OPENING DAY IS TOMORROW! -or- Remember Where You Came From

Earlier this evening, as I was elbow-deep in meat and a variety of secret ingredients (making hamburgers for Opening Day, of course), I was staring into the stainless steel bowl I was using to mix the ingredients, it occurred to me that I have attended more Brewers games with Mr. Benjamin Butz than I have with any other soul on this earth. My train of thought went like this:

-I'm mixing ingredients for my homemade hamburgers. Did I miss any ingredients from last year?
-Remember last year? I remember meeting up in the Target parking lot and doing a jumping hug with Brian (but I didn't know him at the time).
-Wow. Opening Day last year was lots of fun. What else did we do?
-I think we did keg stands.
-That sounds about right.
-I think we shotgunned bees.
-I didn't shotgun any beers, but Ben definitely did.
-Oh yeah, Ben was there last year too!
-I think I remember making homemade hamburgers at Ben's house a few years ago for a different tailgate.
-I think we used stainless steel bowls.
-I think that Ben mentioned that he inherited the stainless steel bowls. I remember him saying that he didn't recall buying them.
-Wait, I remember going with Kory to buy them. We needed something for mashed potatoes for Family Thanksgiving back in college. I think that was Junior year.
-Yeah, Junior year sounds about right. I remember the Wal-Mart trip. I think we wore the bowls on our heads.
-How did Ben end up with the bowls? I KNOW that Family Thanksgiving wasn't at his house.
-How did *I* end up with this bowl? It clearly came from Family Thanksgiving, and I have no recollection of how I inherited it.

Yes, I know, it all makes perfect sense now. I estimate that Ben was in my 9-pack last year. I know that he missed a game or two, and I know I missed one, so I went to at least 6 games with him. Plus I can think of at least 3 other tailgates/games that I went to with him with college friends. I know that I haven't been to that many games with any of the other participants in last year's 9-pack, so Mr. Butz unknowingly wins the award for being my Best Brewers Buddy. I think I'll give him a high five when he picks me up for tomorrow.

So at any rate, tomorrow is Opening Day. Or, it's at least the home opener. St. Paddy's Day got us ready for the outdoor drinking season, and Opening Day introduces us to the first tailgate of the year. Summer is upon us, whether or not the weather agrees with us (current predicted high tomorrow is a balmy 45 plus wind...).

Needless to say, I'm THRILLED. I picked up some hamburger and a block of Colby cheese from my parents' farm when I was home over a month ago, and have been waiting with baited breath to mix up the hamburgers with all of my secret ingredients and slice the cheese and listen to it sizzle on the grill in the parking lot.... it's gonna be GREAT.

Anyway, getting back to the *other* point of this post - remembering where one has come from. Mixing the hamburgers (and all of the consequential memories) made me smile from ear to ear. I really appreciate all of my friends and all of the wonderful memories they have given me over the years. Though I may not express it, I am thankful every day that I am able to have the memories that I described above, as well as all the other ones that came after it (ohhhhhh Family Thanksgiving..... thank goodness we were friends with Jill, who was in charge of the cafeteria at good 'ol Sandburg Halls...). Friends like mine are the stuff legends are made of. One day, one of these kids is going to write a memoir and we will all laugh until we cry... again.

And now, I'm off to bed. I must now lie awake for 3-4 hours, whet with anticipation for the amazingness that tomorrow beholds, not to mention the mountain of memories to be added into the fold. In the morning I will wake up, make myself a whiskey coffee, try to decide what to wear (Fielder or Hardy?), jump in Ben's car and head over to Miller Park with my hamburgers and sliced Colby and the taco dip I purchased today. And I will smile from ear to ear.

Zombie Target

To put an end to an already excessive weekend, JB and I stopped by the Target on Miller Park Way in hopes of acquiring a pair of galoshes (for me, not for him). Mainly because they're so fun to say, and also they will be great for walking to work in the spring/summer rain.

We parked and were confronted by a security guard on a three-wheeled Segway-esque thinger with flashy lights. He told us that the store had lost power so they were closed.

So, to continue with the weekend-long theme of bad decision making, we stopped by the Chili's that was nearby and were seated with a waitress named Rozy who had a squirrel nest atop her head, and so much makeup on her face it could probably be scraped off with a spatula.

After going over 3 different menus (one 'regular' menu and two 'special' menus), and noting that everything was 'fried to perfection,' JB ordered a crispy-chicken-glazed-crisper thing and I got these buffalo chicken burger bite things. (I just pointed at the picture when I ordered.) After 4 or 5 soda refills and a serious discussion about dessert, we left. When we were in the parking lot, we noticed that folks were once again entering and leaving Target, so we ventured back....

The three-wheeled cop was now standing at the door with his Segway thinger parked nearby (flashing lights still on) and told patrons that all of the power was on except for the lights. Associates were posted every 20 feet or so with flashlights, and if you wanted to venture down and aisle, they escorted you and were actually quite helpful and pleasant. I located some galoshes (that are pink and plaid) and then wandered down to camping supplies (because, after all, spring is in the air). After attempting to look at the little mini tents, we decided it wasn't working well and started to head out.

AND THEN!!

THE LIGHTS MAGICALLY CAME BACK ON!!!

So we ran back to camping supplies! And saw a lovely pink camouflage sleeping bag. (Can it really be called camouflage if it's bright pink???) Anyway, we went through camping supplies and a few other sections and then the lights clicked off again. It was at that point that we were in the very far back corner of the store, where it was the darkest. JB ever-so-kindly pointed out that this would be the perfect setting for a zombie movie, and proceeded to attempt to freak me out every possible chance he got. (I hate zombies.) So I decided it was time to leave.

This was probably the strangest and most surreal Target experience I have ever had (and, honestly, that I ever hope to have). I give them props for triaging the situation and helping customers, but SO much could have gone wrong at that point (looting, pillaging, people finding ways to hurt themselves, people hurting other people, etc...). If you don't have lights in a giant warehouse with no natural light, just take the loss for the day and close your doors. And stock up on anti-zombie apparati (whatever that may be).

Seasons Change

I'm sure most of you have heard it at some point or another: "There are only two seasons in Wisconsin - winter and road construction." Well, it's half right. For me, the only two seasons I need are winter and Brewers baseball season. 

Today marked the end of my '08-'09 snowboarding season. A randomly assembled crew headed up to Devil's Head for some high quality (?) slushboarding. Tickets were 2 for 1 and the weather was gorgeous - midday was up into the 60's. The snow was decent on the first few runs (we got on the hill at about 9:30 AM) but as the sun climbed higher, conditions deteriorated. Good thing we brought beer. (Oh, and I got to break in my gorgeous new bindings. LOVE THEM.)

I would also like to point out that I have never actually heard the sound of snow melting until today. It sounds kind of like Rice Krispies. 

Without boring you, I will say that I had a great time today and some good conversations. I also will have a lovely bruise on my right elbow and have a farmer tan/sunburn on my forearms. 

At any rate, dear winter, I wish to bid you adeiu. The time has once again come for us to part ways. I will greet you and welcome your sweet shredding snow once again in December. 

And now, my second love: Brewers baseball. Well, to be fair, I loved the Brewers first, and snowboarding second. Snowboarding just happened to be my thing when I started the blog. Anyway. 

The countdown has begun! Just 20 short days until Opening Day! I already have my famous hamburger recipie ready to go, and our tickets and parking pass has been purchased. I purchased a 20-pack with some friends this year, an investment that is sure to not disappoint (more on that later). 

My first Brewers game was on UWM night in 2004. We sat way up in somewhere near section 426 and I didn't pay attention for most of the game. 2005 brought me back to Miller Park 3 times, in 2006 I was there 7 times and in 2007 I took part in my first 9-pack with my friend Grant. (Of course I was there 14 times total that season.) 2008 renewed the 9-pack with a different group and had me there 17 times total. I think it's safe to say that I enjoy the sport. 

I know, I know, most people think that baseball is the most boring sport ever. Not so, I say. At my second or third Brewers game, I learned how to keep score by hand in baseball, and my love affair with the team was begun. (Also, a lot more of the radio commentary makes sense now.) I usually keep score at games when I make it in from the parking lot before the 2nd inning. Also, my love grows stronger each time I watch Baseball Tonight and the FSN postgame and learn what they mean when they say things like "manufacturing a run." And what's not to love about all of the great history behind the sport, with everything from the Curse of the Bambino to the Curse of the Billy Goat (wow, hexes abound!) to the Miracle in Milwaukee when the Boston Braves came to our great city. 

As you can imagine, I could go on, but I plan to blog on this topic again. The main point I am getting at is that for me, snowboarding fills the time between baseball seasons, and baseball fills the time between snowboarding seasons. This does leave a small lag, right about in November, but November is filled with my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. I look forward to the next 8 months of warm nights, tailgating and root-root-rooting for the BREW-ERS, because if they dont' do something amazing this season, it really will be a shame. 

To Read or Not To Read

I have long felt it important to finish what I start. (Unfortunately, this does not hold true for the scarf I began knitting something like 4 winters ago.) Wow, that sounds really depressing and makes me look quite bad. Do over!

Whether or not I have said it out loud, I have been a firm believer in following through with what I set out to accomplish. It's how I learned to snowboard, lost 10 lbs (still 15 more to go) and why I canceled my cable.

That being said, I am at a terrible crossroads. I am reading a book that I have absolutely no desire to finish. I've been working on it for about a year (though the canceled cable resolution has definitely helped spur it along in the past few weeks). The "bookmarks" are a bike rental brochure from last summer's camping trip to the Apostle Islands and an Amtrak ticket stub from our Nov. 4 adventure to Grant Park. I believe I purchased it about last May, as I remember discussing with a friend at our Memorial Day camping trip that I was going to start it.

That Memorial Day conversation may have been the beginning of the end, because my friend told me that he didn't like the book at all. But I started it anyway, because he thought that I may like it, after all, it is quite a popular book. I got a few chapters in, it didn't seem so bad. Then I set it down for a bit and came back to it while on the Apostle Islands trip, where a second friend mentioned that he didn't like it either. Darn. (I will admit, I got a bit mad, at 2 of my friends telling me they didn't like it, that they were just setting me up to fail and they should have just let me read it and make my own decisions.)

At any rate, the book was set down and picked up several more times over the next few months until I've reached the point where I'm at now, about 3/4 of the way done and absolutely no desire to finish. I don't care about what happens to the characters because they are not people I would care about in the first place. Three quarters of the way into the book and there is no interesting hook or plot synopsis for me to care about. I feel that the author has failed to engage me, and it took me 3/4 of his book to figure it out!

So what to do next? Do I stick it out to the painful end, with the hopes that something amazing will happen and make me glad I read the book? Or do I accept defeat and put it back on my shelf and maybe gather it with a bunch of other books in 6 months or a year to sell to Downtown Books for in-store credit?

Given the recommendations of my friends, I think the answer will be to accept defeat. It's going to go back on the shelf and I'll pick up the other book that I've only partially started (though the story behind this one is far more exciting... this book is called Istanbul, and I purchased it while in Istanbul in 2007. And the story is interesting too!).

Wish me luck, dear friends, as the list is only more exciting after this!

In no particular order:
The World is Flat (Friedman)
And The Band Played On (Shilts)
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (Adams)
American Gods (Gaiman)
The Audacity of Hope (Obama)
I Was Told There'd Be Cake (Crosley)
Bowling Alone (Putnam)

Also, I kindly ask that you don't share your opinions on these books until I've had a chance to read these books, as to not set me up for the dismal failure mentioned above. Many thanks, Lars.

Cat and Mouse - Update

Hopefully this is the last time I will have to write about this situation. After my initial mouse encounter, I called the landlord who called the exterminator people who were able to come out that very day. A very nice man named Bobby walked all around and assessed the situation and said that he thought they were coming in from the floorboard crack (that the cat was still intently watching).

Bobby set some poison in these special locked-box things so the mice could sneak in and get it but the cat could not. After explaining in graphic detail how the poison works to dehydrate the mice, and how I may have deranged, dehydrated, confused mice wandering around my apartment in search of water while in the process of dying, he suggested that I called my apartment manager and ask to have the baseboard sealed.

So I called my apartment manager and thanked him for getting Bobby the pest control guy to my apartment so quickly, and informed him of the suggestion to fix the baseboard. I was told that they'd get the maintenance folks out there as soon as possible.

So, in the meantime, I went to trivia night at Hooligan's and came back a few hours later. When I returned, I discovered that my cat is very good at math. She somehow measured and found what was pretty much the exact geometric center of my apartment. And what did she use to mark this geometric center? You guessed it! A dead mouse! I am certain that this mouse was not the same mouse from the night before, as the first mouse was a wee little baby mouse, and the now-dead-center-marking mouse was a full grown (probably) momma mouse.

It was also quite apparent that in the 24 or so hours since the first mouse incident that my cat had evolved as a huntress and had beat the crap out of this second, larger mouse. She may or may not have been aided as the mouse may or may not have already been deranged/disoriented from possibly already consuming the mouse poison. But I'll still give the cat credit for the kill as the mouse had some puncture wounds and looked as if a few bones were slightly out of place. And the cat still continued to paw at the now-lifeless mouse body as I walked on my tippy-toes and tried to figure out what to do with the mouse.

I wanted to pick up the mouse somehow and put it in a plastic bag for disposal. I didn't want to sacrifice any of my cooking utensils so I thought for a minute... what could I use? Chop sticks came to mind, I had a few extra pairs from my last visit to Noodles, but then I'd be down a pair of chop sticks. What else? Digging through a kitchen drawer turned up a plastic fork from a past carry-out. The mouse was shoveled into the plastic shopping bag, the fork was tossed in after it, the bag was tied in about 30 knots and taken swiftly down the stairs, out the door and into the dumpster.

I came back inside and washed my hands for about 15 minutes. ICK.

The next day maintenance visited my apartment and sealed what we think were the problematic cracks in the floor/wall. At least, I think they got them all because there haven't been any crumbs of the mouse poison near the poison box things. Also my cat hasn't killed any more mice (a pretty good sign).

So now I'm breathing (and sleeping!) easier. Special thanks to Shoreline for their prompt response to the situation. In 1.5 days I had mouse bait put down and all of the holes sealed. Not a bad response time!

Cat and Mouse - Literally

I woke up at 2:30 AM to the sound of my cat knocking something over. No big deal, right? Then I heard a little squeak. And then another little squeak. I thought, "No way."

Yes way. My cat had discovered a tiny gray mouse. In my apartment. Eep!! I couldn't believe it. I stood on a footstool as I peered around the corner to verify that yes, indeed, this was a mouse, and no, I was not having one of my dreams again. After about 10 minutes of watching the cat bat at the mouse (not attack or kill, as one might expect a cat to do), the mouse scurried back into the kitchen and apparently disappeared into a crack between the floor and baseboard near the radiator. And the cat has been on steakout ever since:

The landlord has been called, and I requested box traps instead of snap traps, because I'm pretty sure that the cat would get caught in the snap traps herself. Hopefully this is the last time I have to write about this!

Addition:
I would also like to point out that I live in a relatively nice and well-kept apartment in downtown Milwaukee. It is not unkempt or filthy by any means!

Debt Free: The First Step

Today I canceled my cable. I met up with Nikos at Mayfair Mall and waited in line for about 20 minutes and turned in my cable box. When asked by the Time Warner employee why I was doing it, I recited that all of the shows I watch I can find online for free. He gave a somewhat-knowing half-nod and began asking me for my account information. 5 minutes later, I was cable-box free.

But not so fast. Right before I left, the TW guy pointed out that I was still subscribed to Road Runner "Lite" which is not suggested for viewing streaming video online. (I would like to note that I have had very little trouble using it so far, and attribute most of the problems to my 8-year-old computer and not to the speed of my connection.) So I asked the price difference - it is $19.95/month to stay with my Lite connection, or $46.95 to upgrade to the "standard" Road Runner service. Of course, as an existing customer, I do not qualify for any 'introductory' rates, so I told him I'd stick with what I had. Heh.

At any rate, This will net me $80/month extra (or $50/month extra if I upgrade to 'standard'), which can be used in one of three ways:

1. throw at my debt snowball, of which I expect to have the first credit card paid off in about 4 months;
   
2. save up for my upcoming Euro Trip this June (details to follow)
3. save up for a new (and sorely needed) computer

Of course, the most logical would be... the first one. Although it is the least amount of fun. I guess I'll see what I do with myself.

Additionaly, the cable-cancelling was supposed to help me clear my mind, read more, write more and spend more time keeping my apartment/life/closet in order. However, I got home and plugged the cable linr in to the back of the TV and discovered... that I still have about 100 channels of basic cable. I do miss the DVR and the "guide" option, but maybe I'll have to stick with the "step down" program. And maybe I'll have to wait and see what happens if they DO actually decide to cut the cable that I will no longer be paying for.

All in all, I'm optomistic about what lies ahead. Wish me luck!