The Bakersfield Wastelands

AND lo, unto the hellscape of Bakersfield there was delivered a couple. AND that couple didst live in squalor amongst roaches, big-ass bugs, and team players. THE men and women of the hovel did not yet know their betters were upon them…

And so on and so forth. Hey everyone, it’s nice to be back. I was in Racine on Sunday for a trio of birthdays: my niece, my soon-to-be sister-in-law, and my grandmother. We had a gay old time eating delicious risotto and marinaded beef tenderloin. Then we had a Speed Party: eat cake, pinata crash, open presents in 30 or less minutes. Spacebee and I rode dirty down to Racine, spent about 3 hours there, and then headed back up. Our driving time equaled the time we were there, but it was worth it to see so many family members’ birthdays in one shot!

There’s also crazy news on the Racine front: my parents are moving to… Door County. My father accepted a position as the president and CEO of the visitor’s bureau up yonder, and so by the end of the year they will have (hopefully, in this housing market) sold their house and moved up there. My brosef and seestor are moving out soon or have moved out already, and so they won’t be going with. I know I’m still digesting the news… but I am looking forward to going up there to visit.

Now, as anyone in Madison can attest to, I’ve been going buck fucking crazy on a cookbook I received from my dad recently.

[Backstory] As some of you may know, my dad used to work for Visit Milwaukee, the convention and visitor’s bureau for the area. As the VP of Sales, it was his job to sell the city to various large conventions so they would come and buy up a bunch of hotel rooms and spend tourist money like ‘whoa.’ So they have these conventions where people representing large conventions come and get wined and dined and look at booths by various cities in order to hold their convention there. My dad worked hard to set up a dinner for under a hundred people at the home of Art Smith, Oprah’s personal chef. So a bunch of people went to his house in Chicago and had some great food and (I hear) raved about it to others at the convention the next day. As the guests left, Art Smith signed copies of his newest cookbook for the them, and my dad snagged a copy for me as well. [/Backstory]

Now, I had paged through the cookbook and found a few good recipes, but I hadn’t actually taken a step to cook anything until last week. I went to Whole Foods and bought all the ingredients to make 4 dinners from the book on consecutive nights. Many of them involved brining and long-lead prep work, so I set up a schedule where I would be cooking one night’s dinner while prepping for the next night’s dinner. Long story short: these things went four-for-four. Each one was goddamned tasty (which can be attested to by those on whazzmaster who tried them, I believe).

All this to mention that the fourth night of Back to the Family-inspired dinners happened to fall on Saturday: college football during the day, Badger football at night, free UFC ‘pay-per-view’ (I’ll let wwhazz expound on that one), and Brewers and Cubs baseball. Mississippi Chicken and Rice with homemade cornbread turned out to be the perfect compliment to 6+ hours of various sports. By the way, GMX, the cornbread we made was straight outta Good Ol’ J.R.’s Country Homemade Cookbook you got me. So now I have two signed cookbooks: one from Oprah’s personal chef, and one from the WWE’s lead announcer. The cornbread was made in a cast-iron skillet, which got ultra-high marks from me. Anything made in a cast-iron pan is going to taste twenty to thirty times better.

Finally, Wisconsin sports are looking good, if shaky. Badgers are 2-0. Packers are 1-0. Brewers are back atop the division (for the moment). And wwhazz is winning Peterstiffly’s Whazzmaster NFL Pool. Incredibly.

HOLLLARIT Bakersfield.

Oh My God

I found it. I thought I never would; hell I wasn’t even aware it was kept by someone. But oh god it is the find of the century. Presented just as it was written. Enjoy…

1. If you fall down, you buy a round of shots at the next bar.
1. you cannot be pushed
2. group consensus rules
3. one knee on ground (football rules)
2. Everyone has a name
1. cannot be related to whazz name
2. Wirkus = Marcus, Casperson = Cyliss, Zach = Tom Z., Tim = Ruben, Ross = Cletus, Ewaz = Smith
3. Max time limit: 1 hour, Min time: 1 drink, exception: if wait is long or no fun possible, move along
4. Magic Bar
1. Pick a bar win $5
1. Marcus = Monday’s
2. Tom Z. = PortaBella
3. Cletus = Bullfeathers
4. Ruben = The Pub
5. Smith = Cafe Montemarte
6. Cyliss = Red Shed

Exit 2:59

Notes: – $1 High Life

- $2 Brats and cheeseburgers

- Phi eagles are fucking us

- Cletus defeat Tom Z. (pool)

- Cyliss = sick

Exit 4:00

Notes: Buck Hunter II Tournament: Tom Z. over Cyliss, Smith over Marcus, Smith over Tom Z. for the title

- OJO = Great Hunter

- Very nice naked lady pics

- Giants win ($100) + 4 team [TIKI BARBER IS ON THE TAKE!]
- 2:55 bartender cajoled us into shots (Kamikazes)

Exit 4:50

Notes: – Hockey game: tie, goes into overtime RUBEN WINS IN OVERTIME!

- Cyliss: can’t breath through nostrils

- Things have taken a turn for the worse for silas

Exit 5:15

Notes:

- Seated by an Ewaz friend

- It was STRESSED that we will be here only for one drink.

- Mindy chose that next we will go to Vintage Bar & Grill

- Cletus is Jackass

- Fred Game was explained

- Pepper Fake Out Cyliss vs RossCletus

Enter 5:20

Exit:

Notes:

- Initial reaction: Frummy

- Tom Z. = insane

- Tom Z. breaks rules and orders vodka + tonic… with a lime and short black straw

- 6:05 = Tom Z is drunk

- Vintage = Vice City

- Cyliss = cig from mouth

- Pit Game = Tim Champion

- Cyliss win all… uses honor… what a champ!

Enter 6:25

- Marcus and Cletus are drunk

- Cyliss and Tom Z. begin moose and bear hunt

- hockey war also continues

- hockey war = Cletus [unintelligible] dept. store 2 wins

- Drunk Stories:

1. Picaresque Part 1
2. “Shooting Fatigue”
3. Rhonda call #2 took place

- Cyliss is the Moose/Bear Hunting Champion: Bar none.

- I’m writing, I’m drunk: Smith

- Lots of memories shared

- Picture taken in bell pantry

- Smith wins $5 bet

Enter 8:00pm

Exit:

Notes:

- Viewed picture of Marcus and Kenny

- Cletus left for dead

- MGD-LIGHT-IN-A-CAN!

- “I’m not doing this to hurt you cyliss.” – Marcus – S.S.

Bar #9: The Pub

Supplemental Dan P.

- Cast: Dan P. = Garrett, Dan P. Girlfriend, Melissa = Britney

- Vodka + Red Bull

Bar #10: Orpheum

CHAOS!

- No one wanted to go to Orpheum, we picked again: Best Western Hotel, NO! Then we picked, Tutto Pasta!

Bar #10: Tutto Pasta

Enter 9:35pm

Exit:

- It is a good chance that Smith will puke up yellow mustard stuff tomorrow

- Lynn (Fancy Face) meets us

- We ate dinner

- The drunkards consist of: Tom Z., Smith, Marcus, Cletus, Ruben, FancyFace not drunk yet.

- Women at next table (large breasts) told us to “turn it down”. Tom Z. told them to meet us at King Club.

Bar #11: King Club

Enter 10:50pm

Notes:

- $5 cover

- BADGERS WIN! BADGERS WIN! <- 31-28

- 2 belvy gimlets = $14

Bar #12: Paradise

Enter 11:20pm

- Marcus was nursed back to health by Tom Z. (Anchor Bank)

- PBR ME ASAP!

- FancyFace’s motto: “It’s Redonculous!”

- Wirkus is ready for the wedding speech!

- Jamal’s motto: “It’s very abrasive!”

Bar #13: Madison Maduro

Enter 11:55pm

- Tom Z.’s throat is killing him

- We hate the bartender

- David is ON A DATE! DO NOT BOTHER!

- Tom Z. drinks a Woodchuck Cider

- FancyFace’s special bar is Up North

- Guy said “no shooting” (bartender) (it was weird) (nuff said)

- They need to “as fancyface says” “regrout” their bar.

- Contact Adam Gehrman about regrouting. He knows how to do stuff like that.

- 12:37am: SMITH TAPS OUT!

Bar #14: Essen Haus

- Sean buy more pretzels… mmm… mmm… mustard. Quealy —- Go to school… damn it… that mustard is hot.  Wirkus is tearing off pretzels with crazy mustard.

- We are all wasted except Sean

- Harry Potter 2?? from Sean – cin… yes / M.P. Yes

- M.P. Company says go see H.P.2– no says kill myself

Bar #15: Up North

Enter God Only Knows

- “low-rise jeans are only made to show panties, especially g-strings” – fancyface

- Kritin Lomas + Cletus = LUV & WHAZZ

- Tom Z. = James Joyce (w/hat)

- Royce da 5’9″ just got signed to the Brewers… infield.

- Ruben = wasted. Threw cigarette on ground rather than give it to fancyface.

- overall a good night

- Marcus: “this meighborhood is not built for mirth”

Brewers Opening Day

I’m back from the game now, and the pictures should be uploaded to Flickr by now. It was pretty awesome, but touch and go for awhile. Once we hit the 94-894 interchange traffic stopped. Then we saw the overroad sign proclaim (grandly) that “All General Parking Lots Full”. Shit. So we were directed to get off at State Fair Park and ride a shuttle they had set up. We exited and lo and behold: one thousand people waiting to get on one yellow school bus. We had no tickets, and we were about to park miles and miles from the stadium. Peterstiffly suggested we just cruise around and try to park close enough to hike the rest of the way. We eventually found a spot on a residential street up the road from the Encore Strip-Club-in-a-House and set off on foot. Which way to proceed? Duh, follow the two guys with electric blue Brewers shirts on… through one graveyard… and then through another graveyard. Then across a street and down a hill and VOILA: we’re there… still with no tickets.

We weaved our way through many parts of both parking lots, and there was simply no one selling any tickets. All around us people were clamoring to buy three, four, or in one case, six tickets. It became preposterous that NO ONE was selling any, even for outrageous prices. After traversing the bus lot two times, we decided to let fate decide. We waited on the bridge to the stadium from the Sausage Haus and just held up two fingers. Forty-seven people smugly waved back and said, “Peace.” We, especially Kyle, were not amused. One lady ran up with her ticket and said in a sing-song voice, “I have a tic-kit and youuuu don’t. Smellllll my tickkket!” As she said the second part she turned around and put the ticket right on her butthole. I have never in my life wanted to commit violence against a lady as much as right then. Drunk fucking bitch. When we finally got our own tickets I wanted to find her and tell her to suck my fucking ticket and put it right on my wanger.

So, in any case, after being emotionally abused by drunk folks on the bridge for 15 minutes a guy walked up and sold us two Terrace Box seats for $50 each. We snapped ‘em up and got on our way. Our formally leaden hearts had perked up considerably, and everything was just dandy. Once we got to our seats it was the top of the third and we were fellin’ fine.

So Glen Sheath pitched a 2-hit complete game, which was awesome, and Bill Hall hit a solo homer. Nice way to start off the season; it was a shame we couldn’t muster enough goddamn forethought to do it correctly, but in the end it worked out and we got a nice adventure out of it.

On the way home, while I was doing 70+ somewhere around Delafield, my speedometer stopped working. Feelin’ fine.

Housing Bubble

My brother is supposed to get married near the end of the year and up until recently he and his fiance were looking at homes around the Racine area. I had a few words for him considering my recent foray into (and then retreat away from) the real estate arena.  This morning while reading a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article my blood starting boiling, and as you’re well aware my blood boiling usually results in a whazzmaster post.

One of the things I told my brother is not to get too wrapped up in the nonsense realtors and mortgage bankers spew. They want your commission, and they aren’t going to be hanging around when you can’t make your monthly payments. That doesn’t mean they’ll try to bankrupt you, but it also means that whatever magical number you’re “approved for” is what they’ll try to find for you. I’m here to say: take that “magical number” with a great big grain of salt. Most people assume that some sort of rigor goes into the generation of what you’re approved for, but in reality it’s just another company who is looking to get your money. You need to find out how much you’re willing to pay per month, and once you have that number find out if you are approved for that much. Don’t go and just see how much you are approved for and think, “well, I guess they think I can pay that much per month.”

The reason the article made my blood boil was because of a few choice quotes from assholes in the industry:

Subprime lender Jim Howe, also broker-owner of Real Estate Professionals in Racine, said most defaulting borrowers he sees are people who bought and borrowed beyond their means.

“It’s not the lenders. They’re just going by their (regulatory) guidelines and doing what they can do,” Howe said. “Now you’ve got the people who got the loans not living up to their obligations.”

No, in fact it is the lenders who looked at these people who obviously couldn’t afford at $500,000 mortgage and said, “We like the cut of your jib! Here’s $500,000!” If someone in the financial industry supposedly looks at your financial situation and says “We think you deserve this much money”, most people will think there is some justification in their determination. As someone who has gone through the ‘game’ I can honestly say that I got caught up in the lies and exaggerations, all in the name of finding “my home.” The real estate industry loves to play that up: you aren’t finding a house, you’re finding your ‘home.’ That obviously involves some serious emotional manipulation.  But all the platitudes about finding ‘your home’ don’t pay the bills.

For example, a radio commercial currently in rotation in Madison exhorts people to buy a condo because of “pride of ownership” (“you mean like I can paint the walls any color I like?” exclaims a super-excited young woman) and “tax benefits”.   The Don’t-Ever-Look-Behind-The-Curtain salesmanship technique when selling people into crushing debt is probably what bugs me the most about the entire real estate industry.

And so, I’ll leave you with a summary of my opinions.  I’m not some financial wizard who traces every up and down of the market.  But I am a regular schmoe who got caught up in the housing game and managed to extricate myself before it went south.  If you want to go buy a house right now, I don’t begrudge you that.  IF you have the means.  If you have money saved for a down payment, and you can get approved for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage at a monthly rate you’re comfortable with then you currently have maximal negotiating strength.  But, a few caveats:

1. DON’T take whatever the bank extends to you.  At the moment lenders are tightening the reigns because of the soaring foreclosures, but if you have good credit and healthy income they’ll still fall over themselves to throw money at you.  Instead, work out what monthly payment you’re comfortable with and see if you can get approved for that much.  If approved for more, who cares.
2. DON’T fall for the ‘it’s not a house, it’s a home’ emotional bullshit.  It’s a house. You will live there.  You’ll probably live in several before you die.  It’s a place to put your stuff.  It’s a gigantic financial commitment that you should look at rationally.
3. DON’T extend yourself into a crazy mortgage (by which I mean anything BUT a 30 yr fixed) at this point.  Your house will not appreciate $100,000 in one year with the rates tumbling so that you can flip it for a profit.  Again, keep in mind that you are about to engage in a transaction that’s a healthy percentage of a MILLION dollars.  Do you have a plan to eventually get it paid off in some way?

I’m just an idiot that almost got burned, and I don’t want to see any friends or family tumble into a pit of debt and bankruptcy if they can afford it.  It’s a house. That’s all.  Come stay at my place for awhile, homey.

Also: I was super busy yesterday but cannot use that as an excuse.  Happy Birthday Rumthumb!  Looking forward to The Magnus Der Magnussun tonight for booze and tapas.

Wiffle Ball

Yo ho hello there, go to Chicagoland and do a show there.  PHHEEEEEEW, PHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW! WELCOME TO RAW IS WAR, LIVE FROM MADISON WISCONSIN BY GAWD!  AND WE’RE GONNA GET RIGHT UNDER WAY TONIGHT WITH SOME TAG TEAM ACTION!

whazzmaster:

Wow, lots to review in that last thread.  My favorite part: cal and wwhazz arguing about squid fishing when ewaz jumped out from behind a bush.  Also: cal’s ignorance of Wrigly, I’ve heard that Chain-Gun-of-Shit story a hundred times.  Also also: a guest appearence by Ronni (hey Ronni, a healthy percentage of New York is powered by your personal energy.  Jesus.)  Also: we got to know everyones’ first Tapes and CDs.  And finally, Eroz blew wwhazz’s Over/Under for the year out of Teh Water.

spacebee:

BEAR DOWN CHICAGO BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Bears made it to the Super Bowl, I can’t believe it! Whazzmaster and I spent a long weekend in good ‘ol Illinois. I drug him all around to various places, visiting friends and family. We had an exciting game of CLR on friday night. Usually we only play with quarters, but we did play with dollars this game ( for one round!) Saturday we watched Wisconsin kick some Illini ass!! Then we went to a couple of the most exciting bars; the Blackberry Inn (where one of my good friends works) and Stoney’s. Both hole in the wall bars, my favorite! Overall it was a great weekend the Bears and Badgers won, I was able to see lots of friends and family and catch up with them, and I dominated whazzmaster in darts!!! Although he did win the ping pong tournament 3 games to 2, oh well there is always next time.

whazzmaster:

On Wednesday late-night spacebee and I hit the road towards all points Illinois.  Thursday was hectic as I sped from one small suburb of Chicago to another to do customer Follow-Me-Homes for work.  I hit I-94 just in time for afternoon rush hour and headed back in the direction of Aurora (Ay-Town).  I had taken Friday off so the rest of the weekend was MINE ALONE.  Spacebee and I spent it cavorting around Chicagoland and eating, darting, ponging, and watching sports.  Also: I did some real world class napping.  In-between moments were spent reading a book I got last week: World War Z.  I think I have a post somewhere in my head about it, but I have to formulate more at this point.

Happy Birthday Manders! Happy Birthday Madddddddddddd! Happy Birthday Wwhazz!  So many to celebrate.  All y’all’s parents got it on in the same relative time frame.  Yee haw.

Reflections on Moving Back to the Midwest

Moving back to the midwest was a very odd trip.  With the crunch time at work to occupy my time the trip came very suddenly, and before I knew it I was posted up right around the corner from the Badger Bus depot.  If I go out on my balcony I can see such sights as the HowardTree (DoubleHo), El Capital, and the Main Depot.  It was a good month before I settled out of my childlike excitement (LET’S GO TO SMOKY’S TONIGHT! I HAVEN’T BEEN THERE IN YEARS!) at being back.  It’s been terrific being able to jet home and see the family as well.

All sorts of excited gesticulations and honorifics are due to the Rumthumb-Lawman Axis, the Queen and King of all that is Progressive Madison.  I am truly learning things about Madison I never knew during my, ahem, student days.  I’m a certified Willy Co-op Member now, and I’m looking forward to the neat things to do in the spring (or ice fishing if it ever gets cold enough around here to freeze water).

From my desk at this moment I can see the entire Capital (or capitol, I can never remember which is finance-related and which is governing-related) dome.  That in itself is breathtaking.  It’s very nice in many ways to be back in the midwest: no commute, minutes from places instead of hours (with traffic), food and drinks are cheaper by a mile.  There are some drawbacks: no good burritos, little choice in Thai or Indian food, the absence of the Technical Community of Silicon Valley, and the furthernerness from San Diego.  It was so nice to be able to hop a Friday night flight down to San Dog to watch a UFC ppv with the Pals.  The flip side of that is that it’s no longer a monumental effort to see family and friends between Madison and Racine.  Say lah vee.
Finance-wise, the expected boon due to the cost-of-living differences didn’t materialize at first but that was caused by Xmas Gift Xtravanganza 2006.  Now that we’ve settled down a bit I’ve scripted out the finances and they seem more under control.  Additionally, I need to be hesitant about doing anything until the 2006 income taxes are done.  We sold the house at a profit last year and I held back a bit of money in order to use for the taxes.  Once that’s clear and I know exactly how much to pay I can start saving the rest of it in earnest.
Finally, I miss seeing people like fuddruckus, gmc, ben, Tha RDP Krew, my peeps at Intuit, and a whole host of others.  My HOLLLARBACK schedule was somewhat disrupted over the holidays but I’m looking forward to spending more time back in the bay area for some project-related time.  I hope to see all of you then,

Things I Just Can’t Get Over in Madison:

1. I giggle every time I pass Cal and Springer’s old pad on Doty St.  I pass it at least twice a day.
2. I can’t get over that I can see Ogg Hall from my balcony.
3. It’s January and still hitting 50° in Madison. The lakes aren’t froze yet, cap’n.
4. That Cal told me to ‘lose the swords, homey.’
5. That I can go to a fancy-pants restaurant like Harvest and get Schlitz in a can, for $2.
6. That I can have BW3 whenever the fuck I want, but DON’T eat it all day every day.
7. That Scubby and peterstiffly and I are going RAW is WAR on Feb 2nd.  Awesome.

Ho, Ho, Ho

Another year passes here at the whazzmaster.com world headquarters and the elves are a bit misty-eyed.  Now, perhaps it’s the yuletide joy or perchance it’s the brandy-to-bitters ratio in the Old Fashioned’s that ol’ whazzmaster is drinking, but none of that really, truly matters.  In the grand scheme of things.  Ho, ho, ho!

The terrific news this Xmas is the veritable windfall the Apples to Apples Corporation has stumbled upon.  Spacebee’s brother-in-law got me the game, I got my parents the game, and then my sister got me the game.  Ho, ho, ho!  A very Apples-to-Apples Xmas!

Additionally, we here at Whazzmaster Central have decided (decreeeeeed) that henceforth the Moneypenny Family will operate on a “PULL a NAME outtuva HAT” basis.  This “buy a gift of for everyone in the wetsern heimsphere” thing isn’t working out, so at Xmas Eve Dinner the chil’lens rammed through a bill (with several amendments) that stipulates that starting next Thanksgiving, names will be pulled from hats. One name, per person. Say lah vee.

Last night was the cat’s pajamas; I went out in Racilla with Arlo, Jamey, Joel, and my Birthday Sister (related to Disco Sis) along with Sundry Ashely Friends.  The night was notable most for the very, very chillington “the third” game of Spades we played down at Waves as well as the sociopathic homosexual bartender who basically threatened to anally rape me if I didn’t vacate his bar at the proscribed time (2:30am).   To be clear, everything was Chillington the Third until the Anal Threat.  At that point the evening devolved quickly and was no longer great or “chill”.
What did I get for XMAS? A sweatshirt, some gift cards, a new coffee cup, a pizza pan (with the Moneypenny Pizza Recipe attached!), socks, cuff links, new pre-shave oil and after shave balm, etc.  Good haul.  I’ll be heading back up to Madison tomorrow evening (Xmas Day) so that I’ll be bright-eyed and bushy tailed for Tuesday Morning Work Week.  I’ll be kickin in all week, then on Saturday I fly to Cleveland for my cousin’s New Year’s Wedding. Spacebee’s coming with.  Heh, wait’ll she gets a load of my dad’s side o’ the family. It’s gonna be fun.

My NEW Favorite Picture

Eroz was in town for a minute today. We had a bite to eat at Nick’s and then played the ol’ squeezebox for old times sake. Also, nostalgia. Wwhazz’s Montemarte -> black eye trip was much discussed. Also, sundry other topics that I’m not at liberty to divulge. Hurray!

(more…)

Some More Pictures

This is a random grouping of pictures I took. Have fun.

Bellygirl wanted some pictures of snow. Well, here’s one. There’s more on Flickr.

Here’s some antique poker chips I found when moving. They’re more like tiddly-winks.

I put The Trout in a place on honor right next to my front door. Lawman was happy to see it when he and rumthumb toured.

By the way, did you hear that the city of Milwaukee blew up today?

At least 2 workers were killed in an explosion this morning at the Falk Corp. plant in the Menomonee Valley, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s office has reported.

The fire department has asked the Medical Examiner’s office to standby while they continue to work to secure the blast site.

At least one other worker is reported missing.

The blast just after 8 a.m., believed to be caused by a propane-fueled explosion, destroyed a building in the company’s complex, injured numerous workers and rumbled through much of the city.

The frightened relatives of Falk workers rushed to Miller Park, where blast survivors assembled following the explosion that rattled much of the city and some of the suburbs.

Wisconsin Sports Extravaganza and… Snoopy

Friday night maddddddddd and rach-o arrived with Quince in tow. Sadly, Quince couldn’t stay at my place by hisself, but lawman and rumthumb stepped into the breach and offered a dog hotel at their place. After a ‘getting-to-know-you’ session between Quince and Phineas, we all went up to Old Fashioned (for the first time of the weekend) and had some drinks and tasty treats. We got the incredibly good idea to head down to the Karaoke Kid and croon away, but upon arrival we found a line (!) and an hour-long wait to get a song in. Funny travel diary entry: we walked through Conklin Place to get to the Karoke Kid, and lawman told an interesting story about the summer that three weed plants showed up in the next door neighbor’s yard. And how they were gone immediately after that. We decided to finish out our sentence at The Gentlemen’s Playground, where we played some pool before retiring early.

Saturday morn my sister and her friend came up, and we hit Scubby’s tailgate at around 10am. A quick brat cook-up and several High Life’s later we were on our way to the Wisconsin/Buffalo game. Afterwards we hit the Stadium, which I hate, and looked for an hour for madddddddddddddd. After freezing my ass off for a while we retreated to the 72° comfort of my place and ordered Jade Garden for din-din.

Everyone fell asleep.

Upon waking up, madddddddd went and picked up Quince, we ate, and then sister and friend headed out to the bars. We spent the rest of the evening drinking and watching Will Ferrell. That Will Ferrell, he’s Teh Funny.

Sunday morning was a feast of epic proportions: scrambled eggs, hash browns with peppers and onions, bacon, sausage, bagels, toast, blueberry kringle, coffee, bloody mary’s, apple cider, apple juice, and orange juice. Holy shit I was full. Everyone left for home and I hooked up with Scubby to head down to peterstiffly’s place to watch the Packers game. Holy shit the Packers dropped a load in that game. The plus was that the day was filled with nostalgia. Scubby had to go work for awhile so peterstiffly and I headed down to the Kohl Center to watch the Badgers beat the holy hell out of Southern. They beat them by about 50 points. Then we met with Scubby again and all three went to the Old Fashioned for dinner (second time this weekend). Finally, we rounded out the night by watching Best of RAW Vol. 1 & 2 on DVD. Holy shit, when Austin assaulted Vince in the hospital and shocked him with the paddles we almost lost it. Hopefully we can get together regularly and do a Classic Wrestling DVD Nite. I’m excited.

Lucha Scubby

Memoranda One: Apparently Michael “Kramer” Richards went buck-wild nuts and just started screaming ‘nigger’ at a comedy club in LA on Friday night. Jesus. What the hell brought that on? I’m reading conflicting accounts that suggest it was some Andy Kaufman-type shit. Uh, yeah dude, not funny. And I know it’s not supposed to be funny if that’s what it was, but even so: uh, not funny.
Memoranda Two: I’m watching He’s a Bully, Charlie Brown right now and oh man it’s bad. Top to bottom: the music, the voices, the plot. Charlie Brown specials were never the greatest entertainment in the world; believe me, I ain’t gonna go down that road. But this sucks at a remarkable level. Hence, my remarks: “it sucks.”
Finally: I’ll probably go see some movies this week. I’ll be in Racilla W/Skrilla Thursday through Sunday, and I think I’ll take in some picture shows. I kinda want to see the new Bond and the Tenacious D movie. Not sure about Borat, I think I’ll just wait for it.