Come fly with me...

Family - The shoe is yet to drop on Victoria. She's really wanting to come back home, but I'm not sure that she will. Alot of the family feels she should stay and finish, but she's as stubborn as the rest of us.

The new "pic" is of the little neices - Bridget and Abby. Can you tell which one is the nuttier? I saw them both this past weekend. They spent some time in my truck and seemed to have a blast.

Friends - Tom is in the city and 'burbs until after Labor Day. One for the family time, and also to run the Accenture Chicago Triathlon. In fact, it was today (Su). I know his plan was to get up before the sun in order to get down in time to stage all his gear. I've heard he might have got a late start... hope it went well.

Jenny was called into duty late Saturday night in order to watch her sister's dog. "Why?", you ask. Well, word on the street is that her sister dropped her water on the hospital floor and the baby is imminent. Congrats to all, I'm sure I'll find out what happened by next week's update.

Travel/Work - Off to Germany tomorrow (M). I'll be meeting at least 6 of my customers and getting a good bit of practice for the show in Vegas, one month later. I get back next Sunday.

Bike - My two rides are in running order, but the bigger news is that until this afternoon, I hadn't ridden on about 6 days. The rainy weather here has kept me off the bike and out of the wet for some time. I'm glad to get back on... and see the sun.

AR - I will almost always "fix" the tines of a fork, rather than eat with one that has bent or mis-spaced tines. And I only say almost b/c I don't know when I didn't fix one. At a restaurant the other night, I fixed them before eating as they were both kinds of out of whack. I've no idea what's happening in their dishwasher, but I don't like the look of out of whack tines. I don't even think it has much to do with feeling them in my mouth.

About 500 miles later...

Family - It is done. Victoria has been dropped off at school for the 2nd time in 3 years. After not liking EIU, she has transferred out of Oakton and into UofI as junior. She will be getting her teaching degree there; I have no doubt... mostly b/c we're not going pick her up again. She had the big crew to help this time - M&D, Jes, Me, Ben, and Rachel. Everything went smooth and we were in and out in 4 hours, including dropping her stuff at the dorm (Barton), hitting Hickory River for some BBQ, a random-awesome stop at Blain's Farm & Fleet, and custard at The Cup on the way out.

Friends - Hit George's Indie Rock "Meet-Up" event on Friday night. It was great to be back in the city and see G-Money, but he was a bit under the weather. And to top it all off, the bands were, uhh, not good. We're interested in rock 'n roll when we go to the shows, but the bands were light rock at best. Ah well, it wadn't that much to get in anyways. Live and learn.

Saw Jenny for brunch at France's Deli. Great food and good company too. It was rainy as well, but pancakes always seem to help.

Tom's in town this weekend for the Accenture Chicago Triathlon. I'll be meeting up with him on Saturday, maybe watching the race on Sunday before going back to The Mill.

Work - Still going smooth. Off to Germany for a tradeshow this next Monday. Back right before Labor Day... which isn't too shabby.

Bikes - Lots going on here last week. Got a new BMX bike, yes, like kids ride. This one is sized for my height and should be pretty sweet on the track. Yes, there's a BMX track here in Milwaukee and I've wanted to race since I was little, so I'll get out there after Germany. And, got some new wheels for the Kona. It's a nicer set of lightweight wheels from work. Should prove beneficial on my work commutes, which I did two of last week. This week looks wet, but maybe I can get one or two in again.

AR - I can't think of one this week, but my AR won't let me leave this section blank, so there.

2nd Week Running...

... ok, so this is how I'm gonna play it for now - I'll update the blog once a week, and include some combo of topics each week. They will include new news on: Family, Bike, Work, Travel, Friends, Pic, and Anal Retentive. The last one should give a sneak peek into how I operate in a world of messier people.

So here's this week:
Family - Well, Vic's off to school this coming weekend, with help from yours truly. She had a going away brunch on Sunday, but I thought I'd miss it and save my energy for next weekend. My dad and I are on tap to schlep all her belongings (not too much) into her dorm room at U of I.

Friends - Talked to Eric in Indy on email and Abby on the phone. Small world - turns out Abby and Eric's sis, Lisa, will both be starting new teaching gigs at the same middle school in Champaign. They helped each other clear out their class rooms this last week. Good news for George, he's got a contract pending on the house in Lake Forest (a monster of a nice house, every aspect very well done) - CONGRATS, G! And not to be outdone, Maggie (for those that know her) will be staying in NYC for at least one more year - proof positive that NYC is the coolest place to be (or at least visit).

Work - continues to go well. I'm getting more emails from customer accounts each day, more involved in the day-to-day items that come up, and more comfortable working again. (this area will generally be sparse as this blog shouldn't drag to much corporate into it). Oh, at the end of the month, I head out to Germany for a tradeshow. It'll be a good dry run for the tradeshow in Vegas at the end of September.

Bike - Got some greeat new parts from the place I now work at - installed a new fork onto the Kona, an R7 Manitou. Also ordered a Kuwahara BMX bike (a name from most guys my age's childhood). There's a BMX track right on the south end of town and I'm interested in actually trying it out... now that I'm all grown up?

Travel - nothing on the horizon for fun... well, I'll be driving down to Chicago the next two weekends. The first to help Vic, the 2nd to get the hairs cut before going to Germany. I'm hoping to get in some fun with the ole gang too.

Pic - the new pic is of the great old school movie house, the Oriental, right down the street from my apartment (literally about 4 blocks). It's the kind your parents probably used to visit. I went and saw "Sunshine" this weekend, a new movie with Killian Murphy. Trust me, the best part was the old movie house... don't go see this movie.

AR - Does anyone else like the smell of Comet? Yes, the bathroom tub and tile cleaning powder. Well, I took out my handy razor blade and scraped off any and all suspect paint drippings and caulk marks in the bathtub (doesn't everyone do this - I did the bathroom floor the week prior)). Then, gave the whole shootin match a thorough scrubbin with Comet. It smelled great afterwards. And if someone's place smells like cleaning products, do we assume they are clean and know how to clean? I think we do. The smell of Pinesol means your place is clean, right? Well, this could be the next wave of air freshener and candle scents. If it smells like cleaning products, the place must be clean.

all(most) settled in.

It's true, it's true. In the last 7 days, alot has happened - I moved to Milwaukee, WI (from Chicago). I bought my very first car, actually a Ford Ranger truck, I started a new position at the Hayes Bicycle Group (part of HB performance systems), and now to top it all off.... maybe add the cherry on top, I've started a blog.

My intent is to keep updating this weekly and provide enough proof of Milwaukee being worth a trip for friends and family. I've already posted some places I've been and will continue to add to the list.