vendredi, mars 31, 2006

I'm a get a lot of Hoes with this one

This is real ebay feedback people. It doesn't get any better than this!

No lie. My co-worker was on ebay looking for a jersey and the seller noted some of their most memorable feedback. Here is the link to the page where I snagged this:


These are a few of my favorite things - In Milwaukee

Since I'm up for the MKE Online Blog of the Week thingy I figured I'd give a few honorable mentions... some of my favorite things here in Milwaukee. This is of course by no means totally inclusive but with spring and summer upon us, it's time to get out!

The Lakefront. There is nothing I love more than our lakefront. Inline skating, running the paths or running the stairs... chillin' out with friends... or catching an iced tea at Alterra. It's our playground and if you don't take advantage of it, I can assure you that you're missing one of our best features. Oh don't forget sunrise from the view of one of the surrounding hills.

Jazz in the Park. JITP is for everyone. Heck I take my 86 year old grandma to Jazz. You can mill about or grab a blanket and have some QT with friends or the one you love. It's nice to get out on a Thursday night during the summer especially if you work a lot of hours and burn the candle at both ends. Don't forget, you're living!

Speed Queen BBQ. Located on about 10th and Walnut (I am usually not sober when I go, sorry) Speed queen is unbelievable, it just melts in your mouth and is best shared with a friend. I recommend the outer shoulder dinner.

Cubanitas. Feels nothing like Milwaukee, in a good way. Follow that up with late night dancing at Club Havana (after 11:00 is when the place is hoppin).

Massage Therapist Peter Rogers. I don't know if Peter's the best, but if I need to get unwound there is nobody else who's worth the scree. Regardless of how stressed out or achey I am, Peter gets the job done. He's at Goodyear Chiropractic.

Brewer's Hill. A must see.... drive around for a little while and look at all the gorgeous homes. Hmmm... I may do a posting of my recommended house tours of Milwaukee....

Riverview Antique Center. 175 S Water St. It's new and very well laid out - not a lot of "crap" or the garbage that you sometimes see in Antique Shops (you know, "Avoid the Noid" pins or Happy Meal toys). Also a large selection of vintage clothing. It's a real treat.

Black Bear Soda. I hope they still sell them in glass bottles. I make a Black Bear run from time to time and I love it :)

There are zillions of other little out of the way things I love, too. But I thought I'd start with these. Enjoy!

jeudi, mars 30, 2006

My Newest... My Latest... Perhaps My Greatest

God Bless Ebay.

And vintage sewing patterns. This lovely number came in the mail and I had to yank it out of the cold dead hands of nicnacnanny* and her evil thimble of death. It was mine way back in the day when nobody bid on it yet. Don't these people know that I saw it first????

Hotchacha. Look at these gorgeousnesses!

I'm working on the middle one as we speak. It'll be a pale pink flat satin with black velvet trim and a slight ruffle underneath the hem - nothing too foofy or over the top. Darts galore... I love old school tailoring.

I should note that no bidders were harmed in the making of this post. Now if y'all will excuse me, I have a 1961 Singer sewing machine waiting for me and tapping it's foot!

(Not her real name. Why else would there be a footnote?)

Libellés :

mercredi, mars 29, 2006

Am I a Transportation Snob?

My mom got the letter in the mail... the one I've never gotten but the one my father salivates at: Jury Duty.

(For the record, anyone who wants to make jury duty a quick, painless pursuit never met my father. Juror and respondent. Not only does he pick apart the logic and not let anyone dumb over things, he just simply won't stand decisions that make nice. Good for Pa.)

So mom gets a rider notice about Where To Park. Which is in a word: Nowhere. Leave your car at home and take the bus, then take our shuttle. This is just not going to happen.

My mother looked afraid because she knows as well as I do that being on a bus nowadays is not nearly as pleasant as it was even as recently as the 80's. Have you ridden the bus lately? If you even remotely smell of being normal and well adjusted, you are subject to taunts and ridicule. Just look at the people who are waiting on the corners for the bus regardless of hour.

This is a midwestern thing, by the way. I have taken public transport in many parts of the country, and even further, many parts of the world. At all hours. It's just not the same here for some reason. My explanation? If you're normal here, achieve any type of success, or if you're at all ambitious, aggressive, or at all forward thinking, it's interpreted as threatening and you should feel guilty about your normality. (Is this the karma of our populist/socialist past?)


"Mom," I said: I'll use my PTO time at work and take you there each day and pick you up.

She hugged me.

Regardless of circumstance Mom never hugs without a little mist, she's not a huggy person. Huggy is my role in our family of cool Aquarians.

Maybe it's part of the reversal of caretaking but there is no way any mother of mine will be subjected to the bus system here. And if I can help it, she never will. Now that I am established I generally don't have to bother with it myself anymore but if I did, this little out-of-place looking blonde would be subject to all the taunts the city has to offer. I can deal with that though, because of how I grew up and my teen years.

But do I have to? To quote a recent post by another blogger:

"Oh, Hell No."

mardi, mars 28, 2006

Nobody's Senator

I just felt like saying it....

lundi, mars 27, 2006

Hold the Ketchup... (take my wife, please)

Here's a lovely bit of bathroom reading for you. The Smoking Gun has published John Kerry's hotel rider and other fun bits.

I can't link to it without Court TV's permission apparently, but I recommend going to TSG and searching or getting it through Drudge.

If you're too lazy, here's a few bits that provided me with some post-migraine comic relief:


"NEVER order - Tomato based products or Sandwiches"


"JK hates Celery"


"The phone and ability to order movies in suite should always be ready for JK's arrival. I know these things may seem trivial but they make JK very happy"


If I were a man married to the missus, those movies would make me pretty happy, too....

vendredi, mars 24, 2006

Beating Them Down Milwaukee Style

I think Charlie Sykes asked a really good question in his posting about the latest fatal beating in Milwaukee: "What makes Milwaukee different?" (with respect to poverty not equaling savagery)

Milwaukee puts up with it and frankly, is too scared to do anything about it.

People in the city understand repercussions and mentally block out the incidents as they happen. I don't think these occurrences even register in their memory, on purpose. This Stop Snitching crap has exacerbated it and turned up the volume on a culture of intimidation. It was bad when I was in High School in the city, but it's leagues worse now.

There were fights on a daily basis when I was in high school in the late 80's. Inside and outside the building. Fights are loud, fast, and cover a lot of space. You don't miss fights because you have to get out of their way. People know. Whether they choose to see is another story.

But what's worse than not snitching, is snitching and having it fall on deaf ears of school administrators. The reaction and message to me at the time was, "don't be like that". Things are different here and you don't understand.

The only thing I can think of that makes Milwaukee different is that for whatever reason - when it comes to these mob beatings - nobody wants to touch it or get involved on any level unless it involves crowing in front of a camera. As a result these lawless hoods are totally emboldened.

We all need to be worried about this. Just because it's in the central city does not mean that everyone else is separated or somehow insulated from it. It doesn't matter where a trend starts, the problem is that this trend started, and is gaining strength. I fear that soon the term "beat down Milwaukee style" will become part of the country's vernacular.

It won't stay where it is. So everyone, regardless of where they live and where they're coming from, needs to do something when things happen. You might have to put your life on the line to do it. But NOT doing the right thing costs lives and relinquishes control to the wrong community owners. And believe me, they own it.

jeudi, mars 23, 2006

Great Balls of Fiyah....

Okay so JLL wasn't recording in 1935, but the cameras were.

My Netflix queue is chock full of movies that I should have seen by now. Many of them are, as you can probably guess, old movies. Well except for The Unbearable Lightness of Being. And Animal House. One movie that I always wanted to see was The Maltese Falcon. In the movie, our hero Sam Spade has an incredible lighter on his desk. One scene shows his secretary lighting a cigarette for him on the most amazing lighter I'd ever seen. I don't know how many times I backed up the DVD to see exactly what it was....

...it was a 1935 Ronson Touch Tip lighter. Class! I don't smoke but I will from time to time, and in the company of a true gentleman who also does, I like to light one for him and hand it over.

So off to Ebay I went. And I found this beauty. All cleaned, tuned, sharpened... hot damn ready to go. If you want real gadgets, you might as well buy them from the people who know how to bring them back to life. Unless you know what you're doing, you sure as hell ain't gonna.

So here she is, double click the pic to see it in action or replay....



(if either blogger or geocities are acting up - click here )


And I will leave the gent's ebay details and text email in the comments, so he doesn't get spammed. Mr. Adams, here's lookin' at you, kid!

Faire l'Autruche, Dominique....

Isn't rioting fun? Le Coq Reviennent....home to roost. This is directly the fault of too much government regulation and the bunch of babies it creates.












Mon Dieu get over it. In the end, all your tax dollars and benefits are going to be spent on cleanup. Every time I have been to Paris, there has been either a major strike or riot. It's not cool anymore. Good thing you don't have hurricanes there.













Cher France, Cher Dominique De Villepin, it's time for you to start explaining simple economics to your people. The way we work will never be the same, and - news flash - it changed a long time ago. You cannot mandate things that don't work and expect them to work simply because... you think they ought to. However, you clearly have to sit the kids down and explain how jobs work, how employment works, and that companies aren't just heartless, bottomless pits of cash.

At some point and very soon, France will have to choose between their ideals and their economy. Hint - one of them is reality....

Et puis, un p'tit jaune....

mardi, mars 21, 2006

It's almost here!

My 1935 Ronson Touch-Tip lighter! I'll post complete with video...

I don't smoke, but soon you'll see why I had to have it.



Mon chèr Bogie, ne cherche plus, tu m’as trouvé!!!!!

Go dump in the lake....

Just a couple of other thoughts about dropping trou in the lake....

This is from 2004, but is a very fitting example of the hypocrisy of the people who are responsible for and defensive of dumping.

Oh... reflecting on my prior post, I had removed sections on cruising as my second reason to be concerned about summer. I'm particularly concerned about cruising because of the place I call home, and the place I call my second home (aside from other more obvious reasons). So let me get real inspired on that one and spew it out. In the meantime ladies and gentlemen, enlightened words from Charlie Sykes:

http://www.620wtmj.com/_content/talk/charliesykes/index.asp?id=8&entry=3376

lundi, mars 20, 2006

I Am Just A Little Concerned About Summer...

...here in Milwaukee. And I think I have good reason to be.

I am a city dweller. Back in the day I grew up in an area the clipboarders came along and renamed "Washington Heights". This is where I still live despite living out of state for college and in Tosa for a short time. I went to Washington High school and picked crawfish out of the pond in the park when I was a kid. I got the crap kicked out of me a few times and figured out that if you've got a big mouth....well maybe you should consider running with a group.

This place has seen many changes... so has this city. But I've got a weird feeling about this summer. In particular, I am concerned about my tradition of heavy use of the lakefront.

Once it hits 55 on a consistent basis along Lincoln Memorial Drive, I may as well live there ...well for at least 1.5 hours (if not more) of the day every day. After work I go right to the lakefront and either bike, run, walk, inline skate, or run the stairs. On the weekends it's not uncommon for me to get down to Bradford beach to watch the sun rise from my blanket. Even at 55 degrees. Sand is some cold cold shit to lay down on, regardless of the material your blanket's made from. It's where I talk to God, it's where I get my sweat on, it's where I push myself.

I've long said that when I die, or if I die young, I should be cremated and my ashes spread out along the shore of Lake Michigan because it's where I have spent countless hours of my life.

This tradition started about 15 years ago. But in the past 6 years in particular, there have been more and more days that I have to take a pass on using the lakefront. I literally get out of my car and seeing what I see or smelling what I smell, I get back in and drive home. If you're not familiar with our problem here in Milwaukee, it's a huge stinking mess of one. I'm talking about the dumping of partially or untreated sewage - millions of gallons at a time - into Lake Michigan. Yes, it's disgusting. How can it happen or more importantly how can it keep happening? There are many reasons and even more excuses, and tons of complaints (a high percentage of these complaints are sourced back to my squeaky mouth - at least the loud and annoying ones). But really folks, every time the dumping goes on it gets reported and sometimes discussed on talk radio but nothing is ever done about it. We simply stop getting pissed off about it until it happens again.

Let me explain what happens after this dumping occurs. And I'm telling you this from the perspective of a citizen who has consistently used the lakefront for 15 years. It rains. They dump. The water is brown (you should see this fro the Firstar building, btw) and it fans out into the lake, down the coasts. We hear about water warnings and how we should avoid using the lake for a few days. Fine. People think after a few days, it'll clear. Well...

About 4-6 days later, gobs of disgusting black slop pile up on the shore. Literally, it piles itself. There are black/brown waves in certain areas of Bradford Beach. Combine this with a few very hot muggy summer days and you've got yourself a horrible stinking mess.

Now I've heard, despite my firsthand witnessing, that this is simple algae and it's not sewage. The algae just happens to call our lakefront home. Last I checked algae doesn't smell like poop. At least not 1/4 mile away from the lake. Someone please remind me why this is ok under the guise of a permissible number of dumps per year.

This past March we had a heavy rain. The local unnamed sewerage district made some estimates on the March dump, and the last estimate I saw was 2.7 million gallons. This may have been updated since then, but come on, this is March. We're falling deeper into learned helplessness and with bigger finanical issues facing the city, I'm afraid this is never going to be resolved. More than anything, I am afraid that I will eventually lose the tolerance to be in a place I love to be.

This summer will be interesting to say in the least. I'll have to update on how much I decide to use the lake. My sense is that on most days that don't heinously stink (to the point that the stink sticks to me) I'll be there.

What I'd really like to do on those days that I can't use the lakefront, is shovel a pile of that stinky crap into a hefty bag and strategically dump it on Washington Boulevard.

dimanche, mars 19, 2006

Guinness is my new Hero

(in honor of St. Pat's)


An Ode To Guinness:













To the ale of the gent I most
recently hate
I stand corrected - and hat I ate.
For your patron saint hath
donned unto me
Multiple rounds of black ale free.
And morning arrived with
prayers in tow:
"What is amiss?
I've forgotten so!"
Yet nature reminds with
gentility
Said plumbing was after all able, you see:
Get thy Dump On,
thy Fair Deuce,
nature has blessed
with the tact of zeus.
What once was lost - now is won!
Finally, finally,
I Got The Job Done!

Son of a!

I just felt like saying it.

samedi, mars 18, 2006

The Gadgetry

One purpose that I had in mind for my blog is to display my purchases and furnishings that make my retro lifestyle so fun and enjoyable. There's no denying that the best things in life are also the most simple. How often have you reflected (perhaps while driving) on how perfect something is just as it is - and because of what it is?

Many of my gadgets are from the years between 1930 and 1960. All are simple, mechnical and repairable and add a touch of class to my life. You could call it backward if you want, but I think it's important to know that our past has a way of taking care of us by leaving small, well-preserved instances of itself in our wake. I mean, look at ebay....

But perhaps the best part of these little objets is their way of taking us back to our parents' or grandparents' kitchens, porches, living rooms and dining rooms. It's the metal screwnut in the ashtray your grandpa used to extinguish his cigarette, or the tube radio your grandma had on top of the refrigerator that she turned on in the morning. The sound traveled back to the bedroom where you were still half asleep and you could by the sound alone hear the spatial squareness of the kitchen.

On the topic of radios today. Below I present to you my 1944 Bendix Aviation tube radio, the uncommon 110 model. It's a 5-tube radio with catalin knobs swirly bakelite case... a wide tuning band... at night I can get stations as far away as Ohio...

It's a beauty...

Tramps Like Us, Baby We Were Born to... Blog

Today was a good day. I rolled out of bed and was pleasantly surprised that I wasn't as post St. Pat's hung over as I thought I would be. This was good news because I was about to attend the long-awaited inaugural WisPolitics Blog Summit. While I choose to not feature politics on my blog (because I enjoy polictics in my spare time :) I do frequent many political blogs.... numerous times a day. It's a joy for their site stats, I'm sure.

So I had to look presentable which I did, but my head was just in the dumper and I wasn't my normal spry self... which is fine with me because Blogging is the future of politics. Just watch.

Here is my take on today's agenda:

State of Blogging keynote by Ann Althouse. I was surprised with this choice. While I have never read Ann Althouse's blog, I can't understand how she gets 10k hits per day. She said absolutely nothing of value and in fact, I was paying attention out of politeness. Why would 10k people tune in every day to listen to someone who is about as riveting as a cold grilled cheese sandwich? I figured it would get better. It did.

The Legalities of Blogging by Jennifer L. Peterson, attorney, LaFollette Godfrey & Kahn. Jennifer did a great job. She brought up some legal items that will predictably create a world of new business for attorneys. Just like medical malpractice my prediction is that slander, libel, and defamation suits are the future of the blogosphere. Good discussions and questions/hookins from the audience.

Panel: `Why blog? Defining the phenomenon from a citizen bloggers' perspective'' Owen Robinson of Boots & Sabers and Jay Bullock of folkbum's rambles and rants. These two also did a great job, and while listening to their presentation I could see that voices like Owen and Jay are already a very real influence and force to be reckoned with. There are a lot of intelligent and informed political bloggers just like them in the world and they are all in my demographic. I'm excited that they are a part of the voice of my generation. And, they have the poignant verbal delivery that is required to get your point across and encourage discussion.

Panel: How will history view early blogging? An academic view. (Jessica McBride, journalism instructor, radio talk show host and blogger, UW-Milwaukee; John McAdams, blogger and Marquette professor of political science; and Ken Mayer, UW-Madison political scientist.) Jessica McBride really stole the show in this panel. She did a bang up job and while I have never listened to her show, I think I'll start. I don't think that the question of history's perspective on early blogging was answered. As said during the segment, it's a moving target so it's hard to predict. My take? Well this is my blog after all so I'll tell you. I think it will at some point be viewed as a fad. Blogging will level off at some point just like online chat rooms did. Blogging is NOT for everyone because frankly, not everyone has something relevant or interesting to say in an organized manner. I think we've gotten used to the idea of saying "____ is for everyone". Not true.

Panel: Impact of blogging on election 2006. (Ed Garvey of FightingBob.com, Charlie Sykes of WTMJ-AM, state Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, and Brian Fraley, GOP strategist and blogger). Ahhh Ed Garvey. With all due to respect to everyone I've met today, Ed Garvey is really about as relevant and logical as Fritz Mondale. There are few things in this world that frustrate me more than people who talk in circles and have the mental logic of pickled okra (seems tasty and it is, but full of gooey mush). Ed Garvey does not see the value in Blogging and sees it as somewhat irrelevant. I think it's because it's above and beyond him. At this point, Garvey is hanging on tightly to obsolete political thought, means, and execution. He makes this very clear in the way he speaks, his emotional delivery, and his defensiveness. He is, however, a very good sport about it for which I commend him.

Now. For the highlights of my day. Well, let's start with highlight.

This person sitting next to me made a comment to the panel and identified himself as media and for all intents and purposes, made some statements to discredit blogging as reporting of fact (or that bloggers should be hired as stringers). He said this in response to the points made by panelists and people in the room who have essentially reported on local political issues of direct impact - that the mainstream traditional media - have not. As with anyone who is sensitive and needs both attention and validation... he turned to those around him - meaning me - to get some type of support. He said to me "it's all opinion" and I said "not always". He said it again and I retorted just as strong, "not always."

So because blogging is not "traditional media" blogging is less valuable, relevant, or valid. No sir, it's not their media and their ideas, and it's getting out of control... so therefore it's invalid and must be crushed. We'll see where this guy is in a couple of years. (I hope he's saving his scree because social security isn't going to pay for his retirement and many journalists make about as much as a good poet).

Now. Why do I blog?

Because my mind is rapid fire while my mouth is not. I am unapologetically introverted and full of thought. Bob Dylan said it best: I've got a head full of ideas that are driving me insane. Well, in a good creative way. I won't be cutting off ears anytime soon because I need them. My take on life is unique to me and most people I've encountered have remarked on my perspective on life. I am not sure why this is but one thing is undeniable: I don't speak often but when I do, I generally have a good point that nobody else thinks of. Other times when I force myself to speak I just make a fool of myself. So this is a good place for me in the meantime to make use of it.

And... there are plenty of things in the world to remark about. They all fall along the same lines of the same themes but they all look different. That's not a can't-we-all-just-get-along statement: it's the archetypes of life.

So thanks to Wispolitics.com for making this possible today, I'll see you next year!

Jones

lundi, mars 13, 2006

Easter is just around the corner

Alright, massive rabbits are NOT what I had in mind for my blog and they won't be up for very long, but who doesn't love a ginormous rabbit? Would you not want to pet one of these????




And, I just love this fella :) I've decided that in my next life, I'm coming back as a happy, smiling rabbit. Think about it. Eat all day, hop around, get laid, and you'd always be regular!



These ginormous rabbits are real, try googling "British Giant" or "Flemish Giant". Fluffy, soft, fuzzy bunnies. Ah Monday is all better now....

lundi, mars 06, 2006

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