Well, I suppose I couldn't last forever as a political ambivalent on my blog. After all I hold a degree in the science of politics. True, I twice (or maybe just once, I forget) attempted to start a regular "column" titled "Political Roundup," but that petered out when I had to leave work to go get a haircut, didn't finish my post on John Bolton, and slipped into a blogexile.
Spurred on by my slight mention of the current oil situation, I feel it's about time I strip off my skin a bit. Plus I'm bored and inside tonight -- I never mastered that "doing things alone in public" thing.
Let me start by linking a current column for your perusal. It's from the NY Times' Thomas Friedman. While I don't always agree with him, I find him intelligent and capable and able to put forth an argument, which as a student reared in political science with some English in there, I appreciate it.
I used to not have a position on gas prices or energy consumption. I saw it more black/white, something essentially causing harm to the environment for our distant decendants and a necessary evil for us today. Lights don't just turn on with the flip of a switch with no consequences. Same with everything else that is a technology we use today. Understatement, right?
In terms of oil, though, I never fully understood the situation, where it came from, how we got it, what it cost, etc. But over time, I've come to have a grip on the info.
Friedman has convinced me over the last six months about his new movement: geo-green.
It doesn't have much to do with Republicans or Democrats, more with the U.S. v. the world, or at least the corrupt regimes around the world who happen to sit on oil reserves. His argument is that if we reduce the price of oil through myriad ways that we have at our disposal, we can affect more change around the world than, say, through the domino effect of democratizing the Middle East.
A la Friedman:
Yes, there is an alternative to the Euro-wimps and the neocons,
and it is the "geo-greens." I am a geo-green. The geo-greens believe that, going
forward, if we put all our focus on reducing the price of oil - by conservation,
by developing renewable and alternative energies and by expanding nuclear power
- we will force more reform than by any other strategy. You give me $18-a-barrel
oil and I will give you political and economic reform from Algeria to Iran. All
these regimes have huge population bubbles and too few jobs. They make up the
gap with oil revenues. Shrink the oil revenue and they will have to open up
their economies and their schools and liberate their women so that their people
can compete. It is that simple.
Though I like his theory, I do not think it is that simple. Nothing ever is. And this is not to say that I am for converting all of our energy into wind power or some shit like that. But I think that reducing oil consumption and driving down the price of oil, and weening ourselves off our need for imports, we can affect great change. And I'm disappointed that President Bush is not doing more -- nee anything -- on this front. Now, I know he had a sentence in one of his States of the Union about hydrogen fueled cars, but it doesn't become policy once it leaves his mouth. I would be willing to bet that whatever monies he "earmarked" for that end were either forgotten come budget proposal time or were greatly reduced. My point is that it seems his energy policy is only to help the oil companies that once helped him out when Harken and Arbusto went belly-up. I don't necessarily think there is some evil hidden agenda, but I do think he is rendering progress impotent.
Drilling in ANWR, which I was for, then against, and now 100% for again, will not solve this problem we face. But it will help. We need to tie this to conservation as a society to affect real change. With low mileage standards, high oil prices, the technology to help out the everyday American from wasting so much money on gas at the pump, we are sinking ourselves deeper and deeper into the rabbit-hole. China and India are developing like crazy, and are pulling greater shares of available oil than ever before. Soon they will be a real threat to us in terms of oil consumption. And then where will we be?
Paul Driessen, a former Sierra Club member, is an enviro who provides an interesting commentary on the ANWR situation. It helped bring me back to pro-drilling. The co-founder of Greenpeace, who is now against the program, saying it has become antithetical to it's stated mission, backs Driessen's views. I think that says something about the state of the energy debate and that once again, people and positions do not fit nicely into camps. There is gray matter everywhere.
To bring this meandering post to a close, I will say that we have to take a cold hard look at our energy policy because we are not going anywhere, and we will only get company at the top of the consumption list. Things are ramping up, not down, and we are spending huge sums of money to drive twenty miles a day. What can we do? What must we do? I do not know these answers, but I demand they be asked to the people who do. What will it take for Congress to put this on the schedule? It's easy to blame the majority party, but honestly all it takes is one person in Congress (ok, let's be honest, a Senator) to do a PR dance and get this issue in the ongoing national discussion. It seems like we have one dominant issue per week. Let's affect some real change. Who among us wouldn't like to see lower gas prices and true international regime change at a quicker clip than Baghdad. I'm not slighting the operations in Iraq (I'm for them) but they are taking an awful long time. Are they still at their Constitutional Convention? Let's go. But that's for another day.
Sorry for the incomprehensibility. I may edit later. I reserve that right.
Friday, June 17, 2005
TO DISPLAY A HIDDEN COMMENT
At 9:17 PM, Jeff said...
Eric, I think you're right about the A4. I misspoke. It was a sweet ride, and the first time I'd seen one up close. Got me thinking.... Dude, pubs can be green as long as it fits in with everything else! Geo-politically, it'd be great not to prop up regimes like Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Venezuela, and Norway (just kidding). There are many other reasons, but I think conserving a little is something we all could and should do. Reducing oil prices would be sweeeet.
Tees, you sage, you. It is insane how much cheaper used cars are just a year after they're new. Perfectly good cars for a great deal (really what they should initially cost off the lot). In all probability, when I get a "new" car it will be used. But we'll see.
I'm sitting here watching this rollercoaster Cubs game feeling a little crestfallen that we lost our two run lead. And now I realize that it's 9:15 on a Friday night, no one's around, and once this game is over, I got nothin.
Hope Reteif Goosen wins [the U.S. Open] again; I just like the name, but he does have a nice swing. My dad said some golfers who usually swear off the Western Open are signing up this year. Might have to make another trip to Olympia Fields in a couple weeks.
Kendall Gill is boxing (!) next Saturday at the Aragon Ballroom (!). Who's in?
Long comment. And I bet no one reads it.
[Until now....]
Eric, I think you're right about the A4. I misspoke. It was a sweet ride, and the first time I'd seen one up close. Got me thinking.... Dude, pubs can be green as long as it fits in with everything else! Geo-politically, it'd be great not to prop up regimes like Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Venezuela, and Norway (just kidding). There are many other reasons, but I think conserving a little is something we all could and should do. Reducing oil prices would be sweeeet.
Tees, you sage, you. It is insane how much cheaper used cars are just a year after they're new. Perfectly good cars for a great deal (really what they should initially cost off the lot). In all probability, when I get a "new" car it will be used. But we'll see.
I'm sitting here watching this rollercoaster Cubs game feeling a little crestfallen that we lost our two run lead. And now I realize that it's 9:15 on a Friday night, no one's around, and once this game is over, I got nothin.
Hope Reteif Goosen wins [the U.S. Open] again; I just like the name, but he does have a nice swing. My dad said some golfers who usually swear off the Western Open are signing up this year. Might have to make another trip to Olympia Fields in a couple weeks.
Kendall Gill is boxing (!) next Saturday at the Aragon Ballroom (!). Who's in?
Long comment. And I bet no one reads it.
[Until now....]
FISH FOOD SPILL
The week creeps to a close. Thank God. It's been a bitch of a five days. Going to Milwaukee on Wednesday sucked in principle, but wasn't so bad in practice. I like the drive, and despite all my complaining, when I'm up very early, and I'm actually awake and alert, I enjoy the peacefulness of dawn. I also love the open road, so combine the two, and you have something decent, for work anyway.
I have been thinking a lot about a new car. My dad has been riding me for a few months to start thinking about handing over my car (which he paid for, so really, his car) to my sister and getting a new one for myself. I'm torn between the fancy idealism of getting a new car and the realities of all the payments and shit. I'm not going to make the shift for awhile for a few reasons:
1) I don't know when I'm moving on and getting my own place and where that might be. Will there be a parking spot? Will I even need a car or will I be able to get around on city transportation?
2) I'm torn between getting a cool, new car, like the Audi quattro that I saw up close last weekend and a hybrid because of my geo-green ideas on energy and politics. If I choose the Audi or something non-hybrid because I like it better aesthetically, does that make me a hypocrite?
3) My car ain't broke, so why fix it? Things are fine as they are, and my sister doesn't need her own car right now, primarily since she's a horrible driver and already has caused damage to my car by simply backing out of the garage at an angle and tearing off the front fender. Sometimes I don't drive it for a day or two because I walk to and from the train which I take to and from work and if I go out after work, I'm either picked up or I take the last car in the driveway, which usually isn't mine, due to said cycle. So as it stands, I usually only buy gas once a month, unless I drive to Milwaukee or to a lakehouse, and so I'm meeting my self-imposed petroleum conservation quota. Disrupting that (status) quo would reverse the progress I've made.
This weekend, I have to get my oil changed and take my car to get the emissions tested. And, providing it doesn't rain, I have to take it to Fuller's. They really do a great wash over there. Expensive but well worth it.
Maybe eventually Stan, our cheap mechanic, will finally paint the black fender silver to match the rest of the car so it doesn't look like I'm driving some hastily put-together jalopy.
As I write this, there is a distinct fish food smell emanating from Danette/Sharise's cube next door. Today she spent a half hour on the phone repeating the phrase, "You roll with your family, because we can fuck you up." Ah, the brilliance of one-side of a phone conversation.
Smell ya later.
I have been thinking a lot about a new car. My dad has been riding me for a few months to start thinking about handing over my car (which he paid for, so really, his car) to my sister and getting a new one for myself. I'm torn between the fancy idealism of getting a new car and the realities of all the payments and shit. I'm not going to make the shift for awhile for a few reasons:
1) I don't know when I'm moving on and getting my own place and where that might be. Will there be a parking spot? Will I even need a car or will I be able to get around on city transportation?
2) I'm torn between getting a cool, new car, like the Audi quattro that I saw up close last weekend and a hybrid because of my geo-green ideas on energy and politics. If I choose the Audi or something non-hybrid because I like it better aesthetically, does that make me a hypocrite?
3) My car ain't broke, so why fix it? Things are fine as they are, and my sister doesn't need her own car right now, primarily since she's a horrible driver and already has caused damage to my car by simply backing out of the garage at an angle and tearing off the front fender. Sometimes I don't drive it for a day or two because I walk to and from the train which I take to and from work and if I go out after work, I'm either picked up or I take the last car in the driveway, which usually isn't mine, due to said cycle. So as it stands, I usually only buy gas once a month, unless I drive to Milwaukee or to a lakehouse, and so I'm meeting my self-imposed petroleum conservation quota. Disrupting that (status) quo would reverse the progress I've made.
This weekend, I have to get my oil changed and take my car to get the emissions tested. And, providing it doesn't rain, I have to take it to Fuller's. They really do a great wash over there. Expensive but well worth it.
Maybe eventually Stan, our cheap mechanic, will finally paint the black fender silver to match the rest of the car so it doesn't look like I'm driving some hastily put-together jalopy.
As I write this, there is a distinct fish food smell emanating from Danette/Sharise's cube next door. Today she spent a half hour on the phone repeating the phrase, "You roll with your family, because we can fuck you up." Ah, the brilliance of one-side of a phone conversation.
Smell ya later.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
A NOTE ON TITLE MECHANICS
I will work on my titles on this blog. It's a work in progress. I'm not happy with them, either.
Will, I need your email address. I have a few blog questions, mainly about how to copy my favorite features of yours.
Will, I need your email address. I have a few blog questions, mainly about how to copy my favorite features of yours.
BARGAIN BASEMENT
There really isn't much I like more than when you go to Best Buy to get a CD that on the shelf isn't marked, but is listed as, say, $13.99 on the CD sticker itself, but when you get to the register its really selling for $9.99. What a pleasant surprise.
Coldplay's "X&Y": $9.99
Razorlight's "Up All Night": $9.99
"House of Sand and Fog": $9.99
Best Buy Symmetry: A Thing of Beauty
Coldplay's "X&Y": $9.99
Razorlight's "Up All Night": $9.99
"House of Sand and Fog": $9.99
Best Buy Symmetry: A Thing of Beauty
THE NORTH SIDE IS ON FIRE!!
What a fuckin game!!! It's the bottom of the 8th as I write this, 12 - 0 Cubs, and this has been quite an incredible game to watch. I feel a little bad for Chad Bentz, the Marlins' current pitcher, he with one half of a right hand and the unenviable mitt problem of Jim Abbott. What to do if someone bunts? What if there's a line drive to the nine position and there isn't time to switch hands? What a nightmare. But he's made it to the show, so he's earned the right to be there and I shouldn't feel sorry for him.
D. Lee, or as the crowd chants, "MVP" has had an amazing game, a triple shy of the cycle. He could have just gotten it had he made a run for it on that double he just got. After the ESPN announcers couldn't subdue their hard-ons at the possibility of a Johnny Damon cycle on Sunday night, I'm glad these new(er) Cubs announcers aren't tainting themselves by talking about it incessantly. Joe Morgan is on my shit list.
Aramis had a great game, D. Lee had a great game, a three-run homer for Barrett, Burnie is on a great hit streak... we're really coming together this month. I hope it lasts and that there's some great baseball this fall.
God Bless the Chicago Cubs!
D. Lee, or as the crowd chants, "MVP" has had an amazing game, a triple shy of the cycle. He could have just gotten it had he made a run for it on that double he just got. After the ESPN announcers couldn't subdue their hard-ons at the possibility of a Johnny Damon cycle on Sunday night, I'm glad these new(er) Cubs announcers aren't tainting themselves by talking about it incessantly. Joe Morgan is on my shit list.
Aramis had a great game, D. Lee had a great game, a three-run homer for Barrett, Burnie is on a great hit streak... we're really coming together this month. I hope it lasts and that there's some great baseball this fall.
God Bless the Chicago Cubs!
BIG BUDGET BONANZA
Does anyone want to go see "Batman Begins" Wednesday, Thursday or sometime this weekend? I'm currently taking bids.
Or I'll see "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" at the Glen Art.
I'm hungry for lunch.
Or I'll see "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" at the Glen Art.
I'm hungry for lunch.
Monday, June 13, 2005
THE CASE OF THE STUPID NICKNAME
Has anyone heard of "Scottie" as a nickname for "Elizabeth?" I have not, but someone just registered for the aforementioned seminar with that name. I thought I knew them all, but that one threw me.
Also, do you like my idea of titling my posts with fake-Encyclopedia Brown chapters? I do. I will run with this for at least today.
Also, do you like my idea of titling my posts with fake-Encyclopedia Brown chapters? I do. I will run with this for at least today.
BEAST
I just found out that I do, in fact, have to attend the seminar in Milwaukee on Wednesday. Blast! I was so looking forward to avoiding it altogether. For the first time since I had to do this same trek last October, I'll see what 5 AM looks like. I hate that.
A CASE OF THE MONDAYS
I'm on a bi-weekly conference call, that I never need to be on, never speak on except during the roll call, never listen to because it's about things that don't apply to me, and that is a colassal waste of my time.
My headset has the earpiece on the left side, so my half-deaf ear is working overtime to hear what the group in Conference Room "Australia" in Delaware is saying. It's already difficult to hear them because they are many and there's ambient noise and some jackass in Seattle is calling in from his cellphone in his car and there's street noise in the background (he apparently doesn't have mute).
I'm falling asleep.
We are putting on a seminar for prospects in Milwaukee this Wednesday and I'm praying I don't have to go. I'm still sick and don't really want to drive two hours at five am to be there in time to take attendance and sit there bored for three hours while speakers speak about things I couldn't care less about. I'd rather surf the net at work with both bosses in Wisconsin for the day.
It's gonna be a long week, kids.
My headset has the earpiece on the left side, so my half-deaf ear is working overtime to hear what the group in Conference Room "Australia" in Delaware is saying. It's already difficult to hear them because they are many and there's ambient noise and some jackass in Seattle is calling in from his cellphone in his car and there's street noise in the background (he apparently doesn't have mute).
I'm falling asleep.
We are putting on a seminar for prospects in Milwaukee this Wednesday and I'm praying I don't have to go. I'm still sick and don't really want to drive two hours at five am to be there in time to take attendance and sit there bored for three hours while speakers speak about things I couldn't care less about. I'd rather surf the net at work with both bosses in Wisconsin for the day.
It's gonna be a long week, kids.
Sunday, June 12, 2005
I promise...
...to finish Australia posting this week. I'm blog-lazy, so is it really a surprise that I would let things hang like that? No, sir, it is not.
And I will have an exciting blog announcement later this week, so everyone be prepared to... well, to say any more would be counterproductive to my marketing team's objectives.
And I will have an exciting blog announcement later this week, so everyone be prepared to... well, to say any more would be counterproductive to my marketing team's objectives.
Bachelor Weekend
Well, I've returned from a weekend in Wisconsin. It was a great time, exactly what I needed and I think what many people needed. Great group of guys. Eric really has great friends.
Only knowing Matt and Eric, I was a little unsure how the weekend would be. I have few Eric stories, as I only met him four months ago, and these guys were all friends of his from high school and college. But I was helped by the fact that the two groups mostly hadn't met before, so I was just another new person among a few to everybody.
Matt and I got to my aunt's lakehouse first, at around nine Friday. It was a good half hour and pitch black by the time the next person, Steve, arrived. The mosquitoes were already blood-thirsty but we waited by the road to make sure everyone found the place alright; it's a really tricky drive for first-timers, not aided by the darkness of night. No problems. We heard some cats being strangled across the street and one car passed us a few times and honked just as they became even with our positions. It was strange, and the first time, I jumped like I always do. Like a girl.
Eric and Joe went to the Pick-n-Save to get food for the weekend and we all congregated in the kitchen with more silences than awkward conversation, and then someone pointed to the lake depth map on the fridge and asked where the lakehouse was. Before I could answer, someone noted that it's marked and then asked what the "X" was further around the lake. Matt blurted out "Duke" and then weirdly tried to pass it off as "Deke" insisting that was a word. It was great, because it allowed this group of strangers to laugh and make fun of something together. So we created this whole running joke about how every lake has an overseer, titled "The Duke" and how when you buy a lakehouse he provides the welcome kit at the closings and how no lake decision happens without his say-so. Eric later would have The Duke also be a notary public, which seems fitting, because one needs more duties than just welcome-kit-giver.
So almost immediately, after that pocket of initial awkwardness, everyone seemed very comfortable with each other. I told Matt on the way back to Chicago that by Sunday, it seemed like everyone had been friends for years.
Saturday was supposed to T-storm, according to Matt's magical phone, but nary a drop hit us all day. We spent it at Noah's Ark in the Dells. The weather was in the eighties, probably, and the sun was out in full force, yet the place was empty. We discovered that Pepsi cans had a $10 off coupon on them for Noah's Ark, like Coke cans here do for Six Flags, and we all took a can and drank them on the way. $20 is insanely cheap for all that water fun.
Eric had never been to Noah's Ark (America's Largest Waterpark -- this side of Kenya) so we made it our job to ride every watercoaster at least once. I hadn't been since I was a kid (pre-circus world) so none of it except for the zip lines was familiar. But man alive is that place fun. Great coasters, great prices with the cans, but damn was it murder walking barefoot around the park. Between the attractions are inconsistent stone walkways, that feel like gravel, or daggers, and after hours of water fun kill your dogs. Matt, Justin and I decided that we'll make our own America's Largest Waterpark with water sidewalks and elaborate watercoasters built into sides of old ski mountains that feed into other watercoasters and take twenty minutes to finish. Now that would make Kenya quake.
Since they don't sell beer at the Pick-n-Save past 9PM, we decided we'd pick up some on the way home from Noah's. Matt and I drove in Joe's car and were listening to the excellent Cubs-BoSox game when we passed my favorite Dells site of my youth, the Wonder Spot, which sounds like a porno, and we tried to get Eric's car to turn around and go. No dice.
Joe had to get gas and a Red Bull because water fun takes the life outta you, and we stopped at some gas exit and went to the gas station that had the giant pink elephant wearing glasses in its yard. We were vexed. The attendant told us it had to do with either hangovers or LSD, but we thought he didn't want to come across as pro-LSD by saying it definitively. It was fucking weird.
Then we saw a guy do a wheelie on his motorcycle for a really long time. It was stupid, but awesome.
Saturday night we grilled brats for fifty minutes, fed a swan that came up to the pier and built a kickass bonfire in the fire pit.
Sunday morning we played nine holes at the Coachman's Inn in nearby Edgerton (the sign said it had a population of 13, but I saw at least 28 houses about a hundred yards in). I haven't played since high school, so I sucked. But I had one great hole, the seventh, where I scored a threesome-best of... 7. I don't take it seriously, aside from the angry yell of "Shit!" after I take a very poor shot, so it was a great time, even if I was embarrasingly terrible.
After the links, everyone split up and made their way back from whence they came. It was a great weekend, and I was happy to provide the lakehouse and glad to be a part of it all. I only wish I wasn't dogged by this bullshit cold. I read online that if you put hydrogen peroxide in each ear for a minute or so, it'll cure your cold (or flu) in twelve hours. But instead it just made me half-deaf in my left ear. And it didn't cure my cold. But my worst days were Thursday and Friday morning, so at least I wasn't hacking and bleeding snot from my face all weekend. That's a pretty picture.
Matt and I went back to the lakehouse to complete the checklist my aunt gave to me. Before we left, everyone pitched in, unasked, and put everything back together. Someone even thought to take out the bathroom garbage, which was shocking to me. Completely considerate, and that's something you don't find too often these days. So thanks, to Eric and his friends, for thinking ahead.
I haven't known Eric for a very long time, but I think he got the type of weekend he really wanted, and that's really what the whole point was. Rocknroll.
Only knowing Matt and Eric, I was a little unsure how the weekend would be. I have few Eric stories, as I only met him four months ago, and these guys were all friends of his from high school and college. But I was helped by the fact that the two groups mostly hadn't met before, so I was just another new person among a few to everybody.
Matt and I got to my aunt's lakehouse first, at around nine Friday. It was a good half hour and pitch black by the time the next person, Steve, arrived. The mosquitoes were already blood-thirsty but we waited by the road to make sure everyone found the place alright; it's a really tricky drive for first-timers, not aided by the darkness of night. No problems. We heard some cats being strangled across the street and one car passed us a few times and honked just as they became even with our positions. It was strange, and the first time, I jumped like I always do. Like a girl.
Eric and Joe went to the Pick-n-Save to get food for the weekend and we all congregated in the kitchen with more silences than awkward conversation, and then someone pointed to the lake depth map on the fridge and asked where the lakehouse was. Before I could answer, someone noted that it's marked and then asked what the "X" was further around the lake. Matt blurted out "Duke" and then weirdly tried to pass it off as "Deke" insisting that was a word. It was great, because it allowed this group of strangers to laugh and make fun of something together. So we created this whole running joke about how every lake has an overseer, titled "The Duke" and how when you buy a lakehouse he provides the welcome kit at the closings and how no lake decision happens without his say-so. Eric later would have The Duke also be a notary public, which seems fitting, because one needs more duties than just welcome-kit-giver.
So almost immediately, after that pocket of initial awkwardness, everyone seemed very comfortable with each other. I told Matt on the way back to Chicago that by Sunday, it seemed like everyone had been friends for years.
Saturday was supposed to T-storm, according to Matt's magical phone, but nary a drop hit us all day. We spent it at Noah's Ark in the Dells. The weather was in the eighties, probably, and the sun was out in full force, yet the place was empty. We discovered that Pepsi cans had a $10 off coupon on them for Noah's Ark, like Coke cans here do for Six Flags, and we all took a can and drank them on the way. $20 is insanely cheap for all that water fun.
Eric had never been to Noah's Ark (America's Largest Waterpark -- this side of Kenya) so we made it our job to ride every watercoaster at least once. I hadn't been since I was a kid (pre-circus world) so none of it except for the zip lines was familiar. But man alive is that place fun. Great coasters, great prices with the cans, but damn was it murder walking barefoot around the park. Between the attractions are inconsistent stone walkways, that feel like gravel, or daggers, and after hours of water fun kill your dogs. Matt, Justin and I decided that we'll make our own America's Largest Waterpark with water sidewalks and elaborate watercoasters built into sides of old ski mountains that feed into other watercoasters and take twenty minutes to finish. Now that would make Kenya quake.
Since they don't sell beer at the Pick-n-Save past 9PM, we decided we'd pick up some on the way home from Noah's. Matt and I drove in Joe's car and were listening to the excellent Cubs-BoSox game when we passed my favorite Dells site of my youth, the Wonder Spot, which sounds like a porno, and we tried to get Eric's car to turn around and go. No dice.
Joe had to get gas and a Red Bull because water fun takes the life outta you, and we stopped at some gas exit and went to the gas station that had the giant pink elephant wearing glasses in its yard. We were vexed. The attendant told us it had to do with either hangovers or LSD, but we thought he didn't want to come across as pro-LSD by saying it definitively. It was fucking weird.
Then we saw a guy do a wheelie on his motorcycle for a really long time. It was stupid, but awesome.
Saturday night we grilled brats for fifty minutes, fed a swan that came up to the pier and built a kickass bonfire in the fire pit.
Sunday morning we played nine holes at the Coachman's Inn in nearby Edgerton (the sign said it had a population of 13, but I saw at least 28 houses about a hundred yards in). I haven't played since high school, so I sucked. But I had one great hole, the seventh, where I scored a threesome-best of... 7. I don't take it seriously, aside from the angry yell of "Shit!" after I take a very poor shot, so it was a great time, even if I was embarrasingly terrible.
After the links, everyone split up and made their way back from whence they came. It was a great weekend, and I was happy to provide the lakehouse and glad to be a part of it all. I only wish I wasn't dogged by this bullshit cold. I read online that if you put hydrogen peroxide in each ear for a minute or so, it'll cure your cold (or flu) in twelve hours. But instead it just made me half-deaf in my left ear. And it didn't cure my cold. But my worst days were Thursday and Friday morning, so at least I wasn't hacking and bleeding snot from my face all weekend. That's a pretty picture.
Matt and I went back to the lakehouse to complete the checklist my aunt gave to me. Before we left, everyone pitched in, unasked, and put everything back together. Someone even thought to take out the bathroom garbage, which was shocking to me. Completely considerate, and that's something you don't find too often these days. So thanks, to Eric and his friends, for thinking ahead.
I haven't known Eric for a very long time, but I think he got the type of weekend he really wanted, and that's really what the whole point was. Rocknroll.
What the Hell is Wrong With Corey??
I'm thinking Jim Hendry should be looking to trade Corey Patterson. He hasn't been providing us with ANYTHING since his knee surgery two years ago. This last homestead highlights all of his weaknesses: no hitting, getting hit in the head by the ball in play, not calling a pop up and almost colliding with Macias while letting the ball drop. He's a lazy player; he's one of the many guys that don't run out first base. That's baseball 101; you always run past first. They see the ball they hit, figure they're out, and half-ass it. In many instances, they might actually be safe. That's one reason why I liked Kenny Lofton and like Hollandsworth so much. They play like they're supposed to.
Corey does nothing. Get rid of him. He is not just maintaining a status quo, he is actively detracting from our roster. Enough is enough.
Corey does nothing. Get rid of him. He is not just maintaining a status quo, he is actively detracting from our roster. Enough is enough.
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