 yard dash in 5 seconds. Like I said, if I am lucky. If I had been running in that race, at that pace, I would have finished 3.98 seconds behind the winner, which translates into being
44.91 yards behind him when he crossed the finish line. So I would be just past the half way point when the winner crossed the finish line. And just like the challenge that I threw out for the rollerblading, I don't think any of my readers can beat me in a foot race either. So you guys would be even further behind.
But I have been wondering about this. If I had enough money and time, could I go and gain citizenship in some obscure country, start training for 4 years and make the Olympics. Just make the Olympics, not medal. Suppose I moved to and gained citizenship in the African Country of Togo, and all I did all day was train for the men's Kayak. Do you think I could make the Olympics?
all of the good stuff is on at such a late hour. All last week I was up until 12:30 a.m. That doesn't make it really easy to wake up at 5:30 a.m. The swimming has been great. I was talking to my brother, and he mentioned to me that in the 50 meter freestyle, he noticed that they don't take a breath. I am certain I could not swim that far without taking at least 5 or 6 breaths.That is one thing I would like to do, is go over and compete in the finals off all these different events. I will be honest, I am actually in pretty good physical condition, and these athletes would blow me away in every sport. I caught some badminton this weekend. I thought that was cool. I am pretty sure I wouldn't score a point. I think the ping pong finals are one of the next couple nights. Again, I doubt I would get a point. I saw some of the biking. They were going 42 miles per hour, on a bike. Just crazy. I was running this past weekend, training for my marathon. I ran 17 miles in 2 hours and 42 minutes. Now mind you that is just training, but the first place finisher in the marathon won in 2 hours and 25 minutes. That is 20 minutes faster and 9 miles further. I watched some of the gymnastics. How those guys can do that hand stand with their arms way apart is just crazy. I can't even do a regular hand stand. Or how do you do a back flip on a balance beam? It is only 4 inches wide. Let me talk about the men's 100 meter dash. The winner came across the line in 9.69 seconds. That translates to running 23 miles per hour. Or let me put that in to perspective for you this way. If I am lucky, I might be able to run a 40 yard dash in 5 seconds. Like I said, if I am lucky. If I had been running in that race, at that pace, I would have finished 3.98 seconds behind the winner, which translates into being
44.91 yards behind him when he crossed the finish line. So I would be just past the half way point when the winner crossed the finish line. And just like the challenge that I threw out for the rollerblading, I don't think any of my readers can beat me in a foot race either. So you guys would be even further behind.But I have been wondering about this. If I had enough money and time, could I go and gain citizenship in some obscure country, start training for 4 years and make the Olympics. Just make the Olympics, not medal. Suppose I moved to and gained citizenship in the African Country of Togo, and all I did all day was train for the men's Kayak. Do you think I could make the Olympics?
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Eddie Vedder
Last night I went to see Eddie Vedder in concert at the Riverside. I drove down to Milwaukee right after work. My first stop was at Oakland Gyros for a little dinner. After getting a good meal in me, I headed downtown. I went to Moe's Irish Pub but it was way too packed, so I headed over to Rock Bottom Brewery until the show started. I caught the first two innnings of the Brewer game, and it looked like things were well in hand when I left, but I was wrong. I was pretty excited about the concert until I got to my seats. I was in the very last row in the upper deck of the Riverside. But it is still a pretty small venue, especially as far as Eddie is concerned. So I dealt with it and enjoyed the show. I am a pretty big Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder song. While I don't always agree with Eddie's political views, I think you know my feelings on politics (I could really careless), I give Eddie a ton of credit because he is using the platform that he has to make a stand and a statement. And there is actually some rational and educated thought behind his political rants. Unlike some bands, I.E. Rage Against the Machine, who just say "F" the establishment. But really give no support or direction to their arguements. All night Eddie was very talkative with the crowd. He dealt with and put hecklers and those that were yelling things out, in there place as well as any stand up comic I have seen. Very quick with his comebacks. At one point, he said to a loud heckler, "As I said before, I am the captain of this ship and I will throw you off, so shut the 'F' up!!" All in all, I was very happy with the show. In case you were wondering, yes I was solo on this show as well. My friends all suck. I asked a number of people if they were interested in going and no one was on board. I guess it is no big deal any more. I just go and make new friends.
I was able to snap off a couple of pictures before the camera police went crazy. This one of the few I took that turned out. This was during the encore song "Hard Sun".
Here is the set list
I was able to snap off a couple of pictures before the camera police went crazy. This one of the few I took that turned out. This was during the encore song "Hard Sun".
Here is the set list MAIN SET:
Sometimes
Trouble ( Cat Stevens cover)
Girl From The North Country
I Am Mine
Deadman
Man Of The Hour
Setting Forth
No Ceiling
Guaranteed
Far Behind
Small Town (Sing along with the whole crowd, pretty cool. Probably the highlight of the show)
Millworker (I believe this is a James Taylor cover)
Soon Forget
Broken-Hearted
Gone
Rise
Driftin'
Hide Your Love Away (Beatles cover)
Porch
1ST ENCORE:
Here's To The State (I have never seen/heard this one live. A great song and a Phil Ochs cover)
Blackbird (Another Beatles cover. I would have liked to see him do this one a little slower)
Forever Young
Won't Back Down (Tom Petty cover)
Wishlist (One of my favorite Pearl Jam songs, cool to see acoustic)
Society w/Liam
Throw Your Arms Around Me (Cover of a Mark Seymore song, he plays this on tour with Pearl Jam occasionally. I have seen and heard other versions, and I would have liked to see this one done a bit slower. But still a great song and I am not complaining that he played it)
No More
Arc (I had read on the internet that this was something to see. And it was pretty cool to see Eddie really getting into it while singing this.)
2ND ENCORE:
Hard Sun w/Liam and EJ
Hard Sun w/Liam and EJ
Here is part of the encore song, Hard Sun, that I video taped. I was too lazy to tape the whole thing, but I am sure you get the picture.
I ran into my friend, Liz, after the show. She talked me into going to Moe's for a beer. I finally said that I had to go at around 1 in the morning. I didn't get back up to Appleton until 3 this morning. Which made getting up for work this morning quite the chore.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
The Death Bridge
Up in the northern part of the state, my bridge made news this past weekend.
Apparently a dead body was found floating near my bridge. Here is the story from the paper.
"An autopsy will be conducted today on the body pulled from the Fox River on August 16.
A passing boater reported a man's body floating in the Fox River between the Wisconsin and Oregon Street bridges at about 4 p.m. The man was already deceased and officers believe that he had been in the water for quite a while.
Donna Francart, Winnebago County deputy coroner, said the body is of a young male in his mid-to-late 20s, possibly from the Oshkosh area.
Cause of death has not been determined yet, Francart said. A positive identification would be available in the next couple of days following the autopsy.
"All we have right now is circumstantial identification," she said.
The incident remains under investigation, said Sgt. Todd Wrage of the Oshkosh Police Department. Wrage said the police are definitely looking into the possibility that the dead man was a reported missing person.
"We have to investigate every eventuality and possibility," he said.
"When somebody turns up like this, we are going to look into the missing person reports which were entered into the National Crime Information Center and state Crime Information Bureau."
This was the second time in one week that a body was pulled out of the water in Oshkosh.
The Winnebago County Sheriff's Department dive/rescue team recovered the body of Joseph Friedauer, 60, of Neenah on August 13 near Asylum Bay. Friedauer accidentally drowned while fishing the day before.
Here is the link to the TV News story:
http://www.nbc26.com/news/local/27054899.html
Apparently a dead body was found floating near my bridge. Here is the story from the paper.
"An autopsy will be conducted today on the body pulled from the Fox River on August 16.
A passing boater reported a man's body floating in the Fox River between the Wisconsin and Oregon Street bridges at about 4 p.m. The man was already deceased and officers believe that he had been in the water for quite a while.
Donna Francart, Winnebago County deputy coroner, said the body is of a young male in his mid-to-late 20s, possibly from the Oshkosh area.
Cause of death has not been determined yet, Francart said. A positive identification would be available in the next couple of days following the autopsy.
"All we have right now is circumstantial identification," she said.
The incident remains under investigation, said Sgt. Todd Wrage of the Oshkosh Police Department. Wrage said the police are definitely looking into the possibility that the dead man was a reported missing person.
"We have to investigate every eventuality and possibility," he said.
"When somebody turns up like this, we are going to look into the missing person reports which were entered into the National Crime Information Center and state Crime Information Bureau."
This was the second time in one week that a body was pulled out of the water in Oshkosh.
The Winnebago County Sheriff's Department dive/rescue team recovered the body of Joseph Friedauer, 60, of Neenah on August 13 near Asylum Bay. Friedauer accidentally drowned while fishing the day before.
Here is the link to the TV News story:
http://www.nbc26.com/news/local/27054899.html
Monday, August 18, 2008
The World is Coming to an End
I have been saying for a while now that nothing that 
my friends do can surprise me anymore. And I still hold that to be true. I expect anything to happen. But recently there has been a series of events that are shocking, I am not surprised by any of them. And the collection of these events has made me believe that the end of the world is upon us, because while these events do not surprise me, I thought the world would end before they happened.
my friends do can surprise me anymore. And I still hold that to be true. I expect anything to happen. But recently there has been a series of events that are shocking, I am not surprised by any of them. And the collection of these events has made me believe that the end of the world is upon us, because while these events do not surprise me, I thought the world would end before they happened.#1. TT is getting married this coming Saturday. TT is getting married. The guy who can eats mayonnaise like it is one of the four major food groups is getting married. By the way, I am not invited to this wedding but I will be crashing it. Anyone interested in going with me, let me know.
#2. Roman has a girlfriend. And it sounds like it is pretty serious.
#3. Staying with the Klink theme. Preston is going to be a father. December is the due date. Another generation of Klinks. Can this be? I know Preston is a loyal reader and checks in nearly daily. Maybe we can help him out with baby names. Leave a comment and I am sure he will take it under consideration.
#4. Eric is engaged. I was at this girlfriend / well now fiance's birthday party and found out. My first reaction was a disheartened "Really?" But then I started thinking. Well at least there will be a bachelor party. That night will be fun.
But as my loyal readers. I think most of you know these characters listed above. To you, which is the most shocking.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Dave Matthews Concert
One last note on the concerts this weekend. A number of people have asked me why I would go to the same concert two nights in a row. Don't they play the same songs? Not even close. This is one of the many reason why I like going to see this band. They don't play the same setlist every night.
Here is Saturday's set list:
Dancing Nancies
Seek Up
Proudest Monkey
Satellite
So Damn Lucky
Bartender
Corn Bread
Spoon
Eh Hee
Burning Down The House (Talking Heads cover)
Louisiana Bayou
Anyone Seen the Bridge?
Halloween
Water/Wine Jam
Out of My Hands
Crush
Money (Pink Floyd cover)
You Might Die Trying
Ants Marching
Encore:
Don't Drink the Water
Two Step
Here is Sunday's setlist:
Warehouse
Granny Pantala Naga Pampa
Rapunzel
Old Dirt Hill
The Stone
Crash Into Me
Gravedigger
Rhyme And Reason
Stay Or Leave
Dreaming Tree
Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel cover)
Stay (Wasting Time)
Lover Lay Down
Jimi Thing
Grey Street
So Much To Say
Anyone Seen The Bridge
Too Much Intro
Lie In Our Graves
Too Much
Tripping Billies
Encore
I ll Back You Up (tease)
Corn Bread
Thank You (For Letting Me Be Myself Again)
So they only played 2 songs both nights. Over the two nights, I heard nearly every song I wanted to hear from the band. Again two great concerts. I was very surprised by the energy that they came out with on Sunday night.
Here is Saturday's set list:
Dancing Nancies
Seek Up
Proudest Monkey
Satellite
So Damn Lucky
Bartender
Corn Bread
Spoon
Eh Hee
Burning Down The House (Talking Heads cover)
Louisiana Bayou
Anyone Seen the Bridge?
Halloween
Water/Wine Jam
Out of My Hands
Crush
Money (Pink Floyd cover)
You Might Die Trying
Ants Marching
Encore:
Don't Drink the Water
Two Step
Here is Sunday's setlist:
Warehouse
Granny Pantala Naga Pampa
Rapunzel
Old Dirt Hill
The Stone
Crash Into Me
Gravedigger
Rhyme And Reason
Stay Or Leave
Dreaming Tree
Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel cover)
Stay (Wasting Time)
Lover Lay Down
Jimi Thing
Grey Street
So Much To Say
Anyone Seen The Bridge
Too Much Intro
Lie In Our Graves
Too Much
Tripping Billies
Encore
I ll Back You Up (tease)
Corn Bread
Thank You (For Letting Me Be Myself Again)
So they only played 2 songs both nights. Over the two nights, I heard nearly every song I wanted to hear from the band. Again two great concerts. I was very surprised by the energy that they came out with on Sunday night.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Dave Matthews Concert
First let me start with the start of my weekend. I guess it was on Wednesday. I finished work and then drove down to Milwaukee and stayed with Nate and Michel. I had dinner there and stayed the night as I was flying out of the Milwaukee airport the next day. Thursday morning I had a meeting with my new boss. I think it is safe to say that I walked away from that meeting knowing that he was highly impressed by me. I caught my plane and was up to Minnesota. I met up with another engineer from my company. We had to drive to Stillwater to look at another bridge that my company is working on, then we were down to Prescott to inspect my old bridge. The testing and inspection went until around midnight and everything checked out OK. I got dropped off at Krum's place and spent the night there. The next morning (Friday) I went for an 8 mile run through the nature preserve along the Minnesota River. After a shower, I took the light rail to the Mall of America and saw Pinneapple Express. The movie was far less than I was hoping for. I probably won't do a full blown review on it, but I will give it a 4 out of 10.
After the movie, I headed to Borky's. We had some drinks food and some ping pong, then went to get our bowl on. I did get the high score of a 156 for the evening. Saturday morning I was up early and headed out. I got my flight back to Milwaukee and went to my brother's for the water volleyball party. Around 5:00 I left the party for Alpine Valley and the meat of my weekend. The Dave Matthews concert. Saturday was an incredible show. Excellent set list. I managed to find some great seats in the reserve section. No complaints there. Sunday was a family reunion with the Brantzegs. I left Brian and Nancy's at around 5:30 and headed back to Alpine Valley. Here is where my greatest disappointment of the weekend lies. I asked a number of people to go to the concert with me, and as it turns out everyone backed out on me. I ended up having to eat my extra ticket because I couldn't sell it in the parking lot. I wouldn't be that disappointed except that the people that I did ask to go to the show, would have loved the concert. I didn't think that Dave and the boys could put on a better show than they did Saturday night. But you know what they did. Sunday was a much better performance than Saturday. This is what makes me so irritated by those that didn't want to go to the show with me. In my eyes, those that I asked are all lesser of friends for not going. But when adversity hits, we must rise above. I decided not to let the fact that I was solo at the show stop me from having a good time. I actually had quite a bit of fun walking around the parking lot trying to sell my other ticket. I met a lot of cool people. Once inside the show, I was able to find some great seats in the reserve section, actually I was within on a couple of seats of where I was the night before. As I said, Sunday was just an amazing show. Here are the pictures.
This is me with Sharky, the mascot from the aquarium at the Mall of America.
Pool Volleyball. Greg if I set you do you think you can spike it? I would have to be pretty high. I bet you would Panama Red.
Life size Jenga in the parking lot. Won't be long until I make a set myself.
Sunday I had to go out and make new friends, since mine are all too lame.
I might have to get the razor out for next year.
Dave on stage.
I ended up sitting with these guys most of the night. After talking to them, it turns out they were two rows in front of me on Saturday night.
I did move up to the 5th row for a song or two before I got booted, but as you can see I got pretty close.
I did a little research last night. Turns out that Sunday was my 22nd Dave Matthews concert.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Weekend Plans
This weekend you can accuse me of having a lot going on. I am headed back to Milwaukee tonight and staying with Nate. I have a meeting with my new boss whom I have yet to speak with Thursday morning. Thursday afternoon I am flying up to Minnesota for work. Thursday evening is the final acceptance testing on my bridge in Prescott. We are hoping to be finished with that by midnight. Friday I am taking a vacation day. I will be staying with Krum. I plan on getting in a run in the morning / afternoon. Friday night I want to meet up with Krum, Trooper, K.O. and Borky for dinner and some drinks, rumor has it bowling might be in order. Saturday morning I fly back to Milwaukee. Saturday afternoon is the first annual Gaylord Focker Water Volleyball Tournament at my brother's. Saturday evening I am headed to Alpine Valley for Dave Matthews. Sunday morning I am going to try my best to get in a long run. Then Sunday night I am back to Alpine Valley for day two of Dave Matthews. I am predicting getting out of the parking lot somewhere around midnight, then driving 2 hours to Appleton. And back to work on Monday.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
The Dark Knight
I went and saw the new Batman movie last week. I thought it was pretty good. It had to be, as it is 2 hours and 45 minutes long and 
the time went by so fast. I was a bit disappointed to see that Katie Holmes did not return in her role as Rachel Dawes, but I didn’t miss watching her talk out of the side of her mouth. But the role of Rachel Dawes came off as so high and almighty that I think that she barely got a little more than she deserved in the end. Christian Bale was highly serviceable in his role as Batman. It is a bit annoying how his voice changes so much between when he is wearing the mask and when he isn't. But the performance that everyone has been talking about is Heath Ledger as the Joker. I am trying hard to decide if people think he did that great of a job acting, or if they are giving him more credit than he deserves just because he died before the movie even came out. I do have to say that he was incredibly believable as a total freak. There were a lot of characters to expand upon over the course of the movie, probably the reason the movie is so long. I will even say that it was better than the first one. And it is rare that the sequel is better than the original. On a 1 to 10 scale it is a solid 8. A movie you should see, and see in the theater, don't wait for DVD.
the time went by so fast. I was a bit disappointed to see that Katie Holmes did not return in her role as Rachel Dawes, but I didn’t miss watching her talk out of the side of her mouth. But the role of Rachel Dawes came off as so high and almighty that I think that she barely got a little more than she deserved in the end. Christian Bale was highly serviceable in his role as Batman. It is a bit annoying how his voice changes so much between when he is wearing the mask and when he isn't. But the performance that everyone has been talking about is Heath Ledger as the Joker. I am trying hard to decide if people think he did that great of a job acting, or if they are giving him more credit than he deserves just because he died before the movie even came out. I do have to say that he was incredibly believable as a total freak. There were a lot of characters to expand upon over the course of the movie, probably the reason the movie is so long. I will even say that it was better than the first one. And it is rare that the sequel is better than the original. On a 1 to 10 scale it is a solid 8. A movie you should see, and see in the theater, don't wait for DVD.
Monday, August 04, 2008
Weekend Update
There wasn’t too much planned for this past weekend. Friday night I stopped by my sister’s house and put her son, Jared, through his work out. He starts tackle football in a week or two. I have been stopping by when I can to make sure he is doing his training and running to get in shape for the first practice. I stayed at my brother, Jon’s, house as I usually do. I had stopped at my parent’s house on the way, and they ordered a fish fry that looked pretty good so I decided to do the same. On the trip to pick up the food, I crossed a milestone that I had been looking forward to for a while now. My truck turned 200,000 miles. But being the idiot that I am, I was so excited for this fish fry that I left without my camera. How fitting was this, my truck turned 200,000 just as I pulled into the parking lot of the bar. And there I was without my camera. Then again, if you know me, you shouldn’t be shocked that I would screw something like that up. I was so disheartened that I didn't even do the required Chinese fire drill around my truck.
Saturday morning I woke up and hit the pavement for a run. 13 miles. Not exactly my idea of fun. But nonetheless still my idea. I have slowly come to realize that what I will take away from this whole marathon experience will be more negative than positive. Unless there is an incredible exhilarating feeling of achievement, which not even words can describe, when the race is finally over with, I can say without much doubt that this will be my first and last marathon. However, I will say that with in minutes of finishing my run, I felt fine. I got my haircut Saturday afternoon. Thank you Rebecca. I have come to the understanding that the further back your hairline gets, the shorter your hair needs to be.
After my haircut, I picked up all of my nieces and nephews except for the youngest nephew, Joey, and took them to the high school to launch some rockets. My nephew, Josh, had his birthday party this past week and I wasn’t able to make it. Last year I got him some rockets, so I decided that I would take him to launch those rockets this weekend. I invited all of the kids to see if they wanted to go, and amazingly they were all available and wanted to go. I piled all 9 kids into my mom’s minivan and off we went. After the rockets, we stopped at the gas station where I gave them 1 minute to pick out something to drink and some candy. That is quite a site, 9 kids running around with one adult (me) by the check out yelling out, "30 seconds!!!........20 seconds!!!!!..." We then hit the Wales Park circuit, hitting 3 different parks. They were still hungry after that, so off to McDonalds for ice cream. After 13 miles of running in the morning and 4 hours with 9 kids, I was actually pretty beat. I went back to my brother’s house, and I decided that I could use a relaxing dip in the pool. I dove in and caught my little finger on the filter on the bottom of the pool. This resulted in the part of my finger past the last knuckle sticking straight up in the wrong direction. Again, I screwed up by not getting a picture of that. I cracked it twice to get it back into place and decided that I might as well just call it a day. I was in bed by 8:00 that night. Sunday I woke up rather sore. I decided with not much happening on Sunday to just head back up to Appleton. I got to my condo around 10:30 in the morning. I started falling asleep on the couch once the Brewer game started. This got me to thinking that maybe I should just go back to bed, so I listened to the remainder of the game while in bed. I was suppose to have 2 soccer games Sunday night, one at 5:30 and one at 7:00, but they both got cancelled due to weather. Of course they didn’t get cancelled until I drove the 25 miles to the field and not until after I had taped up my foot and got all of my gear on. That just about sums up my weekend.
Here is my odometer 2 miles too late.
Saturday morning I woke up and hit the pavement for a run. 13 miles. Not exactly my idea of fun. But nonetheless still my idea. I have slowly come to realize that what I will take away from this whole marathon experience will be more negative than positive. Unless there is an incredible exhilarating feeling of achievement, which not even words can describe, when the race is finally over with, I can say without much doubt that this will be my first and last marathon. However, I will say that with in minutes of finishing my run, I felt fine. I got my haircut Saturday afternoon. Thank you Rebecca. I have come to the understanding that the further back your hairline gets, the shorter your hair needs to be.
After my haircut, I picked up all of my nieces and nephews except for the youngest nephew, Joey, and took them to the high school to launch some rockets. My nephew, Josh, had his birthday party this past week and I wasn’t able to make it. Last year I got him some rockets, so I decided that I would take him to launch those rockets this weekend. I invited all of the kids to see if they wanted to go, and amazingly they were all available and wanted to go. I piled all 9 kids into my mom’s minivan and off we went. After the rockets, we stopped at the gas station where I gave them 1 minute to pick out something to drink and some candy. That is quite a site, 9 kids running around with one adult (me) by the check out yelling out, "30 seconds!!!........20 seconds!!!!!..." We then hit the Wales Park circuit, hitting 3 different parks. They were still hungry after that, so off to McDonalds for ice cream. After 13 miles of running in the morning and 4 hours with 9 kids, I was actually pretty beat. I went back to my brother’s house, and I decided that I could use a relaxing dip in the pool. I dove in and caught my little finger on the filter on the bottom of the pool. This resulted in the part of my finger past the last knuckle sticking straight up in the wrong direction. Again, I screwed up by not getting a picture of that. I cracked it twice to get it back into place and decided that I might as well just call it a day. I was in bed by 8:00 that night. Sunday I woke up rather sore. I decided with not much happening on Sunday to just head back up to Appleton. I got to my condo around 10:30 in the morning. I started falling asleep on the couch once the Brewer game started. This got me to thinking that maybe I should just go back to bed, so I listened to the remainder of the game while in bed. I was suppose to have 2 soccer games Sunday night, one at 5:30 and one at 7:00, but they both got cancelled due to weather. Of course they didn’t get cancelled until I drove the 25 miles to the field and not until after I had taped up my foot and got all of my gear on. That just about sums up my weekend.
Here is my odometer 2 miles too late.
Just like the clowns at the circus.
Here are just a bunch of group shots of my nieces and nephews. I am pretty sure I can hold these pictures ransom for big money from their parents and grandparents.
To add to my misery, not that I am looking for sympathy, nor do I think I will get any, but last weekend while camping, somehow I got poison ivy on the bottom of my foot. 
Friday, August 01, 2008
Crimer Stoppers
Sun Prairie, WI - Police are asking for the public’s assistance in finding a vandal who targeted a home on Westridge Drive. In the early morning hours, from exactly 1:30 a.m. to 2:00 a.m., of July 19th, the Stegall residence was hit by vandals that “toilet papered” the family home, trees and one vehicle. Exactly 24 rolls of double ply Quilted Northern toilet paper were used. No finger prints were found at the crime scene. What is more baffling to authorities is that there isn’t a history of this type of crime in this affluent neighborhood.
Police spoke with the home owner, Dave “The General” Stegall after the incident. Mr. Stegall was quoted as saying, “I wasn’t really doing much that night. I stayed up late watching World Series of Poker on TV. Is there any better way for a hip lawyer to spend his Friday nights? I had been invited out for drinks with my good friend, Rickie Davies, who was in town for a canoe race. But I am married; my will to live and have fun in life has been sucked out of me. I eventually retired for the evening and the next morning I awoke to the exclamation of my wife yelling ‘That God Damn Rickie Davies!!!!’ I then rolled over in bed and glanced out the window to see toilet paper everywhere."
Mr. Davies was questioned about the incident. He went on record as saying “That is the really weird thing about this crime. I was staying in Sun Prairie the very same night at my friend, Joe’s, house. How I am being implicated in such a crime is beyond me. As I said, I was in the area, but I was sound asleep. I had a big canoe race (The Paddle Portage) the next day. I couldn’t be running around in the middle of the night causing trouble. Maybe it was some neighborhood kids that didn’t think too highly of the candy they gave out at Halloween.”
Mr. Stegall has sworn that he will get revenge. However, a police spokesman warned Mr. Stegall, based on the facts of the case, “it seems that the perpetrator has an abundance of time, energy and resources at his disposal. He is probably pretty good looking as well. Any retaliatory act would not doubt, begin a chain reaction that would result in similar acts against the Stegall household, with estimates of future damage being a ten fold of what they experienced in the early morning hours of July 19th.” The police spokesman went on further to say “resistance would only be futile.”
Anyone with information is asked to call the Vandalism Section at (262) 751-1597 (but do not expect anyone to answer). If you want to remain anonymous, a posting can be made on this blog. With your help maybe we can bring this criminal to justice.
Police spoke with the home owner, Dave “The General” Stegall after the incident. Mr. Stegall was quoted as saying, “I wasn’t really doing much that night. I stayed up late watching World Series of Poker on TV. Is there any better way for a hip lawyer to spend his Friday nights? I had been invited out for drinks with my good friend, Rickie Davies, who was in town for a canoe race. But I am married; my will to live and have fun in life has been sucked out of me. I eventually retired for the evening and the next morning I awoke to the exclamation of my wife yelling ‘That God Damn Rickie Davies!!!!’ I then rolled over in bed and glanced out the window to see toilet paper everywhere."
Mr. Davies was questioned about the incident. He went on record as saying “That is the really weird thing about this crime. I was staying in Sun Prairie the very same night at my friend, Joe’s, house. How I am being implicated in such a crime is beyond me. As I said, I was in the area, but I was sound asleep. I had a big canoe race (The Paddle Portage) the next day. I couldn’t be running around in the middle of the night causing trouble. Maybe it was some neighborhood kids that didn’t think too highly of the candy they gave out at Halloween.”
Mr. Stegall has sworn that he will get revenge. However, a police spokesman warned Mr. Stegall, based on the facts of the case, “it seems that the perpetrator has an abundance of time, energy and resources at his disposal. He is probably pretty good looking as well. Any retaliatory act would not doubt, begin a chain reaction that would result in similar acts against the Stegall household, with estimates of future damage being a ten fold of what they experienced in the early morning hours of July 19th.” The police spokesman went on further to say “resistance would only be futile.”
Anyone with information is asked to call the Vandalism Section at (262) 751-1597 (but do not expect anyone to answer). If you want to remain anonymous, a posting can be made on this blog. With your help maybe we can bring this criminal to justice.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Last One
I don't know that blowing things up ever gets old. But this is actually the last video I will post since this was the last blasting that we have on my project. Really I have nothing else to talk about. I tweaked my back playing soccer Sunday night. That is making my marathon training suffer. Lately I have just been working, coming home, laying on the couch and going to bed. Nothing spectacular there. I am excited about the Brewers and sick of hearing about Brett Favre. And not too much planned for this weekend. Enjoy watching 1300 pounds of dynamite blast apart 800 cubic yards of concrete.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Buckhorn Camping
The camping trip this weekend was a lot of fun. I really liked the camp grounds. All of the campsites were very spread out. It was very difficult to hear your neighbors. This is unlike many state parks were the sites are right on top of each other. I just wished I would have gotten on the reservations a bit quicker and got a site on the water. Early Friday, we checked out a couple of the other campsites that were on the water and they looked great. Maybe next year I will get my act together quicker. The only major drawback to the weekend was the bugs. The mosquitoes were unbearable. I have never been around that many before. They actually chased us to the bar both Friday and Saturday night. If this had been my first camping trip, it would have been my last camping trip. The park ranger said that normally the mosquitoes aren't bad at all this time of year. I do highly recommend this state park. By far my favorite of all the ones I have been to. I wish I had taken more pictures, but these are pretty much the only ones that I got.
Liquid and Doug in their canoe.
Saturday we canoed out to this island where apparently all of the boats on the lake go to tie up. Here are Liquid and Doug surveying the area.
Jota and I just chilling out in the algae filled water.
Flo and I in our canoe. 
Our canoes that we rented for the day. We sort of looked like dorks paddling up to this big tie up party with canoes. But we look like dorks anyhow so it wasn't a real big deal.
Liquid and Doug in their canoe.
Saturday we canoed out to this island where apparently all of the boats on the lake go to tie up. Here are Liquid and Doug surveying the area.
Jota and I just chilling out in the algae filled water.
Flo and I in our canoe. Our canoes that we rented for the day. We sort of looked like dorks paddling up to this big tie up party with canoes. But we look like dorks anyhow so it wasn't a real big deal.
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