Guitar Center

My Dad is up in ICU at Waukesaha Memorial with stage 3 lung cancer and failed kidneys. It's a sad thing. I try to look at the bright side that we had him for an extra year after his 3 week coma last January and he came out of it.

We took a break from the visit to go eat at the Old Country Buffet. Then we went to Half Price Books and I picked up Dune - The Machine Crusade, Debt of Bones, and The Poems of John Keats. After that we stopped at the Guitar Center in the V. Richard Plaza and browsed around.

AS you can see, the kids had a great time banging on the drums. Hearing them bang away didn't help me convince my wife that we need a drum set.

Hehe!

I guess we'll live with the Bass and Guitar!
 

Moved Furniture Around

Today was pretty productive, we moved furniture around to consolidate the DVDs onto one wall. The moving stuff around went off without a hitch, then I decided it was time for a beer. I was opening my New Glarus I.P.A when the top of the bottle broke off with the cap and I cut my finger. There was a big flap of skin and Dani insisted I needed to go for stitches. But I don't feel like going to the hospital, so we bandaged it up tight and I'll see how it looks tomorrow.

A Drive

Kimah and I took a drive today.

Finally a Shave

After a week off from Standard Process, I figure it's time for me to shave!

China Buffet

My Mom gathered us all together to have have lunch at the China Buffet in Fort Atkinson. She invited my cousin Barbara, who I haven't seen in years. She brought her significant other Ralph.

Magic at the Citgo

We gathered at the Citgo to play some Magic the Gathering on Saturday and Sunday. The Citgo is a great place to play, there is coffee, soda, chips, and a restaurant.

I've played online numerous times, but this was my first time playing in person. Good time. So much fun in fact, I ran to Hobby Town and picked up a Dark Steel theme deck and a couple of booster packs.

Guitar Hero II Competition

Jordan and Kimah competed in Guitar Hero II Competion today at WalMart in Whitewater, WI.

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

Jordan failed to place. Kimah took 3rd place.

See host show on Picassa.

Here is a video of their second performance:

A Wheat Beer, Scott Deegan, Guitar Hero, and Anchorman.

I brewed up a Wheat Beer at Randy's today. My friend Scott stopped by and hung out while I finished up, then we headed to my house, played Guitar Hero, and watch Anchorman.

Jeff and I Visit the Brewery

November 5th, this is the day that Doc Brown slipped and hit his head on the porclain and envisioned the flux capacitor. So Jeff came over today to watch Back to the Future. Before we started the movie tho, we had to run to Randy's and pick up some beer.

While there I showed Jeff the brewery! 

Milwaukee Astronomical Society 2006 Picnic

Dani was sick today, so she stayed home and Barak wanted to stay with her. Jordan, Kimah, Jordan, and I met with Jeff, Tristan, and Caleb at the picnic for a good time. Above are the pictures from the event.

If you are unable to see the slideshow, click here for the Photobucket version.

In Which Dani and I go to a Baseball Game

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

Dani and I went to see the Brewers play the Pittsburgh Pirates today. We started the day by having Nachos Deluxe and Stuffed Mushrooms at the Waterstreet Brewery in Delafield. Then we we went to the Brewer game. The highlight of which was the race between the sausages. Dani was so impressed with it that she got a stuffed replica of the winner, The Italian Sausage. The Brewers lost with a score of 8 to 4.

Then we went to the Science and Surplus store, Lost Worlds of Wonder, and Krispy Kreme for some donuts. On our way home we stopped at the WalMart Super Center for some groceries.

The Adventures of Brisco County Jr

Today is the day I have been waiting for, almost as eagerly as I awaited July 4th and the release of the 2005 season of Dr. Who. Today was the release of The Adventures of Briscoe County Jr. It has been 13 year since it originally aired with no home versions available. So today was a good day. So I packed up Kimah and her friend Cassie, Jordan and Bear stayed home; and we ran to Best Buy to pick up Briscoe. After Best Buy, we stopped at Hobby Town and Jesse talked me into buying Rocketmen. It's a pretty cool game where you can build space ships. I got two rockets.

Building Jeff's Computer

After Dee Dee and Aaron's graduation party, we went over to Jeff's house to help him build his computer.

A Thunderstorm

We had another thunderstorm tonight. I stood under the canopy at the Citgo until I caught this lightning strike on video.

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI

647 PM CDT WED MAY 24 2006

WIC027-055-250045-
/O.CON.KMKX.SV.W.0038.000000T0000Z-
060525T0045Z/
DODGE WI-JEFFERSON WI-
647 PM CDT WED MAY 24 2006
Image courtesy of Channel 3 Madison

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 745 PM CDT
FOR JEFFERSON AND DODGE COUNTIES...
 
        
AT 647 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TO
INDICATE A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DIME
SIZE HAIL...AND DESTRUCTIVE WINDS TO 70 MPH.  THESE STORMS WERE
LOCATED ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM 13 MILES EAST OF PORTAGE TO SUN
PRAIRIE TO OREGON...MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.
 
        
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE NEAR...
DANVILLE AND WATERLOO BY 700 PM CDT
FOX LAKE...ASTICO AND SOUTH BEAVER DAM BY 705 PM CDT
LEIPSIG...HUBBLETON...BUSSEYVILLE AND REESEVILLE BY 710 PM CDT
RICHWOOD BY 715 PM CDT
 
        
A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CDT
WEDNESDAY EVENING FOR SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN.

LAT...LON 4361 8840 4313 8858 4286 8860 4287 8900
4362 8900

$$

KAPELA

Dispatch to all Emergency Fire/EMS, from Jefferson County. (6:38pm)

Update to all Fire/EMS (7:57pm)

Update to all Fire/EMS (8:11pm)

Wisconsin Microbrewers Beer Festival - Chilton

Today was the annual Brewer's Festival in Chilton. It was fun day with sad overtones. Earlier in the week Bob Rowland, the brewmaster from Rowlands Brew Pub and manager of this festival, died of a heart attack. To honor him, t-shirts honoring Bob were given to all vendors.




I rode up with Mark, one of the other guys that works at the Fun Hunters Brewery.




At 1:00 PM the Festival got started and the Jerry Schneider Band from Chilton was getting set up in the same building we were in.



The Band in the Arena building is jamming German tunes and a great deal of polka dancing is going on. In the beginning of this video, if you look close, you can see a little boy sitting down. Believe it or not, he is an accordian player.



Lunch

Briess Malt bought all the vendors lunch. So I had a very tasty steak sandwich and a Rowland Cream Soda.




Gilling Out (Start your diet tomorrow)

After my tasty lunch, I walked by the grills where the smoke smelled wonderful. The crew was working all out providing food for everyone at ... all » the festival and one guy was trying to convince me to have another steak sandwich.



Copperbox

In the building adjacent to ours, Copperbox was playing. The rest is just another crowd walk thru.



Toward the end of the festival, Chris became convinced that he had to go and get more people to come back and finish off the last of our beer. Here he goes off and brings back a couple.

Fire Truck Puzzle

Grandma got Barak a big puzzle. He couldn't wait to open it up and get it put together. Here he is puting in the final piece and then you can see him posing next to his first puzzle. Congratulations Barak, and THANKS Grandma.

The Monthly Meeting of the Astronomical Society

Tonight was the last monthly meeting of the Milwaukee Astronomical Society until September.

The meeting was a pretty good one. Gerry Somolyk, gave a Powerpoint presentation on his trip to Turkey, which took place on Wednesday, March 29th 2006, to see a total eclipse of the Sun that was visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses half the Earth. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow began in Brazil and extended acrossed the Atlantic, northern Africa, and central Asia where it ended at sunset in western Mongolia. A partial eclipse was seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which included the northern two thirds of Africa, Europe, and central Asia. For more information about this event, click here.

Image courtesy of NASA

Here is video I took of the Society grounds prior to new member orientation:

During the meeting of the board, between and 7:30 pm and 8:00 pm, there is an opportunity for new members to learn basics of astronomy as taught by a senior member of the club. Since I have joined the club, Bob Manske has handled the orientation. New members usually meet in the Z Dome for these sessions. The Z Dome is the largest of the domes on the Society grounds.

Here are a couple of videos of the inside of the dome, one before the orientation started, and one just as it's about to end.

Inside the Z Dome - Part I

Inside the Z Dome - Part II

After the meeting, Jordan ran to Burger King to get something quick to eat, but were disappointed to find it closed. So we had to settle for Taco Bell. We came back to do some star gazing.

We got to see Jupiter and Saturn, which thrilled Jordan, Tristan and Caleb.

I also spent some time in the building below the Z Dome using the CCD. Neil was at the helm and he found globular clusters M3 and M5 along with the Black Eye Constellation.

Messier 3 is one of the most outstanding globular clusters, containing an estimated half million stars. It is famous for the large number of variable stars discovered in it.

M5 is one of the larger globular clusters known spanning 165 light years.

M64 is famous for its conspicuous dark structure which is a prominent dust feature obscuring the stars behind, thus it's most commonly referred to as the Black Eyed Constellation.

With that, we headed to Jeff's house.

Mexican Skillet at Mary's Cafe

After work this morning, I stopped at Mary's Cafe for breakfast. I ordered the Mexican Skillet and was very dissapointed. The menu said it would be made with taco flavored meat, but I didn't taste any taco flavoring! It was far from any hint of Mexican flavor, and it was excessively greasy. When I told the waitress I was unhappy with the order and why, she didn't seem to care. I'm not sure I'll go back.

The skillets at the Cafe on the Park in Lake Mills are so much better. I also recall that Mexican breakfast I had a D.B. Puffins in Jefferson with my brother, it was vastly superior to my experience at Mary's.

Old World Wisconsin

We took Donna to see Old World Wisconsin in Eagle. We got kind of a late start, but still had an enjoyable couple of hours. Here are some pics and videos of our experiences.

My favorite part of the Old World tour is the Blacksmith. I split the Blacksmith portion into 3 different videos.

Part I



Part II



Part III



In this next video, we are sitting outside the farm with the black kitchen. The kitchen has this very large chimney where meat can be hung for smoking. Barak discussed this room a bit as Kimah walks in the garden and Jordan sits on the porch.

Dee Dee, Logan, and Mom

My sister and my Mom were here when I woke up. Unfortunately I couldn't stay and visit since I had to work at 3:00 PM at Sprint. Logan was particularly heart warming, when he saw me he immediately held out his arms for me to pick him up! VERY CUTE!! Mom is looking good, lost 125lbs.

Back at Waterstreet!

Here we about to enjoy a tasty meal. We got our tax return. So we decided to go shopping. After a tasty meal at Waterstreet, we went to Best Buy were Kimah got a pink Game Boy Advance and Dani priced dryers. Then we went to Target were I got a Risk and Monopoly in a cool box that sits on a book shelf. Then we went to WalMart where I got a Game Boy DS and Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf.

Wise Saying

Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.

My Fortune, By Wongs Wok.

You see everything that happens in terms of it's larger meaning.

We Go for Breakfast.

Barak Rides His New Bike.

We decided to get Barak that bike he liked so much at WalMart. It was hard to pass up since it was marked at half off the original price of $80.

A New Bike

Barak checks out a new bike at the WalMart Super Center in Mukwonago.

Snow

Lots of snow fell over night. This is on HWY S between State HWY's 59 and 67 just outside of Eagle.

A Chiropractor Visit, FINALLY!

After 4 years of not having insurance that covers chiropractic, I was able to visit one. I chose Dr. Leanna, whose office is two blocks from my house. He is pretty good and I feel like a new man.

Cassie and Chicken Little

Dani's co-worker Missy needed someone to watch her daughter today, so Kimah had a playmate. We took Cassie and Kimah to Wal-Mart this morning to get Chicken Little which was just released. At the Super Center in Mukwonago, we picked up some groceries, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and Twilight Zone - The Complete Series.

Celebrating Our 17th Wedding Annivesary

Dani makes herself comfortable at our table in the Watersstreet Brewery. We ordered prime rib.

Logan wants his Mom

Dee Dee ran to get a sandwich and some chicken, leaving me with the Wolverine. I had to work hard to keep his mind off the absence of his mother.

Introducing: Logan

Here's me with my nephew Logan.

60 mph

Headed to work.

Snow

Yesterday brought a lot of snow. Here is a picture just outside my front door.

Not Long Now.

Only two hours to go.

Headache

I got a headache BIG TIME! Dani says it's because I'm laying off the coffee.

Working at Sprint today. Sundays are always a drag. Jake at Villa Pizza says this is his last day. Moving to San Antonio.

My First Picture With My i870

Dani took a moment to pose for me as I tried out the camera on my new phone.

My New Phone

I just got the Motorola i870.